A hair salon, a craft collective, an Indian restaurant and a photography studio are among the new businesses that opened in the Bay and Algoma business district during 2024, and apart from a few store closures, the district appears to be generally faring well.
Caitlin Jeffs, owner of the Nook restaurant and a Bay and Algoma Business Association board member, said the district is in a “complicated process” to achieve this year’s goal to become a Business Improvement Area (BIA).
“You have to have everybody on board, including the landowners and the businesses,” Jeffs said. “There are huge benefits and access to government funding, and we could really scale up some of the projects that we do in the neighbourhood.”
Work is underway among the board members to bring new and existing businesses together in a joint effort to navigate the requirements to form a Business Improvement Area (BIA).
This year marks the 10th anniversary for the Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, which is the biggest annual event hosted by the Bay and Algoma Business Association.
“Our buskers festival was probably the best we had because it was a hard haul after being shut down with the COVID pandemic,” Jeffs said.
“It took us a couple runs to get it back up to full capacity and this run had the most vendors we’ve ever had. It was a big success.”
Jeffs said a structural fire that destroyed the Finnish Labour Temple, and another blaze that destroyed a rooming house and flooring business were devastating to the neighbourhood.
“My husband and I bought the lot right across from Nook where Starlight Flooring was, cleaned it up and turned it into a parking lot for now,” she said, adding they’ll be doing something else with it eventually.
One of the biggest challenges in any business district is vacant buildings.
“Slowly but surely vacant buildings are being filled and it’s pretty exciting,” she said. “There’s a vacant building across the street that was a bit worrisome. They’d had some structural issues, the city was involved, but somebody’s bought it, and they’re doing a full-on gentrification renewal on it. They’ve taken off the whole front.”
Jeffs watches the progress from her office at the Nook and said they’ve got a good vision for the building.”
Up the street, a new gaming business has filled the former Nomad Restaurant, which Jeffs says fills a gap for younger people looking for something to do.
She said the business association would like to see the former Thunder Bay Restaurant building change hands for a new business that could bring some vibrancy to the neighbourhood.
Afloat, a therapeutic business whose clients would float in salt water, struggled with the pandemic and eventually closed.
“The good news is that they’re reopening as a boutique gym with personal trainers and women’s boxing and that looks pretty exciting,” Jeffs said.
“Right across the street from us, there was a law firm, which was renovated and rented to a group called Celsius. The building has just sold, and some form of medical clinic will be moving in.”
Vagrancy in the area is consistent with Thunder Bay’s other business districts and business owners are relieved to have community police officers walking around the neighbourhood.
Jeffs calls the area a “15-minute city,” which is the reason she enjoys it so much.
“We have two hardware stores, a lumber yard, two pharmacies, all kinds of restaurants and coffee shops, grocery stores, there was a toy store, and now there’s this new game store in our neighbourhood,” Jeffs said.
“You can even get your hair cut. I can do all of that within a 15-minute walk from my house and I think it’s amazing.”
