Vancouver looking to better support local corner stores

The City of Vancouver is looking at new ways to support local corner stores.

Colette Griffiths has owned The Federal Store, tucked in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant Neighborhood at the corner of Quebec Street and East 10th Avenue since 2016.

Colette Griffiths, owner of The Federal Store in Mount Pleasant. (CityNews Image)

She tells CityNews the spot has been a corner store in one form or another, since 1926. But she says running the business has been tough, partly because they often have to pay the same fees and adhere to the same regulations as larger businesses, even though she says they don’t have the same ability to generate revenue.

“When we first opened, we had a tiny little table out front where were selling a couple of plants, like you know, one foot by two-foot kind of thing, and someone came by and told us we couldn’t do it cause we didn’t have the permit for it,” she explained.

“We looked into how much a permit was going to cost and it’s the same permit price that any other grocery store would pay to have exterior frontage for goods.”

The City of Vancouver says at its peak, in the 1920s, there were about 260 corner stores like The Federal Store. Now, there’s roughly 90. It says it’s looking to possibly change that as it launches a new survey to find ways to support existing and new corner stores.

An archived photo of the corner of Quebec Street and East 10th Avenue in Vancouver where an old corner store once was. (City of Vancouver Archives)

Andrew Pask, a Vancouver city planner, says there’s been renewed interest in corner stores and the city has already made some small changes in recent years to support the neighbourhood staples.

“We know these are cherished parts of neighbourhoods and we’ve heard that time and again through various engagement processes through various neighbourhood and city-wide planning processes,” he told CityNews.

“This is a more substantial look about new and existing corner stores and the types of things that we can do to really create the conditions that are favourable to more of these stores opening – and the stores that exist, thriving as businesses.”

Andrew Pask, Vancouver city planner discussing a new survey aimed at finding out how to better support local corner stores. (CityNews Image)

People CityNews spoke to outside The Federal Store said they’d like to see more places like it in the city.

“I think they kinda embody this sort of sense of small community,” said one person.

“I just like the homey vibe and the sort of cozy, personalized atmosphere,” another said.

“I really like it because it’s really cute here,” a pedestrian noted. “Here is really quiet so you can really enjoy here.”

Griffiths says she’d like the city to be more flexible with what you’re allowed to do in corner stores and wants fees to be scaleable. She’d also like to see more stores like hers in the city.

“It sounds kina cliché or corny almost but people tell us on a regular basis that it’s just – it really feels like a place with a sense of community,” she said.

The city survey is open until Oct. 10.