Another downtown Vancouver business resigns citing crime and disorder – BC

Other vancouver the company is giving up and placing the blame on crime and disorder in the streets.

The owner of high-end consignment store Mine and Yours is closing its Howe Street store, citing growing concerns about the safety of its employees and customers.

Courtney Watkins has been at the location for almost eight years and told Global News the decision to close the store was a difficult one.

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“It was really our first real store, it was where I felt like the business started,” she said.

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Since then, Watkins has opened three new stores, but said the downtown location has become a magnet for trouble, even with bars on the windows and a doorbell for customers.

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“We had our window broken 10 or 12 times,” she said.

“I feel like the last straw happened a while ago, but I kept hanging on.”

Watkins said the store’s alarm was triggered numerous times in the middle of the night. Once, she said, she was hit with a double dose of crime.

“I went in and the window was broken,” she said.

“And while I was waiting at the store for five hours for someone to close my car windows were broken in the alley and they stole things from my car too.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, your neighbor made headlines when someone walked out of the store next door with an armchair.

Employees at another boutique on the same block were also victims of a bear spray robbery in 2022.

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“It’s not just our business that’s feeling this,” she said.

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The Retail Council of Canada is calling for changes to federal sentencing guidelines for repeat offenders.

“Retailers are complaining that when someone is taken away by police, that person may be back at the door or inside the store within hours of being arrested,” said Greg Wilson, director of government relations at the Retail Council of Canada.

The city of Vancouver is also asking for help from both the province and the federal government, saying they need to do more to fund drug addiction treatment and recovery.

“We have a mental health and addictions crisis here in Vancouver, this is the epicenter of it, and we need a practical approach,” said Coun. Peter Meiszner said.

Any help will be too late for Mine and Yours in the city center as it prepares to close its sale before closing its doors for good at the end of June.

© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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