‘Holding our own’: Report details challenges, opportunities facing downtown Vancouver – BC | Globalnews.ca
A new report has revealed a few bright spots and a considerable number of challenges for the City of Vancouver’s downtown core.
The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association’s (Downtown Van) ‘State of Downtown’ report gives a snapshot of the district’s health over the past year.
“We have four key areas of strength, tourism, major events, transit … and office vacancy rates,” said Downtown Van president and CEO Jane Talbot.
“Where we are holding our own is in retail sales. And in terms of where we are down, is we are seeing a decrease in visits from locals and a higher than we would like retail vacancy rate.”
The report found that the downtown economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with growth in the tourism market but mixed success in the restaurant and retail sectors.
Overall, visits to the downtown core fell by nearly eight per cent last year, the first drop in three years.
Retail transactions edged up by 1.2 per cent in 2024 but restaurant transactions fell by 6.2 per cent year over year.
At the same time, the average transaction size of both retail and restaurant purchases was down by two per cent from 2023.
“We’re actually seeing more people come downtown to shop, but they’re spending a little bit less money. So it just tells us that inflation is taking its toll, but that people are still really interested in coming downtown,” Talbot said.
Supply chain disruptions, labour shortages and higher wages, inflation and street disorder have all exacerbated those challenges, the report states.
Overall the cost of doing business increased by 25 per cent in the last five years, including a 40 per cent increase in employment costs and a 70 per cent increase in lease costs.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The report found a storefront vacancy rate across downtown of 14.9 per cent, up from 13.7 per cent in 2023, and higher than the 9.9 per cent citywide rate.
That rate was much higher on Granville Street — which saw the vacancy rate surge from 22.1 per cent in 2023 to just shy of 30 per cent last year.
The situation has some business owners, like John Clerides of Maquis Wine Cellar, alarmed.
“It’s a disaster down here,” he told Global News.
“The City of Vancouver and the province need to recognize that because small business fuels the health of a city, it’s not one big store, it’s a multiple of little stores that make it interesting for people to shop, and the city and the province have done everything they can to discourage business one from being successful and hiring people, but even opening.”
Office vacancy rates, by contrast, held at 12 per cent, the lowest in North America and expected to improve in the coming years as new office construction tapers off.
Amid the gloomy statistics, the report reported positive numbers in the tourism, film and tech sectors.
Downtown hotel occupancy hit 80.4 per cent in 2024, with a 14.9-per cent increase in hotel demand, with December’s Taylor Swift concerts providing a noticeable boost.
“I don’t think we can overestimate the importance of major vents in downtown Vancouver. Of course, we had Taylor Swift recently, the Junos just wrapped up, we welcomed the Invictus (Games) team and Grey Cup,” Talbot said.
“It brings economic impact to our storefront businesses, which of course we really need, but it also just highlights that Vancouver is an incredible place.”
The number of visitors to downtown from outside B.C. also climbed by more than 50 per cent, representing 5.5 per cent of total visits to the area.
The cruise industry set new records, delivering 1.32 million visitors into the core (up seven per cent).
However, the report notes a shortage of hotel rooms and slow growth in supply continue to constrain the industry.
“We have no trouble filling the hotel rooms, but we just don’t have enough of them,” Talbot said.
The report also found the city’s downtown at the “heart” of recovery in B.C.’s $2 billion film industry, representing about 40 per cent of all shoots in the city.
There were 258 location permits issued in downtown in 2024, a 213 per cent increase, including big titles like The Last of Us and Yellowjackets.
The report also cites bright spots in the future, including a proposal to redevelop the Granville Entertainment District and the coming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“I think it reminds people that we still have a lot of work to do in terms of how we’re coming out of the pandemic, we still have a lot of work to do around getting Granville Street back on track,” Talbot said.
“But I can tell you that there’s an army of people that are working on that street and for that street and I think we’re going to see some change pretty quickly.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
