Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Corydon area

[buzzg]

The Canteen Coffee Shop has opened on Stafford, in the long vacant space attached to The Grove. It's owned by The Grove I believe, and serves sandwiches and light fare as well.

https://www.instagram.com/canteen_stafford/

[Tacheguy]

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

There's now a 'coming soon' sign on 111 Osborne (former Hempyrean) with a logo that looks like 'M.S.' or 'S.M.' (This is the space between Take Care and the former Desart/future Pho Hoang).

Not sure what's going in there, but that fills out all the remaining vacancies in the Adelaide Block.

Hempyrean is no more? Bought a parka from them a few years back, which I use for river skating lol. Wonder what happened to them, if they are out of business totally or moved somewhere. The guys there seemed a little different I must admit..

[buzzg]

Gong Cha Tea House is opening end of August on Osborne, IIRC above After Dark. It's a bubble tea and beverage franchise from China that recently came to Canada.

Apparently it's amazing, and unlike pretty much every other one here, they use real juices and tapioca, as opposed to the standard powdered teas here.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Gong Cha Tea House is opening end of August on Osborne, IIRC above After Dark. It's a bubble tea and beverage franchise from China that recently came to Canada.

Apparently it's amazing, and unlike pretty much every other one here, they use real juices and tapioca, as opposed to the standard powdered teas here.

I'm excited about Gong Cha, but surprised they've chosen a location with *zero* street level visibility. I guess their target market will seek them out.

[Wolf13]

Time to visit Osborne again... seems that little slump is ending...

[borkborkbork]

"The tin is going in... "



Looks like the second floor of 257 Osborne (the floor with the great patio) is being set up as a coworking office space.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmQdDvbn...kachukjonathan

[buzzg]

^If you look at the first picture that guy posted, it says "tower 2 breaking ground in a few weeks" – it hasn't happened yet AFAIK, but must be coming soon!

[buzzg]

Seems like the city forgot to finish off the streetscaping job on Osborne. All the new sidewalk lamps are are still in giant cut out squares of gravel. Never went back and filled in with asphalt. Looks brutal and is dangerous.

—

Also, Upstairs installed garage doors as part of their ongoing expansion and renos, pretty wicked. Opens up a massive space to the patio now.

—

The old Scotiabank on Corydon has been sold. Also, the for sale/lease signs have been taken down from the old convenience store and interior demo is happening – not sure if it’s going to be torn down for that office building, or just being renovated.

It’s also pretty cool/awesome to see a crane right on McMillan & Harrow building the new condo building. Orlikow be damned.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The old Scotiabank on Corydon has been sold. Also, the for sale/lease signs have been taken down from the old convenience store and interior demo is happening – not sure if it’s going to be torn down for that office building, or just being renovated.

The Scotiabank building is getting interior demos done for an office... Tactica Interactive is the new owner, so I would imagine they'll be relocating from St. Boniface to here.

Not sure what's going on with the old grocery store (Coydon and Hugo).

[buzzg]

So we know Delta 9 is going in on Stradbrook... i just found out Tweed (dispensary arm of Canopy Growth) is going in the old Second Cup, and Tokyo Smoke is taking one of the units borne of Jekyll & Hyde’s. The 4th approved distributor is looking for a village location as well.

We’re going to have a dispensary invasion on Osborne like Corydon had with sushi. Think it will be great though. Heard from several leasing agents that all these new spots going in on Osborne are paying VERY high rents, but all the landlords are doing major property improvements as a result, which we’ve already seen quite a bit of.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by buzzg

So we know Delta 9 is going in on Stradbrook... i just found out Tweed (dispensary arm of Canopy Growth) is going in the old Second Cup, and Tokyo Smoke is taking one of the units borne of Jekyll & Hyde’s. The 4th approved distributor is looking for a village location as well.

We’re going to have a dispensary invasion on Osborne like Corydon had with sushi. Think it will be great though. Heard from several leasing agents that all these new spots going in on Osborne are paying VERY high rents, but all the landlords are doing major property improvements as a result, which we’ve already seen quite a bit of.

People had previously said here that Za Pizza was looking at the Second Cup location. But... it sounds like Tweed has taken it... and, weirdly, there's a commercial listing looking for a franchisee for a Za Pizza at 103 Osborne (https://www.realtor.ca/Commercial/Bu...anitoba-R3l1Y4), which is where Silver Lotus is currently located... all very confusing!

[Wolf13]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Heard from several leasing agents that all these new spots going in on Osborne are paying VERY high rents, but all the landlords are doing major property improvements as a result, which we’ve already seen quite a bit of.

YES

This whole time we were panicking but it turns out that landlords and agents were doing the RIGHT thing... getting the rent the area needs and upgrading accordingly..

[trueviking]

does that mean the second cup will have blacked out windows?

I've heard some of these dispensaries are like coffee shops as well.....hopefully that is the case.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by trueviking

does that mean the second cup will have blacked out windows?

I've heard some of these dispensaries are like coffee shops as well.....hopefully that is the case.

Here's what the city is imposing:

"In addition, retail stores will have the highest of standards including opaque windows, controlled access, and basic signage and will reflect a high-end shopping environment that has a bright open concept."

So, in other words, there's going to be a substantial set of really key Osborne locations that will be more or less dead to the street.

And, because it's election season, there's no way to get the city to reconsider in time. The retailers will all design their storefronts to comply. So disappointing.

[trueviking]

That sucks. Such a key location. And a big space. That’s disappointing

[esquire]

It's nice that some of the vacant spaces are going to be filled, but it does seem as though the tenants moving in are not quite at the same level as those going out. Basil's and Second Cup for Pete's Place and a dispensary, to name a couple of examples, is not exactly an even trade. And then you have the Osborne Village Inn which has gone from being vacant to just looking out and out abandoned these days.

Despite the BIZ's cheerleading, there's no question that the Osborne strip is languishing.

[buzzg]

All of the empty storefronts are currently undergoing Reno’s for new tenants, so that’s a weird statement to make. I’d say second cup for Tweed is even.. these are going to be nice, busy shops. Hopefully the industry and public campaign the city enough to relax the opaque windows rules.

That statement from the city is such a contradiction. Opaque widndows and basic signage do not reflect a high-end shopping experience.

@TV all it takes is someone with your voice and reach to bring it up on twitter, and we’ll do our parts to amplify!

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by buzzg

That statement from the city is such a contradiction. Opaque widndows and basic signage do not reflect a high-end shopping experience.

Agreed, but I still suspect the windows at the former Second Cup will be 100% frosted. No retailer is going to ignore the requirement to have opaque windows and find themselves in a fight with the city.

[buzzg]

^Oh definitely, I'm saying there needs to be a petition to the city started to reverse that. Even if it's maybe required within X number of km of a school.

We don't have any storefront restrictions on liquor, wine, or beer stores – what makes weed such an issue? It's going to be legal.

It's super disheartening and the city should be worried that we're going to have numerous high-visibility storefronts in premium spaces on prominent streets completely blanked out. Already confirmed 5 prominent locations in the Exchange and OV.

[esquire]

^ It'll be a throwback to the days when the porno movie rental places all had frosted windows!