Downtown Eastside community wants more retail after London Drugs closure, not police
Community partners in the Downtown Eastside are slamming the Mayor’s call to instate a police training centre at the former London Drugs location at Woodward’s.
After London Drugs announced the closure of its location near the northwest corner of the intersection of Hastings Street and Abbott Street, Mayor Ken Sim said that the space could potentially become a Justice Institute of British Columbia dedicated training academy for police officers.
In an open letter, the Coordinated Community Response Network (CCRN) and over two dozen community partners said that they “do not believe this location is the most appropriate site for a police training centre, particularly given the existing level of police presence in and around Woodward’s site.”
In an interview with Daily Hive, Steve Johnston, a CCRN representative, emphasized that the community doesn’t object to a police training centre, but rather the location of it.
“It’s [about] the loss of one more opportunity for folks to have access to the goods and services they need,” he said.
In 2025, the space that held a former TD Bank at Woodward’s was replaced with a Community Policing Centre of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).
“We were hopeful that the city would consider working with the business and economy office to attract a new retailer to that space.”
He said the store was the last “anchor retailer” that sold basic goods to both Downtown Eastside and Gastown residents. It provided people with access to home goods, food, a pharmacy, and a postal office.
“The London Drugs was actually essential to the community.”
Now, he said, people have to travel to the Rexall on Granville Street for a post office and to the No Frills at Hastings and McLean Drive for affordable food.
Further, the London Drugs used to attract people to the neighbourhood, who would then shop at other stores.
“A policing centre closes Woodward’s building off from the community and creates a massive dead zone in the heart of the neighbourhood.”
Rather than a police training site, Steveston said they want to find another retailer that could offer similar services to London Drugs, like Giant Tiger or the Dollar Store.
“I think that if the city had bothered to engage with community, we could have come up with a host of other equally vital and important uses for that space,” he said.
But what about the safety risks?
Steveston acknowledged that London Drugs closed for a reason. The retailer had cited safety risks to their staff, steep security and loss prevention costs, and financial losses.
“We don’t want to minimize the challenges that retailers face in the Downtown East Side. We’re aware that it’s a tougher retail environment to work in.”
But he said that there are community partners that can support them, like Mission Possible, an organization that provides community security through folks with lived experience, instead of formal security guards.
He said they want to sit down with the Province (which is providing funding for a training centre) and have a conversation about how they could make the Woodward’s location a “successful retail destination.”
“We have a ton of research that says residents in this neighbourhood want a place to shop. They have disposable income, not a lot, but they have discretionary spending, and they want to have the opportunity to spend it locally.”
Steveston also added that while police are important for safety, things like employment and housing are too.
“A lot of the folks in the neighbourhood, I think, are quite vulnerable due to the impact of poverty. It makes them vulnerable to gangs, to predators, and it drives negative behaviour,” he said. “We know that when people are employed and generating an income, they’re able to lift themselves out of poverty, change their behaviours, and contribute to the broader economy.”
Daily Hive reached out to Mayor Sim’s press secretary but didn’t hear back before publication.