One of the most famous signs in Vancouver features a smiling pig, clutching a bag of money. To nearly every Vancouverite, this sign marks an institution in this city: Save-On Meats. The neon glow from the sign continues to light Hastings Street despite the venerable butcher shop standing empty for nearly two years.

Former owner Al DesLauriers had several offers for the building in the 1990s from prospective condo developers who were drooling over the site. He turned them down, stating that he would rather give up his business for free to someone who wanted to maintain the butchery.

Rumours have been swirling since last year that Save-On Meats was being bought by restaurateur Mark Brand. Brand has ample experience in the business, having opened Boneta, The Diamond, and Sea Monstr Sushi in Gastown.

In a report published by the City of Vancouver last week, it became official: early in 2011, the doors of Save-On Meats will open once again, under Brand’s ownership.

Many organizations came together to make this happen.

Our former Business and Social Enterprise Developer, Brian Smith, helped BOB partner with Vancity to provide a $500,000 loan to Brand for this project. As well, the City of Vancouver supplied a grant of $35,000 through the Greenest City Neighbourhood Grants program to catalyze the re-opening. The façade of the building will be upgraded under the Hastings Street Renaissance Project.

Another partnership that was integral was the one with Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House. Part of their Kitchen Tables project is to widely introduce their food philosophy in the neighbourhood. The Neighbourhood House’s food philosophy states that no one should be without access to healthy and natural foods. Food is one of the basic human rights, and nutrition can play a big role in physical and mental wellbeing.

This is where Brand hopes Save-On Meats will come in.

The building is three stories tall; each floor will have a different function.

The first floor will include a walk-in meat counter and café open to the public, as it had been since 1957.

The second floor will feature a commissary, a centralized food-making facility that will supply Brand’s restaurants. Those who work in this communal kitchen will be local residents trained through a program at Potluck Café and Catering, conveniently located across the street.

The third floor would be the operating area for the Downtown Eastside food incubator, which would encourage entrepreneurs in the neighbourhood to build upon their ideas. Incubators such as this one help small businesses sustain themselves.

The words “SAVE OUR CITY” have been painted across the boarded up storefront at Save-On Meats. Interpret it how you will, but this could be the start of a new era for Hastings Street. Once a vibrant retail area that catered to everyone regardless of income level, Save-On Meats could be the very spark to reignite the flame.

In smaller letters underneath the graffiti reads ‘Work in Progress’. It is pretty safe to say that Brand, the citizens of Vancouver, and especially DesLauriers are happy with the direction in which that progress is heading.

Businesses and property owners in the Downtown Eastside are invited to attend a public meeting with the Hastings Corridor BIA Formation Committee, this Thursday August 12th 2010. The proposed BIA will serve businesses along the Hastings Corridor from Richards Street all the way to Gore Avenue, and will potentially serve a portion of Crosstown along Pender, from Richards to Beatty as well.  The consultation meeting will be held back to back at 3:00pm and then again at 6:00pm at the Building Opportunity with Business office (163 E Pender Street, in the BOB Gallery and Co-Working space)

What is a BIA? A Business Improvement Association is a specially funded and district managed non-profit association of businesses and commercial property owners who work to improve the economic vitality of their business district. In Vancouver there are currently 20 BIAs serving a variety of corridors and areas. In total 60,0000 businesses in BC are served by approximately 60 BIAs (35 of which are located in the Greater Vancouver area) as they have proved to be a highly effective and worthwhile venture for the business communities in these areas.  Working closely with municipalities, BIAs have become important partners in area planning and revitalization initiatives and have provided a vehicle for the business community to champion constructive improvements in the interest of neighbourhood beautification, events and entertainment, functionality and safety. The proposed Hastings Corridor BIA would fill the gaps between the Chinatown BIA (zone 2 in the BIA Map below) the Gastown BIA (zone 8 ) the Downtown BIA (zone 5) and the Strathcona BIA ( zone17). Click on the map to see an enlarged version of the image.

Why a BIA for Hastings? Well to find out I interviewed Lynn Kitchen, a member of the committee and  Custom Training Manager for Continuing Studies at Langara College. According to Lynn the value of BIAs are not to be underestimated.

” The return on investment for businesses who have a BIA is triple and quadruple fold. One of the areas in this city that could benefit the most from having a BIA, the Hastings Corridor, is currently one of the few business areas without.”

Lynn has worked closely with BOB’s Brian Smith, Business and Social Enterprise Developer, representatives from the Board of Trade Small Business Council (of which she is Vice-Chair and Chair of the Council’s Inner City Development Subcommittee), members of the business community such as Heather O’Hara of Potluck Cafe and Brian Dodd of United We Can and several others on the BIA Formation Committee.

“The Board of Trade Inner-City Development Subcommittee has been so devoted, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such devotion and commitment to start a BIA before and I really hope the rich and diverse voices in this community come out to these consultations. I really have to credit Brian though for championing this process and getting the ball rolling!”

As much work as the committee has done so far, having the community involved is a crucial factor, as ultimately the decision rests with the commercial property owners and businesses themselves who vote on whether or not to support the initiative. If 1/3rd of property owners and businesses vote against the BIA it does not go to Council, where it is then provisioned. Lynn emphasized how important these consultations are in the BIA process.

“We’ve been very busy canvassing businesses to get them involved in this consultation process. We want to build support but we also welcome critical voices, especially at this phase. We want to hear everyone’s concerns and ideas and we would like to see this be a real community driven BIA. We want change makers”

If you own commercial property in the Downtown Eastside or are an inner-city business looking to improve the economic vitality of your neighbourhood please come and share your thoughts, and see the work that the Hastings Corridor BIA Formation Committee has put into this proposal.

Draft copies of the work the committee has done on this BIA proposal will be presented at the  Thursday August 12th consultation 3:00 and 6:00pm.

For more information contact Brian Smith at brian.smith@bobics.org or have a look at the BIA budget FAQ by clicking on the link below.

Budget Related FAQ Draft_MTG01_Aug2010

Last night Brian Smith, Business and Social Enterprise Developer at Building Opportunities with Business was honored at the Business in Vancouver 40 under 40 awards reception held at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. I can imagine he’s already getting tired of being repeatedly congratulated and lauded for the recognition of his work in this city but from all of us at BOB, CONGRATULATIONS BRIAN!!

There were a few 40 under 40 winners who traditionally may not have been included in years past as it is an award given out via Business in Vancouver, to business people. I’m glad to see that the judges have now begun to recognize social entreprise, non-profits and even the medical profession in their body of candidates though. It made me think about how much our collective business culture and business philosophy has changed over the past 20 years alone. Brian has worked with a range of people in the DTES to create and manage what many believe is the best social purchasing directory in Canada. The directory is a comprehensive list of businesses in Vancouver’s downtown eastside and inner-city neighourhoods that offer socially responsible and environmentally sustainable goods and services. Many of these companies create jobs for local residents that may have been hard to employ. And he wasn’t the only winner last night who was doing something that was not only good for business but good for communities, the environment and those in need of help. To me it really seemed like what was once on the fringe of business culture had really become central to it.

If one tries to think objectively about the history of business and industry since the industrial revolution we have to remember that all these great challenges within economics, environment, society and culture are byproducts of an incredible and sudden explosion of productivity and change. To put it in perspective, it’s like a few hundred years ago we opened a pandoras box, and only 50 years ago did the revolution in chemistry offer us a chance to create plastics and other materials and with them the effluents, gasses and other byproducts that quickly accumulated. And while the environmental challenges mounted a host of socioeconomic challenges also grew in tandem with rising population and shrinking space and resources.   When considering the age of human civilization this literally happened in a blink of an eye. And all things considered, though we could’ve reacted faster, we’ve reacted pretty fast. 20 years ago was your office recycling or composting? did your building have a green roof? Was it LEED certified? Were green enrepreneurs being honored along with captains of technology and industry?

The fact that business leaders are also being recognized for being environmental leaders and socially responsible leaders is exciting. While some may say it’s just a fad and that when the chips are down we’ll do things cheap and dirty I firmly believe that we’re beginning to leave behind the days when all that mattered was the bottom line. Yes there still exists greed and excess, there are still the Gordon Geckos of the world, but if the recipients of the 2009 BIV 40 under 40 awards were any indication they’re becomming eclipsed by the new breed of socially and environmentally responsible business leaders like Brian. So once again congratulations to him and to all the winners of the 2009  BIV 40 under 40 awards.

Adam Smith would approve of this year's BIV 40 under 40