As pockets of Dunbar are redeveloped and services replace small retailers, the neighbourhood’s longtime merchants hope the change will be good for business.
Olinda’s, a clothing manufacturer and retailer on Dunbar, is located next to the 4200-block, where a new four-storey mixed complex will replace existing businesses, including a bookstore and clothing retailer.
Olinda’s has operated at the site for 34 years, but the location has been home to neighbourhood businesses since the 1940s. It was once a drugstore, then a fabric retailer, said owner Olinda Vriend.
“A number of different higher-storeyed buildings have [gradually] gone up and smaller retail businesses have been leaving the area,” Vriend said. “Some of the elderly people have sold their homes, since the value is so high. A lot of them have left the area and bought a condo at White Rock.”
Vriend is confident that her store will remain. For one thing, her landlord has never expressed any interest in selling the family-owned building; for another, she likes the location.
“What I always found charming about Dunbar is that it’s got quite a variety of businesses,” said Vriend. “The quaint charm still remains to some degree.”
Vriend said foot traffic has decreased slightly since construction began, but she expects to see more pedestrians when Stong’s Market moves into the new complex. In business since 1931 and currently at 4560 Dunbar Street, Stong’s will move into its new location when construction finishes in March 2016, its president Cori Bonina said in a release.
Eric Niit, owner of Enmark Jewellers on 4315 Dunbar Street, said recent years have brought “a lot more restaurants, service-oriented stores, a lot more hairdressers, and less retail” to the area. But he’s resigned to the changes.
“Neighbourhoods are always changing in character, especially [in] a big place like Vancouver, where things are always changing,” said Nitt, whose family has been in business on Dunbar for over 42 years. “There’s fewer older people, more younger people.”
Karen Wyder, president of the Dunbar Village Business Association, said change in the area shouldn’t be feared.
“New businesses infuse the community with new life and ideas,” Wyder said, citing recent developers that have contributed to the installation of new flower baskets along the Dunbar streetscape.
“Developers are seeing the area as the place to come. In time there will be more retail.”
Wyder added that, while rents will rise when new people move in, “that’s inevitable [and] not specific to Dunbar.”
Anita Molaro, the City of Vancouver’s assistant director of planning in urban design, said recent development along Dunbar hasn’t hinged on zoning changes.
“The arterial shopping area of Dunbar has been zoned C-2 for 30-plus years. The area hasn’t capitalized on its zoning capacities that are in place already.”
Susan Haid, assistant director of planning for Vancouver South, said the city still broadly follows the Dunbar Community Vision Plan, which was completed in 1998. •
