Starbucks finding home in bustling Dundas
Dundas Starbucks Starbucks is opening a store in downtown Dundas in March.
http://www.thespec.com/news/business...ustling-dundas
Downtown Dundas is squeezing in yet another commercial building on its already busy King West strip.
A two-storey office building with a Starbucks on the street-level floor is nearly ready for business.
A spokesperson for the American coffee company said the store is slated to open in March.
Doug McKerlie, owner of the 4,000-square-foot building, said he hasn’t had time to market the office space yet.
“Ideally, we’d like some tech or creative company to locate there,” he said.
Allyson Wenzowski, chair of the Dundas division of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, says there’s a lot more commercial activity in the downtown than the small-town atmosphere would suggest.
“People are moving from Toronto, or retiring ... they come for that small-town feeling but want to be part of a big city,” she said. “There are offices above stores, law offices ... in an old heritage home … an industrial area at the end of Hatt Street. There’s a lot more here than meets the eye.”
Wenzowski said she’s not worried about the competition for already established coffee shops such as Domestique-Café Cyclo Sportif and Espresso Café and, of course, two downtown Tim Hortons.
“I don’t think the market is saturated. There are lots of new condos going in as well.”
A 2010 study by the City of Hamilton also found downtown Dundas has a strong retail mix with a lot of “youthful energy” and a “low vacancy rate.”
It found that in 2009 the vacancy rate was 2 per cent.
Some of the retail mix included merchandise at 35 per cent, convenience goods at 13 per cent, food service at 14 per cent, and other services at 32 per cent.
Starbucks itself has a reputation of locating in healthy, established neighbourhoods.
“Starbucks continually looks for opportunities in communities where we believe we will be a relevant and a positive addition,” the company said in a statement.
Prev
Linear Mode
