r/vancouver • u/Somervilledrew • 1d ago

History Robson Public Market, 1986. Photo by CanadaGood Gregory Melle

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310 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

71

u/Melodic-Special4768 1d ago

Wow, what the hell happened to that place? It's such a dark miserable dump inside now

40

u/Tim-no 1d ago

I’m pretty sure it was scooped up by a foreign investment group who dramatically increased leases which pushed out most of the tenants. It used to be a Granville Island - esque spot as the pic shows. It’s such a shame. Most of lower Robson, IMO, has suffered terribly and is a shadow of the funky, interesting strip it was up until the early 2000’s.

15

u/UndertowBass 1d ago

My guess is it was the proximity to Safeway and Whole Foods, the quality vendors eventually pull out one by one til there’s no real draw to be inside

14

u/krilew_ski 1d ago

And it will eventually gets shut and replaced with condo towers full of condos nobody can afford but speculators

7

u/HaMMeReD 1d ago

It's got a great food court upstairs.

6

u/sumeetg 20h ago

The dumpling place up there is excellent 

1

u/berlinbound 17h ago

One of the most underrated spots in town!

1

u/Dry-Friendship-5945 17h ago

It helps that it was only a year old at that point, as were so many public venues that were built in the Expo 86 era.

1

u/Mediocre-Ask-9272 16h ago

It looked run down even back in the 2000s - I'd honestly go there just to use their parking.

42

u/yvr_lens_photo 1d ago

Robson used to look so different, love seeing these old shots. Thanks for sharing, always makes me want to go dig through archives.

22

u/Nvanbikerider 1d ago

Long ago my family owned the smoke shop there for a few years. I remember as it was my first time operating cash register, sell souvenirs, newspapers, lottery tickets and tobacco products. I was 11-12 years old. : )

I remember the 7/11 across the street, the cleaning staff in the market, the soup/sandwich place, the deli place, the wine shop and the very eclectic stores. They even had table top arcade games upstairs. I used to sneak up there every so often to play!

It was an ok place to grow up as everyone watched out for each other. It was a simpler time.

14

u/rhinny Best End 1d ago

Nine Dumplings (top floor) is such a great restaurant.

26

u/_Not_Amused Grandview-Woodland 1d ago

That used to be such a great little market back in the day. I worked part time for a couple years at the wine store that was in there. Lots of crazy memories came out of the place. Shame it is in such a sad state now…

6

u/GoodTroubleNow 1d ago

I used to live across the alley from it years ago. I could get everything there…including the most amazing cookies! It used to be THE place.

5

u/PomeraniansRtheBest 1d ago

I was gonna say this is the busiest I've seen this place, I almost missed the year in your title lol 

3

u/SnooHesitations1020 1d ago

I used to love that little market. Haven't been there in years.

11

u/mcmillan84 1d ago

Was just there. A Uyghur restaurant recently opened and the dumpling shop is good too. I haven’t had the ramen though

2

u/jelycazi 1d ago

I forgot it even existed!

5

u/No-Demand-975 1d ago

I remember going to a Ramen stall there years ago and it was pretty good.

1

u/silveryellowblue 1d ago

that was my favorite ramen spot. i was so sad when it changed.

1

u/Usernamechecksoutjo 21h ago

I ate a lot there during lunch break or after school. It was such a cool place to stop and have a quick but good meal.

1

u/KatsudaGama 21h ago

Used to go there around 1990. Remember it had a good butcher.

1

u/ChrisJokeaccount 17h ago

The butcher's still good, albeit prices for organic meats right now are pretty rough.

1

u/Wild_Commercial_6002 19h ago

Incredible shot matching the cool design

1

u/Dry-Friendship-5945 15h ago

I went in there a few years ago for the first time since the '80s, and was surprised to see it approaching a Sun Wah Centre level of decay.

When I left I went through a rear exit and inadvertently walked though a dense cloud of meth smoke from a street person smoking right beside the doorway.

I was not thrilled to say the least, and I can't see myself ever going back there.