THUNDER BAY – North downtown core businesses are pushing city council to grant exemption to allow for specialty shops, boutiques and clothing stores within close proximity of Prince Arthur’s Landing to be open on statutory holidays.
Members of the Waterfront District Business Improvement Area will go before city council on Monday, seeking a tourist exemption designation under the Ontario Business Holidays Retail Act that would allow businesses in the area spanning from Water Street to Court Street and Van Norman Street to Lincoln Street to operate on the nine provincial holidays.
Jim Comuzzi, chair of Waterfront District Business Improvement Area, said the designation would allow specialty shops, boutiques and clothing stores to have the option of being open.
“It allows the business owner or the stakeholder or member of our association to do what they want,” Comuzzi said. “If they want to open, it’s their choice to open. It’s not a provincial bylaw that states they can’t.”
The nine holidays included in the act are New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
There are currently a number of exemptions to the provincial law, which in the waterfront allows bars and restaurants to open.
Expanding an exemption to the entire waterfront area would allow those small retail businesses to capitalize on the increased traffic on holidays such as Canada Day.
“We have 18,000, 19,000 people walking our streets on a statutory holiday. That’s a perfect time to be open and to show your goods,” Comuzzi said. “When we have that many people in the downtown area on a specific day that would deter their ability to compete with the online stores or areas you can shop in.”
Comuzzi said the current law seems to lack consistency and described it as “antiquated.”
Agreeing is Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson, who recalled it wasn’t that long ago businesses had restrictions on which days of the week they could operate.
“I’m glad to see this kind of creative thinking as to how we can provide more business opportunities to those small businesses in our community,” Robinson said.
“It’s always good to take a look at those laws and see if things have changed a little. We went through this 20 years ago with Sunday shopping. Now to be open on Sunday is kind of not really an issue anymore.”
Robinson said she would like to see other business groups, such as the Bay and Algoma BIA, explore whether they would also benefit from a tourism exemption designation.
“I think the concept is definitely worth some discussion across the city in some of the other business areas as well,” Robinson said. “I think it can benefit not only the Waterfront BIA but perhaps there are other districts that want to consider it as well and go forward to the city with a comprehensive plan.”
Enforcement of the act includes progressive fines, with the first violation resulting in a $500 penalty, followed by $2,000 for a second offence and $5,000 for every following time.
Comuzzi said the potential for a fine would likely be too prohibitive for independent local businesses to open in defiance of the law.
