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Duncan's Bulk Barn told to remove most of its window signage

"This is a relatively extreme case of over-signage"
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The City of Duncan has told Bulk Barn, situated in Coronation Centre Mall, to remove most of its window signage because it doesn't comply with city bylaws.

The Bulk Barn location in Coronation Centre Mall will have to remove much of the signage that it has in its windows, Duncan’s city council unanimously decided at its meeting on Oct. 7.

Kyle Young, Duncan’s director of planning and sustainability, told council that the amount of signage that Bulk Barn has in its windows is 1,400 per cent more than the city’s signage bylaw allows, which is approximately 25 per cent of the window space, and the store has applied for a variance to allow the signage to remain.

He said that when the bulk-foods store leased space in the mall last year, it applied for a development-variance permit to increase the size of two proposed fascia signs on the front and side of the retail unit, but council denied the request.

Young said in January, 2024, it came to the city’s attention that Bulk Barn had covered all of its windows in window signage, in contravention of the city’s sign bylaw and despite its written assurances that window signs would not be installed.

“Staff advised [Bulk Barn] that the signage would either need to be removed to comply with the maximum window-sign regulations in the sign bylaw, or [the store] would need to apply for a development variance permit to seek council’s approval to allow the signage to remain,” he said.

“It is staff’s view that this is a relatively extreme case of over-signage that was undertaken without city approval and with full knowledge of the signage regulations of the municipality. While individual requests for window sign increases are considered on a case-by-case basis through the development-variance permit process, there is also a long-term, cumulative impact to excessive signage.”

Young said staff recommend denying the issuance of the development variance permit, in which case most of the window signs would need to be removed.

In a letter to council on behalf of Bulk Foods, Brittany Andrews said the bulk-food chain, which currently has more than 300 stores, said the stores can be easy spotted by their candy graphics that are displayed across their windows, and it is a staple in Bulk Barn's advertising techniques.

She also said the signs are used for safety and security at the stores as they have experienced a lot of robberies and window smashing, and the signage helps to mitigate that.

“The previous tenant in Bulk Barn's unit was Snap Fitness which displayed window graphics on 50 per cent of the windows which were never a concern to adjacent establishments,” Andrews said. “We are confident that we could get signatures from all surrounding stores that will be in agreement with the window graphics.”

Coun. Tom Duncan said that when Bulk Barn first established the store in Coronation Centre Mall, there were signage issues in which the management seemed to feel that didn’t have to adhere to the local bylaws.

“I think we have to ensure that our bylaws are followed, so we should deny this variance request,” he said.

Coun. Carol Newington added that it could become a slippery-slope situation if council allowed the signage, and agreed that the variance should be denied.

“If we allow this to go ahead, there will be other businesses that are going to want to cover their frontage with signs similar to this,” she said.