The Great Canadian Towns and Villages Thread

[csbvan]

A few small towns in the Boundary Country of southern B.C. from a recent camping trip (near the Okanagan):

Greenwood
20220820_114822 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_114939 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_115233 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_115042 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_115032 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_115555 by csbvancouver, on Flickr


Grand Forks:

20220820_123649 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_124311 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_124535 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_124801 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_124436 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_131624 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_135929 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_125530 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

[Masoliantekw]

Beautiful weekend. Nice weather. And two 60 km bike rides around home.
Here are some of the villages in my area.

Saint-Casimir
(very lively village where I happen to own a house)


Saint-Gilbert
(the smallest place around, essentially farming and a dead tree)


Deschambault
(and its beautiful central place)


Grondines
(nestled along the St-Laurent shore)


Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade
(more famous in the winter for ice fishing)


Saint-Prosper-de-Champlain
(a charming yet unknown place)


Saint-Stanislas
(along Batiscan river, the village was formerly known as Deux-Rivières or Saint-Stanislas-de-la-Rivière-des-Envies)


Saint-Adelphe
(also on Batiscan river, we see the church on the opposite shore, over the roofs)
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Saint-Ubalde
(next to Saint-Casimir, in the Laurentian hills)


Saint-Thuribe
(last step before coming back home, the village is behind the peeing cow)

[megadude]

Quebec never fails to impress with its churches.

[megadude]

Love the contrast between the material and colours on the municipal building.

And I don't know why more stores don't paint the storefront in a vibrant colour so as to stand out. On some fancier streets it's not needed or the city might actually require that go through approval but in other places, it can really help out.

There's a couple of ice cream joints in Thornton, ON, just south of Barrie. Well, one is not dedicated to ice cream like the other but you can see the lineups in the summer for the more fun looking place. If you don't want to wait too long, you can go across the street but it doesn't look like anybody really wants to because it looks like any other store. Perhaps if they painted it I'm thinking that psychologically, more people would be drawn to it.

Originally Posted by csbvan

A few small towns in the Boundary Country of southern B.C. from a recent camping trip (near the Okanagan):


20220820_115233 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

20220820_124311 by csbvancouver, on Flickr

[megadude]

Drove through downtown Orillia. Looking good! So glad that all these main streets are happening and not becoming depleted. 95% of people don't care about these things so it's nice to see there's still enough people walking around and shopping in these places.

I passed through Coldwater right after, which is pretty small so can't really criticize it for this, but it's too bad it didn't grow in a typical way like other downtowns. Too many spaces between structures. It has some interesting buildings though. Would have looked cooler if they lined the street uninterrupted. At least the two gas stations are at the beginning of the downtown and not in the middle.

And when is the last time you saw the old school Beer Store sign? Used to seeing the next two iterations listed below.































https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-br...4939024?cache=


https://www.thebeerstore.ca/ownershi...pen-ownership/

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Masoliantekw

Beautiful weekend. Nice weather. And two 60 km bike rides around home.
Here are some of the villages in my area.

Great tour! The Riviere Saint-Anne valley was a part of the country I knew practically nothing about, and your post made me look it up.

Further upstream, Saint-Raymond looks interesting too.

[MolsonExport]

The bearded dude with the 2 two-fours is pleased as punch.

[MolsonExport]

O-tacular's favourite store! (Sears)

[Masoliantekw]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Great tour! The Riviere Saint-Anne valley was a part of the country I knew practically nothing about, and your post made me look it up.

Further upstream, Saint-Raymond looks interesting too.

Thanks! It's indeed a nice region. I posted about St-Raymond 2 years ago if you want to check it out. Very nice outdoorsy town. La Vallée Bras-du-Nord, next to the town, is a popular destination for hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, etc. The landscape somewhat reminds me of the Saguenay region.

[Binour]

Originally Posted by Masoliantekw

Thanks! It's indeed a nice region. I posted about St-Raymond 2 years ago if you want to check it out. Very nice outdoorsy town. La Vallée Bras-du-Nord, next to the town, is a popular destination for hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, etc. The landscape somewhat reminds me of the Saguenay region.

Those waterfalls are one of the main attraction of the «Vallée Bras-du-Nord».
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjNAM_JLWDg

[Loco101]

All three Beer Stores in Timmins still have the orange signs and also haven't been renovated inside since at least the early 1990s. You have to order at the counter at all three as well and they roll everything out to you.

I think that all of the Beer Stores in my region also still have the orange signs with the exception of Kapuskasing which has the next generation one but not the most recent.

[megadude]

I wonder how they make the decision on which stores to not renovate or change the sign. Based on revenue? Population? Distance?

The one in Penetanguishene, which world champion curler Glenn Howard manages, or used to, is the second last generation of sign. Pop. of Penetang is 9k. The one I've been to a couple times in Elmave, pop. 2,500, didn't have the front sign but rather a hanging sign aka blade sign like that Sears one above that actually ruins the aesthetic of the street. This location closed though. They at least have an LCBO still.

I noticed last month at the few I passed in Whitby and Oshawa that they have signs that say "(Insert neighbourhood or street name here) Meet Beer". Adding a little bit of personal touch.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by megadude

I wonder how they make the decision on which stores to not renovate or change the sign. Based on revenue? Population? Distance?

Well the Timmins locations have extremely high sales volumes so maybe that's why they don't really need to advertise and change the look of them. There aren't by-laws or complaints by residents pressuring them to update and renovate.

While I really can't stand the Beer Store, the way it is operated and owned by two large international brewing companies, I do kind of enjoy the feeling of going back in time when I enter them in Timmins. I make the employees work hard because I don't order the big sellers so they really have to search hard. And they normally don't have half the things I ask for.

[MolsonExport]

The Beer Store is a worthless anachronism. Shitty service, shitty hours, shitty prices, shitty ambience. It is just shitty.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The Beer Store is a worthless anachronism. Shitty service, shitty hours, shitty prices, shitty ambience. It is just shitty.

Ontario's entire alcohol retail system is a shitty, shitty, worthless anachronism. The pandemic moved things up to about 1950

The private bottle shop I've been frequenting in St. Catharines has to give me a token food item with my purchase (they do freezies at room temp because they also make a good buffer between two wine bottles).

Ironically it was the small villages in Ontario that had private alcohol retail - sort of - before Covid. General stores would have alcohol in towns the LCBO/Beer Store couldn't be arsed to service themselves. "Authorised Retailers" they're called.

[le calmar]

I agree with the above. I don’t think you guys emphasize how shitty it is though, so I’d like to hear Al Ski’s point of view.

[niwell]

A lot of bottle shops have given up on the food item as far as I can tell. Plus most specialty food shops seem to sell wine and beer now as the Province started handing out licenses freely over COVID, which simplifies things. My only real complaints are the lack of discounts for products offered through the LCBO (brewery/vineyard direct purchases can be discounted) and the general (un)availability of Canadian products from outside Ontario. The latter is a much larger issue experienced Canada-wide, and most shops here do have a great selection of Ontario craft products.

Alcohol sales are byzantine across North America and Ontario is probably more accessible than the overall average at this point. Plenty of places in the US where you can't buy booze on Sundays still or need to ask for hard alcohol from behind a glassed in counter. Pennsylvania is particularly awful.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The Beer Store is a worthless anachronism. Shitty service, shitty hours, shitty prices, shitty ambience. It is just shitty.

I'm honestly surprised The Beer Store is still in business -- very few people from my generation (at least that I know of) get their alcohol there. It's just an awful shopping experience and I'm sure something will have to change for them to survive in the long run

[JHikka]

A lot of Beer Stores have been demolished for new developments and I don't think very many of them have been replaced like-for-like. I'd assume their number of locations has declined in recent years, as they should.

[MolsonExport]

I laugh every time when I see the conveyor belt. It is just so ridiculous. Having to order beer from some dick with a microphone.

I realize that most are self-serve, but it is still really shitty.