Has anything changed at Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside street market?

Article content

Stephen Cain traipsed through two blocks of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, searching for a bargain among rows of unlicensed vendors hawking designer clothing, non-prescription medication, electronics and food from the sidewalk.

The Vancouver resident was among more than a dozen people who visited the makeshift market on Thursday morning. Some idled by the market in their cars, while others perused the items along East Hastings between Carrall and Main streets on foot.

Article content

“I got the Adidas I’m wearing now, here, for $50,” Cain told Postmedia News. “I couldn’t afford them at regular price.”

On this particular day, he picked up a pair of brand-name cargo shorts for $7 cash.

Asked how he felt about the possibility that the items he bought were stolen, he replied: “If they were, I didn’t do it.”

It appeared to be business as usual a week after Vancouver police announced the results of a months-long investigation into the alleged trafficking of stolen merchandise on the streets of the Downtown Eastside. VPD said they had arrested five people and alleged they purchased a bulk amount of stolen goods from sidewalk sellers, brought them back to their east Vancouver homes and resold them on online marketplaces, including Facebook and Craigslist.

Insp. Mario Mastropieri said at the time that fencing operations had long been fuelling an underground economy of shoplifting in the Downtown Eastside.

Criminals are making thousands of dollars a week buying stolen merchandise, including baby formula, brand-name clothes, liquor, electronics, beauty products, tools and kitchen appliances, from sidewalk vendors, Mastropieri said. Some are recruiting a roster of “desperate and drug-addicted residents” to steal specific items from stores, paying them pennies on the dollar for the merchandise.

Article content

Article content

But the news of the police arrests did not seem to faze people from checking out items for sale on blankets and folding tables this week.

Nicholas Vargo, who lives in a social housing building overlooking the market, said activity has remained relatively the same since the arrests.

Vargo showed Postmedia a loaf of sliced bread he purchased from one sidewalk seller for $1 Thursday. “Bread used to sell down here for only 50 cents. I’m going to make tuna sandwiches with it,” the 75-year-old said.

Police investigators could not provide an estimate of the proportion of stolen to second-hand goods on sale at the market.

“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve encountered people walking with an electric razor, booze, or whatever, looking to sell to people. When we encounter them, they readily admit that they’re stealing and selling it to make ends meet,” said Sgt. Steve Addison.

“We also know that people in that neighbourhood are struggling to get by are maybe buying and selling used or recycled, second-hand items.”

Addison said since the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a troubling increase in the use of violence in stores during shoplifting.

Article content

“We saw an increase in not just theft from retailers, but violent thefts — people using weapons, things like needles, knives, various tools, physical force, whatever they could to overcome resistance when they were attempting to shoplift.”

The makeshift market first spilled onto the sidewalks beside what was once a city-sanctioned vending market at 26 East Hastings.

Overseen by the non-profit Binners Project, the sanctioned market provided tables for vendors and employed peer workers to monitor for stolen goods as well as recycle garbage from the vacant lot. At one point, citing safety concerns, Vancouver police carried out orders to clear unsanctioned sidewalk sales from East Hastings.

But to this day — and even after the sanctioned market moved to an indoor space a few blocks away — unlicensed vendors continue to hawk wares along the sidewalks.

Sarah Blyth, a former manager of the sanctioned market, said it is because the new location of the sanctioned operation, at 305 Main St., is much smaller and less popular.

“It’s really sad. There is no foot traffic to that area so vendors, some of whom are seniors selling items they got from the food bank, trying to make a couple of extra bucks to live on, sit inside all day waiting for a sale.”

Article content

To manage stolen goods being sold on Downtown Eastside sidewalks, Blyth suggests a sanctioned vending space outdoors is needed.

“When it’s out on the street and there’s nobody in control of it and no organized rules, it can become violent and desperate.”

Landon Hoyt, executive director of the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association, agrees.

“For years, we and other groups in the community have been pushing the city for more sanctioned spaces for people to be able to vend,” he said.

Hoyt acknowledged that street vending happens in many major cities, and is directly tied to the state of the economy.

“Businesses such as London Drugs, who are being targeted by chronic shoplifting, would also be happy to see sanctioned vending spaces because such enforcement wouldn’t see products from their stores being stolen to sell there.”

Tony Hunt, general manager of loss prevention for London Drugs, previously told Postmedia that both Vancouver business owners, some of whom have had to close, and front-line workers they employ have been impacted negatively.

“We are having to invest millions and millions of dollars to try and cope with the societal pressure and this buildup of crime we’ve seen over the last four to five years. Frankly, more needs to be done,” Hunt said.

Article content

sgrochowski@postmedia.com

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content