Granville Island Kids Market merchants say sales down 15% amid new pay parking rules

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note the merchants in question are in the Kids Only Market, and to clarify the island’s parking policy

Merchants in the Kids Only Market on Vancouver’s Granville Island are sounding the alarm, saying that pay parking implemented at the popular destination this summer is hurting their bottom line.

Several merchants Global News spoke with on Monday said since the new rules came into force on June 1, sales have dropped by about 15 per cent.

“We noticed a huge decrease in local traffic shopping at the Kids Market, there’s 25 merchants in this building, and every single one of them said they had seen a huge reduction in sales,” said Donna Dobo, who owns Just Imagine Fun Clothing.

“It was CMHC’s goal was to reduce traffic on the island by 15 per cent coincidentally.”

Granville Island is administered by the federal Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

1:48 Bike valet service introduced as pay parking comes to Granville Island

The agency put the new measures in place, citing a need to reduce congestion on the island. Approximately half the parking on the island prior to the change was pay parking at a $3.50/hr rate. In June, parking was raised to $3/hr during the high season and $2/hr during the winter on the previously free spaces.

Dobo said the impact has hit particularly hard amid many shoppers’ moves to online platforms such as Amazon.

“Fifteen per cent, for the merchants in this building, if you added up all the stores is $100,000, that’s the loss, and for this building to be down $100,000 is very bleak indeed,” she said.

Laura Burgess, who manages the Kaboodles Toy Store in the Granville Island Kids Market, said the reaction from customers was immediate.

“People love the market, they want to come down and shop, it’s different than a regular mall,” she said.

“The first month the customers were coming in and saying now that they know, they’re going to shop somewhere else.”

1:41 No more free parking on Granville Island

But the CMHC is in no hurry to pin slower sales on the new parking prices, citing other possible causes including a provincewide slowdown in retail sales and construction projects in the area.

“We’re sorry to hear that a few of our tenants are experiencing slower sales,” said Granville Island planner Bethany Dobson.

“But that said, 2019 has been a really good year for much of Granville Island, many of our tenants are doing very well.”

Dobson noted that pay parking is not in effect at all times on the island. Visitors can park for free before 11 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

She went on to say that some visitors found the previous model — which involved half the island’s parking stalls being free, and the other half being pay parking — was “very confusing.”

“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback since the change, a lot of people have said its much easier, much more pleasant for people driving onto the island,” she said.

Despite concerns from merchants, Dobson said there is no plan to reconsider the implementation of pay parking on Granville Island.

That has merchants worried whether the holiday season, usually the most lucrative of the year, will be enough to keep them in business in 2020.

“This is the month where you make or break,” said Dobo.

-With files from John Hua