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‘For Rent’ signs were displayed in front of many stores, while a few stores were empty at Punjabi Market or the Little India of Vancouver along the Main Street.

What could be the reason? Madan Dhingra, a fabric shop owner, said no new people want to open a shop here anymore because of high rents while those who occupied the space in the past have moved to Surrey where a bigger South Asian population has settled.

There were not many people in the market that the shop owners said saw a boom in 80s and 90s. The market located in between 48th and 51st avenues, where many immigrants from South Asia and mainly Punjab (India) have settled, was a shopping hub in the past, Dhingra said.

Sarabjit Chandan, who owns a Sabji Mandi or a vegetable store, said business started falling some four years ago when people (traders) started moving to Surrey to cater to a bigger South Asian immigrant population there.

“This year was worst (in terms of business),” Chandan, who moved to Canada from Jammu and Kashmir state of India and who is in business at the Main Street for the last six years, said.

Though his “business is sustaining”, Chandan said high rents and lack of parking spaces have aggravated the problem for the businessmen in this little town.

The rents were high when the business was at peak. They have not been brought down even when the business started falling, Chandan said. “Nobody wants to open a shop because of high rents. That is why you see many stores empty or displaying ‘For Rent’ signs,” he said.

Unlike in Fraser Street, the Main Street stores do not have parking spaces behind them. “Parking is a big problem here. There should be parking space behind each shop,” he said.

Jeffrey Smith, whose wife has been running a coffee shop for eight years and he looks after the business at times (mostly in the evening) when she is busy, also said business has seen a fall in this area. He said the hike in HST has also aggravated the problem. “Business goes drastically down especially during the summer,” he said.

But for some traders, business is as usual. Carlos Montana, who is originally from the Philippines and running a grocery store, said he has not felt the heat.

Likewise, businessmen at the nearby Fraser Street market, which has a bigger size of businessmen from Punjab than at the Main Street, said they are doing well.

Dinesh Sharma who owns a grocery at 52^nd and Fraser said business is good there. “May be there is a fall (in business) at the Main Street. I have not felt so here.”