Terrace

Article by Sarah Zimmerman. Photo: Camus Photography

Click here to visit the Terrace Chamber of Commerce website.

When Terrace entrepreneur Ginny Kenmuir first dreamed of going into business for herself, she had visions of a clothing boutique that would feature elevated basics, comfortable, but chic clothes that couldn’t be found anywhere else in Terrace. It was 2015 and it just didn’t seem like the right time. Instead, she took a more calculated risk, and purchased a long-established business, All Star Shoes.

In 2021, at the height of COVID, All Star Shoes moved locations to the Lazelle Mini Mall downtown Terrace. The strip mall features a variety of health-related services, but is also home to local Terrace favourites Cafenara coffee shop and Misty River Books, the only local bookstore in town that also features wares made by local artisans, puzzles and games.

Soon after she reopened, she finally had the opportunity to open her dream store - The Cove Boutique opened its doors in August of 2021, just three doors down from All Star Shoes, and the business has been growing despite the challenges of COVID and the uncertainty that comes pandemic entrepreneurship.

Kenmuir knows locals form a lot of her customer base, but she also meets folks who pop in from as far away as Dease Lake and Stewart, Kitimat and Prince Rupert. She’s found that lots of her out of town customers come to Terrace to tick a bunch of boxes off their to-do lists.

“They are here for a medical appointments, or groceries, clothes, supplies and while they’re here they want to shop and visit.”

Terrace’s Canadian Tire owner, Bryan Gascon agrees.

“Everyone coming from out of town, makes the trip count. They aren’t coming for one thing. They are coming to do a shopping trip in a community that has a wide variety of items that they need every day,” says Gascon.

Those trips include stops at restaurants like the 37 Grille at the Skeena Valley Golf & Country Club or Chef Abhi’s where you can get incredible, authentic East Indian cuisine. Visitors are going to specialty shops such as Fiori Design, Carter’s Jewellers or taking in a movie at Tillicum Twin Theatres.

Diane Robinson, who operates the theatre is carrying on the work of her father, who opened the theatre decades ago. He began a long tradition of extending the theatre to the community beyond the screening of feature films. The Tillicum Twin Theatres is a place where families celebrate birthdays, where community groups can screen movies and host fundraisers.

It is a welcoming place for people from all facets of the community, and supports the efforts of community groups, hosts annual ceremonies for Remembrance Day and creates fun seasonal events that bring the community together. Despite the constantly changing restrictions relating to the pandemic, the theatre has been able to pivot and keep its doors open so people can see their favourite films on the big screen.

Terrace sits on the traditional territory of the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum people, and it is surrounded by other Indigenous communities including the Nisga’a and Tahltan to the north, the Haisla to the south and Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en neighbours to the east, and the Haida to the west. Screening films that are not readily available in mainstream theatres surrounding important topics, are meaningful ways that a small theatre is having a big impact on Terrace and surrounding communities.

As community groups such as the Skeena Salmon Art Festival Society work with other organizations like the Terrace Downtown Improvement Association, Northern Development Initiative Trust and the City of Terrace, the downtown core has become a more colourful, accessible place to explore for visitors from around the region.

Since 2018, the Skeena Salmon Arts Festival Society, has worked with business owners, property owners and other organizations to see the creation of more than a dozen new murals in the downtown core. A walking tour of all the murals can eat up a couple hours as you reflect on artwork done by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from across the region. You’ll see works by celebrated Indigenous artists such as Terrace’s Kari Morgan and Stephanie Anderson, but you’ll also see inspiring works by the likes of Hazelton’s Leah Pipe and Smithers artist Facundo Gastia, who is a member of the Raven Tacuara artists collective. Highlighting the exceptional artistic talents of regional artists has meant that huge cinder block buildings that once created a drab backdrop to the downtown core, are now flooded with colour.

The connection to the arts community in Terrace is evident, and it includes offering opportunities for artists across the northwest to exhibit. The Terrace Art Gallery not only showcases current art exhibits, it’s gift shop features works by artists right across the region from Prince Rupert, to Kitimat, Terrace, Haida Gwaii, Houston, Smithers and beyond. And the gallery’s programming extends beyond its exhibition space with the Art Around Town program which sees artwork hung in local businesses, and the art program at the Northwest Regional Airport which now has space to hang art installations on three-month rotations. Regional artists like Mark Therrien, Leah Pipe, Amanda Hugon, Marie-Christine Claveau and celebrated Indigenous artist, Stan Bevan have all hung shows there.

As a regional service and retail hub Terrace is home to range of big box stores such as Canadian Tire, Safeway, Save-On Foods, that attract shoppers from a lot of the surrounding communities. More than just big-box stores, these anchor businesses are also super-involved in the community, supporting local fundraisers, community events and service groups in the community.

“My dad owned a Canadian Tire store before I did. He always said, ‘support the people who support you. ‘That’s where I got this philosophy,” says Bryan Gascon, the Terrace Canadian Tire franchise owner, who has a long history of being involved in the community.

His store isn’t just a place to shop, it’s a place where community can also come together – be it for the locally owned hot dog stand that serves up regionally-sourced sausages, or the annual Father’s Day Show and Shine car show, or the times Santa has arrived in a helicopter in the parking lot to kick off the Christmas season. Gascon’s store has sponsored countless community groups and sports teams, and many in neighbouring communities.

“I consider customers from all around the regional local, so I’m happy to give back to them.”

Kieran McKeown, general manager of Daybreak Farms in Terrace also sees the entire region as a big, interconnected community. As the only producer of eggs north of Salmon Arm and west of Dawson Creek, she takes seriously the benefits of provide fresh eggs to communities right across the region, from Haida Gwaii in the west, to Tahltan territory in the north, all the way to Prince George.

More and more, she’s seeing an interest across communities to come together, discuss food security, create connections and look toward creating sustainable food systems across the north. The 2021 flooding in Abbotsford demonstrated how quickly the agricultural food supply chain can be broken.

“There was nothing on the shelves except for Daybreak Eggs,” she recalls, adding in order to be secure, farmers from across the region play an important role in developing a regional food network. “We need local farming and a wide variety of it.”

That interdependence is one way we can keep dollars in the northwest. But it’s also a way that business support organizations in community.

Gill McKean from West Coast Fishing Adventures agrees that by supporting a local business, you are directly impacting the wellbeing of your neighbours.

“To me, shopping local is supporting a friend or almost like supporting your brothers and sisters or your family,” he says. “If you go down and patronize that business, that money helps support their family directly and also goes into the community.”

So, the next time you stop in Terrace, think about the many different ways your lunch date, your beer at Sherwood Mountain Brewery or your stay at a local hotel makes a big difference.

Click here to visit the Terrace Chamber of Commerce website.

Vanderhoof

Kitimat