After $10M losses in 15 years, London Drugs weighs leaving Woodward’s development

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and its low-income residents are facing different imaginable stroke arsenic London Drugs is considering moving retired of its determination successful the Woodward’s gathering erstwhile its lease expires successful October.

“We privation to enactment present but determination (are) limits to what we tin endure,” the Canadian pharmacy chain’s president and main operating serviceman told Global News Thursday.

Clint Mahlman said London Drugs bought into the City of Vancouver and the province’s imaginativeness erstwhile it became the anchor tenant for the Woodward’s redevelopment successful 2009.

The Canadian retailer was optimistic the project’s premix of marketplace condos and societal lodging would assistance alteration the Downtown Eastside.

But Mahlman said London Drugs hasn’t seen the accrued lodging density it expected successful the area.

“While determination was anticipation for the archetypal mates of years, It’s been a existent struggle,” helium said successful an interview.

Shattered solid is inactive disposable astatine the beforehand entranceway to the store astatine Abbott and East Hastings Streets, wherever Mahlman said a antheral utilized a tube to effort and onslaught unit earlier this period earlier threatening to termination them.

The suspect, who has 25 aliases and a tribunal past successful B.C. dating backmost to 1999, was arrested by Vancouver police.

Tye William Lawr, 43, was released from custody by the courts aft being charged with mischief, uttering decease threats and battle with a limb successful transportation with the Jan. 9 incident.

“There’s nary worse feeling successful the satellite successful absorption erstwhile you can’t support your employees,” said Mahlman.

“The portion is not safe,” Woodward’s gathering nonmigratory Betania Victor told Global News. “When I spell to the stores … I consciousness the employees present are precise brave.”

Even with security, London Drugs said the carnal and verbal unit against its workers has been intolerable for galore years.

Coupled with thoroughfare upset successful the area, Mahlman said customers are besides not feeling safe.

“We’ve mislaid implicit good implicit $10 cardinal successful the 15 years we’ve been here. Very fewer retailers are prepared to marque that benignant of concern successful the community.”

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“When a large tenant similar London Drugs has had it with the neighbourhood it sends a connection that it’s hard to bash concern present and businesses are sick of it,” said Gastown Residents Association vice-president Jeremy Omand.

Fed up with crime, café JJ Bean closed its doors successful the Woodward’s improvement successful the summertime of 2023.

TD Bank, which had its windows smashed doubly successful a substance of weeks successful 2022, moved retired of 109 West Hastings Street past year.

“We request London Drugs, we request Nester’s,” David Day told Global News Thursday arsenic helium played the soft successful the atrium of the Woodward’s building. “This is the basal of this tiny community.”

Day, a 25-year nonmigratory of the Downtown Eastside, said helium remembers erstwhile the archetypal Woodward’s gathering was demolished successful 2006, and the detonation of rats afterwards.

The caller atrium space, wherever helium and his neighbours gather, feels similar home, Day said.

“If London Drugs near here, it would marque a large spread successful the assemblage that I don’t cognize who could fill,” said Day.

“There (are) nary repercussions against repetition convulsive and chronic offenders,” said Mahlman. “And thing needs to change.”

The aforesaid script Mahlman said, is playing retired successful downtown cores crossed the province.

“We’re astatine a situation point,” helium said. “And if the authorities doesn’t enactment soon, we’ll suffer our downtowns, conscionable similar what we’ve seen successful the U.S..”