Gift shop owner, who can’t take it after five years on Davie, forced to close
Bruce Constantineau
Sun
Hemmed in by a wire-mesh fence, Dodi Market owner Myung Yim says sales are down 60 to 70 per cent since construction of the Canada Line began. Glenn Baglo/Vancouver Sun
When it comes to the Canada Line’s impact on Yaletown retailers, Davie Street and Pacific Boulevard is ground zero.
Fencing surrounds a flurry of activity taking place 16 metres below ground level, in what will eventually be the Yaletown-Roundhouse station.
But above ground, merchants struggle to survive. Pedestrian traffic is way down, and so are revenues.
Quizno’s sandwich shop sales? Down 40 per cent. Dodi Market convenience store sales? Down 60 per cent.
Obsessions gift shop co-owner Alex Barker can’t take it any more. After five years in Yaletown, he’s closing his Davie Street store permanently this week to focus on three other profitable stores in his Vancouver retail chain.
“Canada Line has shut us down at that location and almost bankrupted us,” Barker said in an interview. “We’ve had to re-mortgage our home to the absolute maximum, and now we’re back to square-one. But we’re lucky because at least we have the means to keep going.
“I feel sorry for the people who only have one-store operations. Their creditors will pursue them for years.”
Yaletown Business Improvement Association executive director Annette O’Shea said the pedestrian traffic count at Davie and Pacific has plummeted from 3,500 a day two years ago to just 100 a day.
“So if you rely on foot traffic, you’re severely challenged,” she said.
Barker said average weekly sales at his Yaletown store fell from about $8,700 in 2005 to $4,900 this year.
Canada Line construction began in early 2006.
“There are days when we have less than $200 in sales,” Barker said. “There is clearly no point in renewing our lease.”
Dodi Market owner Myung Yim said his landlord cut his rent by 15 per cent this year, saving him about $350 a month, but that barely makes a difference to his mounting debt. He uses a growing line of credit against his family home to pull him through, hoping business will surge after construction ends in 2009.
“I have to keep the business open because if I close, I’ll get nothing,” Yim said.
“Nobody will buy into this situation now. No one.”
O’Shea said seven out of 16 Yaletown “fence-line merchants” — those who front the construction zone — have closed since construction began.
Her association has adopted several strategies to offset the damage, including doubling its marketing budget, producing shopping flyers, beefing up security in the area, and holding street festivals to draw pedestrian traffic to Yaletown.
Canada Line officials say they have helped where they can — by improving lighting, helping with security, building straighter fences to avoid creating corners, improving signage, promoting shopping in the area and improving Bill Curtis Plaza (at Davie and Maitland) to make it more appealing, and building a bridge on Mainland Street that runs over Davie.
But they insist there’s nothing they can do about providing compensation, which has become the universal demand from almost every embattled Canada Line retailer.
Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. representative Alan Dever said there is simply no legislative environment in Canada to provide compensation for losses due to construction of public infrastructure projects.
“I don’t know what type of program you could put together,” he said in an interview. “How do you decide who gets help and who doesn’t? What do you do?
“That whole issue is really a larger debate, and there’s a good discussion to be had about the effect on some for the benefit of many. Then there’s the question of long-term benefit. Who’s going to benefit the most from having a station right across from their door?”
Canada Line officials say the disruption to Yaletown will be severely curtailed in about a year after completion of the Yaletown station’s exterior.
O’Shea said Canada Line’s disruption to Cambie Street merchants has received the most attention, but stressed that the damage to Yaletown retailers is just as severe.
“A 75-per-cent drop in sales hurts just as much here as it does when it’s experienced by someone on Cambie,” she said.
Her association won’t launch a lawsuit to press for government compensation for retailers, but it feels strongly that compensation should be paid.
“It’s amazing to me that three levels of government did not anticipate this kind of damage,” O’Shea said. “This isn’t some small construction project. It’s years and years of closed streets, and I question the idea that it’s for the greater good.
“How much greater does the good have to be to pay for the businesses that are dying here?”
Opus Hotel general manager Daniel Craig said all guests who reserve a room at the popular boutique hotel are told about the construction so they’re not shocked upon arrival.
He said the project has clearly hurt business, but feels any losses — especially in walk-in business — have been offset by gains in group sales and off-site catering.
“The construction presents a visual challenge but fortunately, we have a very loyal clientele,” Craig said. “There are not a lot of other options in Vancouver if you want to patronize a contemporary boutique hotel.”
Browns Restaurant Bar owner Bill Marsh said his Mainland Street establishment offset the Canada Line impact by making the premises as appealing as possible. Project construction began shortly after his bar opened.
“We looked at our own internal systems to make sure our food quality and service were where they needed to be,” Marsh said. “We also renovated a year after opening because the room just wasn’t where it needed to be. It made us a stronger business in the long run, and our sales improved by 30 per cent last year.”
He said some of the improved business came after the Mainland Street bridge, but also credits the bar’s improved food, service and look.
“There’s two ways to look at this,” Marsh said. “You can say everything that is wrong with my business is because of this giant hole in the ground, or you can look internally and fix what you can. That’s what we did.
“When that first train drops off everybody at Yaletown station, it’s going to be a great thing for this area. Fortunately, I’m one of the lucky ones that’s been able to ride things out.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
