Regina Construction II - Page 88

A4Regina · #**1741** Posted **Aug 16, 2011, 10:28 PM**

A grocery store downtown would be a great! In addition to the locations that you suggested, I wouldnt mind seeing a grocery store in the main level of one of the new towers downtown. Even somewhere like the travellers building would be great. It would definately spur a whole lot of re-development and more buisinesses would consider downtown as an option.

one_brick_at_a_time · #**1742** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 2:39 AM**

I just did the Whole Foods Market location suggester right now from my blackberry. Simple and easy

. I also just sent a msg to Sobey's in regards to why they have not set up a Sobey's Urban Fresh in the downtown core, let alone the fact that Safeway is going to be expanding and that there should be a healthier competition. I'll post what response I get

.

jigglysquishy · #**1743** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 2:56 AM**

Slowly our downtown and surrounding areas will become more urban. With the 3 condo towers adding 1000+ people to the downtown area we'll likely see an increase in the number of amenities downtown. I'm holding out for a theatre, third pub on Scarth Street and a grocery store.

GregCB · #**1744** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 3:02 AM**

Joe's article on the proposed Safeway expansion in Cathedral sparked a thoughtful discussion on the prairie dog blog: http://www.prairiedogmag.com/?p=28400

brithgob · #**1745** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 4:03 AM**

I'm not sure what my opinion is on the Safeway redevelopment, but I think Couture is wrong to be so dismissive of the vintage 1960s architecture.

brithgob · #**1746** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 4:06 AM**

By the way, Will Chabun mentioned on his blog that someone pointed out the ORIGINAL 13th Avenue Safeway is still standing! Here it is on Street View:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=13th+avenue...LOMsxso3maSDlnGs1Q&cbp=12,331.14,,0,2.49

drm310 · #**1747** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 4:33 AM**

That's one of the original Safeways built in the Spanish villa style. Here's another surviving example, in Saskatoon:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Mayfair+Dru...mYZzUl5pjZJVvBUbZA&cbp=12,359.02,,0,0.89

Quote:

Originally Posted by brithgob

By the way, Will Chabun mentioned on his blog that someone pointed out the ORIGINAL 13th Avenue Safeway is still standing! Here it is on Street View:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=13th+avenue...LOMsxso3maSDlnGs1Q&cbp=12,331.14,,0,2.49

Scruff Bucket · #**1748** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 5:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrannyMuffin

Do you think a Whole Foods Market would do well downtown? ...

My wife and I would definitely go to Whole Foods, and our friend, a total Whole Foods fanatic, would be in absolute heaven if Regina got a location! I can’t see any reason why Whole Foods wouldn’t do well in any location situated anywhere in Regina, let alone downtown. Superstore had quite a wide draw of patrons from throughout the city at its old location! The deli and bakery sections in Vancouver’s Cambie Street location just south of downtown is what impresses me! -- Ok! Everything else in that store impresses me just as much, too!

-- Their extensive self serve buffet menu items are all set at one price/unit weight, so you can mix and match your take-out or eat-in selection! The prices were very reasonable for a “healthy/alternative choices” supermarket! In fact, I wouldn’t even consider calling it a niche market! Besides, Whole Foods is one of the few locations that sell my baby's kid- and eco-friendly diapers when we're out there!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrannyMuffin

Based on their Real Estate guidelines the only issue I see is "Abundant parking available for our exclusive use" ...

As for abundant parking, the Vancouver location does quite well with a single-level underground garage about the same size footprint as the store (shared with London Drugs on the other side of the street’s block. One day, around the end of the business day (5 pm, usually when a rush of people will typically shop for dinner items), while I was waiting in the car in the garage with our sleeping baby for 3/4 of an hour, and mom went hunting/gathering/foraging, I noticed the garage never filled up fully! Mind you, more Regina residences will likely drive, esp. if they’re hauling food enough for a troop of a family (plus the troop!) from/to afar!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrannyMuffin

If you were to open a grocery store (any grocery store) downtown, where would you put it? It would have to be somewhere that's easily accessible to people who live and work downtown. Maybe Vic and Rose or Vic and Hamilton? Possibly a two-storey store on a smaller lot...next to the R.M. of Sherwood building Cornwall?

The location in Vancouver looks to about 20-25k sq.ft. (60m x 40m) (judging from the Google map) As for a downtown location in Regina, I was thinking this would fit nicely within RPL’s street level footy print, if Harvard does consider rebuilding (if it won’t become a candidate for a permanent Farmer’s Market location), or maybe within the new, proposed largest office building! Consider that Cathedral Village Safeway and Broadway Ave. Extra Foods are near the downtown vicinity, too!

thefourthtower · #**1749** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 1:28 PM**

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thefourthtower · #**1750** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 6:20 PM**

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TechnicalRecession · #**1751** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 8:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by brithgob

I'm not sure what my opinion is on the Safeway redevelopment, but I think Couture is wrong to be so dismissive of the vintage 1960s architecture.

I had mixed views on the article. He did raise some good points that a lot of people do object to new development for lame reasons such as 'it will hurt my property value', or 'there will be increased traffic'. There is no guarantee when you buy a property in any neighborhood that future developments won't happen and to expect that is naive.

However, I do disagree with his point that the current store has no architectural value. It is a unique building that fits within a unique neighborhood. Replacing it with a brown stucco building is not unique, it is suburban, big box, cheap style. I also feel that people have a right to voice concerns and that is a starting point to generate good dicsussions that could potentially improve a design or development. We shouldn't be giving developers free reign or else we'll end up with ugly unispiring buildings such as the one on the corner of broad and 12th.

TechnicalRecession · #**1752** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 8:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrannyMuffin

Do you think a Whole Foods Market would do well downtown? The only reason I ask is that I was looking around their website and noticed a "Suggest a store" link. I would shop at pretty much any grocery store that was located downtown and think that any grocery store could do well there given the growing population and the large workforce, but a full service "healthy" grocery store seems like a good fit to me. Based on their Real Estate guidelines the only issue I see is "Abundant parking available for our exclusive use" (maybe something like the 8th St Superstore underground parking in Saskatoon could remedy that problem? They may have to enforce a time limit to keep people from just parking there, though.) Their suggest a store works by postal code which makes it easy to suggest a fairly specific location or neighbourhood (ie Downtown vs Regina). You suggest a location and their development team looks into it. I don't know exactly how they decide, but perhaps if they had a few suggestions for a particular area it could pique their interest?

Same train of thought, just something I've thought about...

If you were to open a grocery store (any grocery store) downtown, where would you put it? It would have to be somewhere that's easily accessible to people who live and work downtown. Maybe Vic and Rose or Vic and Hamilton? Possibly a two-storey store on a smaller lot...next to the R.M. of Sherwood building Cornwall?

Oops, forgot to link this...
Real Estate Guidelines
Suggest a store

I think that would be great, I'd go there all the time. It is more of a boutique grocer isn't it? I thought downtown wanted to attrach the smaller more unique stores, so this would fit in nicely with that.

Scruff Bucket · #**1753** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 11:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnicalRecession

I think that would be great, I'd go there all the time. It is more of a boutique grocer isn't it? I thought downtown wanted to attrach the smaller more unique stores, so this would fit in nicely with that.

Umm ... The Whole Foods I described that's in Vancouver is about the size of the Co-op Marketplace on East Quance, Regina! You'd need a building with a good sized footprint to fit a supermarket that size! If Whole Foods is not in a hurry to build and can work with Harvard on their supposed RPL development (and maybe accelerate the project's progress), I was thinking a grocery supermarket at the base of a library and ascending highrise condos would make a nice and practical combination! Such is the case in Vancouver in which the downtown Costco is situated at the base of a residential highrise tower!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scruff Bucket

The location in Vancouver looks to about 20-25k sq.ft. (60m x 40m) (judging from the Google map) As for a downtown location in Regina, I was thinking this would fit nicely within RPL’s street level footy print, if Harvard does consider rebuilding (if it won’t become a candidate for a permanent Farmer’s Market location), or maybe within the new, proposed largest office building!

BrannyMuffin · #**1754** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 11:24 PM**

Yeah, Whole Foods is a full service grocery store. I encourage you guys (& girls? or am I the only one? lol) to suggest a store! We need a grocery store downtown so we might as well do our best to make it something that's unique to the area and encourage people to make the trip. You know there are some wicked health nuts in the suburbs! lol

Stormer · #**1755** Posted **Aug 17, 2011, 11:43 PM**

There is no way Whole Foods will come to downtown any time in the next 10 years. They have a very upscale store and the population and demographics of downtown will not justify it.