I thought the city of St. John's discontinued identifying who the building permits were for in the commercial building permits list. That's why I stopped going to the council minutes site any more. Not much point if you don't know what it is.

Isn't that a "Mr.Lube" (gawd I hate that name, LOL) across from Tim's on Major's Path

It's inconsistent, sometimes they identify while other times it's anonymous. I guess it's up to the company if they want the information released. Here's a link to the minutes:

http://www.stjohns.ca/sites/default/...013%202012.pdf

Unfortunately there's no page numbering, the info is listed under "Weekly Permits List Council's Nov 12, Regular Meeting". It's listed third from the bottom in the commercial class permits.

CBC news (Here & Now) did a piece tonight on the new Walmart that opened this weekend on Hamlyn Rd, the place looked extremely busy. Now I'm not one to be overly excited about a new Walmart but this is very good news for the west end. For years retail in this area has been dreary at best; I think the new Walmart will help revitalize retail in the west end. The increased customer traffic might even spill over into the Village.

Thanks Statbass.
So good to hear that Harvey's are coming back to St. John's. They do make hamburgers a beautiful thing. I was so disappointed when they closed the Harvey's Restaurant in Mount Pearl years ago. Hopefully this one will be more successful.

Its a pit stop going across from tims on majors. Some corporate folk from Jack Astor's were in town recently so hopefully that will be in the works in the future. Also chattig with a manager at Coleman's the weekend there new store in southlands will be pretty large liquor store and all.

The ghost of Zellers lives at the new Walmart on Hamlyn Road. I was up there tonite and it looks like a tornado ripped through it. Empty shelves and cloths and shoes on the floors everywhere. I know it was a busy opening weekend but that looked pretty bad even for Walmart standards. LOL.

Jack Astor's is a wicked restaurant.

Man, it's starting to get difficult keeping track of what is coming to St. John's. So many different restaurants and stores are coming in the near future. Little overwhelming.

Awesome! We really need more family restaurants here! Isn't Jack Astors basically Montana's?

I would love to see more American brands come up here like TGI Fridays, Chili's, Outback, Applebee's, Olive Garden ect. But a lot of those are rare in Canada, and we would likely see them other places first before they ever come here which is a shame because I think they would do really well! They are cheaper and I find the food much better than say Swiss Chalet or Boston Pizza. I Hate Boston pizza.

But at least we have some new "family style" restaurants possibly coming down the pipe. (Kelsey's, Milestones, PF Chang's, Jack Astor's and hopefully more in the new white rose drive area) we need more variety!

( some new fast food restaurants such as an Arby's or Taco Bell would be awesome as well, but family restaurants are needed more.)

The price and meal portions/quality do not transition from south to north of the border. Going to a Burger King in America is essentially the same experience as going to one here but you get nearly twice as much food for half the price. The same can be said for restaurants. That is, if you were referring to that, anyway. It's not as if Macdonald's $1 menu exists in Canada. :haha:

As for Chili's...it's nothing too great. :P

Truth. When I was stuck at LaGuardia I paid literally 5 bucks for what I'd pay almost 10 bucks for here at McDonalds. The same was true for a greet restaurant I visited in the Astoria neighborhood. I spent 15 bucks on a meal and was presented with about 2lbs of pork and lamb which I obviously couldn't finish :P Everything really is bigger in America

That one is going to be a Pit Crew (or Pit Stop). Same as the one that is on Topsail Road at the end of Burgeo Street.

Yeah would be nice to get more family oriented restuarants for sure.
There was a Taco Bell at the Avalon Mall but it closed. And the two Arby's we had closed too years ago. But those were different times then. Perhaps they would be more successful today. Kelsey's has Newfoundland listed as one of their locations on their website. But no address as of yet. I assume they will be down at the Field Power Centre.

I don't mind Jack Astor's (actually, for that type of place, it's one of the better ones), but would much rather see independent sit-down restaurants. Then again, I'm never going to go out to a power centre for dinner, so the chains can go out there while independents can come downtown. The chains I would love to see, however, are quicker places like Five Guys or Fatburger (generally considered 'fast casual' restaurants). I would absolutely go out of my way to grab a burger at those places.

And I've said it before, but downtown needs more fast food of every kind. Burgers, Mexican, chicken, maybe an Edo, etc.

I went for a two-week roadtrip through the States about two years ago and didn't finish a single meal my whole time there. I'm not the kind of person to eat a lot to begin with but the amount of food you're given is unbelievable by comparison. The price and amount of food coupled with the price of gas is why a lot of people here (if they're driving to Southern Ontario) will drive through New England and upstate New York rather than Quebec and Eastern Ontario.

Are there even any Five Guys in Canada?

I was in NYC for the long weekend and I must say I was really disappointed at the shopping ... or well I should say we are getting more impressive

I found that any clothing store (for guys) we had .. just that they had like 100 of the same stores that we have. the only ones that I noticed that I would be half of interest that we do not have is Banana Republic (on the way), H&M (Which is good for low quality cheaper but good looking clothes) and Zara which I personally really like.

I guess we really are moving up in the world and many popular brands that we use to go "away" to get are here or coming here :notacrook:

I can only imagine the before old navy days lol a different retail world here now


Also I had supper at the Olive Garden in Times Square and I really enjoyed it! (almost too much food hahaha)

Bring on the chains and our own chains like wingin it and the other ones that fill a void for brands which are not here yet :D

Both Moncton and Fredericton have an H&M store. I think it's a good possibility H&M would set up shop here.

I have an american friend who came here for school a couple of months ago and they were bewildered to the fact that we do not have a H&M (apparently lots of even towns and small cities have these and it's a very common store) BUT we have an American Apparel lol which does not locate in all cities and are more selective

... which is even stranger if you ask me. :)