Calgary's Chinatown hopes to attract more business

Business owners in Calgary's Chinatown are welcoming the official opening of a Business Revitalization Zone office.

A dragon dance blessed the opening of the office in Dragon City Mall on Thursday evening.

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Danny Ng is the chair of the board for the organization, which aims to breathe some new life into the downtown community. One of the first tasks will be to promote the community to the rest of Calgary.

"You know when you walk around, it needs improvement, right? It needs development. You know, it just needs more people down here."

Language barriers and unfamiliarity with social media are just two of the challenges facing the business community as it tries to attract more people to the area, he said.

Calgary already has 10 Business Revitalization Zones, organizations that receive some funding from the city and have the power to raise money to pay for improvementsor promote the businesses.

Abi Paul recently opened a daycare in Chinatown that caters to the downtown work crowd. He's passionate about the area.

"One big thing that appealed to me was(the daycare) islocated in an iconic building, in a landmark in downtown Calgary. And just the appeal of not only opening up a business, but helping in developing a community."

Paul is hoping the daycare will help draw more commuters to the area, parents who otherwise may not have had a reason to stop.