The closure of a downtown bank branch is not good news.
The reason TD Canada Trust is closing the branch — as we’re told, by the local press, by downtown spokespeople, even by random passersby when I visited the branch recently — is “homeless people.”
And perhaps this is the reason or is one of the main reasons the branch is being closed.
What we know for sure is that the branch underperformed and no longer justified its existence. This is concerning, especially after recent substantial public investments in our downtown’s revitalization.
But questions arise. If we apply a little critical thinking, we might ask for instance:
● Why this branch when there is within a ten minute walk a Royal Bank branch, an RBC and a Scotiabank, and a Coastal Community Credit Union branch?
● Is the TD Canada Trust branch different from these others in any way?
● If the homeless population downtown is the reason for the closure of this branch, should we expect to soon see the closure of the others?
● And if there were no homeless people downtown, would this branch have succeeded?
● Would a different use here succeed where this one has failed?
The Port Place redevelopment about 15 years ago was controversial, the challenge was to transform a suburban style shopping centre at the heart of our downtown into a more integrated and pedestrian friendly environment. The outcome, you’d have to say, was not entirely successful.
Downtown retailers know that mutually advantageous foot traffic and “cheek by jowl” proximity are essential to the success of their businesses. Access on foot to this corner site, isolated as it is from everything around it, is poor.
The Esplanade - Terminal intersection is, I can attest, at least as hostile to pedestrians now as it was before the Provincial engineers had their way with it. Access from Port Place is across an unwelcoming expanse of asphalt.
And recent improvements to connect the site with Commercial Street’s liveliness have apparently done little to improve the commercial performance of the branch.
(An inquiry might also touch on the bank’s recent money-laundering scandals. Didn’t do the brand a lot of good.)
It’s hard not to suspect that the cause of the branch’s failure isn’t homeless people or even “disorder” (all the best downtown’s have some of that) but a failure of urban design, the failure of suburban-shopping-mall-thinking brought to the needs of the diverse, dynamic urban core.
