By Hilary Angus

On a quiet street in Strathcona, a man in construction gear walks into Rise Up Marketplace to grab a Jamaican patty before heading home. School lets out across the street and a 10-year-old strolls in solo for an ice cream.

While these events may seem mundane, they are actually fairly extraordinary in Vancouver. Though neighbourhood businesses were once commonplace, concerns from some residents about their noise, pollution, and aesthetics prompted the City to introduce a zoning bylaw in 1928. The bylaw separated the city into retail, industrial, and residential areas—essentially making it illegal to build neighbourhood stores.

The few that remain—such as Rise Up, The Mighty Oak, and McGill Grocery—survived either by registering as grocery stores (the only permissible activity in residential zones) or by being grandfathered in under older bylaws. These stores now occupy the unusual position of being beloved by the community, yet illegal to replicate.

However, that might be changing.  In 2021, the City voted to permit new neighbourhood businesses—a motion that was expanded upon in the Vancouver Plan. This past month, a public opinion survey on small stores was released as a step towards implementing that vision.

Roger Collins, who cofounded Rise Up Marketplace in 2021, has witnessed the positive impacts that shops like his can have on a community.

“We have a lot of regulars,” he says. “You get to know people on a deeper level. People share what they’re going through in their life because you see them so much.”

There is a substantial body of research dedicated to the social benefits of small businesses, and the evidence supports Collins’ sentiments.

Mitchell Reardon is an urban planner at Happy Cities: a Vancouver-based urban research and design consultancy that was developed as a follow-up to Charles Montgomery’s groundbreaking book Happy City. The book, and now the firm, focuses on how urban environments can maximize wellbeing.

Reardon says that short, frequent interactions with strangers or acquaintances can have the same positive impacts on our wellbeing as spending time with loved ones: “You need spaces,” he shares, “that facilitate these kinds of encounters.”

Happy Cities conducts subjective wellbeing studies, placing people in varied urban environments and asking them to assess their sense of safety, trust, and happiness using a series of metrics. This research has consistently shown a significant increase in wellbeing in areas with small, diverse businesses (compared to the large, impersonal facades more typical of corporate retailers).

There is also a case to be made for these small businesses to exist not just on busy city streets, but right in our quiet and cozy neighbourhoods. It all comes down to two factors: affordability and mobility.

Historically, corner stores have played a pivotal role in helping immigrant families make a living. However, modern commercial rents on prominent retail streets are prohibitive for many. This lack of affordability, Collins suggests, pushes many would-be newcomer entrepreneurs out to smaller towns, where they often have to dilute their sense of culture to fit in. Permitting more small-footprint retail spaces in residential neighbourhoods can reduce the start-up costs associated with running a business, and can make entrepreneurship accessible to a broader spectrum of people.

Then there is mobility. Today, most of Vancouver’s neighbourhood businesses are concentrated in a few neighbourhoods in the north-east sections of the city. That leaves many residents, largely in the city’s south side, living in strictly residential zones. If they need a loaf of bread, they have to ride a bike or get in a vehicle. The car in this context, says Reardon, “is so out of proportion with what you’re hoping to accomplish.”

Numerous studies have shown that, when given the opportunity to walk, most people choose to do so. Walkability (or a built environment that is safe and accessible for walking, rolling, wheelchair use, and more) is a virtuous cycle. Beyond its benefits for physical health and the environment, walkability promotes equity. It reduces transportation costs, and grants seniors, children, and people with disabilities greater independence.

Being able to access your daily needs without external transport, Reardon explains, “can mean the difference between getting food that day or not.”

Furthermore, walkability creates positive feedback loops for public safety: the more people on the street, the safer the neighbourhood becomes.

As Vancouver grapples with congestion, a skyrocketing cost of living, a declining sense of public safety, and enduring feelings of isolation among many residents, could the humble neighbourhood business offer a solution to our complex set of problems?

Watching the 10-year-old leave with his ice cream, one could easily be convinced that it can. It is both wonderful, and unusual, to see kids going places on their own these days.

Collins shares that building relationships with the school community has been one of the most rewarding aspects of his business. His job, he says, is to build trust and safety—that’s what a neighbourhood shop is all about.

“Community is like a verb,” Collins says. “It’s an action. You’ve got to be able to hold space for everybody.”