Easy Role For City to Stimulate Uptown Residential Growth

We are caught in a "catch 22" in Uptown Saint John: businesses can't stay open evenings and weekends to serve a residential consumer base that either does not exist or is not in the habit of shopping uptown - and no one can expect a residential consumer base to grow or to start shopping uptown when the hours kept and the quality of service is so poor for for those who might learn to depend on it.

If we are to grow our residential base in Uptown Saint John and create a dense urban area that even our Mayor agrees is a necessity for a vibrant community then we need to provide the urban services necessary to attract and service that residential base. But how can we expect uptown businesses to go out on a limb and incur the costs of extended hours before the market exists to support it?

Enter the City Market and an opportunity for City Hall to put its money where its mouth is.

Currently the City Market is rated the #1 attraction for tourists who visit our City. Good for the tourists. But for those of us who live in Uptown Saint John, we only enjoy the pleasure of shopping at the City Market when a cruise ship is in town. We are not considered the bread and butter of that operation and many of us are spitefully shopping outside of our neighbourhood because the Market is turning our business away. On several occasions I have visited the Market 30 minutes before closing only to find the fish and meat markets have decided to close down early, sending me to Sobey's or Superstore to buy the ingredients for our evening meal. When Market merchants get anxious to close Market staff will lock all of the doors and force the remaining valued customers to exit through one door even if it is at the other end of the building. To be fair, some Market merchants get it right but collectively it is all wrong.

None of these practices would be condoned by the owner of a private sector mall - the kind that Uptown merchants like to complain are stealing their business to other areas of the city. We have all heard numerous times that whenever a Walmart or a Costco sets up shop, other businesses want to be nearby to benefit from the increased traffic. If most of us believe the City Market is such an attraction - and I believe it is - could this not be used as a magnet for Uptown retail growth.

The City Market is within the control of the citizens through our municipal government. The best catalyst for a vibrant core is ours to use and it is currently being squandered by putting the interests of its tenants before the interests of its customers and by allowing a poverty-mindset that only sees a potential market in visitors (from the suburbs during business hours or from the cruise ships) to continue in the midst of a sustained boom that has everyone investing in our assets. Our Market has not yet come to the party.

When people list the amenities required to attract people to live Uptown, most of the services on that list are housed or could be addressed with the Market. A grocery store, a late evening coffee shop, evening gathering spaces, unique shopping experiences, boutique specialty shops, etc. A Market that closes at 6pm, does not coordinate its services, poorly insulates its seating area and wastes a second seating area on the other side for merchant storage will not cut it. Several Market merchants only accept cash payments which is a disservice on its own in a country that has adopted debit payments ahead of any other nation.

We've heard this before but it is time to say it again: the City needs to hire a third party management company to turn our Market into something that conjures the excitement and activity that the new Pete's Frootique does in Halifax or that Granville Island or Urban Fare does in Vancouver (the last time I visited the new Pete's in Halifax with my friends from Victoria they said it was enough to make them want to move there!). And tourists want to experience what the local community enjoys, not a manufactured version set up just for them that the locals avoid because of unreliable business hours and sub-standard services for their daily needs. A third party manager will set policies that serve its target customer base for tenants to adhere to within their lease or find another location to set up shop. And by staking out this territory collectively, no one Uptown merchant will have to stick its neck out or be forced to wait for Walmart to hang out its shingle on a Canterbury in-fill lot.

If the Market was just a poorly run City institution we could get angry and complain as we like to do. But the City Market is a jewel that is not being used to our benefit. The City market is a gift in this time of boom and 21st century lifestyle transition. People want to live Uptown but they want the services that are expected of an urban community. Why wait for a competitor to do what we all want our Market to do for us now?