Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Fort Rouge

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Heard from a friend involved that someone is about to sign a lease on the former American Apparel space. She said "you will likely be disappointed" and that it was "pretty boring commercial" - will update when I hear.

usually means a gynecologist..

[esquire]

Haha... maybe that, or Money Mart.

In other fun Osborne Village news, signs are up in Hempyrean's windows announcing their impending closure.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by esquire

Haha... maybe that, or Money Mart.

*braces for dollar tree*

[Titan22]

Hello everyone. I've been following the thread for a while and I thought it's time I joined in. Regarding American apparel space, it's being leased by Anytime fitness. You can see it on their website. Definitely better than dollar tree.

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by Titan22

Hello everyone. I've been following the thread for a while and I thought it's time I joined in. Regarding American apparel space, it's being leased by Anytime fitness. You can see it on their website. Definitely better than dollar tree.

Welcome, and Thanks for the tip. Not the most exciting addition to the village, but a 24 HR gym would be a useful amenity for residents.

[esquire]

It's like the 80s again with gyms popping up everywhere.

[Urban recluse]

Very good.

[buzzg]

Yeah, at least it's something that will be animated at all hours. Hopefully they leave the windows clear unlike at Snap.

[windypeg]

Wasn't a gym supposed to go into the space above Shoppers? what ever happened to that?

[biguc]

Now if only Popeyes would allow more franchises, I could open one in the TD bank space and make more money than God selling supplements to all the gym rats in the area.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by biguc

Now if only Popeyes would allow more franchises, I could open one in the TD bank space and make more money than God selling supplements to all the gym rats in the area.

oh christ no

there's already a fucking tanning salon in that strip. between that, "Club OV", and the three 24 hr gyms in/opening in the village, the place is already supersaturated with douchiness.

[borkborkbork]

on another note -- anyone know what's going into the A&W that just closed (between Mac's and Subway near the Gas Station Theatre)?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

on another note -- anyone know what's going into the A&W that just closed (between Mac's and Subway near the Gas Station Theatre)?

Are you sure it closed? They just did some exterior and interior upgrades recently.

One thing I've always been surprised about is that 7-11 hasn't made a play for a location on Osborne. They'd probably take huge chunk of business from Mac's.

[borkborkbork]

So people were talking about what a great job the Downtown BIZ has done in another thread.

I was wondering what people thought of the Osborne Village BIZ. Obviously, with way fewer member businesses (and therefore fewer contributors to the levy), I presume it runs on a fraction of the Downtown BIZ's budget.

Stephanie Meilleur seems nice (despite not living in OV), but when I think of the things the BIZ has taken on, it feels like a mixed record:

(1) Canada Day. Even though the lion's share of the spoils go to food trucks and vendors from outside of the OV area, this still feels like a win for the area. It's lively, draws people in, reminds them that this is a place worth going.

(2) Taste the Village. I live in the neighbourhood and barely knew this was happening. Maybe it's successful and I just haven't seen it.

(3) Art Alley. Strikes me as pretty positive. It's a beautification thing, but contributes to the local art scene as well, and helps give more of a sense of place to some of the 'corners' of the village -- alleys and back lanes.

(4) Winter Classic. This one seems ridiculous. I can't see any positive spillover. People drive in with their vans of hockey gear, play a game of shinny, and then pack right up again. There might be a little spillover to restaurants or bars, but I'd be surprised. There never seems to be much of a crowd beyond family/friends of the players.

(5) Streetscaping. Terrible. There's this sad string of lights over the intersection at Stradbrook that has like 5 lights still clinging to life. They installed these giant multicolour box lights that look giant and expensive but add nothing to the corner/street life (other than illuminating the corner parking lot they're sitting on, and these little undersized round stools that I've seen used by panhandlers and nobody else... when I see what places like Sherbrooke have done with lights and streetscaping, OV looks even worse by comparison.

Am I missing anything? Is it just that the downtown BIZ does a particularly good job, or is it that the OV BIZ really underperforms?

[EndoftheBeginning]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

on another note -- anyone know what's going into the A&W that just closed (between Mac's and Subway near the Gas Station Theatre)?

It's not closed - saw people inside yesterday.

Good thoughtful post on the OV Biz though. I've lived in OV for 25 years and find myself less and less involved in those things. That's probably natural as a person ages though - Canada Day becomes less about the party and more about the inconvenience and street closures and buses rumbling down your otherwise peaceful street. Had no idea about Taste the Village.

I'm not sure what it would take to get a better vibe going - I wish one of the side streets could develop into something like Rue Prince Arthur in Montreal or that there was a kind of urban square like Square St. Louis in Montreal. Places where the density of the area could congregate and focus on (even like Central Park in Winnipeg). To me, those kinds of places feel alive and central to the neighbourhoods they are in. OV has the strip, but it's not a place to linger because of traffic noise and lack of space for pedestrians. The off-block areas along River and Stradbrook east and west of Osborne provide that to some extent, but it's still quite limited.

What concerns me is how that space above Shoppers can still be vacant. How hard is it to lease out 5,500 sq. ft? It's even got a roof-top patio area. That is not a promising sign for the health of the neighbourhood (unless of course Shindico is trying to extract some unreasonable lease rate for the space and can afford to eat the vacancy cost until someone ponies up).



I guess this was less about the BIZ aspect, so circling around back to that, I don't see much value added service there. Maybe they need to be less outward focused (gather people City wide with the big festivals) and more inward focused to develop awareness among their local customer base.

[Urban recluse]

I think she is doing a lousy job, as is Brian Timmerman (Exchange Biz)

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by EndoftheBeginning

What concerns me is how that space above Shoppers can still be vacant. How hard is it to lease out 5,500 sq. ft? It's even got a roof-top patio area. That is not a promising sign for the health of the neighbourhood (unless of course Shindico is trying to extract some unreasonable lease rate for the space and can afford to eat the vacancy cost until someone ponies up).
.

Had no idea about that patio. It looks awesome, except judging from the picture, it looks out not onto the Osborne street life, but onto the roof/air conditioning units, etc. of the Shoppers:

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Yep
image hosting more than 5mb

[Cyro]

Miss the live music venue(s), although not a huge draw, it did bring down a younger demographic to the area nightly willing to spend at other local establishments.

[Titan22]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

So people were talking about what a great job the Downtown BIZ has done in another thread.

I was wondering what people thought of the Osborne Village BIZ. Obviously, with way fewer member businesses (and therefore fewer contributors to the levy), I presume it runs on a fraction of the Downtown BIZ's budget.

Stephanie Meilleur seems nice (despite not living in OV), but when I think of the things the BIZ has taken on, it feels like a mixed record:

(1) Canada Day. Even though the lion's share of the spoils go to food trucks and vendors from outside of the OV area, this still feels like a win for the area. It's lively, draws people in, reminds them that this is a place worth going.

(2) Taste the Village. I live in the neighbourhood and barely knew this was happening. Maybe it's successful and I just haven't seen it.

(3) Art Alley. Strikes me as pretty positive. It's a beautification thing, but contributes to the local art scene as well, and helps give more of a sense of place to some of the 'corners' of the village -- alleys and back lanes.

(4) Winter Classic. This one seems ridiculous. I can't see any positive spillover. People drive in with their vans of hockey gear, play a game of shinny, and then pack right up again. There might be a little spillover to restaurants or bars, but I'd be surprised. There never seems to be much of a crowd beyond family/friends of the players.

(5) Streetscaping. Terrible. There's this sad string of lights over the intersection at Stradbrook that has like 5 lights still clinging to life. They installed these giant multicolour box lights that look giant and expensive but add nothing to the corner/street life (other than illuminating the corner parking lot they're sitting on, and these little undersized round stools that I've seen used by panhandlers and nobody else... when I see what places like Sherbrooke have done with lights and streetscaping, OV looks even worse by comparison.

Am I missing anything? Is it just that the downtown BIZ does a particularly good job, or is it that the OV BIZ really underperforms?

I think that OV BIZ seriously under performs. It almost seems like they just do not care. It does not feel right that the strip on Osborne is doing as bad as it is considering the high population density in the area. That streetscaping is truly embarressing. Is it possible that the BIZ is harming retail on Osborne with bad policies that are keeping away major retailers?