The revitalization of Main Street in downtown Galt has been a blessing for some local businesses; for others it has been a nightmare situation that has them rethinking their decision to move into the downtown core.
Despite being located directly across the street from each other, Retro Rocket Comics and Sugar Daddies are having vastly different experiences.
The comic shop that recently moved into 35 Main St. in downtown Galt is seeing a night and day difference between their current location and their former home of 20 years on Dundas Street.
"The foot traffic here is amazing," said Retro Rocket owner Chris Chettle. "Being located on a main strip vs. a secluded area on Dundas has made all the difference."
Now occupying the freshly renovated space with more than enough room for shelves of comics, collectibles and graphic novels, Chettle is happy to be finally calling his Main Street shop home.
"Just being around all of these other businesses and working with them has really benefited us," he added. "It gets even better when they close down the street in the summer and the foot traffic doubles."
James Goodram is the director of economic development for the City of Cambridge and is hearing many positive things about their goals to help developers revitalize the downtown cores.
"We are seeing truly amazing things when it comes to this project," said Goodram. "We are seeing Main Street vacancy rates drop from 9 per cent to 4 per cent, which is huge."
The city is happy to see the return of people and businesses back to downtown as the city continues to grow and evolve.
Goodram points to the developers and private sector really taking hold of the situation and recognizes the city's responsibility to create welcoming spaces for these new residents and shops to enjoy.
"We close down Main Street to give all of the shops and businesses and opportunity to get out and get involved with the community. It also creates an amazing place-making opportunity as well," he added.
While Retro Rockets is happy for the extra foot traffic, the owner of Sugar Daddies, Greg Gardner, is nearing the final straw with their new location at 52 Main St.
"The parking issues here in downtown are just becoming too much to the point we don't have room for our customers or our employees," said Gardner. "If this trend continues I think we're going to have to look for another location."
Gardner said they signed a contract for the space on Main Street during the pandemic when they desperately needed to increase their space. What they didn't expect was construction vehicles, downtown business employees and a lack of parking enforcement to push them away from downtown.
"It's a real double edged sword, because the space is beautiful, but the parking is just horrendous," he said.
According to Sugar Daddies, they bring in between 700 and 1,200 customers a week to the downtown core with 80 per cent coming from outside of Cambridge. They expect this number to increase during the summer time as they have added more items to the menu and have started to expand beyond just offering baked goods.
Over the past few months as construction in the area starts to ramp up, they have had numerous complaints from customers that they can't get to the store due to a lack of parking. During this time, they have noticed a trend that has them worried.
"We have the location here in Cambridge and also one in Hamilton. What we've been seeing is a lot of those customers from Toronto and other cities are actually going to Hamilton, we have the data and we can see this," added Gardner.
Sugar Daddies has gone as far as reaching out to Invest Cambridge to help them look for another location in the city, taking with them the over 1,000 customers that come to downtown on a weekly basis.
"If I would have known it was going to be like this, we would have never had chosen this location," said Gardner. "Regardless of the lease and everything else that we've already signed, we can't sustain being in an area where parking is not enforced properly."
Goodram thinks the city has adequate parking for the needs of the downtown core, but admits it is difficult to create more spaces when there isn't necessarily the room.
"There are some businesses that you won't be able to park on their door step," said Goodram. "There are many lots in the area that have available parking, but it might be a short walk."
Gardner agrees there would be enough parking if by-laws were enforced properly.
"We can't have construction vehicles taking up the entire lot, spots that are premium parking spots. It's not fair to the businesses in downtown," added Gardner.
Chettle and Retro Rockets have not experienced the same parking issues as Sugar Daddies, but agrees enforcement could be a bit stronger.
"Everyone is going to have different experiences, but for us, it's becoming too much," said Gardner.
