Quote:
Originally Posted by djforsberg
Too bad that huge empty lot is on the other side of the strip mall from Co-op.
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Ideally it would be nice to see the Co-op store and both strip malls to the south get torn down and redeveloped (including the former ESSO land) for perhaps condos, a hotel, or retail. This probably would never happen, and certainly not during the present economic slowdown.
Trivia time: The strip mall (with Robin's Donuts, etc) has to be at least 50 years old, and the smaller strip mall next to it (with Western Pizza) is probably older yet. The smaller strip mall was originally the Supermatic Car Wash (which had a great neon sign). There was also a small walk-up ice cream shop called Pink Pony at the front of the car wash. That portion of the building was torn down years ago. In the '60's, sometimes my friends and I would ride our bikes there to get a cheap five cent soft ice cream cone.
And speaking of the Co-op store, as everyone knows it was originally a Safeway store. This was not the first Safeway store on that property. The first one was torn down to make way for the bigger store, which was later enlarged slightly to incorporate a new facade to hide its mid-century architecture. Along with the original Safeway, there was a walk-up Dairy Queen on the corner (Albert & 25th) identical to the one that still exists in Saskatoon on 8th Street East.