The owner of a New Westminster, B.C., retailer says she’s planning on closing up shop due to rising crime and street disorder in a downtown she describes as “dead.”
Anita Dunn has operated the Mila and Page clothing store on Columbia Street for eight years, but told Global News business has fallen by about 20 per cent on crucial weekend shopping days.
“During the week, sometimes I wonder why we are even open. We are now closed on Mondays,” she said.
“I haven’t been making my break-even number for like a year and a half.”
Dunn said customers have told her they no longer feel safe in the area, due to four homeless shelters and a supervised injection site nearby.
“Why do we have so many more resources, and why aren’t the other municipalities building more resources?” she said.
Those problems, she said, have been exacerbated by downtown construction and what she described as overpriced parking.
On top of those challenges, she also said she’s being repeatedly targeted by thieves, resulting in thousands of dollars of product loss every year.
“My theft went from negligible teenager theft, putting a perfume tester in their pocket, to blatant ‘I am just going to walk in, grab everything I can reach and run out,'” she said.
Dunn shared a security video with Global News of one shoplifter walking into the store, clearing off a display table and walking out with the goods.
Paul Minhas, owner of Columbia Street’s Judge Begbie’s Tavern and also a city councillor, said downtown businesses have been struggling since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Business owners are in a death spiral in the downtown core,” he said, pointing to other high-profile closures, including the Paddlewheeler and Union Jack pubs.
Minhas said the city has a duty to be compassionate to its residents, including the homeless population, but that things have escalated too far.
“There is aggressive behaviour from a lot of these people, my own staff members have been threatened here, they have been attacked, I have been attacked,” he said.
“These all lead to where, when people see this or hear this, they are afraid to come out here.”
New Westminster police Sgt. Andrew Leaver said police are sensitive to the issues in the downtown core, and are participating in a “multi-pronged” approach with the city and community groups.
He pointed to a recent shoplifting crackdown dubbed Project Barcode, in which officers arrested 18 people, leading to 21 charges over a three-day period in December 2023.
“We are open to continuing those kinds of initiatives,” he said.
“Ultimately the police are here to help, and whatever form that takes, we are here for our residents, we are here for our business owners. We want people to feel safe.”
Dunn said when she moved into the downtown core she was hopeful the area could transform into a walkable tourist destination packed with cafes and boutiques, but now feels the area is “cursed.”
She said she is now working to get out of her lease and shutter the business.
“With that vision now gone, there is no reason for me to continue the store on,” she said.
“I need to do this for my own mental health now.”
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