Downtown offers new vibe for young people
By Lethbridge Herald on March 10, 2025.
By Sam Leishman
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
D
espite long-standing complications arising from interactions with vulnerable populations in the area, Lethbridge’s downtown continues to draw in larger numbers of young people.
That’s according to Amin Iqbal, a Millennial himself at 33 years old. Iqbal is a real estate agent who owns property downtown and he’s a member of the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) board of directors.
He says his family has been active in the downtown area for about the past 40 years, since his grandparents owned and operated Charisma Gifts & Novelties. His parents then owned LA Tees from the late 1990s up until the store’s closure in 2018. Now, Iqbal is forging his own path in the downtown area.
Iqbal points out that Downtown Lethbridge holds plenty of value for Millenials and Gen Z, who are certainly paying attention and acting upon it.
“You have a lot of unique traits in the downtown core,” he told the Herald. “There’s a lot of history behind it, so people want to be indulged into what’s going on within our community. Another thing that I think contributes to it is that it’s affordable. For businesses themselves, I know it’s very reasonable. The BRZ does a lot of advocating and lobbying for businesses within the downtown core, and they do various events throughout the year.”
However, safety in the downtown area is often a topic of discussion. Iqbal says he’s aware of how the issue of addiction has changed over the course of his lifetime, but he stresses that social issues seem to be more visible here in Lethbridge.
“We’re just a little bit more of a close-knit community, and that’s how come we feel it a little bit more. I was in Toronto and I walked downtown, and it was there. It was just that you have a lot more area, it’s a lot more spread out, so people have the ability to kind of hide out of plain sight.”
Iqbal explained that young people like himself have little problem sharing downtown Lethbridge with vulnerable populations.
He says he’s noticed that interactions between the two groups are largely positive, or neutral at the very least, as Millenials and Gen Z make an effort to normalize the struggles that homeless and addicted individuals face and offer what help they can.
It’s a complex issue that will take time and patience from all levels of government, police, business owners and downtown visitors to solve, according to Iqbal.
As even more young people and their families are attracted to the downtown, Iqbal says it may also incentivize vulnerable people to move on to other areas of the city where they can receive the help they need and deserve.
“When there’s big events happening, when there’s a population [in the downtown], you don’t see them.” says Iqbal. “They blend in or they don’t want to be seen, so they go elsewhere. That’s where we’re transitioning. We’re trying to get them the help that they need with supportive housing and all these different initiatives that are going into place.”
Iqbal notes that expansion projects at the Lethbridge shelter and the attached soup kitchen as well as Streets Alive’s impending move to the old El Dorado RV building will likely draw more of the vulnerable population away from the downtown to the 2 Ave A N area where they can be better cared for.
Millennials and Gen Z are also becoming the parents of the next generation, known as Gen Alpha. Iqbal says it’s hard to predict how this new group of kids, the oldest of which were born around 2013, will perceive downtown Lethbridge when they reach adulthood, based upon their parents’ attitudes and actions. But he’s remaining hopeful about the future.
“We’re starting to become more accepting and more open to various things. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily a good thing, too. There needs to be a line in the sand, and we need to know what can and what cannot cross it.”
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Although skeptical about his outlook for downtown I admire the positivity and hope he’s right.
this is a pretty fair take on our downtown. important is the need to engage with it – as with everything, if you do not use it, it seems to erode and crumble. downtown events go off without issues, safely and with bright energy. we hardly have the random violence and murder rates that affect the general population that is typical of larger cities. we have excellent food, pubs, and a great live music scene downtown, too, thanks to the tireless work of those that own the slice and the owl. bravo! any businesses affected by loitering and worse should for sure be receiving more support and police presence.