Music We've been in the neighbourhood in downtown Hamilton International Village. This is our 12th year now. Business is substantially busier than it was when we first took over. My name is Jeff Valentine. I'm the owner of Jet Cafe. We wanted to focus on something that we felt was needed in the area and missing. Which was an all day breakfast at rock bottom price of $3.99.

And lots of coffee. Lots of gourmet coffee. Free trade organic. Monday to Friday we get a lot of the men and women that work for businesses. A lot of students. A lot of retirees. And the weekends we get a lot of patrons that live outside the downtown core. The Tigercat headquarters is just a few blocks away from us and they're always in here.

They're great customers. They're very friendly. Even the visiting teams come in. We need a referee sometimes. This area is really on the upswing. A lot of new restaurants have opened up. There's more people walking around. There's more people here at night and on the weekends. Shopping because of all the new clothing stores, the antique stores, hair salons. Working in downtown Hamilton, this is our community and I intend to stay here. Shopping.

When I was a little girl, my sister and I would go shopping with my mother. And it was always very interesting and exciting to me to see these beautiful shops. And I think I started saying to myself, when I get older, I'm going to have a store. My name is Judy McIntyre. This is my shop Accoutrement. It started out sort of with a French aesthetic, but now it's starting to become a little bit more international, not just French.

There's Italian and tons of North American, predominantly Canadian. So it's a mix of everything. And it's sort of a little general store. There's many, many businesses down here. Doctors, lawyers, insurance companies. Those are all very highly educated, professional women. They want a certain aesthetic because they're used to having nice things.

And I just seem to have found that niche to supply them with that. I live in Burlington and it's a suburb. And I just found that when I came to Hamilton and looked at different areas, I thought this is a great one because there's a lot of traffic. In almost three years that I've been here, there's been nine businesses move into the International Village.

Now virtually every building has some viable business going on within it. It's become a little hub now. So you can buy coffee. You can go to your bookstore. You can wander my shop. You can get fabulous food at Denninger's. You can go to the antique store across the street. So it's just not one store that you go to. It's becoming more and more vibrant. music

I started this business as seeing the need for an LGBTQ+ positive space here in Hamilton. I decided that I was done with my other job that I was in for six years and just kind of went with it. My name is Emily Groom and I'm owner of Steel Lounge here in Hamilton. Steel Lounge is a restaurant/car as well as a nightclub upstairs.

We do all sorts of entertainment from drag shows to DJs to live bands, art shows. So it's been all in the same space and we look forward to having your artists from the community come down and be a part of what we're doing here. The International Village here in Hamilton is quite a vibrant space. Because we're not right in the downtown, like Gore Park area, I think it's really nice to get kind of inside that little bubble.

It's very exciting to see that a new area of Hamilton is being populated with some more nightlife, entertainment, eateries and all kinds of things. And here in the International Village it's a beautiful area. We feed Aquarius, myself now across the street from them. There's lots of foot traffic, there are some new shops that are opening up, so there is a lot of folks that are coming down.

Check out what the International Village has to offer. I'm a born and bred Hamiltonian, so I do know this space quite well. Seeing from even ten years ago, I don't think it was even close to what's going on today. So I think at this point there is only room to grow. It's an amazing neighbourhood and I think there's only a lot more things that can be done with it and a lot more things that are going to be done with it in the future.

The wife and I have had a passion for vintage clothing and jewelry for our entire relationship and we started doing trade shows and online sales and things were going really really well so we said you know what let's kick it up to the next level because our house can't fit anymore. I'm Nick Belagic and I'm the owner of Vintage Soul Geek. So a lot of the clothing that we have here is from the 1920s to the 1990s but when it comes to our jewelry selection which you can see all around me some of it dates back to the 1870s.

We have some of the most beautiful antique jewelry pieces you can find in the market. But with vintage clothing like we have some pieces here from the 1920s that are in perfect condition so you know that what you're going to be buying is of the utmost quality. Why we came to the International Village? Well first off the neighborhood is just gorgeous.

Being an entrepreneur it was difficult at times finding a space that would fit our budget but once we came here we found gold. It's let me live my dream of opening a shop and bringing people quality garbs at wonderful prices. This whole street is coming up right now. It's just stores are popping up all over the place. It's really coming up. You can see if there's a change in the world. We'll see you next time.

I'm Christy Grove, this is my store, Tundra Leather, here in the International Village. Before this was Tundra Leather, this was Tandy Leather Craft. And it was here from 1961. And then in 1991, it was closing. And my dad was the manager at the time. And he thought, "What the heck am I going to do after this?" And so he bought the building, bought all the stock, and he just made a go of it.

He actually passed away last year, and I quit my job. I'm doing sort of the business side, and I'm learning the leather side. Sean, behind me, he's the best leather worker in the whole area. And this is our store. My name is Sean Del Getty. I am the production manager at Tundra Leather. I've been involved in doing custom leather craft for about 34 years.

I've been working here at Tundra Leather for the last 20 years. We do a lot of custom leather work here in the shop of all different varieties. We can produce something for them in a more quality product, with better workmanship, that is going to last them for years and years and years. And I think nowadays, people are looking for more quality in what they want.

They want something which is going to last years. What I love about the International Village is the community. We have a great community and a great family, and it's only grown since we've started here. Sean and I are just really excited to be part of the International Village, and see it grow and develop. And we're really excited to see what's going to come next.

Hi, my name is Bill. We're here at my salon, Bent Hair Design, in the International Village of Hamilton downtown. Bent Hair Design has been located in the International Village for the last nine years. We're a full-service hair salon for women, men and children. We do the wedding hair, we do the prom hair, we do the I'm having a baby hair, we do all kinds of hair.

One of the reasons that I love doing hair is for our clients, getting to know the people that are in our community, getting to know the people that, on a regular basis, that come to see us. It's the development of relationships that we form with our clientele. It's not just sort of a one-shot deal. We chose the International Village because of the sense of community.

That sense of community comes from the residents of the area, but also from the retailers. There are a lot of exciting changes that are coming to our community here in the International Villages. With new businesses opening up, it's been a lot of growth in the International Village. And we're looking forward to more growth. We'll see you next time.

Music Hi, I'm Melanie. I'm the owner of Circle Studios here in the International Village. Circle Studios is a wellness space. We are a yoga studio. We have two yoga rooms, really a whole range of yoga practices for all ages. And we want to offer health and wellness services in a different variety. We have an art studio space where you can take very therapeutic art classes.

We also offer a variety of body and energetic work in our massage room. And we have a counseling office for mental health. I started yoga as a university student and I really loved it from the minute that I stepped into my first class. I just knew that I would one day have a studio. It took me a little while to get here.

I've been practicing for over a decade, but it was the right time in my life to open up the space. What I love about this space is that I'm living my dream. I have a space that's my own, but it's also – this is a space for everybody. I just feel really blessed that I get to do this every day and that I'm part of this downtown area.

The International Village is an awesome place to be. I feel like I'm part of a really friendly neighborhood and community and I feel like it's really the perfect space for a community center like this. I would definitely encourage other businesses looking for the right space to consider opening up in the International Village. It's a great space to be and there's only growth happening here all of the time and it becomes more and more vibrant every day. vibrant every day.

Hi, my name is Nadine Yeubel and I'm co-founder of Steel City Studio here in the International Village. Steel City Studio is a co-working space for creative entrepreneurs. We're a collaborative space where artists can come and use the space and the space. And the tools that are available to be able to grow their businesses.

Here at the studio we deal with people from all different mediums. From hobbyists to entrepreneurs. And everything from painting to photography. We offer the space for gallery events and for pop-ups as well. So that people have an affordable space to use that allows them to showcase their work. Our core business is actually membership based.

Everything is done month to month because we understand that flexibility is a big part of creativity. With advice to somebody looking to start a business in Hamilton, I would definitely recommend that they consider the International Village as their location. We've had some great supports here in the International Village and there's a real sense of community that exists here.

We're at a point now where I thought we would be two years from now. We're just going to continue to do what we're doing. We're going to continue to grow. We're going to continue to support the arts and culture scene here in Hamilton and in the International Village. And help more creative entrepreneurs grow their businesses. you