Locke Street

[omro]

I was on Locke today, took my Mum and our realtor to Starbucks. Pumpkin scones, yum

[Jon Dalton]

Courtyard is my favourite lately. They have the best muffins. It's nice to see bad dog back in the game too.

[adam]

Whatever happened to Lulu Lemon moving to Locke? Anyone know?

[SteelTown]

Art in Public Places - Locke Street

Locke Street Public Art Ideas Charrette

The City of Hamilton is currently seeking public input into developing potential themes and suggested locations for a potential public art work on Locke Street between Main Street and Stanley Avenue. In order to determine a theme or themes that are reflective of the surrounding community and the qualities of the Locke Street area the Culture Division is holding a two stage ideas charrette. The public are encouraged to attend the evening portion of the charrette.

Thursday January 8, 2009
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (corner of Locke and Herkimer Streets)
Parish Hall, Lower Level
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

The results of this charrette will help staff to determine the themes that artists competing for the public art commission will be asked to address in their work. They will also be used in judging the appropriateness of the piece in relationship to the community.

If you are unable to attend you may still provide comments by downloading the following comment form, completing it and returning by fax or mail via the contact information on the form. You can also e-mail your comments directly to [email protected]. Please provide your comments by January 23, 2009.

[SteelTown]

They've been renovating that building at the corner of Melbourne and Locke. Before it had that crappy smeared cement facade. They've taken all the facade apart and replaced it with really nice bricks. Looks a lot better. Anyone know what the place will become? It was an antique store.

[omro]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

They've been renovating that building at the corner of Melbourne and Locke. Before it had that crappy smeared cement facade. They've taken all the facade apart and replaced it with really nice bricks. Looks a lot better. Anyone know what the place will become? It was an antique store.

I went into that antique store as it was closing down. The windows all look a lot bigger, but that could be an optical illusion.

[markbarbera]

I am a bit concerned about the number of 'lease expiring' sale signs I have noticed along the Locke Street stretch of late.

[adam]

Originally Posted by omro

I went into that antique store as it was closing down. The windows all look a lot bigger, but that could be an optical illusion.

A month or two ago the front was torn down and reconstructed, it was covered in stucco for years and I remember seeing the brick poking through the stucco in places all soggy and barely any grout between them. Looks like they used reclaimed brick, nice touch. Also those big windows weren't there on the Locke St side of the building before the reconstruction...used to be all stucco! Definite improvement. I'm thinking a bookstore would do really well in this location, plenty of traffic from the nearby starbuck's.. but probably will become a restaurant?

[adam]

Also Waxy's Deli was next door to this building for a short while but has since moved to 2 Duke St just off James South. Great smoked meat sandwiches.

[drpgq]

Antique sellers 'Locked' out as trendy street goes upscale

August 12, 2009
Joan Walters
The Hamilton Spectator
(Aug 12, 2009)

Rising rents and Locke Street's transformation to an upscale boutique-style shopping haven have prompted the area's third antique store to abandon the district for up-and-coming Ottawa Street.

Antiques on Locke, a fixture as the street was gentrified over the past 10 years, reopens Sept. 25 as Antiques Unlocked, amid a new buzz on Ottawa Street that has merchants there buoyed.

"I started it," jokes Patrick Dalton of Decades Collectibles, who moved to Ottawa Street 18 months ago after five years on Locke.

"The first three years (on Locke) were amazing, but then I started to see the focus of the street change," Dalton says. "When I heard Starbucks was coming, I was down on Ottawa Street the next day."

Dalton says he prefers the practical diversity of Ottawa Street's 109 vendors covering just about everything for the home, and more.

"Locke Street is losing its quaintness, becoming boutique-y," says Wendy Kemp, co-owner of Antiques on Locke. "I'm not passing criticism on any of this because it's great, but it's not a destination for antiques any more and I think Ottawa Street is the place."

Long a destination for fabrics, Ottawa Street North was down at the heels less than a decade ago, with plenty of boarded-up vacancies. But the renovation of nearby Centre Mall, and the relocation of its farmers' market to Ottawa Street, are among forces that have boosted recent activity and interest.

"We've seen a lot of changes in the last little while," says Tony Bifano, co-chair of Ottawa Street's Business Improvement Area. "I've lived in the area all my life and there's a new buzz now."

From Barton to Main, the shopping emphasis is reflected in the street's colourful Home Decor banners, part of a marketing campaign that includes TV commercials.

"People want to come back to the street, or start new," Bifano says. "It's a whole new feeling now."

Isabella Sorce, who reopened Precious Things N More on Ottawa Street last weekend after four years on Locke, says the new location has a "hometown atmosphere where everybody talks to you and treats you like their friends."

For Sorce, Locke has lost its old-time sense of community, and "rents have become ridiculous."

Sorce says shoppers appreciate that they can find anything on Ottawa Street -- keys, paint, fabric, antiques and upholstery, but also many of the goods and services of an old-fashioned main street.

Kemp says she loved her time on Locke Street but "it was cheaper for us to buy a building (on Ottawa) than to pay rent on Locke."

The new district is a clear fit.

"Ottawa Street is starting out the same way Locke Street did about 10 to 15 years ago, small ma-and-pa stores," she says.

On Locke, Kemp says, "families aren't coming like they used to, to shop together. It used to be: 'Susie needs a bedroom set so let's go to Locke Street to have a look.'"

Tony Greco, chair of Locke Street's Business Improvement Area, says the waiting list of merchants who want into the area has grown in the past few years as the complexion of the street changed.

"The new niche is going to be more foods, international foods, more cafes with a licence, more bakeries," Greco said.

For Kemp, the move to Ottawa Street makes sense, because it's a decorating destination that can draw customers to her store.

"On Locke Street, you get groups of women, groups of young girls, for the boutiques, the Starbucks. They don't come in those groups to spend money on our type of store."

But on Ottawa, there's already a steady stream of decorators, home design aficionados and similar-minded shoppers by the droves.

"When we tell people we're moving to Ottawa Street, nine times out of 10 they say, 'Oh, we were just there last week.'"

[email protected]

905-526-3302

[flar]

All part of the evolution of a city. This is actually a good thing, and if Ottawa St. gentrifies, there is still King East, Barton, Kenilworth, the Delta, Concession and pretty much all of downtown that antique stores can start moving to.

[SteelTown]

Lulu next?

[SteelTown]

By the way there's a motion to build a city car park at Locke St.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

By the way there's a motion to build a city car park at Locke St.

Oh gawd, not fronting Locke, I hope?

[highwater]

Ugh. Where?

[SteelTown]

http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyre...parkingMcH.pdf

Potential municipal parking lot, Locke Street South Commercial area

That staff be directed to explore the feasibility of creating one or more municipal carparks in the Locke Street South commercial area, and to assess, through a Request for Information (RFI), the level of interest of adjacent property owners to lease/sell/partner with the City in this endeavour.

Motion brought in by McHattie.

[realcity]

Diversifying the stores will be good. Maybe it will spread to Bartonville

[omro]

I think it's great for Ottawa St, I love what they have there already. Definitely one of my favourite streets for a nose about. Ah, to have my own place to furnish.

[SteelTown]

Yummmm!
Dragons' Den defeat couldn't melt chef's chocolate dreams

September 05, 2009
Mary K. Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/629411

His Dragons' Den deal went down in flames. But like that other mythical creature, the phoenix, Marc Forrat arose from the ashes and took flight.

The 37-year-old French chocolatier has just opened a little shop on Locke Street where he will sell his signature truffles and other chocolate creations.

He has bounced back from the disappointment of first winning, then losing on the CBC venture capital reality show, Dragons' Den.

"I was devastated, borderline depressed," says Forrat, born in Brazil to Algerian parents, trained in France, married to a Canadian and living in London, Ont. "The crush was unbelievable." Forrat appeared on the show in October 2006, during its first season.

Encouraged by London's Small Business Centre -- which had helped him open a chocolate boutique in the city's Covent Garden Market and a French bistro downtown -- Forrat was among 1,800 would-be entrepreneurs to apply and 36 contestants invited to be on the show.

As per the show's format, he made his pitch for $200,000 in capital before a panel of five "dragons," wealthy business people who would determine whether his business plan was viable and worth investing in.

Within 39 minutes, says Forrat, he had himself a 50-50 partnership with one of the dragons and the financing to expand his chocolate-making enterprise nationwide.

"I cried all the way home," Forrat recalls. "I felt like I'd won the lottery."

But his elation was short-lived.

Forrat says that three months later he was told the deal was off and that his backer, citing creative differences, had decided the chocolate business "wasn't the right fit."

"I got my butt kicked by reality. It was completely devastating, but it gave me the energy to come back and recoup," says Forrat, who'd prefer to focus on where he is going rather than where he has been. "After the first six months, it was a relief."

He says he no longer believes that "50 per cent of a big pie is better than 100 per cent of a small pie."

With full control over his little but promising company, Forrat still has every intention of spreading across Canada.

"I would love to be another Bernard Callebaut," he says, referring to the Calgary-based, fifth generation Belgian chocolatier who now has nearly 30 stores in Canada.

Although Forrat closed his bistro, he still has the Covent Garden location, a concession in London's Remark Fresh Market and a location in Yellowknife. He also has a site in London for corporate offices and overflow production.

At a friend's suggestion, he visited Locke Street in June, met the owners, "fell in love with the place," negotiated the lease and set to work renovating the modest space with his brother-in-law and apprentice, Roger Carlos.

Forrat, who worked in construction and renovations before turning to chocolate full-time, spruced up the former sandwich shop with a palette of Provence yellow, cayenne red, black and, of course, chocolate brown.

The lines and furnishings of La Chocolaterie Forrat are simple and clean, dominated by display cases for his chocolates and truffles. Forrat says he's not a "glass, marble and granite everywhere" kind of guy and would rather invest in the product than in chi-chi decor.

He has about 250 flavours in his repertoire, including lavender and Sambuca, but will carry only 30 of the more traditional flavours in the new store until he determines Hamiltonians' tastes.

His chocolate is kosher, gluten-free and extraordinarily delicious.

Forrat's plan is to establish a presence not only in a municipal market, private market and a storefront, as he already has, but also at a seasonal site, such as the waterfront, a mall and a strip mall.

"I will reproduce one of each and when I have 12, two of each concept, I'll be able to say 'It's working, it's safe, and we can go Canada-wide.'"

Forrat believes the key to his success will be common sense, passion for the product, commitment to the finest quality, ethical business practices and treating the customers "like people, not wallets."

"Put me beside every Laura Secord, every Purdy's, every Godiva, every Callebaut and I guarantee you will have a better experience in our store and that we will revolutionize how chocolate is sold."

[SteelTown]

A peek at Hamilton's newest chocolate shop

http://www.thespec.com/videogallery/629179