During the pandemic, businesses like grocery stores, liquor stores and pharmacies were all deemed “essential,” but the vast majority of storefront retail experienced direct closures and diverted shopping to Amazon. Even when retail was put into the category of “businesses we need to save,” it was usually in terms of jobs and income, while ignoring the functions that retail businesses provide in our community.

In this talk, Jeremy Stone will explore the critical and often hidden roles that retail businesses play in our lives, highlighting how they are nodes of knowledge-sharing, social capital creation, innovation, and community support.

He will also describe his team’s ongoing work in economic resilience planning with municipalities, and how community engagement can identify and support this important fabric of our economy.

Jeremy Stone

Jeremy Stone is the Director of Community Economic Development Programs in SFU’s Faculty of Environment. He has 20 years of experience in economic development and resilience, working on various disaster recoveries including Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and business disruption in Lower Manhattan after 9/11. Jeremy received an MPA from New York University, and a BA in Anthropology from Reed College, where he studied the effect of “cargo cults” on economic development in the South Pacific. He is completing a PhD in Community Planning at UBC, where his research is focused on retail and housing gentrification after disasters. Learn more about Jeremy's work.

A President's Faculty Lecture

The President’s Faculty Lectures shine a light on the research excellence at Simon Fraser University. Hosted by SFU president Joy Johnson, these free public lectures celebrate cutting-edge research and faculty that engage with communities and mobilize knowledge to make real-world impacts.