Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is a great example of out of the box business thinking to take a liability and turn it into a goldmine.

One of the best parts of Vancouver is that they have a mountain about 30 minutes from downtown. In the winter, everyone can make the short drive to go skiing whenever they feel like it. And for years, the best time to go to Grouse Mountain was the winter. But the people who won/run the mountain have put together a great plan to get people to come to the mountain in other seasons as well. In the past, tourists would take the tram to the top just for the views. And since there was nothing to do at the top they would just come back down. But now there is plenty to do and they keep adding more. By adding other attractions, they have been able to raise the rates to visit. They also have become a legit tourist attraction complete with activities. This causes people to spend the whole day there, eating, drinking, and buying souvenirs.

They have added a nature preserve for a couple of brown bears found in the wild, a small movie theater showing movies about Vancouver, a fascinating Birds of Prey show, a live lumberjack show, and they keep the lift chairs running so people can go even further up the mountain for even better views of the city down below.

Here's a picture of a tip jar we saw on the mountain. I thought the label was kinda ingenious. It makes people more inclined to "tip".