PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1985, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town r jr Published every Wednesday Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL KNELL community Editor VALERIE COWEN Advertising Manager Regisration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. They should consider co-ordinated hours of operation Downtown has bigger problems than parking A few weeks ago, this newspaper gave con- siderable space to airing the views of many down- town merchants concerning parking. At the time, the merchants were unhappy about a number of things most-notably the lack of adequate parking space within the core area and the rigid enfor- cement of the town's parking regulations. These merchants have claimed that unless the There Is a growing fascination in this country with things Japanese. I suppose It is partly because we are a consumer-oriented society. The days when the words "Made in Japan" were a synonym for cheap and shoddy Imitations are long gone. For some years now, Japanese cars, cameras and electronics have set benchmarks for quality. But In the last five years, we have also become in- terested In the Japanese culture, food in par- ticular, and there are few sprinkling of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars. And, in Japan, there Is a reciprocal interest in thngs Canadian. Not Canadian cars or food, which do not temp them. But things which migbt surprise us. "Anne of Green Gables" was a smash hit In Japan. Eskimo carvings are much sought af- ter there. As a matter of fact, native Canadian craf- ts of all kinds find a ready-made market among Japanese tourists. This probably has to do with the Japanese suspicion that some of their an- cestors crossed the Bering Strait and populated North America. No one who has visited Japan would be sur- prised to discover that they are also in love with Canadian wood. The Japanese treasure wood in its natural state. They rarely paint it, or varnish it, believing that it looks better and lasts longer if allowed to weather as nature intended. No one who has seen the golden glow in an ancient teahouse, for example, would be inclined to argue. One can begin to understand why the Canadian log cabin has caught Japan's fancy. A small Alberta-based firm, WPM Handcrafted Log Homes Ltd., lucked into this situation last summer when It set up a demonstration log house at the Otaru Exposition on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The demonstration house was bought by the city of Otaru, and before the year was over, the Alberta firm had shipped twelve houses worth a third of a million dollars to the Hokkaido ski resort. The Alberta film is now awaiting a Japanese government certification process before filling a four million dollar order for 200 log houses for yet another Japanese customer. All of which proves, in crass commercial terms, that no foreign market is impregnable, with initiative and the right Canadian product. And when you eat sashimi in Ottawa and spend a ski weekend in aCanadian log cabin in Hokkaido, you know the world is getting smaller. town does something about these problems, their customers will be permanently chased away. The merchants told this newspaper that lack of parking and the ail too rigid enforcement of the bylaws were the most frequent complaints made to them by their customers.' Weli, we're sorry to say this, but it appears to us that the downtown business community has more serious problems tban just parking. Last Friday evening, about 6:30 p.m., the editor of this newspaper - like any other consumer - needed to pick-up a few things. And since he lives close to and works in the downtown, that is where he decided to do his shopping. He was amazed to discover that about two- thirds of the shops in the downtown core were closed on what is supposed to be the most active and profitable shopping night of the week. Stan- ding at the four corners, he could practically count the number of open stores on one hand. Meanwhile, the shopping mails were doing a thriving business (he knows because he ended up going to one to buy the things he needed). Over the course of the last few months there have been a host of meetings and at least one study done to determine exactly what problems were facing the downtown core and how to deal with them. The number one complaint, as we said a moment ago, was parking. But we're not too sure that it should be the number one problem. The major problem facing the downtown core today is that they are not competing head-to-head and toe- to-toe with the shopping malls. In a recent speech to the Whitby Chamber of Commerce, Ed Buffett, the chairman of the Whit- by Downtown Improvement Area Board, said that people who live In the town have a responsibility to support the downtown core. He noted, quite rightly, that the downtown gives a community a sense of being and Identlty. He said that people seoud benspending a few of their hard earned dollars in the downtown. But we have to ask: how can they when the downtown core doesn't seem to be open on the busiest shopping night of the week? This newspaper has a vested interest in the downtown and in the community as a-whole. We are a downtown business and we want to see the downtown grow and prosper. A vitalized down- town would do much to make Whitby a better place to live, work and play. But before this can happen, the merchants and the board have to make some hard decisions. The main competition for the consumer dollars In Whitby are the shopping mails which are open at times more convenient to the shopper. Therefore, they have to compete head-on with the mails. They have to show the residents of this com- munity that they have the goods and services that the mal1s do. The downtown merchants have to adopt a more aggressive marketing program. They have to be more effective in communicating to the people, especially the new people who have just moved to Whitby. The first step has to be the hours of operation. The downtown has to be open for business when the mails are - especially on the busiest and most profitable nights of the week. it is all very well for the merchants to complain about parking and the lack of support given to them by the residents of this community. But the merchants have ari dbligation and a.responsibility to ensure that they are available to the residents of this community when they are needed. People will shop where they can buy what they need, when they need It. We believe that's a lesson that has yet to be learned by the downtown business community. L=- 1 ilublished every Wednesday %-.Or J16