Blog

We are proud to once again be one of the sponsors of Central City Foundation 17th Annual Fair in the Square. Happening Sunday June 8, 2025 11 AM to 2 PM at Victory Square (Cambie & Hastings). This event provides a much-needed opportunity for all of us to connect with our community, while celebrating the vibrancy and resilience of our inner city.  Connect with the non-profit agencies that are doing amazing work in the community as well as to enjoy some great live music and entertainment, arts and crafts, an artisan market and free BBQ, cupcakes, watermelon and coffee.   HxBIA looks forward to meeting you come and visit us at our table and say hi.

We proud to share about winning BIABC Best in the West Award for The Crossing Pop-Up we hosted in December 2024. The Best in the West Awards exist to shine a light on, and develop a repository of, Best Practices in key areas of Business Improvement Areas vital work in downtowns, main streets and commercial districts. It means the world to be recognized for our project, The Crossing Pop-Up, which helped create vibrant spaces for artists to thrive in and forge a deeper connection between our members and the community. Thank you to everyone who helped make The Crossing Pop-Up such a well-received success especially the following: BIABC, Lowtide Properties, City of Vancouver, The Gallery George Club Soda Events, Kay

Celebrate love for Hastings Crossing and the amazing small businesses that make up our beautiful neighbourhood! Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association is thrilled to team up with 15 Business Improvement Associations across the city to host this year’s Love Your City campaign. Look out for colourful street installations in Vancouver retail neighbourhoods and fantastic prize draws on Instagram! How to play for a chance to win a grand prize of goodies from participating neighbourhoods! (Valued at approximately $4,000) : Like the @loveyourcitycontest Instagram contest post and follow @loveyourcitycontest Follow a BIA neighbourhood. (Hint, @hxbia 😉) Write a love note to a BIA neighbourhood (Hint, @hxbia 😉) in the comments of the contest post at @loveyourcitycontest Bonus Entry #1: Submit your

Originally written by Landon Hoyt for Business In Vancouver on Sep 24, 2024 As Gastown and Chinatown receive local and provincial funding, a deliberate lack of investment in Vancouver’s DTES neighbourhood has enabled a downward spiral of economic disinvestment and decline. The Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver is often depicted as a neighbourhood full of despair, consumed by drug use, crime and poverty. However, these challenges are symptoms rather than the root cause of the area’s economic decline. This community is home to many local businesses and social enterprises that are struggling to make ends meet. The real issue of that struggle: Chronic and conscious neglect by government, law enforcement and society as a whole. I’ve worked in community economic development in the

The City of Vancouver approved a DTES Matching Grant for HxBIA to launch the Hastings Crossing Placemaking Initiative, and we are looking for HxBIA businesses and properties who want to beautify and animate their space, as well as artists, muralists, and community organizations who want to showcase their work!  Hastings Crossing BIA is unique in that it occupies a large portion of the DTES and is a literal and metaphorical crossroads of the city. Hastings Street can be a vibrant, active street and its many crossroads provide thoroughfares for pedestrians traveling to and from Gastown and Chinatown. We recognize the need for a more strategic approach to placemaking in HxBIA, and have designed our goals for this project specifically to be strategic and

Update:  June 17, 2024 **This program has now expired. Just because free parking has ended doesn’t mean the adventures in HXBIA must stop. Don’t forget there are over 3,000 parking spots still available throughout the neighbourhood! Keep your eyes peeled for some exciting updates! We appreciate you supporting HxBIA local businesses, and invite you to continue to do so!** Thanks to the over 700 Hastings Crossing BIA business, we are able to offer up to 3-hours of free parking, once a week, for a limited time! Here’s how it works: Park at EasyPark Lot 126 located at 151 W Cordova Street. (This promo will ONLY work at this lot) Go to bit.ly/hxbiafreeparking to redeem your free parking pass. Enter your license plate number

After consulting with the business community and the BC Chamber of Commerce, the Province is making changes to the Securing Small Business Rebate Program.  Recognizing the increased costs to businesses due to property crime and vandalism in rural and urban communities across the province, the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation launched this $10.5 million Securing Small Business Rebate Program, which has helped to provide small businesses with funds for eligible commercial property crime and vandalism repairs, or to implement eligible preventative measures. With limited uptake due to application barriers and requirements, the Province has made changes, which include: Removing the requirement to provide an insurance claim when applying for funding through the reparative stream of the program. Applicants