Businesses struggle on Main St. in Dartmouth

WATCH: Global’s Natasha Pace takes a look at why some businesses are leaving main street — and what the municipality plans to do about it.

HALIFAX – It’s becoming an all too familiar scene on Main Street in Dartmouth; businesses closing up shop – for good.

In the past few weeks, at least three different businesses have left the area, including Beazley’s Bowling, which has been a staple in the community for decades.

For some local shops, it’s a concerning trend.

“Especially when there’s a local vegetable place that was next store, so convenient, so that did concern me a bit with that closing down and stuff like that. But then I realized why they closed down because they can’t compete with the businesses in the area and the prices,” says Blaine Beals, who opened up a restaurant on Main Street last summer. Beals says the walk in traffic isn’t as busy as he was hoping.

“Business has picked up and progressed, caterings really busy, so that helps the business, but I expected it to be a little busier then it is on certain days and certain times”

The loss of local businesses isn’t a new trend in this area. There are many reminders of what used to stand on the street and empty spaces that haven’t been filled.

“It’s not so much just the businesses that are closing, it’s the ones that aren’t opening,” says Suzanna Gravelle, Realtor.

Despite many closures, realtors say the area has a lot of potential. In fact, Century 21 recently moved their offices to Main Street themselves.

“We’re beyond forest hills parkway heading towards eastern shore, and it seems like traffic really slows from that point on. It is quite a mystery because there’s quite an opportunity out here in this area for business and residential for lots of growth,” she tells Global News.

“Business is all about supply and demand and there’s not much supply here so how do you create the demand? As more businesses open up, more businesses will want to open up. That’s just the way it is,” adds realtor Don Clark.

The city says they’ll be including the area in their upcoming planning process, to try and attract more people and businesses to the area.

“It’s not a bad location but it’s not pedestrian friendly, and that’s what it used to be, so it’s like if you’re going to always go and do business and buy by car, think local as much as you can and go there to do business,” says Lorelei Nicoll, the area’s councillor.