Year In Review: Paul MacKinnon On Downtown Recovery
To cap off 2022, Huddle sat down with some of the key figures in Atlantic Canada’s business community – folks representing everyone from tourism operators to energy producers to the startup world.
We asked each to reflect on the challenges, successes, and surprises that most impacted their industries and the lives of Atlantic Canadians this year.
In the latest of several conversations we will bring you before the new year, Huddle reporter Derek Montague chatted with Paul MacKinnon, the CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.
His answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What comes to mind when you look back at 2022 in terms of what downtown Halifax businesses went through?
We’re getting better data than ever before, and it shows we have had a pretty good recovery here in Halifax. Downtown sales, overall, are back in most cases or have gone up compared to before the pandemic. There are some sector exceptions to that.
I would say pedestrian traffic is pretty much back to where it was pre-pandemic. So overall, I would say it’s been a good story.
Q: So, it’s mostly good news, but you said that there are still some challenges for certain sectors. What are some of the challenges that downtown businesses face in 2022?
Of the four main sectors, retail has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. But food and beverages is up from pre-pandemic, accommodations is up, and personal services is also up. So three out of four sectors are in recovery mode.
Retail is probably the toughest market. It’s competing against online sales, because you’re buying a physical thing, which is easy to do online as opposed to a restaurant where you’re selling experience. Personal service and accommodations, those are all things you have to actually come down to experience. So I think online shopping is part of the story but I don’t know if it’s the whole story.
Retail is still the biggest sector: it’s actually still more significant in terms of overall sales than restaurant sales. It’s just it’s trending in the wrong direction.
Q: What Milestones or significant events are coming up for downtown businesses that you’re excited for in 2023?
If there was one thing people miss most it’s large, in-person gatherings. What we saw last year was people coming back into events: we almost did two years’ worth of conventions in one year. We saw some big numbers for those things.
I think in Halifax, and downtown in particular, we’ve always been an event destination. I think we’re going to do that again with the World Junior hockey championships. And then the North American Indigenous Games are coming up. There is a whole new event strategy in the city: events are a big part of the future and will continue to put people downtown.
I think the big question that we’re asking is how will things shake out in terms of work flexibility and hybrid work. The number of downtown office workers is certainly down significantly and continue to be down, and we probably won’t reach pre-pandemic levels any time soon, if ever again. So, what’s going to happen with people who work Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-five? What are those numbers going to look like?
Q: You’ve had some debates recently about whether or not there is enough of a police presence in downtown Halifax. Can you tell me a little bit about that issue for businesses when it comes to crime, along with other issues like housing?
There are issues around crime and issues around homelessness, and it’s dangerous to lump them in together. I don’t think anyone wants to be saying because there are more homeless people there’s more crime. But there is intersectionality.
Probably one of the challenges for our downtown, and it’s a huge challenge right across the country, right across North America, is we’re seeing housing unaffordability and we’re seeing a rise in homelessness in on streets. I don’t know that we’re seeing a real spike in major crime but the police have shared with us that they’re seeing an increase in petty crimes like shoplifting and assaults.
There are complicated issues around solving homelessness, and we’re fully in support of massive new investments by the province, by the feds, and by the city. But, in the meantime, our streets need to feel safe for everybody.
We’ve advocated, as long as I’ve been around, that one of the best uses of police resources is a proactive presence on the streets: officers walking the beat like the old-style neighborhood cop that existed for years who knows people downtown, knows the business owners, knows the area.
We know, and the police know, that there’s a strong, vocal group that’s opposed to really any police presence. We acknowledge that there’s been challenges with police actions across North America and around the world but we think that beat cops are still needed.