Don't confuse mismanagement with eestlus dying out. We have each year had greater number of children in lasteaed and Eesti kool, choirs are growing again... sometimes demographics also play a role in participation. Mismanagement however can make things appear differently.

Vastavalt EM avaldusele on eStore puhaskasum olnud $2200. Samal ajal on EM kaotanud potentsiaalset üüritulu võimaliku parema üürniku pealt. Jah, eStore peaks kinni panema kui uus üüriline on olemas, üüriline kes maksab turuhinda selle pinna eest. Kui aga pood pannakse kinni ilma uue üürituluta, siis pole sellel ju mõtet. EM ei teeni praegu mitte midagi poest, aga samal ajal ka ei kuluta midagi. Las see pood siis olla niikaua kui EM veel olemas on.

Thanks for the answer, but I still don't understand from the article there seems to be a Net Revenue (after all expenses) of $2200 from 2012 until 2017. The Net Revenue is over a period of 5 years this works out to +/- $440.00 per year which does not seem like a sum required to keep a viable business open.

This is a good example of commerce only working when there is an owner whose own livelihood depends on success. The manager of the store, whether it was "owned" by EKN or Eesti Maja, was paid a salary, regardless of sales or profit. There was little or no incentive for the manager to push the envelope, work extra-long hours or try stuff that the manager wasn't personally interested in or excited about ...

There was probably (and maybe still is?) some market for an esto-theme store in Toronto: Food, imported candy, books, dvds, (maybe) some arts and crafts, knick-knacks, souvenirs - not to mention some sort of specialized freight forwarding/customs brokering and courier service. Quick, efficient, custom-ordering of Estonian products (I've had my eye on this for a while: http://huum.eu/ - there is an e-bay source but crazy expensive! Ordering direct and arranging one-off shipping, customs brokering, etc etc is just silly - Maybe buy one next time I am over and figure out some way to ship it back -maybe pay the business class airfare premium for the extra luggage allowance? under my personal customs exemption?)

If its at E Maja you have regular captive audiences Saturday mornings, Tuesday evenings and somewhat on Thursdays as well - 8 months a year. The rest of the time is the same 15 - 20 people who work there regularly 9-5 and a trickle of their visitors (and peie peod, of course). - THat isn't enough to sustain a retail business! Why should anyone sit there all day when the only traffic is some lost courier that needs to know where the Credit Union is, or some "neighbour" looking for the free neighbourhood garbage bins they have heard about?

You need to have a destination draw of some sort, something to inspire customers to go THERE even if they had no other business at E Maja (or wherever the store is) ...

The place would have had to be OPEN for business ! Long hours, six or even seven days a week! Even better if someone who made the trip could sit down and have a coffee, snack, even a beer and maybe have access to subscribed Estonian media services for a small fee, while they were there... (and not in a dingy dark subterranean bunker down the stairs at the back of the building...)

But its such an awful building on Broadview - There is no "storefront" there's just that isolated single level at grade - you have to go out one side or the other and then up or down stairs and around corners and through doors to get anywhere else in the building - the old Jarvalt office is just plain weird, (and weirder still now - wow) if you wanted to expand anywhere - there is no plumbing on that floor (if you wanted to do a cafe there) - we heard the bank wanted to move their retail space down there, but E Maja juhatus wouldn't go for it because it would have orphaned the space upstairs (or a bunch of it) even more than it already is and permanently deep-sixed any hope for a public "welcome! Come in please the Estonia House" presence on Broadview...

Yeah, the vainglorious scheme to renovate everything and tack some sort of "National Gallery" ramp along the south side of the building from Broadview up to a "Grand" new foyer between a much-reduced kristall saal and suur saal - Really? Where can I get some of that acid, man? You still won't have lavatories accessible without stairs or elevators. You still won't have a decent cafe space. The commercial space would be even weirder still - add a ramp to the stairs, corners, doors and then more stairs, corners, doors, oops, up and now down again...

Spill the wine makes reference to the manager who used eStore as a personal sandbox. Ordered books and CDs from Estonia that did not move from the shelves. He is the one who should be looked at. Not the hardworking volunteer who had board members take the keys from her on Tuesday, effectively evicting someone, who was keeping a social hub in Eesti Maja open. First the kohvik, baar, then the store.... great business acumen, wonderful way of shutting the E House down as a meeting place. Thus clearing the way for the not-so-clear, opaque glass housw on Madison.

In reference to the Kohvik it was always a for profit organization which could not turn a profit, hence turnover in ownership

One day's notice? That is highly unprofessional. To do that shows that they had no respect for the person running the store. Smacks of people not having the time to manage a community centre making decisions willy-nilly. Why not let the store be if there is no potential alternate tenant? Why potentially stir up a hornet's nest of ill will in the community when you have better things to do?

They are snuffing out the community before a new structure can be built.

Strategy and track record to date:

- tick off a vast majority of seniors (potential donors for a new structure) with an attitude that "you don't matter since we are building a centre for the young" ... many are seething angry and are vowing to never set foot in the Madison building

- do nothing to make the downstairs cafe inviting and then close it down, so that there is no place for people in the community to "chill"

- close down the estore, which has turned into a gathering place for young and old

What's next? Can't wait.

Perhaps we should stick to facts and check out who the previous 2 managers/operators of the Kohvik were, it was a for profit they could not make a go of it. Many of their clientele used the facility but did not support it financially by bringing their coffee and foods(lunches, snacks etc.) from outside but found it a convenient venue to use as their living room.

Do you want to start a cafe or restaurant in the basement of a building with no foot traffic and where previous owners, despite valiant attempts, have been unable to turn a profit from the pateons within the regular visitors?

Who is supposed to pay to support keeping businesses open that dont make enough money to support their proprietors? Who can afford such goodwill?

The Estonian house board is just making fact what people have been doing for years - either spending elsewhere and coming by to chat or simply not coming at all. It is sad, but not how you imply.

Well, if there are willing applicants ready to take on the challenge to run the kohvik space, why not take them on? If rent is willing to be paid, how is this a problem to the EH? The question still stands, why not allow the space to generate income?

As to the store, the loss of potential income was brought forward. But there is no new tenant in place, so why shut it down?

These actions sure don't look like an effort to attract renters or support community activities.
Self fulfilling prophecy comes to mind.

Present EH board: pls let Ingrid Tanner in to beef up rentals by letting her in as a board member with equal standing to board meetings. Board, stop playing petty politics. You are squandering the present EH as a resource of the community.