The changing face of Vancouver’s Punjabi Market
Posted July 3, 2025 7:44 am.
It was once a bright neighbourhood that attracted hundreds of shoppers and visitors every day, but now some businesses say the Punjabi Market in Vancouver is no longer thriving.
Also known as ‘Little India,’ its epicentre is at Main Street and East 49th Avenue. The market opened in the 1970s and for years was a go-to for anyone looking for South Asian goods, full of busy shops, jam-packed restaurants with long line-ups, and parking used to be difficult to find.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER’S LIVE TRAFFIC UPDATESBut that’s not really the case anymore.
Madan Dhingra is the owner of Mona Cloth House at Main Street and East 50th Avenue. He’s been in business for 35 years and counting, working six days a week. He tells 1130 NewsRadio he is closing by the end of the year, saying it’s time to pack up and shut down.
He’s set to retire, but Dhingra says the neighbourhood has changed for all the wrong reasons.
“It’s changed big time. Most of the generation that’s living here now are not big buyers. That’s one thing. Secondly, Vancouver is so expensive that all the new people who’ve come in the last 10 to 15 years, they’ve gone to Surrey because Surrey was a lot cheaper compared to Vancouver. So, Surrey boomed, and Vancouver steadily went down because it was simply getting unaffordable.”
Surrey, the fastest-growing city in B.C., is also home to a number of South Asian shops, strip malls, and restaurants, easily serving the community’s demands.
Dhingra admits bouncing back from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been easy, and adds that many customers are also shopping online, which hurts brick-and-mortar stores like his.
“Look at The Bay. Look at Eaton’s. Look at Woodward’s. They all fell apart. And these mom-and-pop shops — they’re going down.”
Dhingra says the economy has also led to him having to cut staffing numbers from nearly a dozen down to just four people.
“It’s me and my wife. One full-timer, one part-timer.”
He explains that at the peak of the Punjabi Market, there were more than three dozen clothing stores like his; now there are just a couple.
“Some got old and retired. Some moved to Surrey … and in the meantime, the market has died down. There was a time when anyone visiting from [other parts of] Canada, U.S.A., or England, they’d say, ‘Let’s go to Main Street.’ Main Street was a destination place, and people would spend all day long here. Guys would sit and drink tea, and the ladies and girls would shop all day long. They would come in the morning and stay until the end of the day,” he said.
“It was humming in those days.”
He describes the situation as “heartbreaking,” but says every neighbourhood has a shelf life and feels the end is nearing for this one.
“This will come back, but not as a Punjabi Market, but as just another market.”
One business across the street from Dhingra is closing after two decades. The owner echoes his sentiment and believes the City of Vancouver could have taken steps to help the neighbourhood, but believes it’s too late now.
Other owners in the area tell 1130 NewsRadio things haven’t been the same in years and worry this is the beginning of the end of a once distinct area of the city.
