Some Vancouver businesses struggling during FIFA World Cup – BC

Some small businesses in Vancouver say they have not seen an uptick in business during the FIFA World Cup, even though they are on the edge of the game-day closure zone.

Some in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside say their sales have actually dropped.

Erin Templeton said that May was the best month ever for her leather and vintage store in Chinatown, but come June 1, there were no customers.

“I didn’t expect it to be good; I thought it was going to be bad, because the Olympics were bad,” she said.

“I didn’t expect it to be good, I didn’t expect that it would be so, such a drop… I like soccer so you know I understand, but it does kind of suck because we count on summer a lot.”

Templeton said it is hard to get people to the Downtown Eastside during the winter months.

Bao Bei restaurant on Keefer Street told Global News that it has seen a 30-per cent drop in business from the same time last year.

“I think we were expecting it to be quite busy, because we looked at all the street closures and it looked like Keefer Street was going to be the only one open to traffic and it felt like they were going to be funneling people from the stadium up here, but it’s actually been the opposite,” owner Tannis Ling said.

“I guess they’re actually funneling people downtown, so I wasn’t here for game day, but my manager said Chinatown was a bit of a ghost town.”

Ling said the last six years have been a struggle and they were counting on FIFA fans to help get them through the summer and into the winter.

The Underground Comedy Club said revenue during FIFA’s opening weekend dropped by more than 30 per cent and organizers said that this coming weekend, ticket sales are already down 70 per cent.

Owner Jon Gagnon said they were optimistic that locals would still want to come and to the club but that hasn’t been the case.

“I think that FIFA is, it’s direct competition because it’s also live entertainment, so the type of people that want to go and see FIFA are the same type of people who want to go and see live comedy,” he said.

“It’s the same demographic, so they’re in direct competition with us. They’re a lot bigger than us; they have a lot more gravitas, a lot more marketing, a lot more money to put into advertising, so when we’re up against them, it’s very much David versus Goliath.

“We just cannot compete in terms of marketing and in terms of drawing people cause it’s the same people that were trying to draw in.”

All the local stores and restaurants want the public to know that they are open for business and the area is accessible despite FIFA road closures.

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