Winnipeg | 300 Main St.- Phase II 360 Main St. | 465 Ft | 42F | Completed - Page 112

esquire · #**2221** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 3:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoryB

Weston Foods (aka Superstore/Shoppers) has being testing a model where Shoppers have a more extended range of food than what you see at stores here including more common fresh produce. It is possible once the 300 Main renovations finish the Shoppers will expand into the former Chamberlains space and offer a range of groceries similar to the larger suburban locations with extra focus on fresh items too. Toss in a dedicated hold area for online orders for Superstore and there is a decent option for people living near there if they don't want to drive to a full range store.

Yeah, this scenario sounds way more plausible than a supermarket occupying an awkwardly accessed, standalone building between two downtown towers. Sort of a super Shoppers Drug Mart with a beefed up grocery section. Some of the suburban locations of Shoppers and Rexall are already doing something like that.

rkspec · #**2222** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 3:58 PM**

Some local shoppers already stock fresh fruits

Wolf13 · #**2223** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 4:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ediger

Who's talking about an artisan sausage shop? Something like a Miller's Meats or a Vic's Fruit Market would be a welcome addition that I think could do pretty well downtown.

It was clearly a joke

And while I'd appreciate all those things downtown, they clearly don't replace the landlord's spacial need for a grocery store, or the consumer's need for a grocery store

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Doubtful. Few people are going to want to lug groceries from the supermarket to wherever the car's parked and then drive home to wherever.

The people who buy meaningful amounts of groceries (i.e. more than just a couple of items) are going to be the ones that live downtown, and there is not enough of a critical mass near Portage and Main yet to really justify a supermarket there.

Tons of people in urban centres walk with their groceries to their homes, just not massive cart fulls like in suburbia. This would be no different. A small walk to a car? Not a problem. This has been shown in other markets.

Not only would their be 500-600 residents purchasing items, but that parkade houses 1000 vehicles right below, more stalls than most grocery stores. And it's regularly near capacity. Plus there is lots of parking nearby, plus local residents; none of this is farfetched, it's just a state of the greater industry.

However, if a Shoppers' expansion was pursued, that would be a strong consolation prize.

windypeg · #**2224** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 4:55 PM**

^^ Yeah, people aren't going to lug a whole week's worth of groceries around downtown after work, but that's not how urban grocers work and you don't even have to go to other market to see it. The typical customer at the River ave Safeway has a basket with a few items, not a cart with $300 of groceries in it. I would assume lots of people would stop in at a downtown grocery store to pick up the odd item or two that they need for dinner before heading home.

esquire · #**2225** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 5:19 PM**

^ Good luck making a go of it with your transactions involving mostly 5 items or less. Come on guys, there's a reason no supermarket is setting up shop at Winnipeg Square.

WhipperSnapper · #**2226** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 5:19 PM**

I must be missing something here. Many people in urban centres do bulk purchases for the week and walk it home too. They own folding shopping carts. It's faster and easier than pulling the car out of a multi-floor parkade, loading/unloading all for a few blocks.

esquire · #**2227** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 5:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I must be missing something here. Many people in urban centres do bulk purchases for the week and walk it home too. They own folding shopping carts. It's faster and easier than pulling the car out of a multi-floor parkade, loading/unloading all for a few blocks.

The issue at Winnipeg Square is that not very many people live within a few blocks of there. 300 Main will add a few hundred people, but in reality a supermarket there would be depending on random office workers at Portage and Main towers staying around downtown after work to buy groceries. And there would be about as many of those as there are office workers hanging around after work to shop at The Bay or Portage Place... i.e., not many.

ediger · #**2228** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 6:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf13

It was clearly a joke

And while I'd appreciate all those things downtown, they clearly don't replace the landlord's spacial need for a grocery store, or the consumer's need for a grocery store

Figured it was some hyperbole, just using it as a gateway to make the point I made before. And I agree, smaller stores wouldn't fit this particular square footage but if the developers stopped trying to attract this mythical downtown full service grocer and planned their spaces for smaller retailers it wouldn't be an issue. Realistically one butcher shop or one veggie mart isn't going to cut it downtown. I'd like to see each cluster of residential with it's own butcher, produce store, pharmacy, bakery and small/medium sized grocery store each in it's own unit within a block or two of each other.

buzzg · #**2229** Posted **Jun 15, 2018, 11:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ediger

Who's talking about an artisan sausage shop? Something like a Miller's Meats or a Vic's Fruit Market would be a welcome addition that I think could do pretty well downtown.

Miller's would be great – they carry a fairly good selection of local produce as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Nice photo. BellMTS got their name up on every nook and cranny of those buildings.

Except it still says MTS on the pillar sign on Main, and the banners haven't been replaced, lol. I don't think they added any signs where there weren't already MTS ones.

OTA in Winnipeg · #**2230** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 1:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

The issue at Winnipeg Square is that not very many people live within a few blocks of there. 300 Main will add a few hundred people, but in reality a supermarket there would be depending on random office workers at Portage and Main towers staying around downtown after work to buy groceries. And there would be about as many of those as there are office workers hanging around after work to shop at The Bay or Portage Place... i.e., not many.

York Estates, Place Louis Riel, The Avenue. upcoming Lindsay Bldg, Portage Place Towers, The Scott Block, Holiday Towers. Condos adjacent to that parkade on Portage, East Exchange, West Exchange, all of south Broadway, that place on Edmonton with all the families in it, multiple hotels in the area, former Sheraton - now apartments, residences - a lot of them in high/medium rises north of Portage, TNS apartments, Sutton apartments, Glasshouse, the former Medical Arts Building currently being converted into apartments and a few older blocks hanging on downtown still filled with people and of course the upcoming 300 Main St. There's a lot of people and I'm sure I missed a few. And a lot of them attached to the indoor walkways might I add.

That's a lot of people around and more so as time goes by, The Bay basement grocery was always busy and it was stupid expensive. There is definitely room for a grocery of some sort in the downtown. No question. And I didn't even mention the people who work there who would definitely make use of this service.

Wpg_Guy · #**2231** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 1:26 AM**

I was hoping we would see a loblaws like store similar to maple leaf gardens, that’s a great grocery store

OTA in Winnipeg · #**2232** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 1:32 AM**

This would be a positive addition if the larger concept is such a risk:

PhongNguyen · #**2233** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 1:33 AM**

I saw a lot of construction workers at 300 Main site. Look the buillding is officially under construction.

Wpg_Guy · #**2234** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 2:00 AM**

https://instagram.fybz2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/...82891462393191_7461675081664561152_n.jpg

buzzg · #**2235** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 2:16 AM**

We’ve gotta be approaching 20,000 residents downtown. IIRC we were at 16k 2 years ago? Gotta think a small footprint grocer or expanded Shoppers would crush it. Shoppers could easily stock Superstore product now.

Also that view of 360 Main looks it look MONSTROUS.

esquire · #**2236** Posted **Jun 16, 2018, 2:36 AM**

Population is growing and the potential is there, but I just don't see 300 Main as a logical place for a supermarket. A lot of the places OTA mentioned are closer to existing grocery stores than to 300 Main. If I still lived in South Broadway there is little chance that I'd be grocery shopping at Winnipeg Square on a regular basis.

Elsewhere in downtown yes. Closer to the people.