Quote:
Originally Posted by drew
Isn't it the economic reality of our situation though? You generally only shop at a hardware store with any sort of regularity if you own your property.
Home ownership in the lower income bracket isn't what it used to be, and in Winnipeg - those low income areas are generally concentrated within the central areas.
If you do own a house/condo - you likely aren't lower income, and probably can afford a car and to drive to somewhere like Home Depot, which for all the nostalgic attractiveness of a "neighbourhood" hardware store is far more likely to be a one stop shop for you.
So if the economic reality of Winnipeg's situation is core areas are low income, low income people probably aren't frequenting "neighbourhood" hardware stores, and neither are middle or high income people..?
I too want more small business and mom and pop operations, but small, independent hardware stores aren't going to be a thing again in Winnipeg - probably ever.
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Yes, I suppose it's a bit of a chicken or egg situation... I think my point was that there's nothing inherent to a business like this that dooms it to fail, even with big box competition.
Rather than throw our hands up and say there's nothing we can do, we can recognize these as spillover effects from the choices we make in planning our city. Exactly the kind of choices that the 15-minute city proponents want to reverse.
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