The travails of Sears Canada and Hudson’s Bay – not to mention the self-destruction of Target in this country – hog the headlines about suffering and stunted retailers.
There is more of this mess to come as bricks and mortar battle bytes and mouse for the choosy consumer. The future of the shopping mall is unclear when anchor stores falter, and the retail landscape is shifting so quickly with the newest generation of consumer that you can go from hot to cold faster than a faucet.
Much as these national outlets are important, more intrinsic to our values are the local merchants. Their woes rarely make the news. They tend to suffer and seethe in silence, but if you broach a discussion on their troubles, be ready to spend some time talking. I did last week, once on the west side and once on the east side, and I heard a consistent chorus.
The recent city rejection of the 105 Keefer Street development proposal in Chinatown, after a community uprising rarely witnessed, was a teachable moment about the community’s concerns to preserve the identities of our districts.
What we are not amply discussing as a city is how – in this age of e-commerce and category-killing retail behemoths like Amazon, Walmart, Chapters/Indigo and the like – we can retain the quaint, hometown feel of the store as Vancouver builds upwards more than outwards.
The land value in this city is partly what is rapidly closing the walls in on the vast array of local retail. Rents are moving out of sight, taxes are imbalanced with those on residential properties, and the global reality of cheaper and plentiful goods and services only suffocates. It would take more than the length of this column to cite all the examples as one drives around the city and sees leasing signs.
As zoned property is redeveloped for more density, we are also witnessing the evaporation of the local merchant presence on many new ground-floor designs. Mainly it is just an unaffordable option – a worrisome commercial equivalent of the renoviction.
Unquestionably, the ad hoc nature of our planning is a contributing factor. We aren’t tracking what we’re losing in these circumstances. It has been apparent for some time that Vancouver needs to catch its breath and develop a new city-wide plan in conjunction with the community.
A congruent element of that plan would be an insightful strategy to engineer an evident local presence at retail. It could involve easing of regulations, incentives for longevity, or encouragement of mixed-use developments.
It would have the effect of creating more intimacy and community, of affording more opportunity for families to stay put, and of generating jobs for walking-distance young people as they continue education and start careers, and of keeping money in the city. It also offers a more personable, accessible arrangement to serve what the millennial consumer now demands as an experience.
A helping hand does not have to be a handout. But if we want this ingredient to be encouraged as we densify our districts, we are going to have to adapt the economic framework for locally owned operations. We will have to recognize how a changed context requires a clever response.
While these merchants have worthy and crafty business improvement associations to represent them – to a person they are superb in their commitment to maximize the marketing of their neighbourhoods – it is evident that their larger message isn’t moving the political masters sufficiently to avoid unnecessary carnage.
What we risk as a growing city is a loss of the familiar store and staff. Our community’s character is sculpted, in part, by the service that takes the time to know us. To be clear: this isn’t purely for the city’s agenda, either. There are ways in which provincial and federal governments can be friendlier.
It should not be a nostalgic wish or an impractical ideal to retain that quality where we live. But we need an urgent conversation in these circumstances before the situation becomes catastrophic.
We might be wiser to spend more time thinking of empty stores than of empty homes.
Kirk LaPointe is Business in Vancouver’s vice-president of audience and business development.
