HASTINGS THRIVED IN DAYS OF SKID ROAD

No one said starting a business on Hastings Street was going to be easy.
Once a thriving blue-collar commercial district, Hastings has deteriorated
into a row of scarred, boarded-up windows, pawnshops and pizza joints
patronized by junkies, hookers and drug dealers.

In 1976, four per cent of the 127 storefronts in the area between Cambie
and Main Streets were vacant. By last year, 43 per cent were empty. The
drug trade is often blamed for the decline, but a report released earlier
this summer by the Carnegie Community Action Project points the finger at
malls like Pacific Centre for luring customers away-as they did in cities
all over North America-and creating a vacuum that drug dealers quickly filled.

Stores like Woolworth's and Woodward's suffered and eventually pulled out,
sealing the fate of adjacent businesses that depended on the patronage of
destination shoppers.

The problem is not, the study concluded, a matter of lack of sufficient
local market to sustain a business-after all, the area was thriving when it
was known as Skid Row. The report also debunked notions the decline is
related to a fall in population, pointing out the greatest population drop
occurred from the '40s to the '70s.

The face of the neighbourhood has changed significantly, however. Though it
was always home to single, unemployed or retired men, often former resource
workers, they're now outnumbered on the sidewalks by junkies.

Businesses that have stayed have adapted. Army and Navy opened a food floor
to replace Woodward's grocery service. The half-century-old Save-on-Meats
has managed to hang on, according to Jack Parasiuk, who owns the produce
component, because it's actually home to five separate owner-operated
businesses.

Parasiuk says because overhead is low, the outlet's prices are
competitive-$1.29 for a loaf of bread-which attracts shoppers from nearby
Yaletown and Gastown. He adds he's seen some new business from new market
condo buildings in the area, including Carrall Station and Van Horne, but
he's hoping the city will approve more mixed-use developments to beef up
the local market.

At the nearby Model Express shoe store, the window display is packed with
knee-high boots, shoes with five-inch heels and lingerie.

Owner Lee Chu's brother opened the business in the family-owned building in
1974 as a jeans store, but as the area changed, Chu adapted to fit the new
clientele. Chu, who wears glasses, no makeup and a plain t-shirt and jeans,
admits she's an unlikely choice to run a store catering to prostitutes and
their johns. "Some people give me a funny look when they come in." But with
low overhead, she can offer good deals. "This is the best area for this
clientele."