Some small businesses in Vancouver say they haven’t seen an increase in business in a long time FIFA World Cupeven though they are on the edge of the game day closing zone.
Some in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside say their sales are actually down.
Erin Templeton said May was the best month ever for her leather and vintage shop in Chinatown, but on 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 it to be this, such a drop… I love football, so you know I understand, but it’s kind of bad because we count a lot in the summer.”
Templeton said it’s hard to get people to the Downtown Eastside during the winter months.
Bao Bei Restaurant on Keefer Street told Global News it has seen a 30 percent drop in business from the same time last year.
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“I think we expected it to be pretty busy because we looked at all the road closures and it looked like Keefer Street was going to be the only one open to traffic and it looked like they were going to pour people from the stadium up here, but it’s actually been the opposite,” owner Tannis Ling said.
“I think they’re actually directing 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 past six years have been a struggle and they were relying on FIFA fans to help them get through the summer and winter.
The Underground Comedy Club said revenue during FIFA’s opening weekend fell by more than 30 percent, and organizers said this coming weekend ticket sales are already down 70 percent.
Owner Jon Gagnon said they were optimistic locals would still want to come to the club, but that hasn’t been the case.
“I think FIFA is, it’s live competition because it’s also live entertainment, so the kind of people who want to go and see FIFA are the same kind 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’ve got 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 can’t compete in terms of marketing and in terms of attracting people because it’s the same people they were trying to attract.”
All local shops and restaurants want the public to know they are open for business and the area is accessible despite FIFA road closures.
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