FIRST READING: The Canadian downtowns being economically gutted by street disorder

Up to one fifth of retailers now reporting that constant crime and violence is making their business unsustainable

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In the same week that B.C. Premier David Eby admitted that his government’s experiment in drug decriminalization had yielded unchecked public disorder, a prominent Vancouver London Drugs has announced it is closing its doors due to unchecked public disorder.

In comments to the Vancouver Sun London Drugs president Clint Mahlman said the location, situated on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, has lost “tens of millions of dollars.”

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The store wasn’t just plagued by near-constant shoplifting, but an ever-present atmosphere of violence and intimidation, what the retailer called “persistent safety incidents” in a statement.

And the experience of the Downtown Eastside London Drugs is certainly not atypical to Vancouver, or even the country as a whole.

In downtown cores across Canada, businesses have been closing their doors or cutting hours citing anarchic conditions.

The day before the Downtown Eastside London Drugs announced its closure, a Kelowna, B.C., clothing retailer reported that one of his employees had been bear-sprayed “for no reason” and posted images of the latest incident of his front windows being shattered during a smash-and-grab robbery.

“As it stands, downtown Kelowna is heading toward serious decline,” Todd Daniels with Gallery Streetwear wrote in a statement.

Three time zones away, in Thunder Bay, Ont., a Tim Hortons in a high-crime area

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