CAILYNN KLINGBEIL
Special to The Globe and Mail
March 24, 2017 June 27, 2016
Outside Alforno Bakery & Café, the newest addition to Teatro Group's seven Calgary restaurants, there's a bright yellow compressor hose and accompanying "free air" sign, ample parking for bicycles, and a sticker on the front window in support of the cycle track network.
The café, located on the 7th Street cycle track – downtown Calgary's first separated on-street bike lane – opened in January. Inside, a vintage Royale bicycle hangs above a stylish bar for coffee condiments, while customers on two wheels can use a "Cyclists Welcome" loyalty card for a discount on their order.
"We saw and embraced what the community was participating in, which was an active lifestyle and very active use of bike lanes," says Karen Kho, service director for Teatro Group, of the café's bike-friendly additions. Such touches aren't just meant to encourage customers on bicycles to stop by, Ms. Kho says, they're for employees too, many of whom cycle to work.
Alforno isn't alone in its bike-friendly approach; small businesses in cities across Canada are increasingly catering to cyclists. Yes, businesses publicly denouncing bike lanes are still common, but shops, bars and restaurants are starting to back bike infrastructure and reach out to a new and growing customer base.
"There's been a sea change in the attitude about cyclists and frankly the value that the cycling community and the cycling consumer is bringing to the marketplace," says Charles Gauthier, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. "Businesses are responding by making it clear they're catering to them."
In Vancouver, some businesses decided not to renew their leases since downtown bike lanes arrived on Hornby Street and Dunsmuir Street in 2010, but Mr. Gauthier says most have adapted to the bike lanes and accepted them. Others, such as the Burrard, a boutique hotel with free bike rentals, are starting to go a step further, he says, and market to cyclists.
Mr. Gauthier's own organization has shifted its stance on bike lanes. In 2010, the BIA raised concerns over the loss of 170 on-street parking spaces and how that would affect area businesses' bottom lines. But an assumption held by many merchants – that most customers arrive by car – turned out to be false, Mr. Gauthier says. A 2011 economic impact study commissioned by the city and other associations, including the Downtown Vancouver BIA, showed most people walked, cycled or took transit to get downtown. Just 20 per cent of customers on Hornby and Dunsmuir arrived by car. [...]
