I was confused by the grocery store comment. If anything grocery stores are more common now, especially downtown, because of greatly increased residential densities. There were no supermarkets at all in the downtown (east of Thurlow) 15 or 20 years ago - now at least eight come to mind (2 IGA's, Costco, H-Mart, T&T, Nesters, Choices, and Urban Fare).

And the development at Knight and Kingsway does have a grocery store (a Save-On-Foods). Including a grocery store as part of that large residential development was a demand of the neighbourhood during the rezoning process, despite a restrictive covenant put on a portion of the site by Safeway.

Some individual stores may be closing, but the general pattern in Vancouver is one of increased household-serving retail stores of all types (including food), as virtually all neighbourhoods add density.