The Loaves and Fishes outdoor depot on East Wellington Rd. is now under ownership of the City of Nanaimo, providing a permanent place for the organization to build a custom warehouse. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

more space

‘We haven’t been able to take shipments:’ land purchase to solve space struggles for Loaves and Fishes food bank

Dec 8, 2021 | 12:18 PM

NANAIMO — Loaves and Fishes food bank is one big step closer to their goal of having a new, specialized food distribution warehouse.

The City of Nanaimo recently purchased land on East Wellington Rd. which currently houses the food bank’s outdoor depot for $1.3 million. The goal will see the land built upon with a custom warehouse to better suit their growing needs.

Peter Sinclair, Loaves and Fishes executive director, told NanaimoNewsNOW they’re currently bursting at the seams.

“Space for our operations is critical, we’ve actually come into the unfortunate position where we haven’t been able to take shipments of food because of space restrictions.”

As a result of the land purchase, Loaves and Fishes will also see a reduction in rent to just $1 for the next couple of months until a new, formal lease agreement takes effect Feb. 1, 2022.

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Sinclair said their rent for the property to the previous landlord was $2,500 a month.

“That’s money we then get to put back into our operations to access more food, then get that food out to people. It’s not just a matter of collecting it, you have to make sure the food gets to people.”

The planned 25,000 sqft. warehouse is currently in development, with Loaves and Fishes working with a local contractor on design options.

In order to function properly, Sinclair said they need a certain number of loading bay doors, flexibility on where coolers are placed and a sloping floor to make hosing out and cleaning up easier.

As part of their expansion plans, they investigated several existing warehouse spaces including the former Save-On-Foods in Terminal Park.

“We tried and we tried the same thing at Wholesale Sports in the north end and in both cases, the landlord had someone that was prepared to take it and so I can only assume something will be going in there.”

Sinclair added while both properties would have worked, they had significant drawbacks in the number of loading bay doors, which would have hindered them down the line.

Through the process, having land and a custom warehouse was the best option.

“We wanted to make sure whatever land we got was big enough, but not too big. When you’re paying, for argument’s sake, a million dollars an acre and you need an acre and a half, you don’t want to go by three or five acres.”

Council will consider a 30-year lease with Loaves and Fishes at their Dec. 20 council meeting.

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