Chinatown has been a community characterized by small businesses largely owned and operated by families. In the earliest days, the financing needed to start a business was often provided by one’s relatives or Chinese clan association. By the early 1900s, with the expansion of the railroad and the entrance of British Columbia into confederation, Canadian banks established branches in the neighbourhood, including the Bank of Nova Scotia in 1903. Over time, national banks became the main lender to the hundreds of small stores and restaurants that dotted these streets.
唐人街的一大特色是社區內很多小型商業都是由一家大小擁有和親自經營，他們最初開業時所需的資金都是由親戚或華人宗親會所提供。到了1900年代早期，加拿大太平洋鐵路逐步延伸，卑詩省也正式加入了加拿大聯邦，本國的銀行亦開始在唐人街設立分行，當中包括1903年的加拿大豐業銀行。隨著時間的過去，全國性銀行成為了服務唐人街上眾多小商戶和餐館的主要借貸機構。
