Summer patios could be one way to entice more people to visit downtown Bradford West Gwillimbury, which has been “left on the back burner” in terms of development, said one local business owner.
“Everything’s kind of opening down there (along the far end of Holland Street West),” said John Da Silva, who owns Smoochies Cakery on Holland, just west of Barrie Street, with his wife, Melinda Coady.
“Downtown’s been left on the back burner a little bit. They need to start pushing business to open up down here. It needs to be a little more welcoming.”
Town of BWG staff are currently investigating the possibility of hosting new events downtown and participating in a seasonal patio program in 2019.
The town will also look into how other municipalities have been successful in attracting residents and visitors to their downtowns without a Business Improvement Area (BIA).
Smoochies just moved to its current location about a month ago after being at another location further east in the downtown for three years.
Da Silva said he would like to see more variety in businesses open in the downtown, including financial companies, which typically have business people who go out for lunch.
He said he would also love to see more sit-down areas with a park or parkette, more downtown buildings refaced and fixed up, more arts events, and a new city hall with a skating rink similar to Barrie’s city hall.
“It’s very, very hard for new businesses because of everything being built down there (on the west end of Holland Street). Eighty per cent of my customers drive here. A lot of our customers are going to eat and then they’re coming here,” he said, adding not many people appear to spend much time walking around the downtown and exploring the shops.
“Our product is good. Our store’s nice. We treat people the right way. But we’re not getting the volume of traffic we should.”
The issue of attracting people to the downtown was discussed at the BWG Downtown Revitalization Committee earlier this month. BWG council approved Aug. 7 its recommendations to look into patios and other communities that have been successful at drawing people to their downtowns.
Six members of the committee, including Coun. Mark Contois, took part in a walkabout of the downtown on June 13 to gather information and photos about what areas needed improvement.
They came up with a five-page list, which ranged from fixing and painting the benches outside the courthouse, to repairing sidewalk cracks at John and Barrie streets, to cleaning up “lots of garbage everywhere,” to grinding down or fixing holes in curbs at various locations.
Town of BWG staff is looking into the list, which does not reflect whether any of the items are already scheduled for repair or what work might not fall under the town’s responsibility.
“A lot of our business (owners) downtown feel like our downtown is being neglected,” said Coun. Peter Ferragine, noting the town is also currently developing a new master plan. “Staff are afraid to spend money in the downtown with the assumption that it’s all going to be ripped up again.”
Town of BWG staff will report back to the downtown revitalization committee at a later date with its findings.
