When I first caught wind of This Space at 243 Union Street I must admit I was skeptical. Their messaging on Twitter (where I first saw mention of them) said they were “calling on Strathcona and Chinatown to build a sustainable business they can call their own”. Clicking a link took me to an impossibly slick web site splashed with the same message, expanding the details of how they’re asking the residents of the area what kind of business they should open, and that the first step was to vote on the general type of business they should open. A community-minded project surely couldn’t be so genuine as well as visually appealing, so I immediately tried to get to the root of it and see which local ad agency was trying to sell us something. I set up a time to visit the people in charge of This Space, located mere blocks from the V.I.A. office on the border of Chinatown and Strathcona, right along that bike route on Union. I was going to unravel this marketing mystery and expose the culprits!

What I actually uncovered is what is right there in front of you: this truly is a “community business project”. There are two guys in charge of it (Michael and Josh), one of whom bought the retail location and the other runs a business on the same block and wanted to get involved in this one as well. They genuinely want the community to help them build a sustainable business. And that, my friends, is undeniably awesome.

Josh and Michael in This (currently empty but for a ping pong table) Space

So awesome, in fact, that we’re definitely not going to be the only people covering this story. I visited This Space two days in a row and each time I arrived they were being interviewed for other stories, on the left with Bob Nixon for CBC news and on the right by the Courier.

So the first step This Space needs to take is to get the answer for this simple question:

What type of business do you think belongs at 243 Union Street? Restaurant, Retail or Local Service?

Visit their WEB SITE now to learn all about the project, and to place your vote! We’ll be following the story closely over the coming months as they reach milestones in this incredibly thoughtful and inclusive neigbourhood-friendly business endeavor.