Blog

LOCO BC has been working in partnership with Heritage Vancouver, Youth Collaborative for Chinatown (June Chow) & Modus on a study of the possible tools/programs to protect heritage businesses in Chinatown. 

This Friday, December 9th, there is a forum organized by the City of Vancouver (CoV), where LOCO and others will present. Please join us, and give your input on this important issue. The forum is free of charge and translation is available. Register here.

Here's some background on the project from the CoV:

We are studying the importance of legacy businesses to people in Vancouver. Legacy businesses are stores that a community cherishes because of their:

• Connection to history
• Contribution to neighbourhood character
• Integral role in the community's way of life

These are a key part of our city's economy, and our daily lives. These shops and services can greatly affect how we experience our neighbourhoods.

We will use your feedback to consider what types of strategies might best support these businesses so they can continue to be a vital part of all neighbourhoods. The findings of our study will be relevant to neighbourhoods across Vancouver.

We are in the beginning stages of exploring what the strategy might entail. This study has an initial focus on Vancouver's historic Chinatown, where we have heard these issues are most pressing.

Community Forum: At this event, an opening presentation will share draft qualities for legacy businesses in Chinatown, with a facilitated discussion to follow. Translation into Cantonese will be provided. For more information about this study, please visit vancouver.ca/legacy-business

Civic Economics is a respected and well-known organization that has produced a long-line of studies that indicate the economic impact of buying local. Local dollars are said to recirculate 2-4 times when spent with locally owned businesses compared to multinational organizations because they:

• Recirculate greater profits in the community
• Create more local employment
• More often buy local products and services (especially local marketing and financial services)
•  Donate more to local charities, non-profit groups and community organizations

In the BC study, Civic Economics assesses the local and Canadian market share of independent and chain business and calculates the economic impacts of locally owned business compared to their major North American chain competitors.

Here are some of the highlights:

Market Share

• Local businesses in Canada have less than 1/2 the total market share on average. This has been dropping slightly each year since 2008
• Market share by local business has dropped approximately 15% in the last 11 years in both BC & Canada
• BC local retailers have the third lowest market share in the country. Local businesses captured just 34.7%  of the market in 2010, in front of only Alberta & Manitoba (tied at 33.1%) and Nova Scotia (30.8%). We lag the Canadian average of 41.8% and are way behind local market share leaders in Quebec (54.7%)
• BC furniture & home furnishing stores have the highest market share by local business in the country
• BC food & beverage stores have the lowest market share by local business in the country

Mulitplier

• BC local businesses creates double the economic impact of their chain competitors. They recirculate more than 2.6 times as much revenue in the local economy as chains (46.3% compared to 17.8% for chains)
• Local retailers recirculate 45% compared to 17% for chains
• Local restaurants recirculate 65% compared to 30% for chains

Civic Economics cites the greater labour intensity of local restaurants compared to retail stores as the reason for the greater economic impact.

Buy Local

The impact of buying local, even a few more purchases each week, can have a big impact on the local economy and on communities across BC.

Civic Economics assessed the impact of consumers increasing local purchasing by 10% and found it would create

• 31,000 jobs
• $940 million in wages to BC workers

Download the Civic Economics Study Here