Archive News from Digital Main Street

Jas Dhillon had always envisioned a serene space where people could gather to heal, a space delivering natural therapies, products, and services while putting into practice a career-worth of learning surrounding holistic health like energy healing, psychic guidance, and spiritual and personal empowerment.

With Hamilton’s Locke Street under construction, Thompson has seen an unprecedented interruption to that foot traffic. “We've been in business 35 years and this is the worst year we've ever experienced as far as traffic flow.”

“You wanna reach more people,” says Wallwork. “And the only way to do that is advertising and the other forms of advertising have had zero success, so to be able to up our digital presence is huge.”

Tucked in the elbow of the Rideau Canal, Ottawa’s the Glebe neighbourhood is a unique enclave. It boasts a historic butcher, baker and candlestick maker style main street alongside a world class entertainment complex and urban park. It’s that diversity that keeps the business community there tight, a neighbourhood set within Canada’s capital city.

Rob Wigan may have been an early adopter to Facebook but with the pace of change in social media, Wigan says it’s never too late for small ma and pa shops to get on board and build their digital presence. 

Kitchener greengrocer Legacy Greens has leveraged digital to diversify its offering and experiment with new formats like subscription produce boxes and seasonal online shops. 

Bailey Regier, the DSS Team Lead, says the BIA had already pulled together an inventory on where businesses were at in terms of digital literacy before she started going out to the community. There was a sense amongst many that having a digital presence was a necessary evil. But Regier has made it her goal to shift the mindset from “digital being a necessary evil to an opportunity.”  It’s still early, admits Carradine-Armstrong but she’s confident in a community she watched rebuild itself. “We’re able to adapt.”