Quote:
Originally Posted by Sox
This has been a long time coming for Downtown St.John's.
In general , everything Downtown is catered to Nightlife, Overpriced Restaurants and Overpriced Apparel Stores.
In this economy, people are being forced to make tough decisions where to spend their "disposable" income, or lack there of, and I guarantee you Spending $200 on a night out downtown is not high on many people's lists anymore.
George Street is so expensive these days, and these high end Restaurants are surviving off what is left of the Oil Industry .
It is an extremely tough market, and in my opinion, it is only going to get a lot worse.
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I mostly agree.
The oil industry, in relation to downtown, has really only seen one significant negative shift, and that is the move made by Suncor from 235 Water (Scotia bldg) to Kelsey drive. No other O&G related companies have really downsized, in fact most have expanded. Equinor is holding steady on staffing, Husky and Exxon have been ramping up, C-NLOPB and DNV are steady, and Chevron, Aker, and Nexen have their offices in Atlantic Place.
The real change is in the construction industry and those living in the suburbs. There is no more megaproject construction at Bull Arm, Long Harbour, and very little FIFO to Labrador. Tradespeople are reverting back to jobs off the island and I think that's where the largest negative impact originates.
On another note, I would not refer to anything George Street/pub/nightlife related as expensive. You can walk into any bar during the week and find food and drink deals. Having lived in Calgary for several years, I can say with certainty that a night out in St. John's is significantly less expensive.
With that said, most downtown restaurant and apparel prices are on par with larger cities and I think many of these shops will need to check their perception of what the downtown St. John's consumer base consists of if they wish to stay in business.