---
title: "Vancouver retailers and restaurants expect a cautious holiday season"
description: "Vancouver business owners are stocking up on lower-priced items and seeing fewer corporate bookings as a Deloitte survey finds Canadians plan to spend 14.2% less this holiday season."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/vancouver-holiday-sales-lower-expectations-november-2026"
last_updated: "2026-11-02T19:56:49.288Z"
---

Vancouver retailers and restaurant owners are heading into the 2026 holiday season with lower sales expectations, as a national survey finds consumers plan to spend less and local business owners adjust their strategies.

Business in Vancouver reported Monday that several Vancouver businesses are changing their approach ahead of Black Friday and the holiday period. A Deloitte survey of 1,000 Canadian consumers, conducted August 28 to September 4, found planned spending on seasonal items and activities at $1,305 per person this year. That is down 14.2 per cent from $1,521 the year before, according to BIV, with Deloitte citing "a decline in holiday entertaining and experiences."

Autostrada Restaurants general manager Morgan Brown told BIV that his company's two Vancouver restaurants have fewer full dinner buyouts booked for December than in past years. Lunch bookings remain steady, Brown said, but full dinner buyouts are down and his company has dropped its prices in response.

Tap and Barrel president and COO Jason Forbes told BIV that Black Friday is the company's biggest gift card day for its eight restaurants. "Black Friday is a big gift-card day for us, in the restaurants and online, and it kicks off the holiday season of shopping," Forbes said. The chain plans bonus gift cards when other gift cards are purchased that day.

Big League Sports Excellence, a sporting goods retailer on Burrard Street, is planning deeper discounts on items already being cleared out. Co-owner Andrew Robinson told BIV the 30-year-old store participates in Black Friday sales because competitors do, though it has historically operated as a discount business.

Tom Lee Music is accepting instrument trade-ins and planning Black Friday deals on selected guitars and keyboards, according to BIV.

The economic picture behind the cautious outlook is broader. Canada's Parliamentary Budget Office cut its real GDP growth forecast for 2026 to 0.9 per cent (down from 1.1 per cent) and for 2027 to 1.5 per cent (down from 1.6 per cent), partly because of U.S. tariffs and Canadian countermeasures. A Bank of Canada survey in the third quarter of 2026 found 24 per cent of business owners planned to spend less on machinery and equipment in the next 12 months, up from 16 per cent the previous quarter.

Capilano University School of Business retail instructor David Ian Gray told BIV that consumer sentiment may shift once the holiday spirit arrives, but the survey results match a multi-year trend of caution. He added that retailers should use Black Friday for high-inventory items and save Boxing Day for clearance.

Black Friday falls on November 27. Deloitte's survey found consumers expect to have spent 51 per cent of their holiday budgets by the end of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday week, which closes November 30. Residents planning to shop local in Vancouver can look for deals at the stores mentioned and others in the city's shopping districts that week.

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