The last stand of old Robson
John Mackie
Sun
Vancouver Sun / The S’il Vous Plait diner was one of seven small, independent retailers in the old commercial building on the south side of the 500-block of Robson Street. Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider, VANCOUVER SUN
With its vintage booths, vintage stools and vintage menu, Cafe S’il Vous Plait was a throwback to another era, a 1940s diner amidst the hustle and bustle of ultra-modern Robson street.
That era just came to an end. On May 31, the restaurant closed, unable to make ends meet after its rent was doubled to $7,800 per month.
Its building may not be around much longer, either. An artist’s conception for a new retail complex at 500 Robson has gone up on Cafe S’il Vous Plait’s awning featuring a Nike outlet, the American gourmet food store Dean & Deluca, and something called Bahay-Izakaya (Izakaya is a type of Japanese bar).
The new retail complex looks very modern, but generic — big windows, white facade, glass canopy. It’s a far cry from the current building, which is one of Vancouver‘s last art deco retail fronts, and one of Robson’s last outposts of small independent retailers.
The building is looking a little rough, with peeling paint and awnings covered in grime. But it retains its original black subway tiles and deco lines, and is a wonderful jumble of loud paint colours — yellow, green, orange, maroon.
The wild colours reflect the wide variety of businesses within. Cafe S’il Vous Plait was on the corner at 500 Robson. Next door is Falafel Maison, then a vacant space that used to be Shoe Renu, who moved out last month. Robson Flowers, Waverly Barbers and Stylists, Vietsub Vietnamese Cuisine and Storm Salon complete the block.
The smaller stores occupy 400 sq. ft. spaces. Falafel Maison pays $5,000 per month on a month-to-month lease, double what it paid to the previous owner of the property, Mary Siebold.
Siebold sold the building and a lot next door to East Robson Holdings in March 2008 for $6,515,000. A spokesman for East Robson was unavailable for comment, but the high price the company paid for the property may mean the site will eventually be razed for a condo development. The six lots behind 500 Robson are currently a parking lot, with five of the six lots owned by Paul Y Construction, a Hong Kong company.
If the building does get torn down, or is renovated into something contemporary, Hassan Alawie of Falafel Maison said downtown will lose part of its personality.
“If you walk down Robson street, you see everything modern,” said Alawie.
“You don’t see a building like this anymore, old heritage. It’s kind of nice for people, coming into a heritage building instead of modern. It’s the only thing that’s different, it gives personality to Robson, you know what I mean?”
Heritage advocate John Atkin concurs.
“It would be a real pity to lose such an original 1920s retail block that still survives in essentially original condition, and that actually has useful businesses,” he said.
“Cafe S’il Vous Plait is a wonderful throwback, but it’s also a viable place . . . it’s one of the best cafes that is still intact in Vancouver. It would be a real pity to see this thing renovated beyond recognition, because it’s quite rare.”
A restaurant has been at 500 Robson since 1947, when Ted Lucich opened Teddy’s Snack Bar at the corner of Robson and Richards. It remained Teddy’s Snack Bar until 1987, when it became Cafe S’il Vous Plait. The Cafe’s last owner, Kyung Wook Kim, took over in 1989.
The building isn’t on the Vancouver heritage register, but it does have an interesting history. To begin with, it’s two buildings that have been stitched together. The western side of the block (530 to 548 Robson) was built in 1925, the eastern side (500 to 520 Robson) was built in 1938.
All sorts of businesses operated there over the years — groceries, tattoo parlours, tobacconists — but there have been several long term tenants.
The Strand Barber Shop moved into 536 Robson in 1929 and stayed until 1973, while shoe repair shops rented 520 Robson since 1954. The last shoe guy left his red and green neon “Shoe Renu” sign in the window, along with a hand-written sign reading “Unclaimed shoe $5, boot $20.”
Given the economic downturn, it’s hard to say how quickly the building will be redeveloped. But even if it isn’t torn down, it could use some renovations.
“The roof on it is falling apart, there’s issues with the plumbing,” said Simon Coutts of Simon’s Bike Shop, who used to rent space in the building.
“There’s been no real maintenance done on it in 40 or 50 years. Have you seen the size of the bathrooms? They don’t conform to anything.”
As a small retailer, Coutts feels for the current tenants. But he knows that when somebody pays $6.5 million for a building, they’re not going to keep cheap rents.
“The guy basically said I’ve paid so much for this building I have to recoup some of my costs,” said Coutts.
“Mrs. Siebold didn’t give many increases over 20 years, if any. Very old-school, keep everything the same.”
Coutts rents a space at 608 Robson for his bike store, but purchased a small building on Seymour just in case his current locale is redeveloped. He said given the high price of real estate, and rents, it’s hard for an independent retailer to make a go of it downtown.
“The only guys that are still here are the corporates,” he said.
“And more so than ever, in this area. The downtown core is corporate.”
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
