How much would you pay to rent a beach chair and umbrella on a hot, sunny day at English Bay?
At San Diego’s Belmont Park, renting a chair costs $10 for the day or $20 for four days. (Prices are in U.S. dollars.)
At South Carolina’s North Myrtle Beach, the day rate is $10 for a chair and $15 for an umbrella. Commit to their daily combo for two chairs and one umbrella for $25.
In Hawaii, daily rentals are all over the map, from $14 on Oahu to $9 in Kona to $5 on Maui, plus $2 for a cooler to keep your drinks frosty.
The Vancouver Park Board looked south for these examples and tonight will determine what a beach chair and umbrella will cost to rent at English Bay Beach should commissioners approve the service to start at the West End “destination beach” in June.
Park board chairwoman Sarah Kirby-Yung said, like the zipline installed last summer in Queen Elizabeth Park, a beachside rental is “fun and fresh,” which she said is the goal of introducing new activities and services to the city’s public spaces. Beach chairs don't stand to be as controversial.
“Not everyone necessarily has the ability to take a beach chair down there. It’s a very popular beach with good access, it’s large and busy,” she said, adding the rental options could eventually expand beyond chairs and umbrellas to include toys, for example.
“Especially for visitors who may not have brought those with them or a family that doesn’t want to pack everything down,” said Kirby-Yung. “The pilot programs are great because it gives us a chance to gauge public feedback to understand what people want and like.”
The service will be considered at other beaches in the future, depending on the merits of each location.
Park board staff recommended Montreal-based company Blue Hole Investments be awarded the contract for the first two years of the pilot project. The family-run business operates resorts in Belize, one which was named the 2015 hotel of the year.
If approved to run the rental service, they will be known as the Vancouver Shade Company and operate a pop-up tent at a still-undetermined location on English Bay and will pay the park board 10 per cent of gross annual revenues in the first year and 15 per cent in the second year.
Kirby-Yung said she had no connection to Blue Hole Investments and did not know its owners, one who lives in Vancouver.
The rental service is an attempt at “providing value-added services for visitors and pursuing strategic and mission-aligned new revenue streams,” according to the report going in front of commissioners tonight.
“The number-one priority is if it’s a good addition to the citizens we serve,” said the chairwoman, adding that the addition of revenue makes a desirable service a “win-win.”
The chairs Kirby-Yung favours would have the classic look of a wood frame with canvas seating in blue — “It’s very nautical” — or fabric that is striped or possibly a signature colour for Vancouver.
“There is a great vintage quality that you used to see on beaches around the world,” she said.
Twitter: @MHStewart
