After years of hard work and saving to fulfil her high school dream of owning a vintage clothing boutique, Ashley Tait is taking a unique approach to save her business after a few months of bad luck.

Tait has started a crowd-funding campaign to save Mavens Vintage on Herald Street. In one day, she raised a fifth of her $5,000 goal on the website GoFundMe.com. The money raised will cover one month of expenses.

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“I think I was in denial, but I really don’t see what else I can do,” said Tait, 27. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. But whatever I raise, I will find a way to give back somehow to the community. … I am very passionate about supporting local businesses.”

Tait opened Mavens four years ago with a small inheritance and money saved from working at a local shoe store. From the get-go, she wanted to avoid going into major debt and has until recently succeeded — even with a few hurdles along the way.

“About a month after I opened, I found out I was pregnant,” she said. She found a way to make it work — bringing her son, Rocky, to work with her, getting friends to help out and having her mother volunteer to helm the shop one day a week. She also offers vintage alterations and tailoring.

Last March, Tait was injured in a car accident. Because of an ongoing insurance claim, she didn’t received full compensation for her car or physiotherapy. About the same time, Rocky, now four, broke his leg.

“I couldn’t be here at the shop and all the money I save for the slow months of the year was gone,” she said. A slow holiday season [often a boon for the vintage market] and an even more unusually slow January have added to her trouble.

“I have everything at 50 per cent off, but even if it was 90 per cent it wouldn’t matter. Downtown is really dead. There’s just not the foot traffic,” said Tait, who noted business has been down about 30 per cent this year.

“This is a very difficult time of year for some of the local businesses who have such narrow margins,” said Ken Kelly, general manager of the Downtown Victoria Business Association. “But we always hope property managers work with tenants to do what they can to keep businesses viable.”

Tait said she hasn’t had a chance to speak to her landlord, who is out of town, but does not want to risk falling into arrears. In addition to her sale and crowd-funding campaign, she is also planning a fundraising event with help from the community.

“It’s so important people support local businesses and keep downtown alive. People don’t want to come to Victoria to find the chain stores they have in their own towns,” said Tait, adding she’s happy to make a modest income if it means doing what she loves.

Corey Judd knows first-hand how a supportive community can help save a dream business. He has had it happen for him and his restaurant Cabin 12 a few times.

“I don’t think what happened for me could’ve happened anywhere else,” Judd said.

Before crowd-funding websites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe became known, he used Facebook to raise money to open Cabin 12 downtown in 2009. Friends and family donated about $15,000 to get him started, and many helped build and set up the restaurant.

A few days after the café opened, vandals broke a window and caused $1,000 in damage. Judd thought that would be the end of his dream. But an open letter he wrote to the vandals circulated and the community stepped in — dropping off nearly $5,000 in donations.

Six months after that, the business was close to going belly up. Judd decided to throw a fundraising party, hoping to either go out with a bang or save the business.

“By the end of the day, I’d raised nearly $7,000 and found an angel investor,” said Judd, who now co-owns the restaurant with friends in a new location on Cedar Hill Road.

“From there things really built up, and now we’re sailing.”

Judd said he hopes the community will step in to help Tait. “She’s done such an amazing job and is so close.”

The Mavens campaign is at gofundme.com/kmgg70.

spetrescu@timescolonist.com