Nov 19, 2009 - 04:30 AM

By Melissa Mancini

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One in a series of articles looking at the downtown business areas of Durham Region.

DURHAM -- In a world of grand openings of big box stores and franchise chains, a trip downtown isn't always where customers go for a shopping trip.

The lights may not necessarily be brighter in all of the downtowns of Durham Region but each municipality has an area where a group of businesses offers something distinct instead of the usual shopping and dining.

Pickering Village and the downtown districts in Bowmanville, Whitby, Oshawa, Port Perry and Uxbridge are nothing like the suburban power shopping centres that have popped up all over Durham.

The downtowns all have something bringing people into the municipality's core. For example, in Oshawa, more than 35 restaurants offer different tastes and styles of food. Whitby has become a hub for hip women's wear with a group of trendy boutiques.

In places like Bowmanville and Uxbridge, there aren't really clusters of similar businesses but there's an opportunity to spend a day somewhere with a hometown feeling, even if it's not the shopper's hometown. The districts have a lot of history which can offer a look into the past.

Downtowns are filled with owner-run businesses; customers are likely to meet the owner if they frequently visit a business. And owners say there are two things a customer can get at an independent that they may not find at a chain: unique product and better service.

"I offer the best service," says owner of Regino's Pizza in Oshawa, Sean Ramasamy. "I am always here. I work really hard."

At Low's Furniture in downtown Uxbridge, owner Lori McNair will search out specific pieces to meet the needs of her customers, even if it's a chair to match a set that was purchased years ago.

But despite attention to detail and dedication to consumers, downtown areas haven't had it easy in Canada.

A recent study that garnered funding from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council showed the struggles even large downtown areas like the cores of Winnipeg and Toronto are having.

An online synopsis of the study said retailers in major downtown areas are losing business to big box stores and such changes in shopping patterns "could foreshadow the kind of gutting of city centres that took place in major American cities in the 1960s and 1970s."

The study also found Canada's top urban downtown areas saw sales drop by an average of 28 per cent between 1989 and 1996.

Because of the predominance of outlet shopping, independent store and restaurant owners say it's the loyal shoppers keeping them in business.

"I would say 95 per cent of my business is repeat customers," said Martha Hanley Orton, owner of Hanley's shoe shop in Whitby.

Without repeat customers, many say they wouldn't be in business.

"I have a lot of regulars," said Gun Persson Roy, owner of Port Perry gift shop Stockholm Inside. "Otherwise I wouldn't survive."