When the city hit Occupy Toronto with eviction notices this week, officials said one reason they decided to take action was because the encampment in St. James Park is hurting surrounding businesses.
But while there’s no doubt profits are down for many businesses bordering the park, there is hardly unanimous pressure coming from shop-owners to shut down the occupation. In fact, some say it’s been a pleasure having them in the neighbourhood.
Occupy Toronto has since won a temporary injunction against the eviction, but on Tuesday morning as bylaw officers and police moved through the park, employees and managers at nearby stores had varying responses when asked if they would be happy to see the protesters pack up camp.
An employee at a hair salon on King Street said the month-old occupation has had no effect on business there. Fred Yee, who owns an organic restaurant at Jarvis and King, also said he’s seen no change in profits, as did an employee at the Arts on King craft store.
Martha Rebelo, manager of high-end tile outlet Savoia, said she was glad the city was moving to clear the park, but admitted that the protesters haven’t hurt sales much.
“They’ve been really civil. As neighbours go, they’ve been good,” she said. “It’s an eyesore more than anything. This park is gorgeous especially during fall. With all the tents up, it’s just been ugly.”
Employees at the Grange furniture store cheered when they heard news of the eviction efforts, saying that they’ve seen a significant drop in foot traffic, if not an outright loss of sales. A woman behind the counter at Design Solutions who declined to give her name said she was thrilled the occupation might be ending soon, complaining that the campsite is deterring customers from visiting the designer interior decorating store.
Armin Martiros owns Ma Zone, a design retailer that’s been in the neighbourhood for 13 years. He said that evicting the occupation would be “bittersweet” because while he respected the strength of the protesters’ conviction, he’s seen a steep decline in sales over the past month.
He didn’t blame the protesters for a loss of business however, and suggested media coverage of the Occupy movement has given the public an overly negative perception of what’s happening in St. James Park.
“The media isn’t reporting it for what it is. It’s glorifying it, magnifying it, and so therefore it’s causing people from outside the downtown core to fear coming downtown,” Martiros said. “I get calls from friends and family members saying, aren’t you scared going to work?”
He said that aside from a loss of sales the worst that’s happened to him so far is that he got a parking ticket in front of his store, courtesy of the increased police presence that turned out in the early days of the occupation.
Restaurants appear to have been particularly hard hit by the protests, as evidenced by the nearly non-existent lunch time rushes at nearby Ichiban Sushi and Bombay Palace. Patrick McMurray, owner of the Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill, has been organizing local residents and business owners to lobby the city to end the occupation, citing a 30 per cent drop in customers.
Dorte Windmuller, who owns the Second Cup at King and Jarvis, says her cafe has seen more traffic since the occupation began but she understands why the more high-end restaurants in the neighbourhood aren’t doing the brisk business they’re accustomed to.
“Their clientele is the 1 per cent. You don’t want to sit in there and look at protesters who are against you,” she said. “For us, it’s been a pleasure to have them.”
