Vancouver is such a city of contradictions: endorphin-inducing natural beauty and some of the tackiest housing and development in North America; the glass condos of Coal Harbour and the hovels of the Downtown Eastside.
One that has always perplexed me is how, in a city where it’s hard to find a shack with a piece of land for less than $700,000 at the least, the commercial streets near those pricey homes are often so down-market.
Near my home, whose assessment rose to the point this year where I no longer qualify for the full homeowner’s grant, it’s nothing but battery sales, Ethiopian restaurants, secondhand furniture, several truly grotty produce shops, print-and-sign operations, and a series of convenience stores run by immigrants desperately looking for a foothold in the new world.
Even in Kerrisdale, where the prices are triple and quadruple my dump, it’s not that much better. So I finally, in my latest Vancouver magazine column, tried to get some answers about this odd phenomenon.
22 responses so far ↓
1 Silly Season // Feb 3, 2015 at 5:50 pm
I’m giving up trying to see an end game that ends well for retail in the
current climate. Now, will they roll out restrictions in Kerrisdale and Dunbar re: retail vs. residential? I suppose one could say that Davie, Denman and Robson are ‘incubaters’ for the idea. Or, perhaps that they just have more voters at home than other areas?
2 Richard Wittstock // Feb 3, 2015 at 6:19 pm
As someone who is in the business of adding value to real estate, it is always frustrating to me to see properties that are not maximizing their potential. So I typically try to buy them and improve them. But many of these properties are held by people who (1) vastly overestimate their value, (2) aren’t motivated to sell, (3) don’t want to spend any money renovating, (4) aren’t sophisticated enough to attract better tenants, and, most significantly, (5) have held the properety for a long time and therefore would be facing a massive capital gains tax hit if they did sell.
If we changed the tax code to permit a capital gains rollover into a new investment, like they do in the US, you would see more transactions in the market and landlords wouldn’t be incented to just sit on properties and milk the cashflow until they die.
The flip side of this is, at least there are still areas where people can find space to rent for cheap. Unfortunately this is offset by steadily-rising property taxes as the land value continues to rise inexorably.
3 Lysenko's Nemesis // Feb 3, 2015 at 7:21 pm
Good points Richard. Especially, as you say, number 5. We see this everywhere, it’s a strange dichotomy.
4 Kirk // Feb 3, 2015 at 8:28 pm
Capital gains? Oh no! I can’t afford that! I made TOO MUCH money! 😉
5 Kirk // Feb 3, 2015 at 8:37 pm
How does it play out in other cities? Does Vancouver’s continuously, rapidly rising real estate values make us unique?
6 logan5 // Feb 3, 2015 at 10:39 pm
I don’t know what Main St. was like 20 years ago, but I presume it looked something like Victoria Dr does today. Or maybe Hastings-Sunrise. Bring in a diverse demographic and in stronger numbers and I believe neighbourhoods like Victoria Dr could become the next Main St., as long as the smaller scale stores are retained.
A lot of these residential with retail at street level go back to the 80’s, and they still attract a narrow band of clients, so clearly most small businesses aren’t interested in these types of retail spaces. Instead of occupying these generic spaces along Main St, you see places popping up at Kingsway and Fraser, where they can be creative with their storefront.
I don’t understand why the city allows developers to build these generic retail spaces over and over and over again. There is 30 years of evidence that they don’t work well at creating interesting and walk-able neighbourhoods.
7 Richard Wittstock // Feb 3, 2015 at 11:43 pm
Why sell when you could just refinance, take equity out tax-free and buy another property? A great strategy to build wealth but not helpful for those who would seek to invest in and improve a neighbourhood.
8 Rico Jorimann // Feb 4, 2015 at 5:42 am
My samle size may not be sufficient but seems to me all of the places I have visited have similar 3rd tier retail…ie don’t judge LA shopping by Rodeo drive or San Fransisco by Market street ect.
9 MichaelHere // Feb 4, 2015 at 7:19 am
regretfully do not read articles that do not allow me to see it all on one page. 6 pages on a digital device is stupid. Or just greedy. If you can post it here or get them to make it so we can read it like adults and not an advertising slave then yeah I want to read the rest of the article.
10 MichaelHere // Feb 4, 2015 at 7:23 am
diversity does nothing, what do you even mean by the term? cheap rental real estate ALWAYS kicks off a neighborhood resurgence. it is why ‘bohemian’ neighborhoods become … the Robsons and Yaletowns of the civilized world.
It is how urban ‘cool’ growth happens. Main is already on the way out…next area?
11 Lysenko's Nemesis // Feb 4, 2015 at 11:01 am
Not really unique. New York, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Stockholm, are all cities with higher real estate prices – that keep on rising. The only difference for Vancouver is that it doesn’t really have any industry, except for the Port.
12 IanS // Feb 4, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Good point. People generally act in a manner which is economically rational. If they can achieve their goals without paying the capital gains tax, why wouldn’t they?
13 Tiktaalik // Feb 4, 2015 at 2:49 pm
The city should be open minded and willing to try something fresh, because the current set of bylaws seems to encourage the development of some pretty lousy neighbourhoods. The Olympic Village for example is just inexcusably terrible. Big box stores, and national chains make up the majority of it. Oddly the areas main restaurants are three huge, indistinguishable “upscale casual” gastro pubs.
The fact that it seems like you have to be a massively capitalized corporate chain in order to even open a retail presence in a brand new Vancouver development doesn’t seem healthy for a city.
Terra Breads on the corner by the seawall saves the area from being a complete disaster.
14 logan5 // Feb 4, 2015 at 4:36 pm
Main St is diverse. Different age brackets and income brackets, and multi-cultural. So you see a “diverse” range of shops and services. A certain level of density is also required to energize a neighbourhood. I’m wondering how you couldn’t understand “diverse”.
I haven’t seen any indication that Main is on the way out. There are still plenty of independents (no pun intended), and the cheaper 3 story walk-ups aren’t going anywhere. The only people who think Main street is dying are the folks from the anti tower cult.
15 reader // Feb 4, 2015 at 8:21 pm
was it just me or did anyone else miss the gentle, but targetted, ethnic references in Bula’s piece? Korean, Chinese, monster houses, mis-use of the term “refugee” when referring to West End “refugees.” You killed your credibility, Frances, by singing the same old, disproven myth about an Asia invasion. It shows your true colours. Fact check: Holly Sovdi identifies as male, so you mis-assigned a gender when you referred to him as “she.”
16 francesbula // Feb 4, 2015 at 8:45 pm
Wow, this is what I love about social media — how it allows writers to see the way that a reader can completely bring his/her own prejudices, anticipation of crime, to a story that he/she can’t even really read what’s written.
I’m well aware that Holly is a man, since I interviewed him on the phone and did not mistake him for a deep-voiced woman. A copy editor changed it in the last of a half-dozen versions and I didn’t catch it. Someone let me know earlier today (in a kinder way than you did) and it’s being fixed. Maybe everything goes perfectly in your workplace. It doesn’t always in mine.
As for my subliminal message about an Asian invasion — what a very strange interpretation. Perhaps I needed to spell in out in VERY BIG LETTERS, but I think it’s pretty clear in my piece that the grubby little shops, some of which are run by Middle Eastern or Korean or Italian immigrants, some of which (like the sex shop at the beginning of the story) are run by white folks, are the original settlers on the land, not to be ousted by the newcomers — wealthier people of all origins. Around Main Street, it’s the professional (Caucasian or second-generation non-Caucasian) middle class invading, since the west side is too expensive for them.
I can only assume that you’ve never read anything else I’ve written or you’d realize how many times I’ve been pilloried by some people in this town for declining to participate in the myth of the Asian invasion.
17 reader // Feb 4, 2015 at 9:17 pm
fair enough.
18 Tiktaalik // Feb 4, 2015 at 10:40 pm
I really liked this piece Frances. Thanks for investigating this area. The dynamics that drive what areas revitalize and which become stagnant are interesting and I think still weakly understood. It’s interesting how decoupled residential is from commercial and I think it’s a very interesting topic worthy of more attention.
19 Ted Danton // Feb 6, 2015 at 2:07 am
its because vancouver is a poor city with low incomes and very poor opportunity to make a living…people dont have money to eat out or shop much, so retail in vancouver is 99 % low end…plus landlords in vancouver are very stingy, they dont like to put money into anything!!
20 Kirk // Feb 6, 2015 at 10:49 pm
I should clarify my question. I know other cities have “3rd tier” retail. But, in Vancouver, it’s in a neighbourhood of $1,500,000 homes. Is that unique to Vancouver? I walk by Frances’ house once in a while, and there’s a an ugly, beat up Vancouver Special on sale right now down the block for $1,250,000. The stores in the area cater to people living close to the poverty line. Will the stores eventually get gentrified away? Is that the pattern in other cities?
21 Everyman // Feb 7, 2015 at 5:21 pm
I suspect that Dunbar retail suffers from having a mix of older residents who don’t buy much and a lot of absentee owners.
22 Gerald Dobronov // Feb 10, 2015 at 8:03 pm
What a fascinating article. I’ve lived here for about 30 years and have rarely met a person who didn’t have a favourite low-rent shop or two that they use on a regular basis. Everyone likes to save a buck and these hardy stores offer good value and low stress. I hope they never disappear.