Downtown Vernon (Submitted photo/DVA)

By Kevin Rothwell

Huge COVID-19 impact

Downtown businesses slugged it out in 2020

Mar 9, 2021 | 12:24 PM

There was likely no harder hit business sector in Vernon through 2020 than the hundreds of small businesses in the downtown.

The Downtown Vernon Association (DVA), which has relied heavily on events like the Sunshine Festival, car shows and Civic Sounds to bring people into the city centre, was faced with re-inventing itself in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

“There was not a single downtown business or not-for-profit that wasn’t impacted by the pandemic,” DVA chair Shanna Rowney told Vernon council Monday.

Rowney provided a list of challenges faced by DVA members as many struggled to stay in business.

• Non-essential businesses ordered closed
• Employees and customers urged to “stay home” and “work from home” emptying our office spaces, restaurants, and sidewalks
• Shift to online purchasing heavily encouraged & widely marketed by companies using gig-workers
• Significant PPE requirements and costs including expensive barriers, medical masks and sanitizer
• Tourism, including domestic, discouraged
• Public gathering and event restrictions
• Mandatory reductions in seating capacity and hours of service
• Difficulty encouraging hourly-wage employees to return to work amid CERB benefits
• Risk to landlords of loss of rental revenue
• Risk of complete business closures
• Loss of “main-street” dynamic commercial.
• Liability insurance rates soar in B.C.
• B.C.’s opioid crisis deepens with increased loss of life in our community
• Vernon’s real estate market quickly becomes a “seller’s market” impacting the affordability of housing

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The DVA continues to be a resource and advocate for businesses in the downtown.

The Christmas shop local promotion saw the community pull together in supporting local business.

Rowney told council they plan to kick off summer with a promotion that is in the spirit of the Sunshine Festival.

Initiatives to keep the downtown inviting include graffiti abatement, cleanliness of public spaces, public art, including protection of the historic murals and new installations, landscape maintenance and public safety.

“This has been a tough, tough year. I think you have used the fact that COVID has freed up some time, effectively to move the DVA in a positive direction,” Coun. Brian Quiring said. “There hasn’t been any downtime, you can see by the strategic plan and all the initiatives you are taking on to improve governance. Keep up the good work.”