Our community offers a wide variety of retail options which allow residents to shop locally — from shopping malls to family-run restaurants.

Supporting Richmond Hill businesses benefits our economy and ultimately has a positive effect on our community as a whole.

One positive effect is that it creates and keeps jobs in our community. When we spend $100 at a local business, $43 to $73 of that spending is re-circulated in our local economy. The numbers are higher for independent stores than for chain stores and restaurants, but all local businesses pay taxes and contribute to a thriving economy.

You may not know that many Richmond Hill businesses are already an active part of our community, sponsoring sports teams, town events and more.

Together, if we show these businesses how we value their community contributions by supporting them, their contributions will only continue to grow.

Make a point to eat at the café or visit the dentist’s office that sponsored your daughter’s soccer team, and maybe even shop at the businesses that sponsored our Ribfest and Canada Day events.

One great place to shop locally is along Yonge Street. Not only was this street instrumental to our development, it’s still a key artery today.

Yonge Street is a major transit corridor and a desired destination for shopping, dining and entertainment in Richmond Hill.

Construction of dedicated bus lanes – rapidways – from Hwy. 7 to Major Mackenzie Drive and Levendale Road to 19th/Gamble Avenue is now underway and once complete, modern transit will be on the doorsteps of people living, working and shopping along Yonge Street.

The vivaNext rapidway in Richmond Hill is more than just a transit project. It also includes urban design elements such as pedestrian-friendly boulevards, wider sidewalks, attractive landscaping and bicycle lanes for the whole community to enjoy.