Vancouver Island retailers say sales are up as buy-local push pays off

Retailers up and down Vancouver Island have a reason to celebrate this Christmas season. Sales are up, as the push to shop local is taking hold and driving sales.

In downtown Nanaimo, parking is at premium and stores are full of Christmas shoppers.

“I always try to shop local,” said one shopper at Flying Fish in downtown Nanaimo.

“I think there’s a real concerted effort by shoppers to specifically buy local,” said Kim Smythe, president and CEO of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce.

When the pandemic hit, many shoppers turned to online retailers and that hurt brick-and-mortar retailers hard.

With that in mind, this year local businesses are noticing many are choosing to keep their money in the community and to support local businesses. That seems to be paying off for retailers.

“We’re seeing the result of that,” said Scott McLeod, manager at Flying Fish. “Lots of great stuff selling and it’s been a really great year.”

In Duncan, local retailers are seeing the same push to buy local and that means big sales gains over last year.

“It’s definitely up by 25 to 30 per cent this year over last,” said Patricia Vollmann-Stock, store manager at Fabrications in downtown Duncan.

Just down the street at the Red Balloon Toyshop, there is a lineup outside to get into the store.

“Business has been very brisk,” said Ian Fairwell, owner of the Red Balloon. “We’ve had lots of people coming into the toy shop.”

Fairwell says he has experienced some supply chain issues when it comes to receiving stock but those same supply issues have actually helped his business.

“We’ve heard many stories from customers saying they’ve already ordered but the delivery date has changed until after Christmas,” said Fairwell.

Now those customers are coming into his store to buy the same product off the shelf.

“My warehouse has never been full but now I’m even possibly looking into having a larger warehouse,” said Kristen Stannix, chief operations officer with Heirloom Linens in Broadmead Village Shopping Centre.

Heirloom Linens is having a banner year. Sales are up 52 per cent over pre-pandemic numbers but you can’t sell what you don’t have. That has meant stockpiling stock earlier in the year so they don’t run out during the busy Christmas shopping season.

“I’m buying six months' stock at a time right now,” said Stannix.

That strategy has paid off as the shelves are fully stocked.

“This year is something else," said Jessica Walker, managing partner and Munro’s Books in Victoria. “It’s been bustling since early November.”

This Christmas season is shaping up to be the busiest on record at the bookstore. Walker attributes that to its customers realizing the importance of shopping local.

“Our customers realize that if they want to have a local business that they can walk downtown and visit, that they need to support it throughout the year,” said Walker. “Our customers have just been outstanding in that regard.”