NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT Ken Murdock leads his new kayak out of Valhalla Pure Outfitters on Second Street downtown with the help of store owner, Michael Harrington (rear). The store is closing down this month with Harrington citing general economic conditions as the problem.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A local businessman who’s shutting down his high-profile store downtown, remains a big booster for the city centre and says a lot is possible despite hard times for Hatters and the businesses they support.
Valhalla Pure Outfitters has sold high-quality outdoor gear, like tents, parkas and sports kits for nearly four years in the middle of a rejuvenated block of Second Street.
Owner Michael Harrington says the model, a clustering of local business and the public support can shield from the worst of an economic downturn in the city and province.
“I’ve made no secret that I’m a huge proponent of downtown,” said Harrington, whose store is staging its going out of business sale this week.
“Had I not moved downtown, I wouldn’t have lasted this long,” he said. “”When oil prices collapsed in 2014, I knew what was coming, but there’s no joy in being right about that.”
Harrington feels that while the public assumes online sales are hollowing out brick and mortar retail business, his store had strong online ordering and sales from clients through his door.
He had a good foot trade, a loyal clientele, even tourists come through his door, which he said never would have happened at a previous location in a non-central business strip.
Now though, he blames generally low consumer confidence resulting from lingering rates of high unemployment and the lack of disposable income in the city.
This week a national media outlet featured Medicine Hat’s downtown as a symbol of economic woe that’s settling in throughout rural and mid-sized urban centres.
For many Hatters, the critique of boarded up businesses, little daytime activity, and general malaise is well known.
But, say business officials, it is now out of date.
Jeremy Silver, head of the City Centre Development Agency and a downtown business owner, said the core has struggled, but not more than elsewhere in the city or province, and like those economies, is evolving.
“It’s a reflection of what happens when you take oil and gas away from an oil and gas town,” he said, adding that closures are unfortunate, but no longer the norm.
“We’ve had record numbers of businesses move in over the past year,” he said, citing home-based or specialty retailers who are taking the leap and creating storefront locations.
“What’s moving in is small independent, locally-owned businesses, and that’s not a bad change,” he said.
Independently-owned and non-franchised business leaves more money within an economy.
City economic developers have pointed to a rejuvenation effort taking hold following major road work and streetscape changes on the block in 2013, as a catalyst that continues. Recent changes on Third Street have led to new investments there. Two major properties, the former Parker’s Furniture outlet and the city-owned parking lot across from city hall, were earmarked for new development in 2019.
Harrington said that the city centre is a barometer of the health of ground level retail and the spirit of the city.
“There’s a clustering effect with other businesses,” said Harrington. “Medicine Hat’s downtown is unique within Alberta, and it should have become – and still could become – a beacon of hope and progress in a downturn.”
CCDA budget
The City Centre Development Agency’s annual budget will be the subject of a public hearing at city council’s last meeting of the year, Monday evening, 6:30 p.m. at city hall.
