
A broken glass door at the Jamaican Kitchen on the North Shore (Photo via Jamaican Kitchen/facebook)
Figures from the latest Safe Streets Survey in Kamloops has the North Shore business lobby concerned about the psychological impacts on both consumer and business confidence throughout the city.
North Shore Business Improvement Association Executive Director Jeremy Heighton says it comes as between 80 and 90 percent of the businesses surveyed this year say crime and social disorder have impacted their businesses and staff.
“86 percent said impacts to customer perceptions of safety from crime and social disruption either increased or significantly increased,” Heighton told Radio NL. “78 percent indicated that customer complaints regarding crime and social disruption either increased or significantly increased.”
Heighton suggests this portion of the survey is concerning for local businesses over the longer-term.
“So what we know in business is perception is reality,” argued Heighton. “When you start to look at impact on business, perception softens when people will come to your business or business area.”
The same survey has also found that losses from shoplifting so far this year have totaled around 750 thousand dollars — the same amount reported over the course of the previous 5 years.
Heighton says they’re also noting different areas being impacted by crime and vandalism, including Aberdeen, Valleyview and Tk’emlups.
“So there’s a bit of a shift going on and we’ll have to dig into that data as we look at and see, is this just people are now reporting, or is this some movement in impacts to business,” said Heighton. “We’re not sure yet.”