JYSK is one of a dozen stores that have to vacate the Dilworth shopping centre by the end of July.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

A dozen businesses in the Dilworth shopping centre are being forced out as of July 31.

That’s leaving some scrambling to find new homes while others have given up and are shutting down.

“It’s pretty sad,” Margy Ringrose, co-owner of the Only Deals Kelowna dollar store in the mall, told iNFOnews.ca. “We just celebrated our 17th anniversary on March 1.”

She’s been looking since last fall for a new location but has given up. She’s clearing out her inventory and closing for good, likely well before the July 31 deadline for all the businesses south of Staples in the mall to close out.

“We tried to find a spot but the cost to renovate and to reopen, it’s pretty costly,” Ringrose said.

Her six workers, who have been with her for as many as 11 years, will be looking for jobs, as will others in the complex.

The Only Deals Kelowna dollar store is closing for good.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

For the two food outlets, 88 Grand Buffet and C-Lovers Fish and Chips, their futures are still up in the air.

“The worst thing is not knowing where we’re going,” said a worker at C-Lovers who would not give her name because she’s not authorized to talk to the media.

“The owner has been looking since February. It’s got to be the right size and the right parking. We’re trying to stay around this location because that’s where a lot of our customers are from. A lot of them are elderly so they don’t want to travel very far.”

She’s worked at C Lovers for 11 years and it has been in that location for 16 or 17.

88 Grand Buffet owner Lim Hong said it's been there for eight years and he’s still trying to find a new location.

The same uncertainty goes for Exotic Nails, which has been at its Dilworth location for 25 years and was Kelowna’s first nail salon. They’re still looking for a new home.

JYSK refused to comment and the managers of Penningtons and World Gym were not available by publication time. A staff member at World Gym said they are closing May 31.

The mall is owned by Peterson Commercial, a Vancouver based real estate development company.

This is an artist's rendering of some of the apartments slated to replace the stores.

Image Credit: Submitted/City Of Kelowna

In June 2021 the company filed plans with the City of Kelowna to redevelop the mall by tearing down the 12 units on the south end and replacing them with four six-storey buildings with 488 townhouse and apartment units and some commercial space.

READ MORE: Chunk of Dilworth mall in Kelowna could be levelled to make way for housing

“No information to share on this yet,” is all Dave Stone, the company’s general manager, said in an email to iNFOnews.ca asking for a timeline for demolition and construction.

Staples and Freshco, at the north end of the strip mall will remain, as will the free-standing buildings with businesses like Boston Pizza, TD Canada Trust and the new Starbucks.

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