Empty concert venues and sports arenas, movie theatres and restaurants left to reduced capacity and nightclubs devoid of dancing were mainstays for much of the past two years.
But with masking mandates now out the door and B.C.’s vaccine card program soon to follow next month, could the sectors hardest hit by restrictions truly be experiencing an earnest resurgence?
“It’s nobody’s fault, but false starts really don’t help,” said Nate Sabine, director of business development at This Is Blueprint Management Ltd.
“But it does feel that at least we’re going to get a summer out of this and then everyone’s got their fingers crossed for the fall and winter.”
Vancouver-based Blueprint operates clubs and bars across the city, including Fortune Sound Club and the Colony chain of pubs. The company also promotes concerts and operates the annual FVDED in the Park music festival.
Pandemic restrictions left B.C. dance floors barren for nearly two years until provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced last month that whirls, twirls and pirouettes could return to bars and nightclubs once again – as long as patrons wore masks while hobnobbing with friends or strangers.
Sabine said many in the industry were worried that young people who had never before experienced Vancouver nightlife would go crazy at the outset, but most have been respectful.
“Concerts are selling, festivals are strong,” he said.
A few emails from patrons concerned about easing restrictions landed in Sabine’s inbox when venues began reopening but people have otherwise been coming out in droves, he added.
“The first couple of weeks, it was New Year’s every single night,” Sabine said, adding people were becoming a little more selective about events by the end of March.
“We all knew that that sort of honeymoon-period excitement would only last so long, and then people would get it out of their systems and maybe start looking at their bank accounts or their hangovers and be like, ‘Hey, maybe I step it back a little.’”
Customers elsewhere have been “overjoyed” with the easing of restrictions, according to Owen Coomer, manager of operations of Taphouse Taverns, which has locations in Surrey and Coquitlam.
“From a guest perspective, it’s nice to be able to finally see our staff smile,” he said.
The Taphouse sports bars have capacity for 510 seats in Surrey and 444 seats in Coquitlam and can transform into live music and DJ venues featuring dancing in the evenings.
But policing those dance floors for mask compliance was a nearly impossible task last month, Coomer said.
“Even our liquor inspectors just said, ‘Listen, it’s on the onus of the customer and you could just ask people to put the mask back on. It’s not on the business to do it,’” he recalled.
“Is there a degree of people that are cautious to come out [without mask mandates]? Absolutely. But I think that was even before the masks were being taken off.”
Coomer said with the rescinding of mask rules and the soon-vanishing vaccine card, “it’s like two years have just basically flown by and we’re back to normal.
“We’re doing better than pre-pandemic levels – very similar, but there’s definitely an increase [in business].”
He said patrons coming out to Taphouse locations already expect to see large crowds and B.C.’s high vaccination rate (more than 91 per cent of people 12 and older have received two doses) seem to make customers feel at ease. But Coomer said he has noticed some older customers have not returned since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Convention Centre reports more than 200 bookings have been made for 2022 after the events circuit was left a shell of its former self in the wake of the pandemic.
Convention centre spokeswoman Cecilia Ho said clients haven’t specifically cited the easing of mask or vaccine passport restrictions as the main reason they’re now going ahead.
“As each event is different, the increase in interest is likely due to a combination of factors, including overall improvements to the COVID-19 situation in B.C., changes to travel and re-entry requirements, removal of capacity limits for events and gatherings and the success of the province’s immunization program,” she said in an email.
Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the B.C. Restaurant & Foodservices Association, said the industry has been experiencing “little bumps” in business since the mask mandates were lifted.
Tostenson will be observing the lifting of the B.C. vaccine card program closely, but “in general terms, I think the public’s moved on” owing to the province’s already high vaccination rate, he said.
Some eateries, such as coffee shops and fast-food establishments, never required vaccine cards, so the end of the program won’t be having an effect on them, he said.
“The thing to remember is that restaurants proved themselves to be safe all throughout this, even in the absence of masks or vaccinations,” Tostenson said. •
