Crime and premium punishment

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This article was published 29/01/2025 (222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Plagued by break-ins, vandalism and theft, some North End businesses no longer bother filing insurance claims — concerned they will lose coverage entirely if they don’t eat the upfront costs.

The situation has become so dire in Winnipeg’s inner city, it has sparked an exodus of businesses over the last decade.

Those who remain say they live in fear that fire will reduce their property to rubble, or crime will deal a crippling financial blow.

“It’s unrelenting, it’s incredibly expensive and it is emotionally taxing,” Astrid Lichti, owner of Cosmopolitan Florists, said.

The family-run flower shop at 994 Main St. has been in business for 59 years. Lichti, who was raised there, said she was exhausted by the “personal onslaught” that has become her reality since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In five years, the florist has incurred $70,000 in damages from a rash of break-ins, shattered windows and graffiti.

She once experienced four break-ins in three days; an eight-foot chain-link fence surrounding the rear of her property has been breached eight times; and two months ago, somebody torched an outbuilding on the property with an “incendiary device,” she said.

“The flames were 15 feet high,” Lichti said, letting loose a belt of humourless laughter.

“If you think that I’m laughing, it’s because it’s the corollary of trying not to cry … I’ve developed thick skin, broad shoulders and a sarcastic attitude, otherwise I bawl my eyes out.”

Lichti reports each shattered window and stolen good to the police, but has never filed an insurance claim.

“If you have more than one claim in a year, they can either deny you your insurance, or your rates go so high it’s unaffordable,” Lichti said.

“It has cost me, and cost me, and cost me and cost me.”

Further north, at 1156 Main St., Leehee Hasid had a similar story.

The general manager of Scooter City said the business suffered $70,000 in damages last year.

In August, somebody tried to smash through the storefront with an axe in broad daylight.

A month earlier, thieves broke through an exterior wall in the rear of the building and stole six motorized scooters, she said.

“It sounds like something out of a movie… Even when I am here during the day, I have people come through the door and they will grab whatever they can get their hands on. It has gotten so bad,” Hasid said.

Scooter City has resorted to locking its doors during the daytime as part of enhanced security measures that include a new 24-7 surveillance system and an in-store panic button.

All those costs come out of pocket for the family business, which has operated for 32 years.

Like the nearby flower shop, Scooter City does not file insurance claims in fear of losing coverage.

“The premiums on Main Street, they are insane already as it is. My mother, she refuses to file insurance claims because, God forbid, there is a day she really needs it,” Hasid said.

Less than a block away, at 1128 Main St., Winnipeg Trading Post manager Cathy Mukai said “having storefront windows is almost not an option” in the North End, due to the prevalence of break and enters.

Property tax rates and insurance premiums in the North End continue to rise, she said, causing Mukai to question what incentives stores have to stick around.

“Gunn’s, myself, Cosmopolitan — we’ve all been in the North End for a substantial amount of time — we try to stay in the community … but it’s getting very hard to stay loyal to the area when there’s so much risk and loss,” Mukai said.

Even businesses that file insurance claims are not guaranteed the coverage they pay for.

Gunn’s Bakery is currently embroiled in a legal battle with its insurance provider, which has denied a $192,000 claim from a January 2023 break in.

The owner of the long-standing bakeshop at 247 Selkirk Ave. declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The bakery suffered $42,000 in stolen goods and $150,000 in damages from the break in, court documents filed Jan. 17 in the Court of King’s Bench detailed.

Last March, Gunn’s insurance refused to cover the loss, claiming the business had been “vacant, unoccupied or shut down” for more than 30 consecutive days.

Gunn’s is suing the company for breach of contract, claiming it was never unoccupied during the term of the policy.

The lawsuit accuses the insurance firm of failing to take “an objective, balanced approach in evaluating all relevant evidence in determining the validity of any insurance claim.”

Keith Horn, owner of the Northern Hotel and chairman of the North End BIZ, said it’s become common practice in the neighbourhood to not file insurance claims, except in the most extreme instances.

The Manitoba Hotel Association recently cancelled an insurance program offered to Horn’s hotel, he said, forcing him to secure coverage through another company at an additional $15,000 annually.

He now pays more than $70,000 per year for coverage, he said.

“They just said we’re not insuring anybody in this particular area,” he said. “I’ve been saying for a long time: nobody gives a crap about the North End.”

Horn said the number of businesses in the neighbourhood has shrunk from 110 to 57 over the past decade and “more are leaving all the time.”

Each of the business leaders who spoke with the Free Press called for intervention from all levels of government.

Lichti said the city should offer breaks on property taxes in the area, while senior levels of government should offer investment incentives to existing and prospective businesses. Hasid, Mukai and Horn endorsed that suggestion.

“Right now, the North End should be a federal issue and a provincial priority,” Lichti said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca