By Philip O'Connor and Pearl Josephine Nazare
VANCOUVER, June 19 (Reuters) - As World Cup fever grips Vancouver, the tournament is proving a tale of two cities for local businesses - with some riding a wave of international customers while others find themselves locked out of the action.
Near BC Place stadium, Coast Crafts is experiencing what owner Kingsley Bailey calls "pandemonium" as football fans from around the globe snap up souvenirs.
"Absolutely amazing. I couldn't think of it being any worse
than what it is now. It's craziness," Bailey, originally from Wolverhampton in Britain, told Reuters.
"The customers are from everywhere. They're from around the world.
"I don't think the Canadians really knew how big soccer was until they saw Australia v Turkey, with no skin in the game, not from this country, how crazy they went. The fans, it was just pandemonium."
The souvenir shop has become a magnet for visitors eager for affordable World Cup memorabilia, with Bailey's homemade "Vancouver BC 2026" fridge magnets proving an unexpected hit.
"My son said, Dad, that's a loser. You're not going to make any money on this," Bailey added.
"And then when he realised what the prices of licensed merchandise were, he came around really quickly because the value was definitely there. Unbelievable. I can't keep enough of them."
But FIFA's strict licensing rules have created headaches for some other entrepreneurs.
Dawn Moulton, who runs Cascadia Natural Pet Supply on Main Street, said she was asked by a distributor to remove references to FIFA from football-themed bears she had advertised online.
"About a year ago, there were many suppliers that contacted the store about FIFA-related materials. There were balls, bears, stuffies, and I chose one (bears) of them, with the wording saying 'get them in time for FIFA (World Cup)'," Moulton said.
"Then I posted them on my website as FIFA bears and I was told I needed to change that wording."
Asked whether it impacted her business, she replied: "Not really. I didn't buy many of these bears. I bought 30. So my profit would be like 100 dollars. I didn't really care about these bears. That's why I was surprised that anybody else really cared about these bears.
"There's no impact to me now. It's just business as usual. I'm not going to see any more business."
She later gave away the remaining bears to a dog rescue.
PLUMMETING FOOT TRAFFIC
For some businesses, the World Cup has meant shutting up shop entirely.
Aquariums West, a tropical fish store near the stadium, is closing for all seven games due to access problems and plummeting foot traffic.
"If customers can't get here or are unwilling to come, and the soccer fans aren't going to come in and probably spend any money with us, so that was a hard decision but we had to make it," manager and partner Kreig LeBlanc said.
"It makes us nervous, losing seven days of income. We are hoping that people support us in between those days. It's going to be a huge hit, and it's going to affect our months going forward. Hopefully we can recoup those losses."
He added there had been little support to offset the disruption.
"There hasn't really been any meaningful conversation about how it impacts us. We just have to do the best we can and get through it," LeBlanc said.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare, Philip O'Connor and Mohammed Benmansour in Vancouver;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
