Sidney Mayor Larry Cross raised a roomful of eyebrows at the Mayors’ Breakfast when he said he had made a recent visit to Langford and liked what he saw. He liked it so much, in fact, that he thinks Sidney should emulate the look to a degree. To make Sidney “sparkle” like Langford.
Ten years ago, those would have been fighting words here, and likely the mayor would have been ridden out of town on a rail. These days, however, downtown Langford is the jewel of the Westshore. Its core is bright, lively and bustling with business.
Langford now rivals downtown Victoria as a shopping destination and has added several outlet stores, furniture retailers and specialty shops to the mix. But what helps draw people to the Langford core are the sports complexes, parks and recreation centres.
All of these things, of course, were spurred by the cash infusion brought by Costco when it opened in 1999.
Most of us remember that Costco came here first. Well, it wanted to anyway, and was turned away by Sidney council.
We can see now how the big box did not make Langford a ghost town, but helped boost its economy and business base, actually making it a draw for other retailers.
Although we can all look at the success Langford has become, there are few of us who regret the town’s decision to say no.
Back to that “sparkle”. Langford was able to buy a lot of that bling thanks to Costco and its cohorts; where will that cash come from in Sidney?
What we need is a big name sugar daddy to buy us a fountain and help pave our streets with gold. But if he comes knocking, will we open the door and say yes?