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Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) news and issues


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#161 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 14 February 2021 - 06:15 PM

The Downtown Victoria Business Association will extend its Downtown Delivers campaign, which delivers orders from downtown retailers and restaurants to homes around the region, until the end of March.

 

______________

 

Since it started, the DVBA’s program has covered more than $70,000 in local delivery costs for its members and means downtown businesses can offer free delivery to their customers without a cost to themselves.

 

https://www.timescol...arch-1.24281730

 

 

 

not to rain on this parade.  but if the average delivery cost is $6 that is only 11,600 deliveries.  from 2,000 downtown retailers.   <6 items each over the length of the program so far?


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 February 2021 - 06:15 PM.


#162 Barrrister

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Posted 14 February 2021 - 09:42 PM

I have given up on downtown. 



#163 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 15 February 2021 - 04:43 AM

is see that former DVBA kerry milton's fraud case is heading to trial this summer (july and august 2021) in pentiction.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 February 2021 - 04:44 AM.


#164 Jackerbie

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Posted 15 February 2021 - 09:45 AM

The Downtown Victoria Business Association will extend its Downtown Delivers campaign, which delivers orders from downtown retailers and restaurants to homes around the region, until the end of March.

______________

Since it started, the DVBA’s program has covered more than $70,000 in local delivery costs for its members and means downtown businesses can offer free delivery to their customers without a cost to themselves.

https://www.timescol...arch-1.24281730



not to rain on this parade. but if the average delivery cost is $6 that is only 11,600 deliveries. from 2,000 downtown retailers. <6 items each over the length of the program so far?


I mean that's one way to present things (although the DVBA website lists 1400 members, not 2000).

You could just use the 77 listed participating businesses on the website, for around 150 deliveries each.

You could also say 11,600 deliveries over the 75 days the program has been offered to date (154 total per day, or 2 per day per participating business).
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#165 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 15 February 2021 - 09:47 AM

true.

 

why are only 77/1400 companies using it?

 

that's nearly $1000 in usage per company, paid for by the other 1,323 not using it.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 February 2021 - 09:49 AM.


#166 spanky123

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Posted 15 February 2021 - 10:05 AM

true.

 

why are only 77/1400 companies using it?

 

that's nearly $1000 in usage per company, paid for by the other 1,323 not using it.

 

 

77 companies are listed. If it is like most things in life, 80% of the usage comes from 20% of the sample.



#167 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 10 June 2021 - 05:29 AM

Les Leyne: Deserted downtown prompts debate about restarting economy

 

Then Liberal critic Todd Stone walked out the door and up Government Street. He came back with a different view.

 

“It’s just staggering, in early to mid-June, that if you’re lucky, you might walk past one other human being in an entire block of downtown Victoria.”

 

After an hour walking around downtown, he told the legislature he saw “business after business after business” closed or reducing their hours.

 

https://www.timescol...nomy-1.24328833

 

One restaurant’s sign said it was only open two days a week. So was a clothing store. A sports retailer was managing four days a week.

 

“The profile of our downtowns and communities across the province is very different today, from a small-business perspective, than it was one year ago,” said Stone.

 

Kahlon, a Richmond MLA who was born and raised in Victoria, agreed that downtown is quiet because of remote work and the lack of tourists.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 June 2021 - 05:30 AM.


#168 Barrrister

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Posted 10 June 2021 - 07:16 AM

It is also quiet because it feels rather trashy at best. 



#169 spanky123

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Posted 10 June 2021 - 07:33 AM

^ I fear that with such a prolonged shutdown, many habits have formed. Even though we are increasing the downtown population, all that is happening is that Amazon deliveries have surged while retail stores sit empty. 


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#170 Mike K.

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Posted 10 June 2021 - 08:02 AM

Government Street, generally speaking, is fairly void of people outside of the tourism season. The businesses in that part of town rely heavily on cruise ships delivering thousands of people a day to that thoroughfare and the general tourism market that strolls that street. No cruises or visitors, no people on the streets, and that rings true even in June on a sunny day.

 

But remember when Victoria politicians said the local population is sufficient to sustain downtown? I think we forgot they made that claim. Then nature gave us a crash course on economics, and clearly the downtown core needs mass infusions of south Islander locals, and tourists.


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#171 Jackerbie

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Posted 10 June 2021 - 12:09 PM

There's a big difference between a promise that "population growth can sustain downtown businesses" and the types of businesses that are downtown. To draw the inevitable Vancouver comparison, Government Street is not a Granville or Robson or Commercial Drive. It's Water Street through Gastown, which despite being lined with two to six storey buildings is pretty dead these days because of the business mix (restaurants, bars, galleries, souvenir shops, and the occasional retail outlet). Take away the office workers and tourists, eliminate or reduce indoor dining for a while, and restrict alcohol sales after 10 and you've got a recipe for a dead street.

The population is there, but the target market for many of the businesses is not local. Doesn't matter how many residents you add to the core, very few of them will be shopping at the gift shops regularly.
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#172 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 05:13 AM

Economic indicators show life returning to downtown Victoria, says city, business groups

https://www.timescol...oups-1.24332480

 

 

 

“There’s been a lot of unnecessarily negative chatter about downtown,” said Mayor Lisa Helps. “We wanted to see what was actually happening. What we see is optimism. We see renewed confidence in Victoria and renewed confidence downtown, and cautious optimism about what Victoria’s recovery will be like.

 

The numbers tell a different story than some of the chatter.”

 

________________________________

 

typical helps.  the "chatter" is wrong!

 

then the article goes on to show the numbers are downright brutal.

 

 

 

 

What it found included a few surprises. The number of new business licences approved in that three-month period in 2021, for example, was 620, compared with 404 last year and 600 in 2019.

 

 

There were 394 building-permit applications in that period this year, compared with 331 in 2020 and 413 in 2019, and the value of those permits this year was $130.1 million, up from $47.6 million last year and $53 million in 2019.

 

There were also some signs of recovery in the data, with parking transactions increasing in 2021 compared with the same time in 2020, although still off 2019 numbers, and hotel occupancy rebounding slightly in 2021 from a disastrous 2020, but nowhere near 2019 numbers.

 

On the flip side, this spring has seen a drop in the number of pedestrians downtown.

 

The total pedestrians counted in that three-month period this year was 1.95 million, down from 2.75 million last year and 4.7 million in 2019, while the daily average of pedestrian counts from all counters in 2021 was 65,634, down from 93,805 last year and way off the 156,482 in 2019.

 

Along Government Street, the daily average pedestrian count fell to 16,554 this year, from 32,363 in 2020 and 53,065 in 2019.

 

But Helps maintains the numbers, including a slight increase in bicycle traffic this year compared with both 2020 and 2019, provide reason for optimism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

pedestrian traffic down by 2/3.  that's a disaster considering all stores and restaurants are open.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 June 2021 - 05:16 AM.


#173 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 06:52 AM

her editorial headline too:

https://www.timescol...oria-1.24332504

#174 Mike K.

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 07:05 AM

This is a far cry from the 1.7 million people counted in April 2019. We know where our north star is, and that there’s still a lot of work to do to welcome people back to the office, to welcome tourists back to the city and — in addition to the decrease in commercial taxes this year and the Build Back Victoria program — to find ways to continue to support our small businesses through recovery.

Decrease in commercial taxes?

We can now travel within the province, and the city has been working alongside Destination Greater Victoria getting ready to welcome visitors. We’ve done this by adding new public plazas and spaces to gather, new pedestrian-only areas, and cycling infrastructure, for the benefit of locals and visitors alike.


Can someone speak to these plazas and pedestrian-only areas the mayor is referring to? I’m not familiar.

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#175 spanky123

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 08:47 AM

pedestrian traffic down by 2/3.  that's a disaster considering all stores and restaurants are open.

 

I found that part hilarious. Pedestrian traffic on Government St in April was lower then it was last year AT THE HEIGHT OF PANDEMIC WORRY yet everything is rosy according to Helps and her minions.

 

My big concern is that if Helps feels she can't leave having eliminated homelessness and made Victoria the most economically progressive town in the world then she may try to stay for another term as job prospects might dry up.


Edited by spanky123, 19 June 2021 - 09:04 AM.

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#176 Jackerbie

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 09:27 AM

^ The pedestrian data is for Feb-April, so not at all the height of pandemic worry. April might have been bad, but February and March? Most everything was still open, and work from home hadn't been widely adopted. Compare that to Feb-April this year and it's a wildly different story.

#177 spanky123

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 10:04 AM

^ The pedestrian data is for Feb-April, so not at all the height of pandemic worry. April might have been bad, but February and March? Most everything was still open, and work from home hadn't been widely adopted. Compare that to Feb-April this year and it's a wildly different story.

 

If you refer to the actual release they broke down traffic by month. 



#178 A Girl is No one

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 12:03 PM

Lockdown started March 17, 2020.

Edited by A Girl is No one, 19 June 2021 - 12:03 PM.


#179 Jackerbie

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Posted 19 June 2021 - 05:18 PM

If you refer to the actual release they broke down traffic by month.


And the graph shows that Feb and March 2020 were higher, and April 2020 was lower

#180 spanky123

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Posted 20 June 2021 - 11:45 AM

And the graph shows that Feb and March 2020 were higher, and April 2020 was lower

 

Sorry dude but if you look at the infographic for Government St traffic 2021 has been lower in EVERY month compared to 2020. I would have expected that in Feb but not in March and April. 

 

You can't go by what the Mayor says, you have to look at the data yourself. 


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