Fleetwood business owners struggle as Skytrain construction pushes away customers

With the provincial government supporting the business owners, the Fleetwood Business Improvement Association (FBIA) says business owners should broaden their customer outreach.

The province said the Surrey-Langley Skytrain project aims to erect eight Skytrain stations, reducing commute time from Langley City Centre to King George Station down to 22 minutes.

It is aiming to construct three stations in Fleetwood: 152 Street Station, Fleetwood Station and Bakerview-166 Street Station.

Lou said even fewer customers visited during lunchtime, when it was supposed to be her busiest time.

Before the construction, about thirty customers would eat lunch at her restaurant. Now, she said the number went down by half.

As an attempt to attract more customers near the neighbourhood, she said she caps the prices at 13 dollars during lunchtime.

NOT MY FIRST TIME

Lou said this wasn’t the first time there had been a decline in the number of customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to lay off half of the part-time workers.

“I used to work outside, but we can’t afford to hire people because the salary is too high in the kitchen, so I have to work in the kitchen for two or three positions at the same time.”

She said her cuisine continued to see a steady number of customers, ranging from 40 to 50, due to government subsidies.

Lou said the number of customers right now is even lower than that during the pandemic.

However, the number of customers wasn’t the only thing that went down. Lou said about 45 per cent of her sales went down after the construction had started in Fleetwood.

“That’s why we can’t hire any people. Because we used to have nine people working in the restaurant. Right now we only have three people,” said Lou in an interview.

Same struggle, different fronts

A few streets down on the Fraser Highway, Jerusalem Shwarma, one of the franchise branches in Fleetwood, is also seeing a huge impact.

Nas Kakar, the manager of the restaurant, said he saw a 50 to 75 per cent decrease in sales since the start of the construction. He said the restaurant lost a lot of foot traffic as well.

“We’re not as busy as we used to because a lot of people are avoiding coming down the Fraser Highway, and so they’re taking alternative routes.”

“They (construction workers) close down the main entrance to the parking lot on Fridays. Friday is the busiest day. I don’t know how they decide to close an entrance to a business on a Friday.”

He added that the City of Surrey lets him know in advance about the entrance closure, but he looks for more financial support, such as rent and employees’ payments.

Dean Barbour, the executive director at the FBIA, believes businesses along the Fraser Highway that rely on local customers, such as nail salons, banks, and grocery stores, are seeing fewer customers due to reduced foot and commuter traffic.

“By communicating with their clients, customers and patients, they’re able to let their customers or patients know in advance when the construction is going to happen so that they can avoid construction.”

He claimed the single-lane traffic on Fraser Highway also made drivers heading to Langley or Cloverdale avoid “main roads where the main businesses are.”

According to the provincial government, single-lane traffic will continue until the spring of 2026 from 148 street to 152 street and 154 street to 160 street.

Barbour said the estimates for the traffic pattern changes were based on what FBIA and the association members noticed from day to day. He said he is waiting to receive the traffic change data from the City of Surrey.

“Reach out to people”

Amidst business owners facing difficulties, Barbour encouraged the local business owners to reach out to their customers and “share information.”

By investing in campaigns and initiatives, he said FBIA supports local businesses by telling the community members to shop local and that businesses are open during construction.

He added that local business owners should be proactive in terms of attracting customers. One of his recommendations is to reconnect with the previous customers whom the owners lost contact with.

“Say hey, haven’t seen you in a while. We’re open for business.”

Barbour said construction workers could also be potential customers.

“The other thing that they can consider doing, depending on the location of the construction workers, is to offer the construction people a discount to come in and have lunch or grab coffee.”

Barbour expects that the Skytrain project can bring in more residents to the neighbourhood after the three stations are built.

“Those new residents are going to have a place to live, and they’re going to shop, get their groceries, their banking, get their hair cut and do the things that they do wherever they lived prior, they’re going to be doing it in Fleetwood.”

“It’s a long game. It’s going to take years,” he said.

Province coming in clutch?

In an emailed statement to Fraser Valley Today, the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Transit said it is working closely with the store owners to make sure their businesses are more accessible during the construction.

The province said it will complete disruptive work outside of peak hours, install signs to indicate that businesses near construction sites are open, and sweep store driveways.

“Some activities may be required outside of regular work hours during lower traffic volumes, to reduce impacts to businesses or to accommodate concrete pours,” said the provincial government in its newsletter.

The statement said the support from the province will include installing a screen to reduce noise and dust, and providing bottled water for water utility disruptions.

“Consistent with all ministry projects that improve British Columbia’s transportation infrastructure, the Province does not provide compensation for disruptions arising from construction.”

Lou said she has not received any support from the provincial government or the city. Planning to retire in two years, she said her expectations are low.

“Even though I don’t know whether they will finish up for that station or not, we are going to sell the business anyway. I wish good luck to the next owner.”

When asked about the potential benefits this project can yield, Lou said she hopes that the Skytrain project will be helpful for everyone, but showed concerns.

“Right now, the economy is really in the winter. It’s almost hibernating. Nobody can expect anything, even though the construction is built up.”

by Jonah Jung, BCIT Journalism Student

Fleetwood business owners struggle as Skytrain construction pushes away customers

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