DOWNTOWN NANAIMO - BETTER?

 

NANAIMO IS BIGGER — BUT IS IT ANY BETTER??

I moved to Nanaimo in 1970 while working for the Thomson newspaper chain, in a position at the Nanaimo Daily Free Press.

Back then, Commercial Street really was commercial. It wasn’t “a district” or “a concept”—it was the hub of Nanaimo’s retail life. There was nothing north of Norwell Drive: no Country Club Mall, no Rutherford Mall, and no Woodgrove Mall.

On the site that is now Port Place Mall, there was a small mall called Harbour Park, with Sears as the anchor store at one end and a major grocery store at the other—either Safeway or Super Valu.

Over on Victoria Crescent was Eaton’s, Sears’ main competitor. Those two department stores weren’t just big retailers—they were magnets pulling people downtown every day.

From the cenotaph at one end, down Commercial Street, and onto Victoria Crescent at the other, were stores offering just about everything you could need—and they were prosperous. This wasn’t a strip of second-hand shops and “filler” storefronts. It was a working commercial core.

One of the clearest measures of that prosperity was the local media it sustained. The Daily Free Press published six days a week, with a paid circulation base of 10,000 subscribers and enough advertising revenue to support 53+ full-time employees. The community also supported a free weekly shopper (the Nanaimo Times) and the local radio station. That level of staffing and local coverage existed for one reason: a healthy business community paying for advertising.

Now, 55 years later—and after millions of dollars spent—it’s hard to argue that downtown Nanaimo is anything but a shadow of its former self. Which raises an uncomfortable question:

Have taxpayer dollars been collected and spent on costs that should have been borne by the property developers and owners who ultimately benefit?

A snapshot of downtown Nanaimo in the early 1970s

(Front Street to Victoria Crescent — and yes, this is only what I can recall off the top of my head.)

• Longhouse Restaurant & Nightclub

• Malaspina Hotel

• Post Office

• Villa Hotel

• Great National Land

• Nanaimo Realty

• Block Bros. Realty

• Movie theatres

• Bowling alley

• Old Flag Inn

• Nanaimo Daily Free Press

• Modern Café

• Royal Bank

• Commercial Hotel

• CIBC

• Bank of Nova Scotia

• Bank of B.C.

• BC Hydro

• Woolworths

• Met Department Store

• Eaton’s

• Sears

• Harbour Park Mall (20+ small stores)

• Safeway (or Super Valu)

• Nash Hardware

• Johnstone’s Hardware

• Fletcher’s Furniture

• Dakin’s Cameras

• Lindsay’s Office Supplies

• Scotch Bakery

• Mr. Mike’s Steak House

• Jean Burns

• Charlie York Men’s Wear

• Ken Thompson Men’s Wear

• Queens Hotel

• Terminal Hotel

• Palace Hotel

• Travel agent

• Barber shops

• Jewelers

• Taxi service

• Auto body shop

• Smoke shops

• Japanese restaurant

And now consider this:

Millions of dollars later, how many businesses in this same area are destinations today?
How many can you name—right now—without looking anything up?