Bumpy road smooths out for Uptown neighbours
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Updated: November 12, 2009 1:28 PM
What’s it like trying to do business in the shadow of the region’s largest construction site? Not that bad at all, say some Uptown neighbours.
“When they were blasting away, I was certainly out there and I was concerned about them cracking my walls. But that blasting’s over with, and they didn’t crack my walls, so I guess we’re OK there,” said a smiling Wayne Bennett, owner of Woodcraft Furniture on Culduthel Road, directly across Douglas Street from Uptown at the old Town and Country site.
“We’re glad seeing the development going on, because there’s certainly going to be a positive effect for the area. We’re across the street on Douglas (and) it has no effect on traffic getting in and out of our place.”
Foam Zone owner Ty Phan agreed the initial blasting was a little worrying, but that it’s been smooth sailing since. And while Phan also sees the new Uptown’s power to draw shoppers from across the region as a boon to his mattress shop, which faces the site across Saanich Road, he’s not without his doubts.
“Knowing ‘super’ Wal-Marts down in the (United States) ... they put a lot of locals out of business,” said Phan.
“They carry a lot of stuff we carry. But we specialize in custom cuts and stuff, so I don’t think they’ll be a big competitor like that. Overall, I think it’ll be good for us.”
Stephanie McKnight, owner of Shades of White bridal shop, expressed the same sentiments over the early blasting, but said things have been problem-free since. “It’s been really, really good. I can’t complain. They’ve barely even disrupted the traffic at all,” she said.
“It seems to be going quite smoothly from our perspective.”
kvass@vicnews.com
