Sometimes it just comes down to the bare necessities, such as socks and underwear, when drawing people to where you want them to go.
Now that shoppers can pick up such items in the new Walmart in the middle of Maple Ridge, more people are shopping and walking around downtown, says Ineke Boekhorst, with the Downtown Maple Ridge Business Improvement Association.
The big-box store opened in December in the former Zellers and Target space in Haney Place Mall, in time for the Christmas rush.
She has also spoken to a few store owners along 224th Street who were pleased with the most-recent holiday season.
“They were really quite happy. Foot traffic seems to have increased with Walmart there.”
Cindy Stephenson, owner of Once Upon a Tea Leaf, had a great December.
“Our sales are up almost 40 per cent from last year [for that month].”
She’s not sure if that’s because of the low Canadian dollar or because people in Maple Ridge are shopping close to home. However, the city is growing and more people are moving here all the time.
“I have customers come from all over the Lower Mainland,” Stephenson said.
“Our numbers are up all year.”
Boekhorst also pointed out there were more 40 per cent more entries to the BIA’s Win Your Wish contest this year,with 14,000 submissions.
Meanwhile, Maple Ridge commuters are now stopping downtown on their way home instead of in Coquitlam or Surrey.
“[Walmart] put a store in our downtown that has socks and underwear available. People need those little things,” Boekhorst said.
In west Maple Ridge, Bryan Hutton of Canadian Tire said it was a better holiday season than the year before.
“We were up slightly this year compared to last year. It was a relatively strong Christmas.”
Hutton said people are now starting their Christmas shopping earlier in the season.
“I think everybody’s pretty satisfied. We didn’t see much change from having Walmart here.”
Brian Bekar, at Marks, which opened earlier this year in its new location on Lougheed Highway and 207th Street, wonders what took him so long to make the move to a new building.
“We’re at a 41-per-cent increase,” this Christmas in the new location, compared to last year, when the store was located in downtown Maple Ridge on Lougheed Highway and 228th Street.
He notes that half of the cars traveling along Lougheed Highway are diverted away from the downtown when they take the Haney Bypass. Some recent newcomers to Maple Ridge haven’t even been downtown, he added.
“Some people aren’t going west, they’re actually going east,” to Maple Ridge stores, he pointed out.
Christmas shoppers were after a good variety of items rather than following any particular trends. The low Canadian dollar is also discouraging people from slipping across the border to the U.S. There was only a 15-minute wait at the border during the Black Friday shopping event, which is now eroding Boxing Day as the No. 1 day for bargain hunting.