As they have in other shopping areas around the Lower Mainland, local merchants along the Main Street and Commercial Drive retail corridors have been hit hard by the pandemic.
Neil Wyles, executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area, provided this overview of the Mount Pleasant district:
“The Mount Pleasant area, like all areas of the city, was hit hard with the onset of the COVID shutdowns. Mount Pleasant has a large concentration of food service outlets, so this was felt for a little longer than most as the reopening guidelines were still being researched and written.
Once reopening began, our merchants were able to quickly transition to online platforms, or delivery services, or adapt physical changes to their business to continue to deliver their services. I feel that this was a success because of a couple of reasons: most of our businesses are independently owned and operated, so the decision-making process was immediate. Also, a very high percentage of people who work in Mount Pleasant live in Mount Pleasant, so the impact was not as dramatic as there is not such a strong reliance on tourism and visitor traffic.”
Representatives of the Commercial Drive Business Society could not be reached for comment by press time.
Empty Main Street storefronts (from East 1st to 33rd Avenue)
•4673 Main Street
•4554 Main Street
•4501 Main Street
•4387 Main Street
•4386 Main Street
•4383 Main Street
•4376 Main Street
•4331 Main Street
•3743 Main Street
•3636 Main Street
•3488 Main Street
•3378 Main Street
•3330 Main Street
•3279 Main Street
•3075 Main Street
•2701 Main Street
•2650 Main Street
•2600 Main Street
•2560 Main Street
•2535 Main Street
•2341 Main Street
•2333 Main Street
•2315 Main Street
Empty Commercial Drive storefronts (Venables Street to 12th Avenue)
•2767 Commercial Drive
•2633 Commercial Drive
•2637 Commercial Drive
•2590 Commercial Drive
•2223 Commercial Drive
•2111 Commercial Drive
•1937 Commercial Drive
•1752 Commercial Drive
•1740 Commercial Drive
•1728 Commercial Drive
•1612 Commercial Drive
•1314 Commercial Drive
•1303 Commercial Drive
•1301 Commercial Drive
•1009 Commercial Drive
•1003 Commercial Drive
•902 Commercial Drive
