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VANCOUVER BRAIN DRAIN? — Moving Boxes Selling Out as People LEAVE the City! Mass exodus !

503 views · Published 15 January 2017 · 2:56 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2017 · People & Blogs

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I'm at Home Depot in Vancouver today picking up some bubble wrap and moving supplies because I'm putting some older things from the shop into storage.

But while I'm here, I noticed something that ties directly into what I've been discussing about the Vancouver housing crisis and a possible Vancouver brain drain.

The moving section is getting hammered.

According to an employee I spoke with, this area had been restocked only hours earlier, and already we're seeing boxes disappearing from the shelves. I'm being told they're going through so many moving supplies that they're repeatedly restocking this department.

I'm showing you what I'm seeing right here in the store.

Now, obviously, people buy boxes for all kinds of reasons. Moving supplies selling doesn't automatically tell us where everybody is going or why they're moving.

But the conversation I had with the employee was particularly interesting because she told me she's seeing people buying moving supplies to leave Vancouver.

And where are some of them supposedly going?

Merritt. Kelowna. Kamloops. And other communities farther into the B.C. Interior.

That's exactly why I'm documenting this.

I've been asking whether Vancouver's extreme housing costs are eventually going to push working people, young couples and qualified workers away from the city.

If you work every day but can't realistically afford to establish yourself where you live, eventually something has to give.

Do you continue paying Vancouver prices indefinitely?

Do you accept a massive commute?

Or do you pack your belongings into boxes and restart somewhere else?

The employee also told me that some workers are commuting considerable distances to work in Vancouver because employers are having difficulty finding people locally with the experience they need.

Again, that's one person's account, and I'm not presenting a Home Depot moving aisle as scientific evidence of a mass migration.

I'm documenting what I'm seeing and asking the question:

#vancouver  #vancouverbc    #braindrain   #housingcrisis  #housingaffordability  #britishcolumbia  #merritt   #kelowna  #kelownabc  #kamloops  #kamloopsbc  #canadianhousing  #canadahousingmarket  #canadianrealestate  #bcrealestate  #costofliving

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