The Many Faces of Sardis, Vedder, and Garrison: Business Sector

The business sector of Sardis, Garrison, and Vedder is a very influential and a key cornerstone in the rapid development of the area. Amenities like supermarkets, physicians, a drive-thru Starbucks, and a variety of other retail shops and businesses simulate the feel of a downtown core absent of courthouses and any political offices. The Garrison Village outdoor shopping centre is a remarkable showcase of not only the thriving availability for economic resources that would help to boost any developing business but also its very existence is a testament to the growing culture surrounding it.

On the Canada Lands Company (the company who bought and established the area in which Garrison is now sitting) website it states that “Creating a pedestrian-friendly residential community and encouraging travel without a car was integral to the planning of Garrison Crossing, Chilliwack. The central boulevard links to a network of bikeways, pathways and nature trails that allow you to walk to the local elementary school, community centre and retail village.”^{^[16]} The business sector that is found in Garrison Village was created and is being utilized as not only a device to fuel the economy but also as a mechanism to drive the culture of these areas into fruition and create not only a sense of place but of identity.

All of these businesses, especially Garrison Village, provide a great example of what Knox and Pinch talk about in regards to “space” and its importance in “contributing both to the pattern of Urban development and the nature of the relationships between different social groups within the city.”^{^[17]} The culture of Sardis, Garrison, and Vedder cannot be complete without its separation from anything outside of that culture - to become self-sustaining as it were. By promoting and developing different varieties of small and large business that, together, provide one neighbourhood all of its immediate amenities this area is able to separate itself from other bordering neighbourhoods in a, relatively successful attempt, to become its own society/culture within Chilliwack.

^{^[16]} “Garrison Crossing. Chilliwack, British Columbia.” Canada Lands Company. 2016.

^{^[17]} Knox and Pinch "Urban Social Geography." p.5