This dataset includes over one hundred thousands business licences issued by the Business Licence Office of City of Vancouver.
Under Licence By-Law No. 4450, a valid business licence is required in order to operate a business in the City of Vancouver.
Each business is registered with licence number, licence type, business name, trade name, location, licence issue date and expiration date, etc.
Dataset Information
Subject
Business and Economy
Jurisdiction
City of Vancouver, Province of British Columbia
Data Provider
Business Licence Office, the Development, Buildings, and Licensing Division, City of Vancouver
Source
opendata.vancouver.ca
Attribution
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Vancouver.
Dataset Details
All businesses in Vancouver require a licence to operate. This ensures that all business locations are safe and meet land-use requirements.
The Business Licence Office issues about 50,000 business licenses and 100,000 permits every year. A business licence can be obtained from the City's Licence Office and is valid for the remainder of the calendar year unless stated otherwise.
The Licence By-Law No. 4450 regulates the licensing of business, trade, professions, and other occupations with the City of Vancouver. All persons and companies doing business in the City of Vancouver need to be licensed, including: Each location operated by a business in the city; Persons and companies based out-of-town and doing business in the city; Home-based businesses (for example, professionals working from a home office); Employees do not need a business licence.
This dataset identifies current and previously licensed businesses and trades. The following information are included: business name, business trade name, status, license issue date and expire date, business type, business location, and others.
The types of businesses that require a business licence include:
Commercial and industrial business: a business based within a building located in a commercial or industrial area of the City of Vancouver as defined in the Zoning and Development By-law.
Home-based business: a business based in a dwelling located in a residential area in the City of Vancouver as defined in the Zoning and Development By-law.
Out-of-town business: a business being carried on in the City of Vancouver, but with the business office located outside of Vancouver.
The City of Vancouver share with everyone its open and accessible datasets while adhering to rights of privacy, and publish datasets allowing everyone to develop digital applications that may improve government transparency and public participation, enhance access to City services, and ultimately strengthen democracy and contribute to a more liveable city.
Statistics
The top three business types of Vancouver busineses are Office (18.9%), Health Services (19.9%) and Retail Dealer (7.7%),
followed by Restaurant Class 1 (6.1%), Apartment House (6.0%), Ltd Service Food Establishment (5.8%).
While the vast majority of businesses are located in Vancouver (93%), there are also significant number of businesses in the neighboring cites such as
Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, North Vancouver, Coquitlam, Delta, New Westminster, and Langley.
The total number of licenced businesses noticeably decreased in 2020 due to the pandemic; it dropped by about 16% in 2020 (from 57097 in 2019 to 48464 in 2020) and recovered by about 13% in 2021.
In 2022, the number of businesses gets recovered, largely attributed to new market opportunities created by the pandemic.
We expect to see more businesses being licensed in the upcoming years.