CORNWALL Ontario – In a recent Freeholder story Economic Development officer Bob Peters goes on about our amazing “growth” in Cornwall; but are we really growing economically? The city cites new distribution centre jobs, but doesn’t count the loss of our call centres; nor does it focus on recent job losses at Union shops like Sensient Flavors, Phillips, or the other shut downs that impact so many better paying jobs in our area.
In downtown Cornwall we are in the process of seeing at least three doors shut down; Tweed & Hickory, Habitat (which is moving to Brockville) and Needle in a Haystack. Others are struggling to keep afloat and Cornwall Square will have a huge empty hole as anchor tenant No Frills leaves the downtown core without a grocer. Their other anchor tenant is Sears Canada who also are struggling.
Cornwall has agreed to give Smart Centres a bag of financial incentives to build in Cornwall; but who will pay for that? Doesn’t that Corporate welfare put a larger burden on the business tax rate while they have to struggle to compete with the new stores?
I spoke with Rob Csernyik, the owner of Habitat about Cornwall and his store:
CFN: What attracted you to Cornwall and in particular opening up your business here?
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ROB: I was first attracted to opening up a business in Cornwall in 2009 when I was living in the West Island of Montreal. I was interested in opening a home decor store and felt that by opening in a small market, it would be more affordable to start up, that I could cater to an underserved audience and that I could grow the business more easily due to fewer direct competitors.
Some of the things that attracted me specifically to Cornwall were the size of the trade area, the mature population, the affordable commercial rents, the confidence of national retailers in opening new stores here and the upward trend in the development of the downtown area. I also liked that there were a variety of support systems for businesses like the Chamber of Commerce and the SBDC as well as other networking groups and organizations.
Downtown Cornwall appeared to have strong foot traffic, but after over six months here I can say that the baseline of foot traffic is actually quite low. For any new retail business to succeed here, foot traffic would have to improve dramatically. The fact that Downtown Cornwall is a transit hub makes it look like a lot more people are around “shopping” than there actually are. While downtown rents are affordable compared to a city like Montreal, they are high when you consider the low amount of foot traffic.
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CFN: What was the concept of Habitat and what should Brockville be expecting?
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ROB: The concept for Habitat was an affordable specialty home decor store with a focus on colourful and contemporary items. In my experience visiting home decor stores in various cities across the country I found that a lot of them catered to high price points and that many of them carried the exact same stock. By bringing in goods from a wide variety of sources, I was able to achieve an eclectic and unique product mix that you couldn’t find elsewhere in the market. Like larger home decor chains that people love, items at Habitat were grouped by department and use and presented in a simple, modern setting. Unlike many smaller home decor stores, we kept a focus on the home instead of offering other product lines like giftware and clothing.
Brockville can expect a similar basic concept but there will be tweaks to the formula to reflect customer tastes including a branding change.
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CFN: Why are you switching from Cornwall to Brockville which has half the population of our fair city?
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ROB: Brockville had always been on my mind as a future market for Habitat, so it’s a natural progression to move the business there. I’d been actively researching the particular location I’m moving to since March. (Though it was originally viewed as a potential second location.) Even though Brockville is half the size of Cornwall, the trade area for Brockville is 100,000, their downtown boasts double the number of businesses of Downtown Cornwall and there is a greater amount of tourist traffic in their downtown due to the marina and the Thousand Islands.
In Brockville I found a great location at King Street West and Perth Street that will dramatically reduce my rent costs each my month compared to what I pay in Cornwall. When you partner this with the increased foot traffic within Downtown Brockville and the ability to benefit from the DBIA’s events and marketing, the option is extremely attractive. I would be remiss not to add that I have an option for part-time work with the Brockville store option that I lacked in Cornwall. This allows the business a bit more breathing room as it grows and helps to lower our breakeven requirement.
If I had April’s revenues in Brockville, I would need to increase the store’s traffic by only 60 people to reach breakeven. To increase those revenues to the breakeven point in Downtown Cornwall, I would need an 204 extra people to come in. Based on my calculations the first number is not unreasonable to achieve or surpass while the second would be virtually impossible given my experiences here in Cornwall.
I had been patiently waiting out the winter because January, February and March are the worst months for most retailers. Combining this with the fact that Habitat was a new business and the weather was consistently terrible, it was a nail-biting first few months in business. Though our numbers grew month-over-month, by the time the spring hit our customer traffic and sales dropped dramatically. Bucking all conventional wisdom, May was my worst month yet.
Without meeting key revenue benchmarks I had to start asking questions about the viability of Habitat in this market. I knew Habitat could not grow enough to justify staying in this location and with my lease renewal looming, I would have to move or close the business. Staying downtown would have solved none of our problems. Other spaces lease for comparable rates to what we currently pay and there would be no major difference in foot traffic. More affordable spaces in Cornwall had already been deemed unfeasible when I first scouted locations.
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CFN: What will you miss most about Cornwall?
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ROB: I’ve been lucky to meet some great customers here and I’ll miss having them pop by the store. Hopefully, they will come visit the new store in Brockville. I’ll also miss going to The Grind for coffee or getting giant sandwiches from Riley’s Bakery.
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CFN: What strikes you as some of the differences between Cornwall and Brockville?
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ROB: A lot of people I’ve spoken with seem to have a “Cornwall=Bad, Brockville=Good” attitude which I think is nearsighted and isn’t often grounded in anything specific. There are positive and negative points to any city. The reality of living somewhere or doing business somewhere often sits in the middle of those two extremes.
On some levels I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two downtowns. For instance, while Downtown Brockville does have double the businesses of Downtown Cornwall, Cornwall has two areas that function as downtowns (Le Village being the other) so there is obviously less density and foot traffic. As Cornwall isn’t located adjacent to the Thousand Islands, it’s also not realistic to directly compare tourism traffic.
What is a reasonable comparison, and, what is one of the key differences that has helped me make the decision to relocate my business are the events and marketing done by the DBIA in Brockville. When I think about how to get the level of foot traffic I need, it isn’t enough to just market myself, I need to be involved in collective events and promotions. In Downtown Brockville’s event and marketing plans I could see direct ways that my business would benefit.
I attended the annual general meeting for the Downtown Cornwall DBIA and while I think they do a good job in certain parts of their portfolio, I feel the events and marketing end has a lot of room for improvement. Downtown Brockville has eight major shopping events throughout the year in addition to smaller ones. Their calendar for the rest of 2014 is already set and business can make projections and plan sales accordingly.
I opened in Downtown Cornwall last December 7th and since that date I have seen no events or marketing come forth from the DBIA. Given the recent closures of several downtown businesses this needs to be a stronger component in their operations going forward. Events that are relevant to consumers are the best bet the downtown has to increase foot traffic in the short term. Both myself and Tricot Treat Imports cited foot traffic as reasons for closing up shop downtown within the last few months. I think the conversation needs to shift to instead of talking about how far the downtown has come to talking about what needs to be done to further improve it and to create a healthier environment for new businesses.
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Clearly we are failing as a city to help our own economy and downtown core while our well paid officials spout praise which really isn’t being truthful with the public. When a savvy smart young business person invests in Cornwall and then decides to move shop only an hour away to a city of half our population that should be the proverbial canary in a coal mine?
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When the CFIB and MoneySense keep ranking Cornwall at the bottom of their charts year after year that also should be a clue that there may be an issue as opposed to statements from our mayor and chamber president that it’s simply a problem with the ranking system.
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We had a downtown Farmer’s market that was very well received. I know this as we were a part of its success those first two years. It literally was killed by Heart of the City’s Denis Carr and the DBIA. Why did that happen? Why was it pushed to fail? It wasn’t hurting our city or costing much if anything? And it brought people downtown on a Saturday morning which clearly isn’t happening now.
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Mr. Csernyik pointed to a lack of events by the DBIA. Why is the DBIA all but invisible? Why did they stop supporting Lift Off? Why do they boycott this newspaper? Why isn’t there more coverage of the DBIA in the media that they don’t boycott?
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There needs to be a clear plan and joint action between the city and downtown business instead of secret waterfront meetings between the mayor and the Federal government.
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Looking again at Brockville, when they had their growth spurt with big box stores near the highway it impacted their downtown core; but look at what they’ve done to rejuvenate it and look at their success.
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Cornwall needs more than flower pots and chairs in parking lots.
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Businesses need to be able to feel comfortable setting up shop. Our permit department needs to either improve and adapt or certain staff need to be replaced. Restaurants should never have to wait a year to open. Businesses should not see events hurt while City Hall messes with their liquor license applications because of over zealous fire inspectors who own fire service businesses in contradiction to the city’s own conflict of interest policy.
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Mostly it comes down to wanting to improve things. We in Cornwall collectively have to change our culture to attract business and talent rather than scare it away as more and more people leave. It’s as simple as that and it starts with our own Chamber of Commerce, DBIA, City Hall.
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It clearly is time for some actual new blood. Not just replacing one bobble head with another.
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Cornwall can be a place of opportunity; but not the way it’s being done today. We need to attract young entrepreneurs just as much as we do other businesses.
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Rob Brockville at one time had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in Canada. To the best of my knowledge this hasn’t changed (any change would likely be minor at best anyways). Brockville has been a forward looking community and Cornwall’s loss will be Brockville’s gain and I wish you great success. You display a winning attitude.
Good article for 99% of the time. Very interesting to read an interview with someone closing up shop. It’s much like progressive companies are doing where someone who quits (if on relatively good terms) is asked to provide an exit interview with Human Resources. “why are you quiting?” “is there something at this company that should be done differently to retain good resources?” etc. etc. Very valuable information.
Where you lost the 1% though Jamie was at the very end. You start with a great interview…then you editorially ask the readers good questions to make them think…and then BAM! you resort back to name-calling with the Bobble-head comment.
You need to stop that if you want to be taken seriously.
Marc, the bobble head comment comes directly from a CBC review of a recent book in which the author interviews a large number of sitting MPs and MPPs. They describe themselves as bobble head dolls and trained seals. Bobble head is now a colloquialism for political appointees who have very little choice or inclination but to simply agree with what the leaders say. Bobble heads take no action on their own and have no initiative.
The book I was referring to is “Tragedy In the Commons” by Allison Loat & Micheal MacMillan. Reviews can be found on http://www.samaracanada.com/our-book.
Unfortunately the Bobble Head reference applies to the Cornwall political scene. The reference was appropriate simply because it is the reality of the Cornwall situation. One could refrain from calling a spade a spade but look where it has taken us so far. Marc, I would respectfully suggest that we are long overdue is telling it like it is instead of blindly following/accepting the current leaderships style of avoidance of admitting the truth, on a number of levels. What do you want the future to look like?
I think it’s sad that we’re losing three more businesses in the downtown area. But all cities go through cycles. I think the DBIA needs to take a serious look at what is happening and why. And yet another reason to clean sweep most of city council come election time.
I second that comment of Hugger1. Time for change..
Great article Jamie and I like and agree with the comments made by your readers. So sorry to see another small business leave our downtown core and wish the best to Mr.Csernyik in moving Habitat to Brockville.This trend will continue and worsen as more and more small businesses move out of Cornwall as this trend seems to be happening more often. I feel that if we re-elect any of the people who have already been sitting around the council table for the past seven plus years our cities future will be doomed. The election this fall will be very important if Cornwall is to ever prosper as it should and that it is very important to vote responsibly and vote for a complete change at city hall. I wonder why no one is stepping up to take blame for this cities failure or at least try to come up with a reasonable solution? Well Done CFN.
Mr. Oldham is very right indeed when he said that Brockville had the most millionaires in Canada and I knew that since I was a child. Cornwall is a nothing compared to a lot of towns half its size and I know that from many people. We had friends who had a business in Brockville and then they moved to Cornwall and they are from Ottawa. When my husband told them that they should have moved to Cornwall instead they just roared with laughter thinking that my husband was giving them a good joke. Cornwall has lost many great and wonderful opportunities both by BOBBLE HEAD #1 I also have better names for him besides Bare Ass along with his BOBBLE HEAD council – none have any brains nor vision and only there to scam the people. If you all do not wake up very bad things will happen. I will give you a site to read – news about condos and keep Bare Ass and his BOBBLE HEADS in mind.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/too-many-condos-cause-housing-121411076.html
In the major cities like Toronto and Montreal and yes even here in Ottawa it is hard to sell condos and it is all a scam and read the comments section to see what people are saying. Think about your idiots running Cornwall and I have other names that Jamie will not print but believe me they are bad mighty bad. Cornwall’s leadership is a complete and utter failure. Back in the 50, 60’s and 70’s Cornwall literally thrived and you could hardly walk the streets with so many people. I am really surprised that Riley’s Bakery is still in business and it was a great deal better in past years than what it is today. I miss the past very much. It is long past due to throw out the garbage (garbage in, garbage out).
Excellent points made here Jamie. May be the city’s last chance to improve before reaching the point of no return.
Remember the wonderful welcome given to the Federal call centre that was built on Campbell Avenue in the east end?
It’s an area that is poorly served by public transit, with no local businesses within a walk, and it’s not owned by the government at all… they could pack up and leave overnight.
But the sale served the short term purposes of a lazy ineffective mayor and council… and it certainly lined the pockets of the two realtors that handled the deal.
Meanwhile, there is a vacant lot at 6th and Sydney and there was a soon to be vacant school at 8th and Sydney… perfect downtown locations that would have allowed foot traffic to nearby businesses and eateries.
And of course we have backroom deals elsewhere that look good on paper but drain the city while our officials inflate their egos, wallets by for instance making us slaves to the richest corporation around– as though Wal-Mart needs freebies and multi-million dollar incentives to move across the road and leave a big vacant white elephant behind them — now Wal-Mart by swallowing up SCM is our biggest employer of low paid non-unionized foreign workers.
Yes indeed, that’s progress.
Make that last line:
“now foreign owned Wal-Mart — by swallowing up SCM — is our biggest employer of low paid non-unionized workers.”
And don’t get me started on how all the Cornwall taxpayer subsidized development and tax incentives to the transportation and warehouse developments in our industrial park have sparked a real estate and tax base boom for South Glengarry and Glen Walter.
Just look at the new trucking and service centre facilities that have grown around their side of Boundary Road and the 401.
Time to quit talking… it’s time to expand our tax base and expand Cornwall into these areas that love our services and public facilities but don’t want to pay our taxes.
And another plus… it will then make a good chunk of our firefighters, police officers and city workers actual residents of the city that pays them (we can get another chunk of them when we gobble up Long Sault and Ingleside).
What really got me was reading how Bob Peters was in the freeloader looking like it’s all because of him we have a great city, new businesses, growth bla bla bla. I want Bob Peters to talk about the many companies and stores that have closed up shop in this town, so what about the bridge, that was old news 3 years ago along the Benson Centre, Shoppers, Target, you really are a piece of work Peters to sit there and go on and on about the great city of Cornwall but no mention of all the lies and corruption that truly is part of this city, including who you really are. The entire working force at the city see’s just how you have your own group of friends, your own kid included published in magazines because you say it promotes Cornwall, well I say BS, you do it to promote your group of trash and all this paid for by our tax dollars. The entire work force at the city knows full well just how you rented and paid for on a city credit card so called friends with benefits while out of the country on business, which got you fired but re-hired by our very own corrupt Mayor Bob Kilger, well that one proved you are both of the same skin because he likes to cheat too, and as we know have babies behind his own wife’s back. You want to sit looking great holding your City paid blackberry, sit there and tell the whole truth of what you and your department is really about, including the lined pockets, free stuff to take home and give to your click or keep for your selfish self. Team Cornwall with Gilles Latour is nothing short of a scam in itself and the sooner Cornwall wakes up too all this BS, vote in a new council and mayor who I hope would have to brains to fire the likes of you and others, the sooner this city can move forward.
Politicians and upper city management in most cities will only tell you about the good things, not the stores closing or job losses. Kind of sucks.
Hey Jamie…
Tweed and hickory is also closing its downtown Kingston location, maybe they are retiring and liquidating assets.
On a side note… looks like your good old “social media guru” friend’s wife is opening some sort of organic food store downtown, I’m sure their permits will be expedited.
Faster than the Port’s liquor license will be for sure. That being noted I like Joey’s better half and I think it’s a great idea especially with No Frills shuttering down. I wish them nothing but the best and it’ll be interesting to see if they boycott the largest media in their city or reach out and allow us to help them make a success of their venture?
American Standard is closing before the end of the year too moving to the US. More jobs lost
Terrible to think that so much of the tax payers money was spent on Pitt St. to still here theres no business there,very wasteful council.Another Quebecor who believed he could do business and make money in Cornwall,did it 2 times myself and ill never do it again,but now im in Quebec and no waiting on permits , police harassment , and the one thing i don’t have to look at is the poverty of the young you have to live with them to know how deep it goes .
What does the city have to do with The Port getting a liquor license? Aren’t liquor licenses handled by LLBO?
Hugger you need fire and other permits. Apparently the Port had some issues with the fire inspector and other departments and had several shows not be able to serve alcohol after doing several with no issue.
And people why businesses hate dealing with city hall or for that matter any government.
Think about why businesses are leaving Cornwall and think logically. The vast majority of the population of Cornwall does not work and are either retired, ODSP, or welfare. Most who work are at minimum wage. The vast majority of the population are elderly and most on fixed incomes. The high taxes drive businesses away and so does Bare Ass and his crooked company. Cornwall is situated in the very right place but there are many factors that bring it down. The best is to amalgamate with the communities around you and nobody gets a free ride and everyone must pay. I have brought that up before and believe me that is the only way to survive. Things are going to get a great deal worse than what they are just now. Everyone must pull together. It is completely and totally ridiculous to wait so long to get a permit to make a business – no wonder so many are driven away. When you get a stupid and weak administration like that it deters everyone from going down there.
There is little that any city, town, or municipality in Ontario can do to retain or attract decent paying manufacturing jobs. That train pulled out in 1988 with the Mulroney / Reagan trade deal. With a stroke of a pen, our whole manufacturing economy was handed over to the ruling elites and their stock traders.
I do have an idea and that is to take part of Pitt Street where the businesses have left and maybe make it something like Sparks Street Mall here in Ottawa. That is what George Assaly tried to do in past years but without success. I don’t know what the rest of you think. I find Cornwall’s streets too narrow for the buses to go in another direction but being that you all live down there maybe you all can share some light on this to make it better for people to shop.
Agree with Furtz.
AS for making a pedestrian mall out of Pitt Street I don’t know if that would work. Pitt Street is not very wide and width is needed for a pedestrian mall to be successful. Also a good mix of retailers is needed.
Furtz remember when we were talking about Lying Brian Mulroney and the Bush clan and Reagan taking jobs overseas. Well in today’s news a car plant in China had both a horrible accident and fatalities. Everything is made fast and out to the suckers (we are the suckers) to feather the pockets of the filthy elite. Read the article and read what people are posting. This isn’t the first time that these things have happened even in clothing industries in Pakistan and other places.
Explosion at car parts factory in eastern China kills 68 people, injures nearly 200
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/explosion-car-parts
All we have today is junk and at top dollar. These poor people are suffering and they even have their kids tied outside like dogs while the parents work inside the plants whether it be clothing or car parts or any other. We have to boycott a lot of things so as to screw the rich elites and bring back our industries.
We tried Pitt street as a pedestrian mall. With no parking, nobody went. So they tore it all up again and put 3 parking spots here…3 parking spots there..it’s a weird street. I don’t have the answers…just pointing out that it’s been tried.
Yes I agree with you Mark that parking is a big problem and the worst is right here in Ottawa during the day. A lot of people go to work here by bus and walk the rest of the way. The parking fees here are enormously high if you can find a place which would be a miracle. If you go to the parking lots a lot of times they are full and the person at the gate cannot allow you in. I know what all of you mean with the parking. What I was thinking was to have those stores restored and have access to wheelchairs for the disabled and elderly to get around and people who are well can have parking available somewhere nearby. This is what I thought about to encourage businesses downtown. It was just a thought but I thought that I would mention it.
Hugger I agree fully with you that Pitt Street and all the streets in Cornwall are mighty narrow and not wide enough for a really good mall and yes you need a variety of stores and that is what I had in mind. The problem is that it costs money. Mr. George Assaly had a wonderful idea and I always had the same idea but like Mark said that there is no parking for cars as well. Hugger you were born and brought up here in Ottawa and lived here a long time and you know the parking problem here. The downtown is the worst of all. If the people of Cornwall feel that parking is a hazard down there they haven’t seen anything. When we go downtown we always take the buses to get there and walk down to where we want to go. It is totally and completely insane.
Every time we go down to Cornwall it is a mighty sad and sorry site. Back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s era Cornwall thrived. When NAFTA, CAFTA and all this globalization kicked in Cornwall died and I mean died. It is like going to visit a graveyard it is gone unless a miracle is pulled out of a hat. Well educated people have left because there is nothing left to go to. Jamie how are you going to keep young people in Cornwall when there is nothing to live for down there. People left in much better times than what you see today. I think that they knew that all of this was coming. Since Bare Ass came in as mayor the town really deteriorated. Like I said it would take a miracle to bring things back again.
There is always talk about developing the waterfront as an economic shot in the arm for Cornwall’s downtown… but why not just dredge up all of Lamoureux Park, right up to First and Pitt — Ta-Da! Bring the river to Mohammed (PBUH).
Grant and Malyon will continue getting rich, the way they do now when we taxpayers subsidize and outright pay for the new infrastructure and the tax handouts given to wealthy companies by “friends” at City Hall.
And maybe Bar Q, Schnitzels and Truffles could put in swim-up bars for the new “wave” of business.
@Marc Houde …the pedestrian mall you talk about was destined to fail before it was even begun.
I researched the city records at the library 28 years ago to discover that the city council of the day hired a consulting firm at significant expense only to learn that the project had an 80% chance of failure. Not satisfied that they got the correct answer they hired another consulting firm and received exactly the same results. Council then decided that neither consulting firm knew what they were talking about and voted to go against both reports and go ahead with the project.
Most of us know how that ended.
The legacy concept which has cost the Cornwall taxpayer so dearly on a number of levels is something we as a community need to put a stop to. An arena built on the best real estate in the city instead of in a central location so that the waterfront could be properly be developed. A mall which bastardized a beautiful green space in the heart of the city instead of being located on Brookdale North at the 401 interchange. Visibility, expansion, traffic and less interference with the existing downtown community were totally taken out of the decision making process. Think about it, our bus service would have improved and operational costs would have benefited not to mention all businesses along Brookdale likely realizing additional traffic.
This fall is a golden opportunity to bring about positive change by completely changing the individuals around the horseshoe at city hall.
David the problem is that at least so far; there are not enough valid replacement candidates to do so. A lot of replacement bobble heads that don’t think for themselves…
@Furtz … the shift in world economics was already in full swing before the free trade deal was inked. Manufacturing was already quietly leaving to areas in the pacific rim, union demands in the mid eighties sped up the process of sending jobs to business friendly environments around the globe. Not to bash unions they definitely filled a need after the depression, but unions in their thirst for money and power forgot that the basic premise of business is to turn a profit and that extortion was best left to the Chinese and the corrupt economic system in the Soviet Union. Regardless of union greed manufacturing in north American had reached the end of the ride and the economic model was changing to meet the Digital Age.
I remember when my dad worked at the Cotton Mill in Cornwall and his last day of work was back in 1960 and the weaving shed went over to Venezuela back then. Back in the 80’s era Domtar was getting fines and horrendous fines because of air and water pollution and so much so that they couldn’t afford to keep the mill in Cornwall nor Canada anymore so they took off for China. The same holds true for Courthaulds because of the horrible smell in the air and they too could no longer continue. These big industries found that our Canadian incomes were getting too high for what the job entailed so they took their business elsewhere like any intelligent person would do. Canada is going downhill just like the US and the rest of the world so be prepared for a global economic depression coming our way. My husband and I were talking about this very same thing this morning. Yesterday I saw in a headline that 35 companies are closing down in the US and I forgot to go back and read on it. The US is bankrupt and that is all I read about and yes be prepared because there is no recovery. The governments of the world are trying to passify the people from going nuts but it is coming. What goes up must come down – remember that old sixties song – spinning wheels got to go round (and the song continues and how very true).
Tweed & Hickory are also closing their Kingston and Timmins locations. Perhaps the owners are retiring or have had enough of the rat race and couldn’t find buyers for the stores. Needle in a Haystack and Habitat are closing; all small businesses. It’s hard for small businesses to survive. They have to find the right city / location / clientele. If they don’t find the right combination they won’t survive. The owner of Habitat is moving his store to Brockville. Obviously he feels Brockville is a better fit for his store than Cornwall. This cannot be pinned solely on Cornwall. Small business close all the time. Take a look at Toronto. There are some areas being hit with closures worse than here.
I was by “Habitat” today. A new store is opening there in September. Why do you never mention new stores opening and just stores closing?
Hugger we mention new stores when new stores contact us.