Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Street Market held its last day of operations outdoors on Wednesday, and will soon migrate indoors to a new, temporary location nearby.
The City of Vancouver’s lease at 26 East Hastings Street is expiring, so the market will move into a building on Main and East Cordova streets around mid-September.
Not all of the current market’s vendors will be moving with it, however. While the outdoor space accommodates upwards of 40 vendors, the new building will only host around 10.
“It’s very, very sad. A lot of the vendors are longtime residents of the Downtown Eastside,” said Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society.
“It’s been around for a really long time and it’s supported a lot of people over the years just to keep them out of really extreme poverty.”
The DTES Street Market has long been a place where people buy, sell and trade for secondhand goods.
In addition to hosting a smaller number of vendors, Blyth said she’s concerned the new market space will be more formal — and therefore less accessible — to the people who need it most.
“People feel comfortable there,” she said of the outdoor space. “It’s their community — people living in extreme poverty that don’t feel comfortable in other spaces come here to vend.”
People will often trade their household goods in the market in exchange for food, she added, as the cost of living increases in the city.
She urged decision-makers to come up with a more sustainable and appealing option for the market, particularly as the space at 305 Main Street is slated for redevelopment in under a year.
Sean Miles, director Binners’ Project, which operates the street market, echoed Blyth’s concerns.
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“We’re in a neighbourhood that struggles with open spaces for people with barriers and low-income people, so to lose one of those is definitely kind of a heartbreaking thing,” he told Global News.
“It’s going to be difficult to figure out how we can make it as fair and equitable to access for vendors and also just even for customers.”
No one at the City of Vancouver was available for an interview Wednesday.
In an emailed statement, municipal staff said the licensing arrangements are still pending for 305 Main Street but it is expected to be available mid-September and open for vending until January.
After that, the market’s future is uncertain.
“City staff are looking for other locations for the market, including space indoors,” staff assured.
“However, the lack of available space in the DTES that would be large enough to hold anywhere from 10 to 40 vendors is making this difficult.”
The municipality said all other outdoor spaces have already been ruled out, either because they’re unavailable for rent or don’t meet the city’s accessibility requirements. Many indoor spaces have been ruled out as well, lacking the required space, washrooms, or public gathering permit conditions.
“The financial implications associated with renovating these spaces to meet the diverse demands of the market are prohibitively high and currently unfeasible,” staff wrote.
“Staff have also been reaching out to community partners to discuss other potential models of vending, including a focus on the resale of donated goods from the private sector or individuals, to enable safe income generation and skills development for people living on very low income. This could include dispersing the current market across a few spaces in the DTES.”
Vending on sidewalks or streets without a permit is against a city bylaw that ensures safe, unobstructed access for pedestrians, vehicles and more.
Dustin Von Petzinger, who has been selling in the DTES market for about a year, said “it’s just part of the city and it should be.” Flea markets have to grow to evolve, he added, and the city should be aware that this one will too.
“Probably 600 to 1,000 people come through here on a slow day. Every store in the city would wish to have numbers like that,” he told Global News.
Jason Taylor, a vendor on-and-off for about 15 years, said he’s “a little down” about Wednesday’s closure and is worried about having his vendor “family” split up.
“There’s just a lot of confusion right now … if we get in, we get in. If we don’t, we don’t,” he said.
“One of my major concerns is having to go back out on the sidewalk.”
Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said he does expect an increase in sidewalk-selling once the market closes, but ticketing honest sidewalk sellers is not a high priority.
“We understand and we support people’s ability to buy and sell and barter used, salvaged goods in the formal and informal market,” Addison explained.
“However, if we find anybody who’s engaging in criminal behaviour, in dangerous behaviour, who’s breaking the law, who’s contributing to deterioration in public safety in that neighbourhood, we’ll certainly take enforcement action.”
Concerns about stolen goods proliferating in the market are on the force’s radar, he added, but police are usually able to spot fairly quickly what has been stolen and what is secondhand.
Miles, meanwhile, said the market has rules, including a list of banned items. Binners’ Project also regularly asks people to leave if they’re selling things whose origins can’t be verified.
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