From his sidewalk vantage point along one of Victoria's busiest downtown streets, Ernie Skinner has seen and felt the change in Victoria's makeup.

The founder of the Market on Yates, the downtown core's largest grocery store, has watched as new condominium complexes stretched to the sky in the Humboldt Valley, new residences were established in older buildings dotting the centre of the city and developers eyed new projects abutting the fringes of the city centre.

And with that growth and the increase in population Skinner has had to act accordingly -- increasing his available fresh inventory and considering options for expansion.

"We've seen just tremendous growth ... we're now handling 22,000 customers a week and the store is a booming success," Skinner said. "We've seen new high-rises and a steady progression of improving the properties around us and it's still ongoing."

When Skinner opened the Market on Yates 10 years ago this November, he was seeing just 9,000 customers a week.

"But that's all changed," he said, noting they serve a broad spectrum of people from the homeless to lawyers and everyone in between. "And there's a bright future ahead as the infilling continues."

According to Statistics Canada census data from 2006, there were 1,485 people living downtown, a 17 per cent increase from the 2001 census figure of 1,270. But estimates suggest the number of people living downtown is now closer to 1,900.

There has been a significant increase in the number of available residences in the core. The 2006 census showed 900 units downtown, up from 815 in 2001, though the current estimates suggest there are now 1,175 units in the core. That number is about to increase as new projects such as The 834 on Johnson Street comes out of the ground and the heritage reclamation of the Oriental Hotel and Morley's Soda Water Factory continue.

Margaret Lucas, general manager of the Rialto Hotel, said the increase in the number of people living downtown has significantly changed the feel and shape of the city centre.

"And that's a great thing. It's been a huge driver. If you bring people down and they are on the streets and looking around, shopping and going to restaurants, it makes it a much more lively place to be," she said, adding it means more people out and about at night, giving the city life, energy and a feeling of safety.

"What I've witnessed since we've been open is the more functions and festivals we have going, the more we see changes in the makeup of downtown."

According to Andrew Turner, managing director of the Victoria office of Colliers International, the change in the city has been nothing short of remarkable.

"It's like a different city," he said with a nod to the residential developments either under way or completed in the Humboldt Valley, Vic West and in pockets around the city centre -- including the Juliet at the corner of Blanshard and Johnson streets, the Falls at Douglas and Courtney and the Hudson in the historic Bay building on Douglas Street.

Turner said the boom that saw the number of downtown residential units increase to 1,175 from the 900 counted in the 2006 census was a response to pent-up demand, which despite having slowed through the recession has not quite dissipated.

"The last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 were very slow, but it has been more than made up for in the second quarter and into the third of this year ... we're seeing almost record numbers of sales," Turner said, adding they tend to be smaller, less expensive units.

And Turner expects there to be more new construction over the next five years in the city centre.

"In Victoria we were probably overplanned but we weren't overbuilt, so we don't have a lot of excess inventory of residential units. There's some room for that downtown, though it will continue at a slower pace," he said.

And that is good news for all concerned, according to Bruce Carter, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, who said continued growth and more residential units in the core should translate into business opportunities and a more eclectic mix of amenities downtown.

"You will see the need for more services that offer the basics," he said, though he suggested it's just as important for the downtown to also add new arts and culture offerings at the same time.

Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin agreed, noting the health of downtown is predicated on its diversity.

"We need to ensure it is active, safe and vibrant and look for ways to expand," he said. That means attracting new business, new people and new amenities.

"In that vein we'd be foolish to ignore arts and culture as it can be a huge economic generator," Fortin said.

Fortin has floated the idea of bringing the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria downtown, making it another draw within the legislative precinct and something else to make Victoria a more livable city.

The mix of amenities is key and needs to evolve with the core, said Ken Kelly, general manager of the Downtown Victoria Business Association.

"The role of downtown is ever-evolving, ever-changing," Kelly said. "It used to be where you worked, shopped, relaxed and dined, but that exclusivity has long disappeared. It's now dissipated much more broadly in the region."

To remain the heart and soul of a region, the downtown must offer a unique experience, and Kelly said Victoria does just that and continues to build on it.

"We want to see continued development of residential and commercial [enterprises] and more retail," he said.

The retail segment has so far been uniquely Victorian. "Here they are not really comprised of national or regional chains but a lot of owner-operated smaller businesses, and Victorians like that and support that," said Kelly.

For Skinner and other merchants, that translates into opportunity.

"It's the responsibility of the merchant to figure out and understand what is it these people now living downtown will wish to purchase. If we do that, there will be no need for them to travel outside to do their shopping," he said.

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BY THE NUMBERS: DOWNTOWN

POPULATION

- 1,485 in 2006, up 17 per cent from the 1,270 in 2001 and 53 per cent more than the 970 counted in 1991. The downtown population is now estimated to be about 1,897.

HOUSING

- According to the 2006 census, there were 900 units in the city centre, up from 815 in 2001; 78 per cent of those properties were rental units. The number of units downtown is currently estimated at 1,175.

COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE

- 4.65 million square feet of office space in all classes

- 2.7 per cent vacancy in 2009, up slightly from 2.0 per cent in 2008

- 2.6 million square feet of industrial space

- 26,300 square feet of industrial free space

- 126,000 square feet of commercial free space

- 1.0 per cent vacancy in 2009, up from 0.5 per cent in 2008

LABOUR FORCE

- 39,150 for Victoria, but of that just 795 live downtown

- 21,685 people who live in Victoria work in Victoria, and the vast majority of those do so in the downtown core

- 40,300 workers commute from other municipalities to work in Victoria, with the vast majority doing so in the city centre

BUSINESSES:

- The City of Victoria issued 9,915 business licenses this year

Following are the Top 10 types:

- 1,158 professionals

- 1,021 intermunicipal enterprises

- 990 retail

- 901 business services

- 667 revenue property

- 591 pubs/restaurants

- 555 washers or dryers

- 553 personal services

- 429 street entertainer

- 261 taxicabs

- Sources include City of Victoria, Province of B.C., Statistics Canada, Colliers International, Downtown Victoria Business Association, Greater Victoria Development Agency, Chemistry Consulting, Statistics Canada 2006 Census