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Vancouver's nightlife 1s trash

> When the city itself is the biggest

buzzkill of them all

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

f you've been living in Vancouver,
you've probably noticed that there is
no such thing as a nightlife in this city.

Call it hyperbole, call it ridiculous,
call it the truth. There’s a reason
Vancouver is nicknamed ‘No Fun
City’ (there’s even a documentary
about this, check it out) and it’s not
because we're lacking in bouncy
castles. Rather, it’s our sad excuse
for what passes as a fun night out.

As the old proverb goes, “he
who parties in Vancouver is home by
midnight.” Location is everything for
good venues, bars, and restaurants,
and the locations for all of Vancouver's
businesses have been allocated onto
a single street: Granville Street. I’m
not even going to get into nightlife
outside of this district because
it’s too sad to even discuss.

This wouldn't be a problem if
Granville Street was right next toa
university district. With that being
said—seeing as most students are
poor and living in the suburbs with
no college campuses in sight—it
makes it very difficult to get to and
from clubs, bars, and venues. This
means that people must either take
ridiculously expensive cab rides back to
the suburbs or leave via transit just as
everything’s actually getting started.

Moreover, the only food places open

after midnight is Megabite Pizza or
McDonald’s, and I shouldn't have to tell
you why that’s such a travesty. Compare
that to Japan, where restaurants stay
open until the sun rises, and you'll
realize the difference. With most
halfway-decent places staying open until
midnight at the latest, there we find our
first problem with Vancouver's nightlife.
Venues that once featured
Vancouver’s music scene have since
shut down or were forced underground
due to strange laws surrounding which
places can have dancefloors or live
entertainment and which can't. This
caused many venues that fostered
Vancouver’s music scene in the gos
to disappear altogether. With there
not being many decent buildings for
up-and-coming musicians to play in,
Vancouverites have lacked affordable
entertainment as a consequence.
Granted, with the semi-recent
change allowing for all businesses to be
able to apply for a liquor licence starting
last year, things should be gearing up to
change. Prior to that legislation, the Rio
was one of the few exceptions to the rule,

 

(¥ Sure, corporations are convenient, but at
what cost?

(¥ What gets your goat? All-female movie
remakes

(¥ Outbreaks of deadly, preventable diseases
in Vancouver can and should be avoided

And more!

 

being one of the few theatres around
Vancouver that could legally sell booze.

In other words, if clubbing isn’t
your thing but you still wanted to be
able to drink publicly, it’s difficult to do
so without going to a restaurant. Need
I repeat the fact that most restaurants
arent open very late around here?

The final complaint I have about

Vancouver's nightlife is the lack of
variety in music at the major clubs.
Every. Single. Club. Around. Here. Play:
the same damn music. If I have to hear
another shitty trap beat that every
single Vancouver DJ seems to rely on,

I will lose it. Maybe we don't have the
population to keep that many different

in music—and not just for ’gos night.

Drinks are overpriced, food is shite,
s and it is nearly impossible to find a

club that changes it up in terms of song

selection. Vancouver nightlife is abysmal,

but I guess that’s what happens in a city

where everything is overpriced for both

business owners and customers alike.

clubs open, but I would like some variety

Big problems for little businesses

> Sure, corporations are convenient, but at what cost?

Jason GokHo Ing
Contributor

 

he presence of small businesses

within our current economy
seems to be fading at an alarming
rate. Year after year, numerous mom-
and-pop establishments are forced to
shut down thanks to multinational
corporations driving out all
competition. With an approximately
98 per cent of Canadian businesses
having less than 100 employees, as
recorded by Innovation, Science and
Economic Development Canada, it
is essential for small businesses to
thrive to keep the economy afloat.

Instead, the opposite has occurred.

CNN noted that approximately
450,000 new businesses were
started in 2014. This data is only a
fraction of the 600,000 startups that
occurred yearly during the 1970s all
the way up until the mid-2000s. The
reasoning behind the lack of new
entrepreneurs stems from the influence
of multinational corporations.

 

  

According to a video from
Bloomberg, Shannon Pettypiece
reports that Walmart was able to
single-handedly decimate small-town
businesses with their prestigious
brand name, coupled with their ability
to continuously lower prices to suit
consumer demand. The result of this
takeover has left many rural Americans
dependent on Walmart for groceries,

furniture, and even medication. The
total number of businesses within one
town could have gone from dozens

to only one within a five-year span.
Furthermore, now that Walmart has
announced they will be closing 150 of
their stores, this leaves the small town
of Oriental, North Carolina to cope
without a grocery store, hardware

store, pharmacy or any of the services
that was once provided by Walmart.
Additionally, the level of investment
that large and small organizations
received only seems to be widening
due to fears of a volatile stock market.
Time Magazine states that venture
capitalists (those who decide to give
money to help establish businesses) tend
to gravitate towards more established
brands and are rarely willing to invest
in emerging companies. This trend
results in less money for relatively
unknown businesses while allowing
prominent companies to become richer.
Even though it may seem convenient
to have all your clothes, food, and
electronics readily available in a singular
location, it is important to understand
the repercussions that can occur due to
this convenience. With big businesses
having the production processes and
the resources to outcompete almost
any local outlet, the visions one
entrepreneur may have to change the
world with their business appears
increasingly bleak with each passing day.

Photo by Analyn Cuarto

Illustration by Cara Seccafien