Granville Island’s survival strategy includes appeal to ‘staycationers’
A small but steady line of customers at the venerable Lee’s Donuts shop outside Granville Island Public Market in the middle of a Thursday morning is a small but welcome sign of life for some of the merchants slowly reopening after two-and-a-half months of COVID-19 restrictions.
“To avoid the line, you have to be here first thing in the morning,” said Cathy Church, retail manager of the Circle Craft co-operative that operates out of the Granville Island Net Loft across the lane. “It’s exciting on many levels for us as staff here,” even if it just means they can treat themselves.
Circle Craft, which represents some 136 artisans and craftspeople, reopened its doors on Tuesday, and Church is “cautiously optimistic” about a survival strategy.
Commercial tenants on Granville Island are now more confident about getting rent relief, both for those who lease directly from CMHC-Granville Island, the authority responsible for operating the federally owned attraction, and those who sublease space from the major tenants.
The “survival strategy,” however, involves drawing more “staycationers” to its markets and galleries that are now absent the multitudes of tourists that usually pack the island.
“It’s amazing. You go from the No. 2 tourist location in Canada, 18th in the world, to zero tourists,” said David McCann, general manager of Creekhouse Industries, operator of the Creekhouse building, home to the Sandbar Seafood Restaurant and some 16 other shops and offices.
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On the bright side, McCann has learned that the headlease tenants on Granville Island, such as Creekhouse, will be eligible for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program, so their sublease tenants can access the rent relief scheme.
“This program, for us, will give us, at the very least, I would say five to six months of breathing space,” said McCann.
About half of Creekhouse’s shops have tried reopening, under strict new COVID -19 requirements that include hand-sanitizer stations at store entrances and limits on customer numbers to ensure physical distancing.
“But it’s a long way to seeing the island survive,” said McCann. “We’ve had a couple of tenants who have been open for three, four days and had less than $100 in sales.”
McCann said one long-term tenant that remains closed, whose lease expires this year, told him they have no plans to reopen.
“I’m not sure who’s going to survive,” McCann said.
At the Kids Market near the entrance to Granville Island, general manager Christine Amanetea said the 26 tenants are slowly restocking, reopening and paying particular attention to their COVID-19 protocols.
“We have to make sure that we’ve got all these protocols in place so that people, families in particular, feel comfortable about coming down here to shop,” Amanetea said.
However, limits on the numbers of customers inside any shop make it difficult for Kids Market merchants, which are mostly small storefronts, to make the sales they’re used to on a given day, Amanetea said. Survival might also mean recalibrating business plans to account for fewer customers.
“The concern is going to be tourism and what shape that’s going to be in for the next year to two years,” Amanetea said. “I would have to assume there’s going to be (less) because there is no cruise ship traffic at all (this summer).”
Phase 3 of the province’s reopening plan would allow for more non-essential travel within B.C., and Church hopes locals who can’t travel more widely “embrace having staycations and support local businesses they believe in.”
“We need (locals) to notice that we exist again, and to have people start coming and shopping.”
CMHC- Granville Island is working on ways of appealing to local visitors and to help tenants capitalize on the location’s outdoor open spaces.
“We’re exploring the viability of holding an outdoor summer artisan market starting in July,” said Lisa Ono, manager of public affairs and programming.