SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS

Michael Walker

Vancouver’s Downtown Association, Executive Director

Lights. Camera. Taking Action. SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESS

One of the easiest ways to support our community during this challenging time is by supporting our local businesses and sole proprietors.

Our local businesses are the cornerstone of our regional economy - supporting countless jobs and families. These businesses provide long-term social and economic benefits to our community as their products and services capitalize on our unique sense of place and Vancouver’s strong community-centric culture. These benefits directly correlate to our community’s vibrancy and livability.

During this pandemic, I have seen firsthand the holistic nature of our community’s small business network. Small business owners have been at the front-line selflessly supporting our community by leveraging their skill sets and products to deliver aid to those in need even as they face great adversity. Divine Consign, located at 9th & Main in downtown Vancouver, partnered with Ginn Development Group, Varo Interior Design, and You Move Me to furnish several apartments for medical staff who are not able to go home to their families due to exposure. Sweet Spot Skirts & Most Everything Vintage, both located in downtown, have produced hundreds of reusable face masks for members of our beloved community. Bleu Door Bakery, located in Uptown Village, has been hard at work feeding hundreds of the most vulnerable individuals in our community. These examples are just a small sample of the bright spots during this challenging time—due to their direct stakeholdership in our community, they are able to tailored and localized support unlike any other. As our local businesses work feverishly to adapt to this new normal, we must all take part in supporting them as they are truly the soul of who we are. Supporting local is easy - order takeout, shop online, purchase gift cards for future use, and patronize businesses providing essential services to the public. You can also support in other ways by promoting small business content on social media platforms and by advocating on the importance of shopping local. Small individual efforts done collectively can make a significant; it is our duty during this unprecedented time to support one another. I wholeheartedly believe that we will all rise to this occasion and will be stronger for it. Difficult times make us more resilient and create a stronger social fabric. Please

join in on this effort to support local, our community is depending on us.

For more information about Vancouver’s Downtown Association, please visit VDAUSA.org.