What is a BIA
A Business Improvement Area is a defined district where local businesses and property owners join together, with their municipality's support, to improve, promote, and animate their commercial area beyond what the city provides on its own.
1970
The world's first BIA, in Toronto's Bloor West Village
300+
BIAs across Ontario today
400+
BIAs across Canada, plus 10+ other countries
70,000+
Businesses represented in Ontario alone
In the late 1960s, merchants in Toronto's Bloor West Village were watching shoppers drift to new suburban malls. Relying on voluntary contributions, they couldn't fund the improvements and marketing needed to compete. So they asked the Province of Ontario for a better tool.
In 1970, Ontario amended the Municipal Act to create the Business Improvement Area, and Bloor West Village became the first BIA in the world. The model let every business in a defined area share the cost of improving it fairly, through a small levy collected with property taxes.
The idea spread fast. Today there are more than 300 BIAs in Ontario and over 400 across Canada, and the model has been adopted in at least ten other countries, often called Business Improvement Districts, or BIDs.
A defined area
The municipality sets a boundary. Every commercial and industrial property owner and tenant inside it is automatically a member.
A shared levy
Members fund the BIA through a special levy, usually tied to property assessment and collected alongside property taxes, so everyone contributes their fair share.
A volunteer board
A board of directors, mostly local business and property owners, sets direction and is accountable to the membership and the municipality.
A coordinator
Day to day, a coordinator or executive director runs operations: events, marketing, beautification, advocacy, and administration.
Beautify streetscapes with planters, lighting, banners, and public art
Produce festivals and events that draw residents and visitors downtown
Market the district as a place to shop, eat, and gather
Advocate to the municipality on parking, safety, and infrastructure
Support and attract businesses, and reduce storefront vacancy
Build the sense of place and community that keeps a downtown alive
When BIAs were invented, the threat was the suburban mall. Today it's e-commerce and the big box store off the highway, where the price is low but you're just an anonymous transaction.
A downtown offers the thing the internet can't: real connection. The owner who knows your order. A trivia night, a run club, a market. Friends you didn't plan to see. That belonging is exactly what people are starved for, and it's what a healthy BIA cultivates.
The organizations that will thrive are the ones that can remember, learn, and compound their work over time. That's the gap Mainstay was built to close.