Courtesy: CHAT Newsroom

By Angela Kazmierczak

More diversity, a shift towards shopping locally in Medicine Hat’s core

Apr 24, 2023 | 5:24 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Uncertainty and frustration were common amongst business owners during COVID-19, as opening and closing was much like a rotating door.

As many as one third of businesses in Alberta faced closure.

And today, two thirds of small Alberta businesses are still paying off debt incurred.

But for Medicine Hat’s downtown core, the unlikely happened.

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Darin McKay, Downtown Collective’s chair, says that instead of supporting big box stories, like Amazon and outside stores, locals were sticking to downtown businesses.

“The whole shift of supporting local kind of opened people’s eyes to the hidden gems that are downtown,” said Darin McKay, chair of the Downtown Collective.

In addition, the downtown core began seeing more diverse businesses.

“Business from Dunmore Road moved downtown, which I think says a lot about what the downtown direction is going,” said McKay.

Businesses such as Sammy’s Kitchen and Bar, The Sunday Dinner Home Store, the Travois, the Yard and Casa Amigos Cantina are some of several new businesses that opened or relocated to the area.

McKay says that forming the Downtown Collective is also helping. Businesses no longer pay for planned events, but focus on providing their business neighbour with communal support.

“Having a group of people that is super willing – we have a pretty good group of businesses that are very involved in trying to have the next door neighbour succeed as much as they are,” said McKay.

Currently, the Downtown Collective has an upcoming chili cook off planned that’s aimed at attracting 5,000 people to the area.

McKay says the community’s pitching in is what’s making the difference we see.