VANCOUVER, June 19 : As World Cup fever grips Vancouver, the tournament is proving a tale of two cities for local businesses – with some riding a wave of international customers while others find themselves locked out of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near BC Place stadium, Coast Crafts is experiencing what owner Kingsley Bailey calls “pandemonium” as football fans from around the globe snap up souvenirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Absolutely amazing. I couldn’t think of it being any worse than what it is now. It’s craziness,” Bailey, originally from Wolverhampton in Britain, told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The customers are from everywhere. They’re from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t think the Canadians really knew how big soccer was until they saw Australia v Turkey, with no skin in the game, not from this country, how crazy they went. The fans, it was just pandemonium.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The souvenir shop has become a magnet for visitors eager for affordable World Cup memorabilia, with Bailey’s homemade “Vancouver BC 2026” fridge magnets proving an unexpected hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My son said, Dad, that’s a loser. You’re not going to make any money on this,” Bailey added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And then when he realised what the prices of licensed merchandise were, he came around really quickly because the value was definitely there. Unbelievable. I can’t keep enough of them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But FIFA’s strict licensing rules have created headaches for some other entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dawn Moulton, who runs Cascadia Natural Pet Supply on Main Street, said she was asked by a distributor to remove references to FIFA from football-themed bears she had advertised online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“About a year ago, there were many suppliers that contacted the store about FIFA-related materials. There were balls, bears, stuffies, and I chose one (bears) of them, with the wording saying ‘get them in time for FIFA (World Cup)’,” Moulton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Then I posted them on my website as FIFA bears and I was told I needed to change that wording.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether it impacted her business, she replied: “Not really. I didn’t buy many of these bears. I bought 30. So my profit would be like 100 dollars. I didn’t really care about these bears. That’s why I was surprised that anybody else really cared about these bears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There’s no impact to me now. It’s just business as usual. I’m not going to see any more business.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She later gave away the remaining bears to a dog rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PLUMMETING FOOT TRAFFIC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some businesses, the World Cup has meant shutting up shop entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aquariums West, a tropical fish store near the stadium, is closing for all seven games due to access problems and plummeting foot traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If customers can’t get here or are unwilling to come, and the soccer fans aren’t going to come in and probably spend any money with us, so that was a hard decision but we had to make it,” manager and partner Kreig LeBlanc said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It makes us nervous, losing seven days of income. We are hoping that people support us in between those days. It’s going to be a huge hit, and it’s going to affect our months going forward. Hopefully we can recoup those losses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added there had been little support to offset the disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There hasn’t really been any meaningful conversation about how it impacts us. We just have to do the best we can and get through it,” LeBlanc said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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