End of an era for Vancouver’s Punjabi Market as Frontier Cloth House demolished

For many of those who grew up in South Vancouver, a trip to the Punjabi Market was a normal event. Many can recall weekends spent at local shops, eateries and visiting stores often owned by families that lived in the area and were considered friends. And with every wedding season, you could always find a dazzling outfit at one of the various shops on Main Street, with one of the most recognized businesses being Frontier Cloth House located on Main Street at East 51st Avenue.

Frontier Cloth House was opened in the area in the 70’s with owner Sushil Batra often personally welcoming visitors and customers over the decades that followed.

“This was our Indian market. People loved to come to that area because there was no market anywhere else like that in B.C.,” he says.

“We started the business with just selling fabric in 1973. Slowly the market changed and that led to the arrival and demand for readymade garments, and then wedding lenghas. People always needed new things and they would come over to Main Street and to our shop.”

Over the years the look of Frontier Cloth House changed, eventually the building was painted a bright pink, drawing in customers from across the Lower Mainland and  across the country. Known well for their products as well as their strong ties to the community, the shop was often bustling.

High rents forced beloved business to move

High rents have forced a lot of the businesses that once called the South Vancouver enclave home to pack up and move to other, more affordable communities. What was once a thriving market has certainly quieted down over the years.

Frontier Cloth House was no exception.

With sky-high rents and fewer people willing to make the trek to the market, Frontier moved to Surrey in 2013.

“People didn’t have time to cross the bridges. People who live here will shop here. We were losing business day by day, that’s when we thought it would be better for us to move over here. That was 11 years ago,” Batra explains.

“People don’t have time to go there just for shopping. After we moved I kept the store open for two years. I lost money every month. Sometimes I lost $10,000, sometimes I lost $15,000.”

Since the business moved, the building has been unoccupied. Over the years it has been an easy target for vandalism and graffiti.

Iconic building demolished

Now,  the building has been demolished to make space for new housing and new business space.

The loss was felt by many in the community, including Pall Beesla with the Punjabi Market.

“It’s bittersweet. It was really a cornerstone in the literal sense – it was on the corner and it was a long-standing store. Now it’s gone,” he says. “Since it had been vacated by the owners and sold off, “I’m sorry to say that it eventually did become an eyesore because it was symbolic of not just what once was there, but also of the condition of the market.”

While the Punjabi Market has suffered losses, there have been attempts to add more housing and attract new businesses to the neighbourhood. Apartments have been built over the last few years, and a Tim Hortons has opened.

“It once was a beautiful building that had become ruined and subject to graffiti tagging. In the market where people were losing hope, people were talking about the Punjabi market in such a negative light.”

But the loss of a community that the Frontier Cloth House was a part of is still being felt by those who remember it so fondly.

“Truly, there are a lot of people that remember the family. The family was a very giving one. I remember they had donated entire funds for the carpet for the Ross Street Sikh Temple which is also a very important institution and remains to be in South Vancouver and for the community. And so that was really a testament to how the family had not only invested in the market, but back to the institutions that were supporting the community,” Beesla says.

‘We grew up there’

For Pooja Batra, Frontier Cloth House was the family business, one that she continues to be a part of at the Surrey location. She says most of her childhood memories revolve around spending days at her father’s store.

“It was like that was our home, just being in the store. We got to meet different people, got to touch different fabrics and see lots of color and make friends with all the kids that came to the store and played with them. But that wasn’t it,” she explains.

“We got to know the community. A lot of the people that we call auntie and uncle, we were able to create a really good connection with them. Even today, when they come visit us we have that connection with them.”

She says there are mixed feelings as the old building they called home for so many years was torn down.

“It’s our history. Knowing that we closed the store was one thing but knowing that the building was gone, that’s a whole different thing, knowing that it’s not there anymore. Because we grew up there, it was all we knew. Main Street was our home for so long so it was sad to know that it had been demolished,” she says.

“I feel like we kind of get choked up talking about it and thinking about it. Only because when my dad came to Canada, he had nothing. We came with absolutely nothing but a dream. He had to start from scratch, didn’t know anyone here and for him, that was his baby. He went from a small, tiny little shop to that big store on Main Street.”

While the demolition of the building that once held the cornerstone of the market  has been a blow to the community,  Beesla hopes for a bright, more vibrant future..

“A piece of us has been taken away but we’re very fortunate that our merchants still there can continue to tell their stories. That’s what we’re trying to do, make sure we archive not just the stories, but the moments through pictures and video so we can continue to share that moving forward,” he says.

“The Punjabi Market gave a sense of family and belonging to newcomers to Canada, especially from India and other South Asian countries and it continues to serve that purpose.”