Downtown biz owners cope with increasing vandalism

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A large chuck of cement, possibly a piece of curb, was thrust through the window of Fort Street brewery Devil May Care at some point on Canada Day.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/07/2023 (839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A large chuck of cement, possibly a piece of curb, was thrust through the window of Fort Street brewery Devil May Care at some point on Canada Day.

Co-owners Colin Koop and Steve Gauthier showed up the following day to open the business and found the damaged window.

“You kind of hope that you’re doing something nice for the area, nice for the city. And, in turn, you get let down that somebody wants to deface it. There’s an emotional cost to it for sure, it’s very disheartening,” Koop said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                “There’s an emotional cost to it for sure, it’s very disheartening,” said Devil May Care co-owner Colin Koop after the store was vandalized on Canada Day.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

“There’s an emotional cost to it for sure, it’s very disheartening,” said Devil May Care co-owner Colin Koop after the store was vandalized on Canada Day.

They rounded up their retired fathers to help clear the glass and put up plywood, but the incident could end up costing $1,500.

In the six months since the business opened, there have been several incidents in which cars were broken into, and grafitti was sprayed on expensive electrical work. Two days before the window was smashed, someone used a glass marker to tag it.

Koop feels lucky the culprit didn’t break in, but the vandalism is a downer.

“I still love it down here, and that’s not gonna deter us at all. We still want to be part of it,” he said.

“We’re in it for the long haul, we have a very long lease on this building. It’s just the way it’s going to be. And hopefully we can help that turn around.”

Vandalism is just one the crimes that’s on the rise downtown. The Winnipeg Police Service groups vandalism investigations under the broad category of mischief, which accounts for one-third of property crimes.

There were 1,825 reported incidents of mischief downtown from April 2022 to March 2023, which represents a 32 per cent spike from a year earlier — and was 52 per cent higher than the five-year average.

A Canada-wide survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in May found that small business owners in Manitoba were more likely to see crime and safety as a “serious concern” than their counterparts from any other province. Vandalism was cited, along with breaking and entering, as the top community safety issue most businesses had recently experienced.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                A window is boarded up after it was vandalized at Devil May Care Brewing Company in downtown.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A window is boarded up after it was vandalized at Devil May Care Brewing Company in downtown.

Just over half said they’d spent more on security.

“Many new businesses, having spent their life savings into opening the business of their dreams, can’t afford to take on these new costs or costs to deal with the aftermath of vandalism… It is beginning to impede businesses’ ability to operate safely and therefore, we believe that better approaches must be initiated by all levels of government,” said CFIB policy analyst SeoRhin Yoo.

Eighty-one per cent of the Manitoba business owners surveyed said they “strongly support” changes to the way repeat offenders are handled by the justice system, including bail provisions and improving access to mental health services. Some business organizations want non-punitive solutions to a societal problem.

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard said the group has pushed for the city to invest in a downtown lighting program, noting criminal activity has decreased in jurisdictions with better-lit urban centres.

“We all know, it’s been very well documented, the impact of the pandemic in terms of mental health addictions, many of the increasing challenges, social challenges affecting urban centers are manifesting themselves in things such as increased vandalism,” he said.

Just a short walk from Devil May Care, fellow drink vendor Harrisons Coffee Co. has had vandalism and break-and-enters at his four locations, all downtown, in the past three years.

“It’s gotten worse, even from when we first started to now,” owner Al Dawson said. “(At) our Broadway location, there were probably three acts of vandalism in the three months while we were trying to open it.”

Dawson said if staff turnover is included in the equation — because people feel unsafe — break-and-enters have cost him $25,000.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
                                Last year, when a trash can was thrown through the door of Harrisons Coffee Co., owner Al Dawson (right) had an artist, Joseph Pilapil, decorate it and he auctioned it off as an art piece.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

Last year, when a trash can was thrown through the door of Harrisons Coffee Co., owner Al Dawson (right) had an artist, Joseph Pilapil, decorate it and he auctioned it off as an art piece.

He said it hasn’t been enough to pull him away from downtown. Occasionally, he takes a creative approach. Last year, when a trash can was thrown through the door of the Broadway location, Dawson had an artist decorate it and he auctioned it off as an art piece. The money was given to a charity.

“Some of the locations, absolutely, I’ve second-guessed, but I don’t think I’ve regretted it, I’ve learned,” he said.

“How do we work together to prevent this from happening in the long term or how do we positively impact everyone as a whole?”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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