According to data from the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, vacancy rates in the Granville Entertainment District remained staggeringly high at 24.9 per cent in January 2026.
The figure stands in contrast to a three-year low vacancy rate of 12.7 per cent across Downtown Vancouver as a whole.
Andy Yan, Director of the City Program at SFU, says the numbers are both a symptom of people’s changing lifestyles and the harsh economic reality that business owners, especially in the hospitality sector, face.
“It goes into the ongoing issues of rent, of stability of rents, of the issue of taxes and how we have a triple net lease type of arrangement in the city,” said Yan.
“Tenants are responsible not only for rents, but they’re also for operations and taxes of the storefront.”
Yan says looming redevelopment in some parts of Granville Street is also impacting the numbers.
“It’s not just a challenge along Granville Street, but it’s a challenge citywide for storefront retail,” he explained.
Yan says he looks toward all levels of government for answers and help in addressing the high costs of running a business.
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The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association says public safety remains a top concern for many businesses, adding that 50 per cent of all service calls occur on Granville Street.
Yan says businesses in Downtown Vancouver have a team approach to tackling public safety concerns in their area.
“Perceptions of crime and safety are certainly coming into play and [asking] how to best deal with this effectively and sustainably is still something that downtown, as well as many other [business improvement areas], are facing throughout the city.”
According to the Vancouver Police Department, while break-and-enter crimes in the Downtown core are down over 30 per cent from this time last year, violent offences are up over eight per cent, with 145 cases in the past eight weeks.