Downtown

[MacLac]

Sad - but then again it's likely been hard to compete with neighbors such as Bianco, Sherlock Holmes and OEB, which are always full.

Love Bianco…..speaking of them….owners are opening a NEW joint in the “Brewery District,” as per my 20yr old who has more of a pulse on the culinary scene than her old man does….lol.

 

[David A]

It's pretty sad that in a city of 1mil and region of 1.6 that you cannot do 'regular' Christmas shopping in your Downtown core.

Embarrassing really.

Yes, when I moved here in the early 1980's I think there were 4 to 5 major department stores downtown, numerous other smaller clothing stores and many other retail stores.

Now there are just a few left - Winners is fairly decent, I go there regularly, and it has replaced one or two of the old lower priced department stores and there are a few nice high end clothing stores, but not much else left.

I try to avoid West Ed, especially at busy times, but did end up doing a big portion of my Christmas shopping in another mall outside of downtown, just because many of the stores I want to go to are not downtown any more.

 

[David A]

Personally hope that downtown can attract some of the less notable brands in the city as tenants in City Centre mall or for street facing retail, especially as they get pushed out of major shopping malls.

I read on Reddit that Urban Outfitters in WEM is closing due to a doubling on their rent and offering downtown as a cost effective area replacement could be a solution.

I also feel this will start to happen, as not just WEM but the other popular malls are actually quite full now. So the only way they can bring in something new or expand something popular is to get something else to move out.

Downtown probably has the most space/flexibility with space to take advantage of this when this happens.

 

[Gronk!]

Agreed. Also end of an era though. Zenari's has had a presence downtown for several generations, sad to see it go but hopefully they can land on their feet somewhere.

Was the move from Manulife the death knell?

 

[IanO]

COVID and its tailings.

 

[Gronk!]

Speaking of Bianco, I had dinner there tonight. The house was packed so I had to sit at the bar, nevertheless the food was still good and the staff were awesome.