Jun 15

Jun 15 Five Ways to Attract Teenagers to Downtown London

Photo: Madison Comfort of young & free press stands with owner & editor Andrew Gunn on Carling Street in downtown London.

Downtown London has some great arts and culture venues and many captivating businesses, parks, and landmarks. There are excellent festivals, events and concerts that happen downtown, which help drive residents and visitors to support businesses in the area. Teenagers can help to influence this activity and the overall culture. With youth having such an impact on society, I wanted to share some ideas of how we can attract more teenagers to downtown London.

Obviously the pandemic presents an enormous challenge, and everyone is feeling the impact – still, there are opportunities to look at new ways to engage the community.

1 / Throughout the cold winter months, lots of teenagers can be found skating at Victoria Park with friends and family. In the summer, fewer teens hang around the park on a consistent basis because there are not many collective activities to participate in with friends. In a normal year, festivals and events draw people, but what could we encourage this year that might generate some activity downtown and maybe even continue post-pandemic? I think that during the summer months we could transform the skating rink area at Victoria Park into a rollerblade rink. This would attract teenagers to Victoria Park for a fun, active outing with friends. This might also encourage them to explore downtown London and visit the surrounding restaurants and cafés. The bandshell in Victoria Park could host local live artists as entertainment for the people rollerblading. Right now, the stage has been closed off during the pandemic, but could we add music in the park on a regular basis and encourage people to use the area more regularly? In my opinion, live entertainment and rollerblading with friends sounds like the perfect social night out.

2 / A movie night with friends is something most teens look forward to doing all week. Does everyone know that there have been Movie Nights in the Park at Victoria Park? The event has been held on Dundas Place, too. Unfortunately, the movie nights have been postponed this year due to the pandemic, but I think that adding more outdoor movie nights would be perfect for attracting teens (maybe get teenagers to help promote these events through social media). The province is allowing drive-in theatres to re-open – how about open-air events? Teenagers would be able to watch new movies (or some classics) with friends while staying comfortable with warm blankets, popcorn and their favorite snacks. This idea would also attract teens because tickets would be more affordable than theatres, or even free.

3 / Within the Downtown area, parking can be hard to find, and the lots are expensive. I think that creating more free parking downtown would attract many teens and adults. Most teens have minimum wage-paying jobs and have to spend their money wisely. Teenagers do not want to pay for parking and then be a long way from their favorite store. They want to be able to spend money on clothes, books, cars, food and drinks. Being able to quickly park near your destination for no cost is ideal for teenagers. For those who like to bike, we could identify more safe, well-lit places to lock our bikes as we walk around downtown. Why not shut down the Dundas Place flex-street on a regular schedule and encourage cyclists and pedestrians? If we want people to walk around downtown, the walk has to become a fun, safe experience.

4 / Downtown London is filled with many small boutiques which are targeted toward adults rather than teens. In my opinion, encouraging more affordable, trendy shops intended for teens would increase the likelihood of attracting young people to the downtown area. The pandemic makes things tough – people are shopping online, and even big chain-stores are feeling the pinch. Will this present an opportunity, though, for young entrepreneurs to move into some vacant retail space? Downtown London recently introduced the tagline ‘Hit Our Bricks … Small is the New Mall’ – the idea is that we need to support brick and mortar stores during the pandemic, and maybe we can build the retail experience typically associated with malls more into the downtown. What if we added some pop-up shops for new businesses to test out during this time? Also, Urban Outfitters is a very popular store from which almost all my friends have purchased clothes. This store attracts attention from teens due to the store keeping up with the latest trends while providing fashionable and unique styles. With many teens expressing themselves through clothing choices, adding popular stores would increase the number of teenage customers. There is an Urban Outfitters at Richmond and Oxford downtown. Maybe this is the time to try to build up that mix of locally-owned stores and well-known brands. As businesses gradually re-open through the pandemic, people are going to want to get out of the house and come downtown. Is this actually an opportunity to add new businesses and cultural pieces?

5 / Food Trucks are often a great way of bringing communities together as they give people a sense of being at a fair-like setting. Large events such as Rib Fest, Sunfest, and the Western Fair include lots of food trucks, and this is where teenagers can be spotted. These events have been cancelled this year, but is there an opportunity to create a regular food-truck event as we come out of the pandemic? There were some fun nights on Dundas Place last summer with food trucks, and just outside of town, Heeman’s has had great success with an annual food truck event in recent years. I think it would be fascinating if there was a place downtown that hosted an array of food trucks. Teens would be able to walk around and socialize with friends while exploring what Downtown London has to offer. Why not close Dundas Place once or twice a month for a food truck night? This could take off this summer, and become a regular event.

Bonus idea: have we looked at the possibility of augmented reality for the downtown? This is something that we are starting to explore through young & free press in other communities in the region, and would love to dig deeper into London heritage and culture through this platform. Local businesses could advertise through the app and draw in new crowds.

There are many interesting ways to attract teenagers to downtown London. Ultimately, more trendy and social activities will have a huge impact on influencing teens to venture into the downtown area. Providing active opportunities, unique experiences that fit our budget, and social events will make downtown London even more appealing to teenagers. The most important thing is just to ask us, and connect with young people from all backgrounds and cultures. We can help make the core a fun, inclusive, and welcoming space.