About Us

A Central Location

Strathcona is located in the heart of Vancouver, just minutes east of Main Street and the downtown core. It is bordered by harbour front to the north and Vancouver’s historic Chinatown to the west.

Strathcona has almost 12,000 residents and more than 7,000 employees.

Strathcona is a vibrant community of working families, professionals, and artists. It is a multi-cultural neighbourhood with residents of Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Scandinavian, Yugoslavian and other ancestries. Our residents and businesses are committed to creating a safe, livable, and close-knit community.

Strathcona is Vancouver’s oldest residential area. First settled in mid-1800, its longest running known business has existed for nearly 100 years. Many buildings from Strathcona's early development still stand are listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register, more than any other area of the city, and many are being restored. In short, Strathcona is a unique mix of people, history, land use, and architecture.

Look Who’s Doing Business Here

Strathcona has more than 850 businesses and property owners in its Business Improvement Area, including retailers, manufacturers, and service providers. Here are just a few of the businesses in our neighbourhood.

Starbucks

North America’s premier coffee chain opened its first Vancouver drive-through location in Strathcona in early 2005. Located at the intersection of Powell and Cordova Streets, this strategic retail location takes advantage of the more than 24,000 commuters who pass through Strathcona every day on their way to and from Vancouver.

Larrivée Guitars

For more than 35 years, Jean Larrivée has built his world-renowned guitars from Vancouver. Larrivée Guitars occupies a 33,000 square foot facility in the heart of Strathcona, where 100 highly skilled people make between 60 and 72 guitars a day. Larrivée Guitars has distributors or dealers in every province and state in Canada and the United States, and exports to 27 countries around the world.

Larrivee hosts one of the murals of Strathcona

Pressed Metal Products

Pressed Metal Products has been manufacturing custom products for more than 70 years, 45 of them from its Strathcona location. The company produces a range of quality metal jewelry from lapel pins, signet rings and badges, to belt buckles, medals and medallions. These include the coveted Order of Canada medals. All products are produced and hand-finished in-house and shipped to clients locally and across North America.

Happy Planet Foods Inc.

This well-known manufacturer of quality organic juices has both its microjuicery/bottling and warehouse facilities in Strathcona. Established as a family business in 1997, Happy Planet now has 43 employees and distributes its juices globally; across Canada, and to the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Russell Food Equipment Ltd.

In business more than 50 years, Russell Food is one of Canada’s premier suppliers of commercial food equipment and service. The company has more than 60 employees working from its head office, warehouse and showroom in Strathcona and from 14 branches across Canada.

Australian Outback Collection

Australian Outback Collection, the maker of rugged outerwear such as hats, oilskin Drover coats, footwear and accessories, has its wholesale clothing distribution facility in Strathcona. Aussie outback ships it’s garments to stores in Vancouver, British Columbia and across Canada.

We Support Business

The Strathcona Business Improvement Area (BIA) is the second largest BIA in Vancouver, with a lower cost per member than most other BIA’s. We represent more than 850 business and property owners who contribute their collective resources and efforts to support Strathcona’s economic development. The BIA supports their businesses and their more than 7,000 employees with ongoing programs and initiatives that make Strathcona a vibrant place to do business, work, shop and invest.

A Visible Difference

We work hard to promote a positive physical image for Strathcona. Our Clean Streets and Clean Buildings initiatives help maintain and improve the value of Strathcona. With the help of Goodbye Graffiti and United We Can, we have removed over 6000 graffiti tags from walls and street fronts, and conducted over 600 hours of litter patrols. We are working with the City of Vancouver to provide new benches and bus shelters, and to repair and improve sidewalks. Our successful Mural Program has added five distinctive murals to Strathcona and another five are planned.

Marketing & Promoting Strathcona

We work to raise the profile of Strathcona among business, consumers and the media. We produce a Business Directory to connect and promote our members to new customers, suppliers and partners. We sponsor events that attract visitors and build community spirit. We produce and distribute a Business Opportunities Package to encourage businesses to locate in Strathcona. We host a website and newsletter to provide up-to-date information and to spotlight individual businesses and the community. We produce a Calendar of Events, to highlight the festivals and goings-on in our area.

Making Streets Safe

We protect our businesses with 9000 hours of security patrols annually. Our Strathcona security team works seven days a week to deter street activity and to provide a safe environment for business, their employees, and their customers. We work with the City of Vancouver Police Department to reduce police response time and to ensure friendly assistance when needed. We support successful Block Captain programs to keep our streets safe.

The Strathcona BIA is a non-profit, member driven organization that represents business and commercial property owners in the Strathcona area. We play an important role in the business development, safety, security and street enhancement in Strathcona. Our board of directors are all volunteers from businesses and organizations located within Strathcona. The board are supported by staff at the BIA office.

Board Members:

Chair:

Wayne Kennedy - Gulf & Fraser Financial Group

Vice-Chair:

Toby Barazzuol - Eclipse Awards International

Treasurer:

Claude Lemay - Atticus Financial Group

Secretary

Angela Giannoulis -Primero Cigars

Board Members:

Wayne Nelsen - Patricia Hotel

Nathan Wiens - Chapel Arts

Marilyn Kopanski - Edible Planet

Chris Robertson

BIA Staff:

Executive Director - Cathy Kwan

Administrator - Amanda Cochrane