He’s been Mr. Market for nearly two decades. But this fall, Bob Usher is retiring his post as general manager and chief executive of the Covent Garden Market.
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He’s been Mr. Market for nearly two decades. But this fall, Bob Usher is retiring from his post as general manager and chief executive of the Covent Garden Market. What started as a consulting gig – weighing in on the market’s troubles and how to turn it around – led to a full-time job at the helm of a London landmark. Usher reflects on the changes he’s seen during his tenure and looks ahead to the future of London’s core.
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Q: Eighteen years, you’ve been through a lot with the market. What stands out for you?
A: The last (17 months of the pandemic) have been the most bizarre months of my entire working career in total, trying to deal with all the idiotic situations that come out of it – no masks, ‘I don’t want to wear a mask,’ that’s been the interesting part in the latter part of my career.
Q: Walk me through some of the changes you’ve seen (with the market) since the turbulent period when you took over.
A: Let’s go back to the year 2019, because 2020 and 2021, sales numbers are a meaningless sort of process. There’s nobody in retail that’s doing really, really well – we’re surviving. When I started here we were at about $7 million in sales, and at the end of 2019, we were at almost $16 million in retail sales . . . There is not a franchise or a corporate entity within the complex. There’s none of the McDonald’s, the Tim Hortons . . . What makes this place successful is the individuality of each of the vendors. A lot of them have their families working with them. We’ve got tenants in this building, like Havaris Produce has been here since 1912. Doris Family Produce just celebrated, last week, 35 years here. The core of our business is certainly the food – the produce and the meats and the fish and that type of stuff, but . . . it’s the total sum of everyone that makes it work.
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Q: Being in the heart of the city, the core, can be a difficult place, sometimes, to do business. Where do you think we’re headed?
A: If downtown does well, we do well, and if we do well, downtown does well also . . . I am a little bit concerned – more than a little bit – about what I’m seeing with the social problems. But with a new apartment complex going up right across the road at 131 (King St) . . . with 600 more people going to be moving in there in the next 18 months or so, you look at Riverwalk going up and all the different (apartment towers). It’s a changing world. With the sheer numbers of people and population as it grows (downtown), it bodes well for this property as we move forward. Yes, COVID has caused some problems, but we believe it’s going to start to come back. We’ve had a lot of construction problems with everything going on, on King and Talbot and Richmond. Once that’s done, this place will rock. It will get back to where it was.
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Q: Those construction headaches have been significant. Is what’s being done going to be for the better?
A: Is the glass half full or half empty? If we were going to have the construction we have on King Street, probably now is the best time to have it because things were down anyway . . . it may take a year or two or three more until rapid transit gets onto the street. It’s had a negative impact. In a lot of ways, I kind of wanted to be here (at the end) to say, ‘Look at us now. It was worth the effort. It was worth the pain in the butt.’ But I won’t be.
Q: How do you go about trying to come out of the pandemic phase, when things are still a little bit uncertain?
A: There’s a pent-up demand . . . we’ve had some live entertainment up on our mezzanine, and the number of people who just want to stand around and listen to live music, is amazing. As soon as we can, and when we can (have) all of our normal activities and events . . . this building will come back in more of a live way than it is right now. You don’t go to Loblaws or Metro or any of those with your kids to do groceries. You come here. We’ve had a lot of people coming, especially on a Saturday, saying, ‘This is an outing.’ They’re not just here to buy tomatoes or peaches.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: I’ve had a lot of years on Tourism London (board); other than a five-year period it’s been almost 30 years, and I’m staying on that board, at least until next June . . . it’s going to give me some free time to spend with family, as they say, and a wife who says, ‘When are you coming home?’ I’ve got 10 grandchildren, and four kids. I can go to more hockey and baseball and all that stuff. That’ll be fun.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
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