135A Street woes: 'It just costs so much money to do business around here'

The City of Surrey has long fought to fix the homelessness and drug addiction issues that have led to135AStreet'snotorious reputation.

Now, shop owners neartheWhalleystripsay the problems arestarting to affect business.

"Most of the time [homeless people]come andshoplift," said GloriaBaidoo, owner of an African-Caribbean market and beauty supply store.

• 2 supervised drug consumption sites proposed for Surrey

"Sometimes they come around chuck needles and leave all kinds of dirty stuff, some come and hide and ease themselves on the floor, which you have to clean," the businesswoman added.

Cleaning up garbage around their shops is a daily routine for many businessowners in the area and some said they've been forced to pack up and move.

"It just costs so muchmoneyto dobusiness around here," said EddieMacNaughton.

MacNaughtonownsMotorcycle World, a family business that's been in the samelocation since 1999. He said the constant cleaning coupled with security expenses means it's notworth his while to stay in the area.

Nobody is going to be here pretty soon, it's going to be a dead zone.- Eddie MacNaughton

"We had about $8,000 worth of fence repairs last year and glass repairs from people constantly trying to break in," he said.

Nearly 10 other businesses have closed down or relocated from the area in the past year.

"Nobody is going to be here pretty soon. It's going to be a dead zone,"MacNaughtonsaid.

The Surrey Outreach Team has been patrolling the area 24-hours a daysince Januaryandsaidcrime has been going downmonth by month.

There has beena36 per cent decreasein cases of assault,a40 per cent decreasein utter threats andnocases of sexual assault or interferenceso far in2017,according to a reportfrom the city's public safety committee.

Despite those numbers, Paul Chen, the owner of an auto repair shop just opposite the strip, said he's been facing harassment.

"They don't treat me as a person becauseevery timeItalk to them, [I say] 'Hey, could you do this? [They say]F-off,F-this.' ...I encounteredcouple of times racial slurs, really bad," he said.

"Atthe end of the day they tell me to 'go back.' ...I've been here for 27 years. Go back to what? We're all Canadians," said Chen, who said he's reportedthe incidents topolice.

The businessman has also invested thousands installingsurveillance cameras andfences around hisshop.

Still, Chen said he'slooking to sell the building propertyhe bought just two years ago.

However, there is some optimism shining from oneshop corner.

Mike Nielsen,owner of Sprite Multimedia Systems, is part of the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association.

He believes things are going to improve.

"The area is going through a transition stage.We are working really hard to help the challenged people in the neighbourhood to find some housing to get some help with their drug addictions and such," said Nielsen, whose store has been in the same spot for 34 years.

"Give us another few years and this is going to be the newdowntown key area."

Nielsen, who doesn't plan on moving despite the challenges, said it will take hard work to improve the community.

But in his opinion, it'll be worth it.

"I believe in this neighbourhood. I really do," he said.

• Meet the woman who saves a life a day on Surrey's 135A Street strip