Gastown Re-Opens with Care, Businesses Provided with Locally Sourced Safety Kits

Businesses in the Gastown neighbourhood in Vancouver have carefully re-opened, with an “Open With Care” campaign, safely welcoming Vancouverites to the community following some closures and restrictions as a result of COVID-19.

Over 70 stores – many of them independently owned – including clothing, interiors, gifts and more, as well as cafes, bars, restaurants, galleries, barbers, salons, and other services, are now open for business. To ease back into a new sense of normalcy, many will begin with reduced hours with up to date details found through: gastown.org/openforbusiness/.

As the province of BC announced its restart plan, the Gastown Business Improvement Society and its members began developing a viable reopening strategy, one that could sustain the pivoting of operations while prioritizing health and safety in line with WorksafeBC guidelines. Enhanced power washing, street cleaning, and beautification measures have been put into place to ensure the streets of Gastown are clean prior to the reopening.

The Gastown BIA is providing businesses with ‘Open With Care’ kits including hand sanitizers, masks, safe-distancing floor stickers, and Worksafe BC guidelines and resources. All contents of the kits were sourced locally, fostering community support and shop local mentality, and have been delivered by BIA members as they welcome back businesses to the community.

Photography Credit: Erich Saide