110: The Current State of Downtown Kelowna with Downtown Kelowna Association's Paula Quinn

00:00:00 Hosts

Welcome back to the Colonial Real Estate Podcast. Hey, Matt, I've seen your face on TV before. How's it going?

00:00:18 Hosts

Obviously, you watch the Seahawks game. Yeah.

00:00:26 Hosts

And yeah, kudos to you. You got that all going. So thank you. That's awesome.

00:00:33 Hosts

All right. Well, some other kind of exciting stuff on TV, LinkedIn posts, whatever, 50 -year amortization potentially in the States. What do you think of that? Yeah.

00:00:55 Hosts

yeah i mean this reminds me more of you know some places in europe like it's generational housing that they just like pass on the house and the debt you know but okay does it lower monthly payments yeah do you pay way more off in interest yeah i think what it initially does is you know it's probably gonna quote unquote like allow some affordability or allow people to get into the market for a very short term well and then it's going to increase prices because now people are gonna be able to be approved to buy those

00:01:31 Hosts

Exactly. You're never going to revert back to like a 25 year. Right. But I guess the question I have is, is it really much different than what we do in Canada now when like every three years someone sells their home? Okay. Maybe not every three years, but, and then does another 30 year. Like, I mean, you could ask someone that's in,

00:01:48 Hosts

year. Like,

00:01:49 Hosts

could ask someone that's in, in the housing market for like 15 years, how long is their amortization is probably like. 22 to 28 years, you know, like when rates are super low, people refi and they generally stretch out the amortization. So I don't know if it does a lot different in terms of like the overall interest you pay, but it is going to like, you know, speed up that market of getting people into the housing market and probably drive prices up a bit. So yeah, I don't, I don't fully agree with it down there, especially like why a 50 year? Why not bump it up to a 35 or 40 year? Like, yeah, it seems a bit extreme, you know?

00:02:26 Hosts

I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, I guess what's the difference of us doing it like an MLI select 50 year amortization for.

00:02:38 Hosts

Yeah. I don't know. It's probably really at the end of the day, a bit of a nothing burger, but it's just like more government intervention on this stuff that likely doesn't need to happen. But maybe, you know, if you're going to do something like that, do it for a first time home buyer. owner occupied like allow them to get in you know don't just do this blanket for everyone and you know allow the whole the term yeah it's lucky which is Yeah.

00:03:06 Hosts

term yeah it's lucky which is

00:03:42 Hosts

I think that if you're doing a 50 year M and it's like ultra portable. then that would make sense. Because then you buy one home and that's your one mortgage for your life. You're basically in it for 50 years. I'll be in your first home.

00:03:55 Hosts

first home. Yeah.

00:04:03 Hosts

Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. So it's just the headline stuff, right? Like you hear this and then you see how it played out in five years. But yeah, anyways, we'll kind of. maybe dive into chatting about Paula Quinn from downtown Kelowna association. She's the executive director. Awesome show, like super interesting. I've kind of known about some of their programs, but I didn't know them as like a whole business, but we were introduced to her from one of our past guests and yeah, just kind of chatted about the holistic state of downtown Kelowna right now and direction it's going and you know, what we need to do to, to keep it going in the right direction. And she's a very positive person. So yeah, love to have Neuro.

00:04:55 Hosts

Yeah, she moved there.

00:05:00 Hosts

Yeah. Honestly, sometimes you think of it living in like a single family house. It would be kind of nice just like for the convenience to live downtown in like an apartment and go grocery shopping locally. Like, yeah, I do kind of miss that connection to that like smaller community a little bit. But yeah, she's awesome. Very smart, intelligent lady that will take a lot of value out of the show.

00:05:16 Hosts

a little bit.

00:05:17 Hosts

But yeah,

00:05:57 Paula Quinn

Okay, so a quick rundown on Paula Quinn. Horn & Bread in London, came to Canada 25 years ago. I was actually in Calgary for a few years prior to now being in Kelowna for 19 years. Upon coming into Kelowna, I started work for a pharmaceutical company, family -owned company, and I worked there for two years. I then moved on to work at KF Aerospace. So I was the executive assistant for 16 years, and I was... also the project manager for the Centre for Excellence. So that museum that sits up at the airport that is shaped like an aircraft. I worked with all of the architects and the engineers and the construction people to realise, you know, Mr. Lapointe's dream and bring it to fruition and learnt a lot about mass timber in a very short period of time. Yes. Yeah.

00:07:00 Paula Quinn

You have to. It has got so much history and it is, like you said, it is just a stunning building. It showcases everything of the artifacts that are there so eloquently and really gives a lot of history to what Kelowna has to offer. And over the years, you know, how they used to truck in aircrafts on the back of the truck, put them together, then fly them down the lake, take them apart again, truck them somewhere else. And that's how they used to do it because they couldn't get up and over the mountains. So it really showcases how, you know, the Volscian. of the engine and of the aircraft has allowed that to happen. And now we have the 10th largest airport in Canada, which is amazing.

00:07:39 Hosts

And that, sorry, the 10th largest, is that after the current renovation expansion that's going on or is that? That's before.

00:07:45 Paula Quinn

or is that? That's before.

00:07:47 Hosts

Before, wow.

00:07:49 Paula Quinn

So, you know, the airport is a huge economic driver for us in Kelowna. And obviously, you know, KF is a huge economic driver as well with the ability to be able to bring in aircrafts and skilled mechanics to be able to work on the aircrafts themselves. And it really does make a small little town a bigger dot on the international stage.

00:08:19 Paula Quinn

I thought maybe I could just sit on a yoga mat for a couple of months. So I decided to depart the corporate world and look for something that was more meaningful for my values and what I wanted to be able to do for my community. I've sat on a lot of boards and given my time freely to non -for -profits and to our community because I love the businesses, I love the people, I love the collaboration. enjoy so immensely getting people connected. and making things happen. I'm the vice chair on the COEDC. I was on the chamber board for four years. I've worked with BC Cancer. I was on Mamas for Mamas. I'm also on the EBC board. So, you know, empowering women and lending and loaning money for businesses and being able to lean back and help others to be able to get, you know, further ahead and do better by themselves. I thought I wanted to sit on a yoga mat. Apparently, I do not. So I went and worked for a local non -for -profit, which was a gymnastics club, which is in Rutland, Okanagan Gymnastics. And they needed somebody to be able to come in and just get the financials back up running again and get, you know, a new breath of fresh air into the establishment. And I did that for nine months and got it to a point where it... would run itself. And this job came up and I just thought, this is perfect for Paula. I need to be a part of back downtown again. So I sold my house up at Gallagher's and moved back down into the Lower Mission, seven minutes from work and available then and enjoying it immensely. And I've been here since June.

00:10:09 Paula Quinn

Well, I lived downtown before because I come from London and I'm used to a community. I like that feel. You know, I like riding my bike. I like to be able to go to my local shops and my stores and buy what I need to locally. It's within me and it's how I was brought up. So I wanted to get back to that. I didn't realise how much I'd missed being away and outside of the peripheral. And so once I had the ability to be able to come back here, I just, I loved being able to, you know, have them coffee meets, walk and... get my groceries and put them on my little bike and on my little basket and then poodle back off home again. So enjoying that immensely and then to be able to bring, you know, all my years of experience to a position so unique as this one was very, very exciting. I felt that we were very well established, the on -call team, the clean team, but the actual story behind the why of what the DKA actually is, you know, the Downtown Kelowna Association. I felt that our businesses didn't really know what we did and who we were. And so I've been tasked with myself to make sure that people understand who we are, what we are, and what we are able to do and help with our businesses and be a voice for them. I recently hosted a town hall with the businesses. I mean, everyone said, are you stupid, Paula? You're going to stand there and allow them to... And I said, yes, absolutely, because they have to have somebody that's willing to listen to them. And what we found was very, very, very exciting. They weren't downbeat. They weren't, woe is me and look at us, we've got all these troubles and blah, blah, blah. They were very upbeat and they just wanted somebody to listen to them. So it was absolutely so enthralling for all of us to be able to do that and have a safe place to do it. And they just want somebody. to listen to them and they want somebody to have their voice for them and be able to present back to city be that person who can talk to somebody at the city and to be able to be here for them and listen to what they have to say so that was very very exciting and for me it's again getting the word out there of what we are able to do how we can help and who we are and what we are and what we bring to the downtown core

00:12:28 Paula Quinn

So we are a business improvement association. We receive a levy from the city to be able to supply all the services to the downtown core. So we're able to offer on -call team who will attend in the mornings to ensure that people's businesses are able to open and have free doorway and entryways decluttered and delittered and cleaned up and ready for the day's business. We also as well, obviously, we are not security, but what we are is a voice, again, for the unhoused. We have a very good reputation with them. We have a very good understanding with them. We know most of them by first name terms. And what we're able to do is be able to have that conversation with them and get them to, you know, where they need to be, if it's for medical reasons or for food, and not in a way that escalates. Sometimes with the police, it can, you know, escalate and they get very angry. have a conversation with them and just say to them, look, you know, Joe or Fred, whatever it is, let's go along. You know what the score is. Let's go and get lunch or, you know, have you had your medication? And we have them conversations with them. So they have a tendency to be more willing. They'll still drag their heels, but they're more willing to go off and do what they need to do and depart from the doorway or wherever they're staying. We also offer an after -work walk to their car. Some people in the later, you know, the darker evenings feel unsafe. So we offer a walk to car service and we also do the same thing in the dark mornings. And, you know, we have a lot of younger generation working in the restaurants and in the service field. So, you know, the businesses enjoy that they're able to offer that to their staff and they feel a lot safer about that. So that's excellent. Secondly, you know, we patrol all day long as well and walk around or drive around in the little red cars. You've seen them. And we also have a clean team. That is above and beyond whatever else the city does as well. And we are able to be, you know, instant cleaner upper of any evocation that's been taking place in any of the buildings or on the side streets. And also as well to ensure that for the beautification of our downtown core, it is looked after and swept up and cleaned on an all -day basis. And we also as well carry out all the marketing and the promotions for the downtown core. We support and sponsor a lot of the downtown events that are happening and have a lot of inclusion with the big events to ensure that the businesses are kept informed. And, you know, it doesn't affect their daily work life and their business, but only will it enhance it.

00:15:09 Hosts

Wow. Is this common for other municipalities? Like I know actually downtown Vernon Association is one of my tenants in my commercial building. And I don't think they do any kind of holistic safety, cleanliness, like that mediator, you know?

00:15:24 Paula Quinn

You know, this is a really good question because we are the third largest EIA in BC. So we have a very good relationship with the EIA BC, which is obviously the business improvement for the whole of BC. And they come to us for a lot of expertise on how we've managed to do this program for the budget that we have and the amount of people that we have. Being able to offer this service is very unique, you know. Smaller municipalities have tried to reinvent, but it's very difficult unless you know what you're doing and how to implement it. It can easily not go so well. So we advise and help and share whenever we are asked to help them to be successful as well, because it truly is unique. you know facility and service that we bring to this downtown call i mean i know you've only been in this role somewhat recently but obviously like you're a fairly integral part of the business community here i guess what is the current state like as a holistic approach of

00:16:15 Hosts

mean i know you've only been in this role somewhat recently but obviously like you're a fairly integral part of the business community here i guess what is the current state like as a holistic approach of Kelowna, right? We see a lot of like media headlines or we hear a lot of, you know, people just talking, hey, tourism's down the last couple of years or, you know, homeless population is growing or mental health issues are happening, you know, specifically from, you know, COVID years. But what are you seeing like boots on the ground? What's like the health status of Kelowna economically? mental health, like what direction are we trending?

00:16:49 Paula Quinn

Well, to be honest with you, I'm such an upbeat person. Anyway, my glass is always harmful. And the way I look at life is that, you know, there's always somebody worse off than you and everybody has the right to be heard and everybody has the right to respect and, you know, have a certain alliance made for positions that they find themselves in. I'm not there to judge them and I don't think others should be there to judge either. For the grace of God, go I. But really, realistically, you know, I've have found that the businesses, they're very upbeat, but they also realize that they need to give a positive tone. They want to be able to give that positive tone because we want people to come downtown. And that's why I always say collectively to have one voice for all. The reasoning behind that is that people stop reporting that they've had maybe a window broken and it happens in an overpopulated area, you know, whoever that may be. And they stop reporting because They don't want people to see the bad side of things. And that is the wrong message as well, because then the city and the police all start thinking, well, things are all getting better. You know, we have lots of down, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, I'm trying to offer a service where I can to my customers, to my businesses, that they can report it to us. We can use that for the betterment of, you know, specific areas. Find out where is the crucial, you know, touch points that we need to be at. be there for prevention rather than the cure they are all there for the collective of you know come downtown it is safe we don't feel unsafe sometimes the bad rat that we get in the media is never about the good it's always about what has gone wrong you know so many windows broken or is this or other you know is very much i know their newspapers and their news. But it really doesn't really do anybody any favors. And although we don't need to not talk about it, what we do need to do is put it into perspective with everything else that is going on a day -to -day basis that is good, that is positive.

00:19:00 Paula Quinn

It's huge. It's huge. I've got some facts here. I mean, basically, they reckon by 2040, we have 7 ,000 residents at this time in downtown Kelowna. We have an area of the downtown core itself. It's 38 kilometers squared, which is 18 % of the whole city. We have projected here in 2040 will be double the residents, which is housing. daycare, workspace, mobility, nightlife, restaurants, densification downtown equals stable base for retailers, hospitality, small businesses and professional services. So it really is pinnacle to an everyday life in a city that is made up like colonaries with a lot of pockets of outer areas. The need for a central place for everybody to come to collectively is huge. The event this past weekend for the Hoppy Parade was absolutely outstanding. I was there too.

00:20:00 Hosts

there too. Fantastic.

00:20:01 Paula Quinn

It was divine. I mean, to see... families the dogs the kids and listening to them asking questions and all of that age diversification was just so exciting to see and it had a certain buzz about it and i've had emails this morning you know haven't been downtown for a while came down for the memorial service what a great event to have everybody there together ccmas absolutely huge that what they took away from this city when they went back to saskatchit to and off to their various places was just nothing but praise. all the beauty the people you know all of the facilities that were available to them every time we have an event down here we beat canada day we have nearly 19 000 people here for the show and shine you know people like to gyrate to that central core and to being connected to their community it's such an intrinsically beautiful place like right along the water mountains every direction you look it's like

00:20:57 Hosts

such an intrinsically beautiful place like right along the water mountains every direction you look it's like very nice place you take it for granted as someone that like is from here and you like yourself like you live there so you see it every day but someone that you know we're only 15 minutes away from downtown but we just don't go there as often as we probably should but like you know when my wife and i go out for dinner there once in a blue moon we're like

00:21:05 Hosts

take it for granted as someone that like is from here and you like yourself like you live there so you see it every day but someone that you know we're only 15 minutes away from downtown but we just don't go there as often as we probably should but like you know when my wife and i go out for dinner there once in a blue moon we're like Why do we not come here more often? Like, this is such a cool city. So I guess, like, how do you get more people down there? And then to your point, you were talking about with densification and population growth in that area. Like, what are the barriers that we're currently seeing, you know, as a city or downtown Kelowna association? Like, how do we densify and how do we bring more people into the local area?

00:21:44 Paula Quinn

Well, I mean, the first thing I've got to talk to is park. Okay. Everybody says, you know, there's no way to park. We have many parking spots available at all times, but it's the fact they can't park right outside the store that they might have to. So for me, that's the whole point of getting out of your car, leaving it somewhere and then walking to everything that is available to you because you don't get to see it all. And like you said, it's the ability to be able to look up and see and notice. and be drawn to another area that maybe you haven't been to, like up to the bird reserve, up by the Delta, that walk around the port wall. You know, just all of the new parks and all of the new parks for the kiddos and the families. It is having that ability. I've racked my brain of trying to come up with ideas and I've even thought about a counter on the parking meters so people know how many steps they've made or walked to get to somewhere. Just even some sort of incentives. We know where a car costs. Canada is a country for cars because we're so vast. But there is still so much to be seen on foot as well, and it's okay to walk a couple of yards. The bus routes, you know, we don't have very good transportation. And again, because we are so car -driven that we really don't look too much to the older generation and the younger generation. that their parents won't even let on a bus nowadays, again, because of the scaremongering. It's getting that sense of community back again and that sense of it's okay to do this. We are allowed to do this and we are not allowed to let them not let us do it. And so we really have to take back ownership of this and really start looking at, you know, getting out there and making the most of what we have available and enjoying that.

00:23:36 Hosts

You know, we lived in Shanghai for a few years, right? It's a massive city, obviously. Like it felt like a smaller community than Kelowna because their transportation was insanely good there. Like the shared bikes, taxis, subways, like you could be anywhere in the heart of city in minutes. And then Kelowna, it's like, oh, I got a 15 minute drive downtown and then parking and then whatever. But if you can just like, you know, this summer we were on the bikes a lot and it does make the town feel smaller. Like it makes it feel like more of a community.

00:24:05 Paula Quinn

Exactly, exactly. And we need to do more within the city. And I know I sit on a couple of roundtables where we're, you know, trying to find out what can we do? Where do these hubs need to be? You know, even, you know, a little electric vehicles buzzing around and just picking up people from, you know, the seniors' homes, bringing them downtown and getting them to see that it's safe and it's cool to be down here and there's lots to do. And the businesses will then thrive and really will bring back. that beautification, not only in the Bernard and around the court, it's around the whole city. You know, we have so many other businesses and venues to go to around the flight streets. You know, I want to host markets in the alleyways because... You then open up a whole new world and it's all that rubbing shoulders with people and just, you know, bartering and carrying your little recyclable tote and buying locally. And that's what it's all about.

00:25:01 Hosts

Has, what's it called? Meet on Bernard in the summer when they close?

00:25:04 Paula Quinn

Yeah, Meet Beyond Bernard. Yeah,

00:25:05 Hosts

Yeah, like how is that progressing? I mean, it seems like such a great idea. I see like, you know, when you go to Europe or something like those, those streets that they close down and just like. So many people come in. It's such a cool community. Have we kind of gotten to where like we want to on Meet on Bernard or like what are the next steps to evolve that?

00:25:19 Paula Quinn

Have we

00:25:25 Paula Quinn

Well, you know, it's a very lengthy conversation to have, for one, but I'll condense it into a nutshell. Meet Me on Bernard is an amazing reason to shut the roads, have everybody being able to walk, and the pedestrianisation of that, and the activations that we put in place, you know, large chess games, scrabble games, opportunities to take photographs with the family, etc. It is absolutely... Brilliant. And I love that. And then we have our night markets on a Thursday. And before we used to be sort of like pushed down into Kerry Park. And this next year, we're looking to do something totally different and bringing it further into the downtown core and spreading that out. And then having, you know, musicians and I'm on a Ferris wheel at the top by Safeway. I mean, seriously, boys. It's about opening it to everybody and getting... them to appreciate that the kids need to be taken care of because if the kids are taken care of and they've got something to do, the mom and dad are going to sit there and have a glass of wine and something to eat, you know, and then they'll stay down here longer. So again, it's just making that family orientation there and getting it to be a more of a family -based shopping experience and having activities for people to do and to enjoy and to appreciate.

00:26:45 Hosts

Honestly, we talk about that all the time too, like where can we go where the kids are going to be? distracted or entertained.

00:26:50 Paula Quinn

Exactly. Yeah.

00:26:51 Hosts

With Bernard, McDonald's is coming in there. Yeah. Like, I know you guys don't have a voice on that, or maybe there is like some municipality connection in there, but like, is that the direction we're kind of going in that area? Like, is there no on that?

00:27:06 Paula Quinn

that? Well, if you were a city and you had a business that come to you and said, I want to be in your downtown, you don't have the ability to say yes or no. You can't vet them. Okay. And the way I'm looking at this is, you know what, if you want a McDonald's, you're going to go to a McDonald's. So why not have one here so people have the opportunity to come and go to McDonald's downtown? It's the same as with Tim Hortons. People who want Tim Hortons are going to go to Tim Hortons, regardless of wherever it is, and have the ability to be able to take the kids, you know, downtown. Again, they can go and get their McDonald's meal and whatever. You're giving them that choice. Everyone says, oh, it should be little coffee shops. It should be that. Not everybody wants a nice little coffee shop with the best latte. They want to be able to have a McDonald's. They want their fries. They want, you know, their Big Macs. So why not give it to them? Because they're going to go somewhere else to get it.

00:28:04 Paula Quinn

And I've actually personally met the owner and we had a very, very good meeting with the manager.

00:28:17 Paula Quinn

No, you know, it was great to meet the person and to have this conversation with him. So he knew who we were, what we're able to do. But what have you put in place to be able to mitigate A, B, C and D? And, you know, they had a plan. They have a business plan. They're very organized in what they're going to do and how they're going to do it. And they are not not aware of what they're up against as well. And they've been prepared and they've got their business plan in place. And you know what I say, give them the opportunity to be able to do that. Let's monopolize on people who want McDonald's. Okay.

00:28:52 Hosts

Well, I guess at that point, you know, we were talking about 2040 numbers. What is the vision? Like, what do we want for Kelowna in 2040? Like, what do you want for Kelowna?

00:29:01 Paula Quinn

Well, you know what? Everyone says we want a second bridge. Okay, great. What are you going to do with your second bridge? You haven't got enough roads bringing it into the second bridge. So what are you going to do about that? I mean, there is a bigger picture to be looked at, for sure. I just want to make sure that enough care and attention is given to that bigger picture, that we look at everything, look at the infrastructure that we have in place, and not just put a Band -Aid on something. Let's look at, is this really going to make a difference? And how are we going to be able to, you know, to... sustain this growth and be able to still give everybody what they would need and want, plus to keep the beauty that we have and the uniqueness that we have. And I think it just needs to have some caring attention given to it. and listen to others and not just think that your vision is the right one and make sure that we have the people that know what they're doing when they're making these decisions yeah we definitely i mean matt and i we live in an echo chamber sometimes so yeah it's good to to hear those business owners and locals walking through the street supporting those owners yep definitely barriers

00:29:57 Hosts

we definitely i mean matt and i we live in an echo chamber sometimes so yeah it's good to to hear those business owners and locals walking through the street supporting those owners yep

00:30:07 Paula Quinn

definitely barriers

00:30:15 Paula Quinn

Um, the rights.

00:30:21 Paula Quinn

all right let's start at the top right i mean why bite off your nose to spite your face i mean let's be reasonable about it the drive and the need to always be exclusive is wrong we need to be inclusive and i think we really need to be able to try and make it more reasonable for people to actually make money we have this not greed it is almost like a a right because of where we are and who we are that we can demand whatever we think is, you know, the right number. I don't know what that is. But at the end of the day, I think we need to be more cognizant of what is actually affordable now, what is actually for the little mum and pups. I mean, we have 90 % of our businesses are mum and pops with three to seven employees. You know, we look at the big boys all the time. We look at the big, you know, numbers. But it's those little 90 % of businesses that are the ones that are suffering. And they're the ones that need to have the consideration and the help with the new bills that are coming in for reform, etc. It only works with businesses with 10 more employees. We have 90 % of our business, less than that. So there's nothing directed at that at this time. And we need to do that. Where does that stat align nationally or globally?

00:31:41 Hosts

does that stat align nationally or globally? Where do other cities of our population, where do we land in comparison?

00:31:50 Paula Quinn

I mean, I couldn't give you a pecking order from 30 down. We're not unique. But we're also not the worst. And I think that's where we really have to just remember where we are geographically as well, or businesses. It's not the easiest place in the world to get to. OK, it's a very difficult place to get to. You've got to drive through a lot of mountains or you've got to fly over a lot of mountains. So we are not totally unique, but we need to get deeper in our thought process of appealing to more people. And not just because it's Kelowna. We have to go deeper than that. We've got to start digging in and really looking at what we are, who we are, and what are our real values, and how do we foresee it for our grandchildren and our own children? And where do we want this place to be? We can't keep raping the mountainsides forever. We've got to look at making the most of what we have rather than just keep building more.

00:32:51 Hosts

Yeah, I guess maybe a topic we can kind of finish up on in the next few minutes here is what would you change or what's a solution? Like what's one thing that we could do now, like a tangible or maybe you guys already have some plans in place to be the catalyst to get to Kelowna, like get Kelowna where we want it to be, like to be able to hand it off to our kids, grandkids, you know, in the next 20, 30 years. What are we doing now?

00:33:13 Paula Quinn

Stop saying it's what we've always done. We've got to start reinventing what it is we do. When we bring in big events downtown, we go to the businesses, we say to them, look, why don't you open an hour later? Stay an hour later. You're going to capture much more of an audience. Well, this is what we've always done. And it's very much that mindset. You have to shift that mindset.

00:33:37 Hosts

So do you guys also help then with like coaching on some of that data with traffic? OK, awesome.

00:33:43 Paula Quinn

Yeah. No, we go to them. We give them ideas on how to do things, how to activate certain things. We will even apply it outside their building. No, we haven't got time for that. And again, it's you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make them drink it. So it's changing that mindset for the people. You're in retail or you're in the service industry. This is what. the people want. They don't want to be here at nine o 'clock because that's when you open. They want to have that convenience. And we, as a world, we give it to everybody. Everything is so convenient. You can buy anything from Amazon, bingo, next three hours there is at your doorstep. And people then have that expectation. But it's looking at your business and say, where do I want to be? I can sit here and I can just keep saying the same thing over and over again. You know, it's because of the unhoused or it's because my window got broken and I had to buy more camera. I can't afford this you've got to really start thinking about the differences that you can make within your own self and your businesses to accommodate the actual realistic happenings and goings -ons of people's days their own cultures and their own you know habits of how they spend and when they spend yeah my brokerage we call it like collaboration over competition it's like our lead brokerage talking about it and it kind of sounds like what you guys are doing you know you take

00:34:55 Hosts

my brokerage we call it like collaboration over competition it's like our lead brokerage talking about it and it kind of sounds like what you guys are doing you know you take the wins out of other small businesses and kind of pass them on and say, Hey, this is what is successful down the street. Like, why don't you guys try this? Yes. If local businesses want to reach out to you for help.

00:35:15 Paula Quinn

We're right on Bernard here, right in the 200th lot. Our webpage as well has a lot of information. You can also sign up for our newsletter, which then gives you, even if you're not in the downtown core into our membership, you are able to get all the information that we share about road closures, about events that are happening, you know, Parade with a Purpose is coming up, which is a big, you know, family event, which is going to be huge, which is coming on December the 6th. We have our own winter market coming up on the 29th with the light up of the lights. So all of that information is available on our website and we can send you our newsletter if you sign up online as well. Obviously as well, telephone, I never remember the number, 250 -862 -3515, on call team. is 250 -470 -9058 for a direct line to them should you need somebody to come to you quickly of course email me executive it's very long executive director at downtown Kelowna .com um but uh yeah so there's plenty of ways to reach out to us or talk to a red coat or a blue coat out on the streets we'll put all this information in our show notes yeah please yeah

00:36:29 Hosts

all this information in our show notes yeah

00:36:31 Paula Quinn

yeah please yeah

00:36:35 Paula Quinn

That's been all organized by us. Yep. And we have the whole Winter Street Market. We're up to 50 vendors at this time. We're working very closely with PAM and the Parade with a Purpose to ensure the road shutdown is as minimal as possible for all the businesses, again, because we want to be cognizant of their needs as well. But to make sure of safety, obviously, is paramount and work very closely with the city and be that conduit to make sure that all of these things come together and everybody stays informed. I love it.

00:37:08 Hosts

love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time.

00:37:12 Paula Quinn

So quickly.

00:37:13 Hosts

I know. Yeah. Well, we packed a lot in. Yeah. We'll love to have you on in the future again and talk about, you know, some more.

00:37:19 Paula Quinn

Keep talking. We love that. Yeah, absolutely. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for helping me.

00:37:26 Hosts

Okay. Thank you so much.

00:37:26 Paula Quinn

Thank you so much.