A tapestry of business finds home on Ottawa
April 26, 2010
Danielle Wong
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/758495
Alicia Gut witnessed the dawn of a fabric era on Ottawa Street North.
When her husband's family, who immigrated from Poland, opened The Textile Centre in 1962, there was only one other fabric store on the street. "One by one, fabric stores started moving in and furniture stores were moving out," said Gut, who has been working at the store since 1971.
The textile stores have "dominated" the east-end district since then, but Ottawa Street will look different in 10 years, she said. "I think we're going to be diversified. We have a pretty good mixture now."
The commercial strip between Main Street East and Barton Street East has evolved over the last 50 years, morphing from a furniture row to a textile district to a more eclectic shopping experience.
While business owners are embracing this change, they say home decor should remain Ottawa Street's niche.
"The idea here is sort of one-stop shopping for your home and, of course, then there are lots of elements below that," said Patty Despinic, the Ottawa Street Business Improvement Area executive director.
"All of a sudden ... that truly begins to invite more of those (new) pieces to come into the fold."
Andrea Skelly, the curator at Earls Court Gallery, agreed. They recently sold a piece to a woman from Ajax who was in town to buy fabric when the gallery happened to catch her eye, she said.
Earls Court Gallery moved to the area from Hess Village last fall and is one of several new additions pushing Ottawa Street toward becoming an experience as opposed to a row of stores.
Another gallery, AllSorts Gallery, is slated to open at the end of the month and the owners of The Hive, a beeswax candle shop that moved from Locke Street in January, is hosting drum circles and belly dancing classes in its store space.
The street's physical appearance is also starting to reflect this shift, with a new granite art statue in East Kiwanis Place and a refacing of Fabricland's facade this summer.
According to the city, property owners in this area have invested more than $357,925 on 37 properties from 2002 to 2008 through Hamilton's facade improvement program.
A report conducted by an urban marketing collaborative retained by the city last year to study Hamilton's five business districts found Ottawa Street is one of the biggest users of the facade program. The study also reported a marketing shift in the district from traditional and mid-to-lower income or price appeal to traditional-to-contemporary and mid-income or price appeal.
Retailers are noticing the street is cleaner and vacant buildings are filling up quickly, the report indicated.
This atmosphere is a far cry from when Despinic started with the BIA 15 years ago, when the vacancy rate was higher than 40 per cent. Today, they are reaching 2 or 3 per cent, Despinic said.
Property owners credit that reduction to strong leadership from the BIA and a niche that works.
Store owners see mainly out-of-towners from bordering cities such as Toronto, Oakville, Orangeville and even the States driving in for bargain textiles.
This is good for non-textile businesses as well, said the owner of The Millionaire's Daughter, Maureen Whittaker. "I really believe fabric stores are bringing people down (here)," she said.
But Whittaker's furniture consignment store is already holding its own since it opened about a year ago. The store is featured in Toronto's Style at Home magazine's May issue and already has a loyal group of returning customers.
On the flip side, textile store owners say new businesses such as the antique stores have brought a welcome dimension to the street.
"They're great for us because if you find a cute little chair for your patio, all you need to do is buy the foam to cover it," said Kelly Guidi, whose husband's family opened Ottawa Textiles on the street in 1968. Her industry has had to adapt because people no longer sew their own clothes and tend to buy fabric for home decor instead, Guidi said.
When the Centre Mall, now the Centre on Barton, was up for sale in 2002, they anticipated a greater negative effect on business on Ottawa Street, but there hasn't really been an effect, Despinic said.
Store owners who relocated on Ottawa Street from the mall, however, may feel a more direct hit.
Branko Radmilovic, whose family opened Premier Time and Jewellery in the mall in 1981, said business was slow after they moved. The Radmilovics had relied on regular, local customers when they were in the mall. Now, some of those customers are still finding their new location, he said. "It's not the same as it was."
While their clientele reaches beyond Hamilton, their neighbours are proud of what the street has become, Despinic said, adding the Farmer's Market, which moved to Ottawa Street three years ago, brings a good local element.
"I'd like to think that while we go out and market to bring people here, there still is the shoe repair guy and there still is the dry cleaner and there's still ... things that the local neighbourhood needs."
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