The Retail Thread - Page 128

Spring2008 · #**2541** Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 4:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

is that just a reskinning of the existing building?

reskinning/expansion to the west and north. Sign up at site says ready for Spring 2015.

Fuzz · #**2542** Posted **May 22, 2014, 7:06 PM**

Was just down on 10th ave by MEC, we have quite the sports district going on now! MEC, Coast Mountain Sports, The Bike Shop, The Source is just setting up shop, and Speed Theory.

freeweed · #**2543** Posted **May 22, 2014, 7:30 PM**

Yeah, that section of 10th has always been good for camping and summer sports. I wish a few more ski shops would open up in the area, would make it damned handy.

Rusty van Reddick · #**2544** Posted **May 23, 2014, 4:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Was just down on 10th ave by MEC, we have quite the sports district going on now! MEC, Coast Mountain Sports, The Bike Shop, The Source is just setting up shop, and Speed Theory.

Atmosphere, not Coast Mountain.

It's been like that for at least the last 14 years since I moved to Calgary and used to be better- I can recall at least two outdoor gear stores that closed on 10th., one on the corner where that card and "gift" place is now (which is a nice store btw) and the other that became the fancy kitchen hardware store for a while east on 10th.

The area in Toronto that has a Europe Bound (which I'd love to see in Calgary) across from their original MEC is better than anything we have in Calgary.

What is this Source you speak of?

ByeByeBaby · #**2545** Posted **May 23, 2014, 4:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Was just down on 10th ave by MEC, we have quite the sports district going on now! MEC, Coast Mountain Sports, The Bike Shop, The Source is just setting up shop, and Speed Theory.

It's been like that since MEC moved down there ages ago. Three cheers for agglomeration economies. I'm just sad that The Source isn't changing it's name to something like The Board Emporium, to further improve Generic Corner (The Camera Store / The Bike Shop).

Ramsayfarian · #**2546** Posted **May 23, 2014, 5:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

It's been like that since MEC moved down there ages ago. Three cheers for agglomeration economies. I'm just sad that The Source isn't changing it's name to something like The Board Emporium, to further improve Generic Corner (The Camera Store / The Bike Shop).

Santiago, Chile was big on this. It was kind of neat that you'd find an area mostly shoe stores, another area appliance stores and so on. I even found an area that had a high concentration of tattoo shops. Makes for great comparative shopping.

fusili · #**2547** Posted **May 23, 2014, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Santiago, Chile was big on this. It was kind of neat that you'd find an area mostly shoe stores, another area appliance stores and so on. I even found an area that had a high concentration of tattoo shops. Makes for great comparative shopping.

When I lived in Arequipa, Peru this was also huge. We had paint street, windshield street, cake street, liquor store street, shoe street, carpet street. And they were seriously streets that only had shops that only sold those items. You could buy paint on paint street, and maybe brushes and rollers and maybe thinner. But you couldn't buy a hammer or a sander or anything else. Just paint. Strange.

There was also pollution street. That one wasn't great.

Ramsayfarian · #**2548** Posted **May 23, 2014, 5:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fusili

When I lived in Arequipa, Peru this was also huge. We had paint street, windshield street, cake street, liquor store street, shoe street, carpet street. And they were seriously streets that only had shops that only sold those items. You could buy paint on paint street, and maybe brushes and rollers and maybe thinner. But you couldn't buy a hammer or a sander or anything else. Just paint. Strange.

There was also pollution street. That one wasn't great.

Sounds very much like Santiago. Ten years and countless pisco sours have clouded my memory but I remember it took three or four streets before I noticed a bit of a pattern happening.

Not sure what happens if someone was to open an appliance store on shoe street.

So what did they sell on pollution street?

fusili · #**2549** Posted **May 23, 2014, 8:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Sounds very much like Santiago. Ten years and countless pisco sours have clouded my memory but I remember it took three or four streets before I noticed a bit of a pattern happening.

Not sure what happens if someone was to open an appliance store on shoe street.

So what did they sell on pollution street?

Pollution street was a tiny little street called Calle Tristan where a ton of combis (transit vans) had to run through to get to a major road that accessed the main square. It had a wall on one side, and narrow sidewalk beside a building on the other. Peruvian combis were all hand-me-downs from China and Korea, and polluted like mother-f%*ers, so the street was almost black with exhaust. Hence pollution street.

Ramsayfarian · #**2550** Posted **May 23, 2014, 9:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fusili

Pollution street was a tiny little street called Calle Tristan where a ton of combis (transit vans) had to run through to get to a major road that accessed the main square. It had a wall on one side, and narrow sidewalk beside a building on the other. Peruvian combis were all hand-me-downs from China and Korea, and polluted like mother-f%*ers, so the street was almost black with exhaust. Hence pollution street.

Sounds like it was aptly named.
I spent a month in between Argentina and Chile. Out of that month all but 5 days I was in the mountains snowboarding. I spent my last 5 days in Santiago and in that short period of time I managed to develop a nagging cough from the smog and the fact that in 2004 one could smoke anywhere they pleased.

stophs · #**2551** Posted **Jun 3, 2014, 2:23 AM**

Montague's and the kitchen design place on 1st street have both closed in the past few weeks.

10,000 villages is now open on 17th.

Rusty van Reddick · #**2552** Posted **Jun 3, 2014, 4:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by stophs

Montague's and the kitchen design place on 1st street have both closed in the past few weeks.

10,000 villages is now open on 17th.

I was assuming the kitchen place was a temporary setup anyway. Montagues- what was with that place? What sort of company sets up a storefront sandwich shop in a neighbourhood like that, at the foot of a condo tower, and only does catering (at least that's what it looked like at their website)?

fusili · #**2553** Posted **Jun 3, 2014, 4:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

I was assuming the kitchen place was a temporary setup anyway. Montagues- what was with that place? What sort of company sets up a storefront sandwich shop in a neighbourhood like that, at the foot of a condo tower, and only does catering (at least that's what it looked like at their website)?

It was a terrible set up. The sandwiches were not made to order. You basically went in, grabbed a pre-packaged sandwich from a display and paid for it and then maybe sat down to eat it, or otherwise took it to go. There were very few sandwiches to choose from, it was seriously a single cooler, so the space seemed incredibly sparse. To add to it all, the sandwiches were pretty expensive.

Compare that to the other business in that building: Vine Arts, who have an amazing selection of wine, craft beer and spirits, most of which are super reasonably priced, but who also hold regular tastings and also create wine lists for many restaurants in the area. They are super approachable, not in any way stuck up about wine and are very helpful. They have built a pretty strong loyal customer base. That is how you run a business. Even though there are at least 6 liquor stores closer to me, I will go out of my way from time to time to go there, just because it is such an awesome store.

Ramsayfarian · #**2554** Posted **Jun 3, 2014, 10:51 PM**

[QUOTE=fusili;6603382
Compare that to the other business in that building: Vine Arts, who have an amazing selection of wine, craft beer and spirits, most of which are super reasonably priced, but who also hold regular tastings and also create wine lists for many restaurants in the area. They are super approachable, not in any way stuck up about wine and are very helpful. They have built a pretty strong loyal customer base. That is how you run a business. Even though there are at least 6 liquor stores closer to me, I will go out of my way from time to time to go there, just because it is such an awesome store.[/QUOTE]

I don't even drink, but when I need to buy booze for a dinner or as a gift, I always hit Vine Arts.

Ramsayfarian · #**2555** Posted **Jun 3, 2014, 11:00 PM**

Not trying to drive up my msg count, but I thought this bit of bad news deserves it's own post.

It appears that a Ramsay icon has shut its doors. The infamous Black & White Grocery & Meat is boarded up and has a closed sign on it. Not sure what's going on, but I hope Lawrence and his wife are ok and have just decided to finally retire.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't boarded up this morning. I ran into a neighbour when I got home and mentioned it to her, and she said she noticed too and was just talking to her mom about it. Needless to say this is pretty big and very sad news for Ramsay.

Spring2008 · #**2556** Posted **Jun 13, 2014, 8:02 PM**

Strategic finally has a couple bays at 20/20 conditionally leased:

http://www.collierscalgary.net/exclusivelistings/retail/2020%204%20Street%20SW.pdf

Also looks like another office tower podium level redevelopment/retail conversion on 5th ave:

http://www.collierscalgary.net/exclusivelistings/retail/520%20-%205TH%20-%20RETAIL.pdf

cityscape_enthusiast · #**2557** Posted **Jun 13, 2014, 10:32 PM**

From what I heard from my sources, they decided to retire. Not sure if that's true but hopefully it is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Not trying to drive up my msg count, but I thought this bit of bad news deserves it's own post.

It appears that a Ramsay icon has shut its doors. The infamous Black & White Grocery & Meat is boarded up and has a closed sign on it. Not sure what's going on, but I hope Lawrence and his wife are ok and have just decided to finally retire.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't boarded up this morning. I ran into a neighbour when I got home and mentioned it to her, and she said she noticed too and was just talking to her mom about it. Needless to say this is pretty big and very sad news for Ramsay.

stophs · #**2558** Posted **Jun 15, 2014, 5:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Strategic finally has a couple bays at 20/20 conditionally leased:

http://www.collierscalgary.net/exclusivelistings/retail/2020%204%20Street%20SW.pdf

Also looks like another office tower podium level redevelopment/retail conversion on 5th ave:

http://www.collierscalgary.net/exclusivelistings/retail/520%20-%205TH%20-%20RETAIL.pdf

Good news about 20/20. A few weeks back it looked like they had a temporary setup for a women's clothing store on the northern retail bay that's conditionally leased. I wonder if that's going to be what moves in. I'm glad there's more smaller retail bays rather than fewer larger tenants.

Interesting about the retail conversation on 5th, that's great. I wonder what will eventually end up across the street in that massive lot. I didn't realize Oxford owned that.

H.E.Pennypacker · #**2559** Posted **Jun 19, 2014, 4:40 PM**

http://globalnews.ca/video/1394688/kensington-bar-changing-dark-alley-into-sunny-patio

Interesting use of space

Jimby · #**2560** Posted **Jun 19, 2014, 10:32 PM**

The Kingsland Market is now the Market on Macleod.