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If there was any question what Woodward’s would do for businesses in the Downtown Eastside, that question has already been resoundingly answered. Businesses, both old and new, say the development has been great.

Even before Woodward’s was finished, the knowledge it was coming was enough to bring in new business, and more customers.

Nuba Restaurant opened in the area in 2003, when Woodward’s was just an empty shell and looked like it would stay that way for a while.

“Seven years ago, this area was really pretty bleak,” owner Victor Bouzide said. “Every other person on the street was pushing pot.”

In the early days, a dead body was found in a dumpster near the restaurant.

But Bouzide knew Nuba’s good Lebanese food would be a hit, especially with students. With the Vancouver Film School nearby, there were lots of them.

“That’s what really prompted me,” said Bouzide, who now has a second location in the city and plans to open a third before the summer. “And I figured [the area] would improve. It couldn’t get much worse than it was.”

It has improved. Last year, Nuba moved from its original 550-square-foot location in the 300 block of West Hastings to its current 3,700-square-foot restaurant a block further east. Rather than serving 100 people a day, it now caters to an average 500, including takeout.

The clientele has changed too, with more well-dressed professionals and office workers in the mix, Bouzide said.

A few years ago, people weren’t willing to come to the restaurant because of its address, he said. Now they are.

Even older establishments are enjoying the renaissance. The Bourbon Pub has been in the same location at 50 Cordova St., a block east of Woodward’s, since 1936. During the day, its cheap beer — $3.50 a pint — attracts the locals, many who live in the hotel above the bar.

Before, people who came into the area headed straight for a particular restaurant or pub, the Bourbon’s general manager Avi Smith said. Now, with the introduction of Woodward’s, there’s a lot more foot traffic.

A lot of the younger residents in the buildings have been coming in as well, looking for a local pub to frequent, Smith said.

In the evenings, the Bourbon has live music or a DJ and that has attracted a student crowd, especially on weekends. This month, the pub started student nights on Tuesdays with no cover charge for students and 1990s music. That’s already taken off, Smith said, and it can only get better with the opening of Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts.

“As soon as they started doing the renovations on the building we started licking our lips and rubbing our hands together. We were so excited,” Smith said.

The addition of Woodward’s has brought in new businesses as well.

Dean Ferguson opened his hair studio, Stuart Dean Salon, on West Cordova, across the street from Woodward’s, a year ago in anticipation of what was coming. Before that he had been in Yaletown, which he said was getting over-saturated with salons.

“So I wanted to go somewhere I knew was up-and-coming and be the first one with my foot in the door,” Ferguson said.

Business has been good from Day One.

“Even before Woodward’s there have been a lot of great clients that have come in, like design people, architects, people like that,” he said.

Now with Woodward’s there is even more street traffic.

“I was busy, but it’s definitely gotten busier,” Ferguson said.

John Neate had been looking for a Gastown location for his JJ Bean coffee shop for some time, and was happy to snag a spot in the Woodward’s development.

With shops on Powell Street, Commercial Drive and Main Street, as well as other locations, JJ Bean considers itself an eastside roaster.

“Some businesses would fear going in there because they’re not familiar with the people in the Downtown Eastside,” Neate said. “[But] we’ve always been really comfortable being on the eastside.”

The biggest draw for the location, though, was the artists, restaurateurs and SFU.

“There are our kind of people there,” Neate said — the people who really appreciate good coffee.

At JJ Bean everything — the grinding and making the coffee — is done by hand, and that means it takes a bit longer than in other coffee shops.

“So the consumer who just wants the caffeine fix is not our customer,” Neate said. “The person that actually notices the difference between good coffee and excellent coffee, that’s our customer.”

The new businesses, including Woodward’s anchor tenants Nesters Market and London Drugs, has attracted one of Canada’s major banks into the area. TD Canada Trust is officially opening a branch in the Woodward’s building today, the only branch in an area better known for payday loan outlets.

Branch manager Spencer Leslie and his staff have made the rounds of the neighbourhood visiting everyone — businesses, employment centres and shelters. The group also plans to offer workshops on saving and other financial strategies to help the local community.

The idea is to complement the community and ensure everyone knows they’re welcome, Leslie said.

To help that along, all the staff at the branch have some tie to the Downtown Eastside.

In Leslie’s case, it’s his grandfather, who used to decorate the windows at Woodward’s at Christmas. Leslie’s office in the corner of the heritage building is surrounded by the windows his grandfather would have worked on. Leslie hinted he planned to give that tradition a comeback next Christmas.

Having a bank branch as part of the development “is a great opportunity,” Leslie said. “Look at the towers above. Look at the amount of people walking down the street. This is a great location.”

“I’m extremely proud to be here,” he added.

source provided by the Vancouver Sun; http://ow.ly/121du