A move to the sunny side of the street is more than an expansion of Victoria clothing retailer Still Life. The owner says it’s an endorsement of the downtown as a retail district.
Matt and Kim Jensen have relocated the original Still Life for Him store to 560 Johnson St., from its old digs at 551 Johnson St., where it started 30 years ago. The new store, which is larger and literally on the sunny side of LoJo is two doors down from Still Life for Her.
“This is where we want to be,” said Matt Jensen, who said they had been approached about the possibility of locating to Uptown shopping centre in Saanich. “Uptown is just not us. It’s nice and they’ve done a great job with it. But this is us.”
Still Life for Him manager Jordan Stout added the commitment to downtown is about making a stand for the downtown core. “We stayed here because this is downtown, it’s about creativity, culture and unique things,” he said.
The new store for men is 1,500 square feet, more than double the previous store’s size. The women’s location is 950 square feet.
Ken Kelly, general manager of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, said the decision to stay downtown will pay off for the retailer. “Downtown is where the vibrancy is and where the future is,” Kelly said, noting there have been 21 new residential developments downtown over the last 10 years and there are 10 more in various stages of planning. “We will see the residential base increase fairly progressively.”
Kelly said areas such as Lower Johnson and the
700-1000 block of Fort Street with retail spaces considered manageable for small retailers are going to be the areas that reap the benefit of growth in the core. “Those spaces are part of that catalytic change,” said Kelly. “As we see vacancies rise around the region, I think the resurgence will fall in the smaller spaces first.”
But resurgence may need some help from landlords. High rents have been blamed for numerous vacancies around the downtown core and are especially noticeable on Government Street.
Jensen said while there are a lot of really good businesses on Government, the rents are too high, as they are on Johnson and lower Yates. “I pay less rent in Vancouver for our other store than I do here,” Jensen said, noting his Main Street location has a massive residential draw that easily dwarfs that of his downtown Victoria spots. “Landlords downtown need to make a shift in their thoughts in the way they look at their buildings.”
