General Retail News

[TransitZilla]

IKEA planning application is online now:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__7JX2Y1

-there is parking underneath the store (about 600 spots)
-the bank/restaurants remain
-there are plans for a future pedestrian bridge to a Transitway station to be located on the north side of the Queensway

[Richard Eade]

So the IKEA building will actually be THREE floors tall. The first 'floor' appears to be ground level parking under the building. This building will stick up above the surroundings.

Also, energy-wise, is it smart to force everyone to use an elevator to get to the building? The new Canadian Tire on Carling is built this way. Everyone must take the escalator/elevator. So much for sustainability.

[Rathgrith]

I like the idea about the Transitway ped bridge. But who would pay for it? I bet that the City can push IKEA to get some funds out of it.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

So the IKEA building will actually be THREE floors tall. The first 'floor' appears to be ground level parking under the building. This building will stick up above the surroundings.

Also, energy-wise, is it smart to force everyone to use an elevator to get to the building? The new Canadian Tire on Carling is built this way. Everyone must take the escalator/elevator. So much for sustainability.

What's wrong with an escalator or an elevator? Are we going to build our entire city with single-storey buildings so we don't "waste electricity" running escalators or elevators? Hello?

[Richard Eade]

What about good old fashioned STAIRS. You know, the kind that don't use electricity. Sure, provide elevators for those who need them, but put in stairs for the rest of the people.

[lrt's friend]

Ummm. You can't use stairs if you have a shopping cart of purchases.

[Acajack]

I kinda like those inner city stores with escalators like the Loblaws on Rideau where you go up or down a floor with the magnetized shopping cart wheels.

And I’d say that from an energy-conservation perspective, an escalator or two isn’t what’s going to make Ikea’s hydro meter spin out of control. It’s peanuts compared to how much total energy a megastore like that will use up.

Plus, on a macro level, once again powering the escalators is nothing compared to emissions from all the cars that will be driving to its (relatively) transit/public transport-unfriendly location from a 200+ km radius (Ikea stores tend to draw from larger-than-usual-for-retail catchment areas).

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Also, energy-wise, is it smart to force everyone to use an elevator to get to the building? The new Canadian Tire on Carling is built this way. Everyone must take the escalator/elevator. So much for sustainability.

I think a multi-storey building with escalators is more sustainable from a land-use perspective han a sprawling 1-storey building that takes up 6x the amount of land.

Maybe they'll put solar panels on the roof for the electricity

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I think a multi-storey building with escalators is more sustainable from a land-use perspective han a sprawling 1-storey building that takes up 6x the amount of land.

Maybe they'll put solar panels on the roof for the electricity

This is not a serious discussion.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I think a multi-storey building with escalators is more sustainable from a land-use perspective han a sprawling 1-storey building that takes up 6x the amount of land.

Maybe they'll put solar panels on the roof for the electricity

Did MEC ever get to build a wind turbine on the site of their new store? I know it was proposed, but that it was hitting some roadblocks within city hall.

[highdensitysprawl]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Did MEC ever get to build a wind turbine on the site of their new store? I know it was proposed, but that it was hitting some roadblocks within city hall.

I wasn't aware of that...there was however a fellow (some sort of engineer boffin) who wanted to build a wine turbine in his backyard in Westboro (near the MEC I think) and he was turned down by the Committee of Adjustment (he needed setback variances). Not sure if he appealed to the OMB or not.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by highdensitysprawl

I wasn't aware of that...there was however a fellow (some sort of engineer boffin) who wanted to build a wine turbine in his backyard in Westboro (near the MEC I think) and he was turned down by the Committee of Adjustment (he needed setback variances). Not sure if he appealed to the OMB or not.

I may be mistaken, but I recall reading an article quite some time ago about the design of the MEC store and it mentioning that they were trying to get approval for a small wind turbine on the site.

[Richard Eade]

MEC has stairs in their building.

[Kitchissippi]

Apple Store coming to Ottawa!

from ifoapplestore.com:

The first new Apple store locations for 2009 have been identified, and they’re beyond the United States borders. First, the long-delayed Churchill Square (Brighton, UK) store project is once more underway. Job listings for the store were posted back in early 2007, but for some reason the store never opened. Second, Apple will remedy an obvious oversight by locating a store at the Rideau Centre in the capital city of Ottawa. The four-level, downtown mall has just 80 stores, but it’s within blocks of iconic Parliament Hill. Both stores could open by late summer.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Apple Store coming to Ottawa!

from ifoapplestore.com:

Rideau Centre has just 80 stores?

[kingcobra]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Apple Store coming to Ottawa!

from ifoapplestore.com:

It is an excellent news because I have been thinking of buying a Macbook Pro laptop for a while.

[fireicedog]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Rideau Centre has just 80 stores?

Well that's definitely a misprint.

Rideau Centre - Ottawa (Ont.) - A 657,000 s.f. downtown mall with 180 shops just east of iconic Parliament Hill. The mall is on four levels and features a cinema and large Sears store. Job listings posted Feb. 4, 2009 for a late summer grand opening.

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/chronology.html

[spotlight]

Originally Posted by fireicedog

Well that's definitely a misprint.

Rideau Centre - Ottawa (Ont.) - A 657,000 s.f. downtown mall with 180 shops just east of iconic Parliament Hill. The mall is on four levels and features a cinema and large Sears store. Job listings posted Feb. 4, 2009 for a late summer grand opening.

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/chronology.html

That's awesome !!!! i hope it's 100% confirmed... i've been waiting for this for a long time !!

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

Shoppers Drug Mart continues in it quest to take over the world. Old Ottawa South this time...

.

Shoppers Drug Mart is also planning a new store at 545 Montreal Rd. near the corner of St. Laurent Blvd, just 150m from their existing smaller store. It's going to be replacing the old Mirada Inn, which I'm guessing not too many people will miss. Nor will there likely be any fights about the architecture like in Old Ottawa South ;-)

Here is the location:



The new store is proposed to be 18,220 sq ft. with an attached 2,000 sq ft. clinic. Here are the full details:
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__7JLAGU

[eemy]

Too bad they couldn't replace that auto dealership/service centre/whatever that is on the corner. Some of the newer Shoppers have a pretty good relationship to the street considering the trends for retail.