Downtown Squamish has been busy this Christmas season, and the local business association plans to keep the momentum going into the spring.
Several storefronts are being spruced up thanks to money donated by producers of The Returned, a supernatural drama TV series filmed in Squamish.
Braving the cool weather and snow, storeowners are busy putting up new signs and adding fresh coats of paint paid for, in part, by $10,000 donated to the Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association.
“We want people to say, ‘Wow, what a beautiful, authentic looking downtown,’” said Bianca Peters, the BIA’s executive director. “I’ve been hearing some stores look a little bit tired, so we want to spruce it up.”
Under the association’s Façade Improvement Grant program, storeowners can receive $1,000 towards improvements to the outside of their stores.
Corsa Cycles, for example, used the money to help pay for upgrades to its new location on the corner of Pemberton Avenue and Cleveland Avenue.
Since buying the building, owner Sandra Brull has painted the outside and put up a new sign and lighting, in addition to extensively renovating the inside. It’s scheduled to reopen at the beginning of January.
“It’s great to see other businesses making improvements too. It will help attract people to the area,” said Brull.
The BIA hopes the fund will help rejuvenate the downtown core and encourage both locals and people driving along the highway to shop in the area.
In addition to a fresh coat of paint, the Chieftain Hotel, which was built in the late ’50s, now has a new iconic sign with modern LEDs in the place of neon lights. Other businesses participating include The Copper Coil Still and Grill, Billies Flower House, Random Clothing and Anna’s Interiors.
“We have so many great unique businesses, and more seem to be opening every month,” said Peters, adding that the $10,000 donation is a much-needed addition to the BIA’s $45,000 annual budget.
Filmed in 2014 in Squamish, The Returned is supernatural drama about people who return to a small town to find out they have actually been dead for years. Emotions run high as they are reunited with their families.
During filming, several buildings in downtown Squamish were spruced up with faux Styrofoam façades.
Now Brull would like to see more upgrades to the stores’ real exteriors.
The Christmas season has been particularly busy for downtown stores, said Peters, who helped organize an annual program to support businesses in the downtown core during November and December. This year, 41 businesses took part in the Passport to Shop and Win, which involved receiving a stamp for each $10 spent and entering a draw for money that can be spent at any downtown business. Winners were drawn Friday from thousands of ballots.
“Just a few businesses participated when we first started. We have such great numbers now,” said Peters, adding the rejuvenation of downtown is drawing more customers every year.
Staff have been busy lately at Anna’s Interiors, a home decorating store downtown. “It’s been very busy this year. We’ve had a lot of success with the Passport to Shop and Win – it has brought in a lot of customers,” said manager Jake Mathauser.
He said it’s important for local businesses to offer something different to attract customers. “We have over 70 suppliers, and since we’re a smaller business, we get to handpick what we bring in,” he added.
Creating a festive Christmas atmosphere is important to drawing people downtown, said Peters.
Businesses benefited from the annual Santa Claus Parade that gathered people in the downtown core on Dec. 4, said Peters, adding the parade consisted of 41 floats this year.
Although the District of Squamish is responsible for the Christmas lights, Peters is currently investigating whether a community Christmas tree could be in the plans for next year. “We have lots of new ideas to draw people downtown,” she said.
