Church-Wellesley Village

[DTowner]

Sad news Reither's Fine Foods closed today for good. I don't know the details but heard the owner called the employees together and gave them the news along with their last pay cheque

That's too bad. I've only been in a few times, but saw it as a great deli. And people would sit and eat there, too, which was cool. Lord knows what will take its place.

 

[Peepers]

Xtra's reporting along with other Church street closure rumors.

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Closures_rumours_in_Village-11721.aspx

 

[SP!RE]

Unfortunately, everyone associated with this visually dreary feel-good project will go straight to Hell as a result. Meanwhile, in important religious art news, Michelangelo's lost mural The Battle of Anghiari has apparently been located behind Vasari's The Battle of Marciano in Florence's city hall:

And for those of us who AREN'T trying to be as pretentious as possible, the United Church's mural is a nice, colourful addition to the area. I've studied art and I can still say that! I guess being pretentious doesn't come as naturally to some of us.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Sad news Reither's Fine Foods closed today for good. I don't know the details but heard the owner called the employees together and gave them the news along with their last pay cheque

I learned about Reither's last night from a neighbour in my building on FB, so sad, I was in there practically every week since we discovered Reither's in the early 90's. I shop locally as much as I can but I also shop at Loblaws, Metro & No Frills. I really thought that local businesses could co-exist with Loblaws but it appears not. I worry for the neighbourhood now, I suspect Pusateri's and About Cheese will drop next.

 

[Skeezix]

And for those of us who AREN'T trying to be as pretentious as possible, the United Church's mural is a nice, colourful addition to the area. I've studied art and I can still say that! I guess being pretentious doesn't come as naturally to some of us.

*Thank* you. I think that mural is a nice addition to an otherwise dreary section of Shuter, overlooking a surface parking lot.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I've learned that Reither's closed for several reasons, declining sales over the past several years, a 30% drop in sales since Loblaws opened, a rent increase and so the owner decided to pull the plug and retire. Other businesses are feeling the Loblaws punch too and may not be able to hold out much longer, we'll see several others close by summer.

Rumour is that the owner of the property that currently houses George's Play has finally sold, this was the last hold-out for developing that entire parcel of property from the Alexus condo up to Maitland Street. Something is also happening at Maple Leaf Clinic at 70 Carlton (the former Toronto Maple Leaf's office & Warner Brother's Canada building), they are moving operations over to Yonge & College in the Oddfellows’ Hall building.

It looks like 2012 will bring many changes to the Church-Wellesley Village, most not so good.

 

[kkgg7]

Those individual mom and pop stores can't survive because 1) they charge more for the same product 2) they don't offer anything new that big chain stores don't.
I don't see why they should not be out of business. Of course they can't compete with large chain stores in cost, but come on, at least provide something big stores don't. Otherwise, what's the point of shopping there, just to "support local business"? that's absurd.

Yes, it is easy to blame large chain stores for squeezing small business out of business. However, have we thought about what those small business have done to remain competitive? I was in New York this weekend, and there is this hugely successful hamburger place where you need to line up for at least 30 minutes at 2pm, just to get a burger. These small business survived and thrived despite the existance of McDonalds and Burger Kings, didn't they? because they created a competitive advantage where corporations with 3000 stores don't. It is in the heart of Manhattan and God knows how many hamburger places are in there competing.

In the end, you can't expect to survive when you offer completely homogenous products at 20-30% price premium. It is quite fair. It is backward to think "how sad this corner store has to close, why don't local people support it?". Why should anyone "support" it anyway?

 

[LordWanker]

Those individual mom and pop stores can't survive because 1) they charge more for the same product 2) they don't offer anything new that big chain stores don't.
I don't see why they should not be out of business. Of course they can't compete with large chain stores in cost, but come on, at least provide something big stores don't. Otherwise, what's the point of shopping there, just to "support local business"? that's absurd.

Yes, it is easy to blame large chain stores for squeezing small business out of business. However, have we thought about what those small business have done to remain competitive? I was in New York this weekend, and there is this hugely successful hamburger place where you need to line up for at least 30 minutes at 2pm, just to get a burger. These small business survived and thrived despite the existance of McDonalds and Burger Kings, didn't they? because they created a competitive advantage where corporations with 3000 stores don't. It is in the heart of Manhattan and God knows how many hamburger places are in there competing.

In the end, you can't expect to survive when you offer completely homogenous products at 20-30% price premium. It is quite fair. It is backward to think "how sad this corner store has to close, why don't local people support it?". Why should anyone "support" it anyway?

kkgg7, trolling as usual. So tell me have you ever shopped at Reither's Fine Foods? Better yet have you ever run your own business?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Those individual mom and pop stores can't survive because 1) they charge more for the same product 2) they don't offer anything new that big chain stores don't.
I don't see why they should not be out of business. Of course they can't compete with large chain stores in cost, but come on, at least provide something big stores don't. Otherwise, what's the point of shopping there, just to "support local business"? that's absurd.

Yes, it is easy to blame large chain stores for squeezing small business out of business. However, have we thought about what those small business have done to remain competitive? I was in New York this weekend, and there is this hugely successful hamburger place where you need to line up for at least 30 minutes at 2pm, just to get a burger. These small business survived and thrived despite the existance of McDonalds and Burger Kings, didn't they? because they created a competitive advantage where corporations with 3000 stores don't. It is in the heart of Manhattan and God knows how many hamburger places are in there competing.

In the end, you can't expect to survive when you offer completely homogenous products at 20-30% price premium. It is quite fair. It is backward to think "how sad this corner store has to close, why don't local people support it?". Why should anyone "support" it anyway?

I buy (and always have) locally from the Mom & Pop shops in my area then I get what I can't get locally at Metro, No Frills or Loblaws. Super Fresh Mart and Pusateri's are less expensive or on par with Loblaws, Reither's offered a great deal of imported and home-made fare that Loblaws doesn't carry and Cumbrae's offers all (or mostly all) naturally raised meats without hormones and crap so it's more expensive. Can't speak for About Cheese, I'm not familiar with them.

 

[kkgg7]

kkgg7, trolling as usual. So tell me have you ever shopped at Reither's Fine Foods? Better yet have you ever run your own business?

calling others trolls won't help you win the argument, so stop doing that.
A store closes almost always because its products are not desirable, or its prices are too high, and its business model doesn't model. This is how capitalism works. Reither's, no matter how some of you guys love it, proves to be a loser which can't see enough revenue to support its existence.

If you don't agree with me, reason with me about why it can't continue its business. stop the silly trolling calling tactic. Won't work.

 

[kkgg7]

I buy (and always have) locally from the Mom & Pop shops in my area then I get what I can't get locally at Metro, No Frills or Loblaws. Super Fresh Mart and Pusateri's are less expensive or on par with Loblaws, Reither's offered a great deal of imported and home-made fare that Loblaws doesn't carry and Cumbrae's offers all (or mostly all) naturally raised meats without hormones and crap so it's more expensive. Can't speak for About Cheese, I'm not familiar with them.

fair. then why do you think these mom and pop stores run out of business?
They do because there is not enough sales, which is because not enough people are interested in buying their products, which means their business model doesn't work. It is pretty clear to me. Explain to me otherwise. Don't blame Loblaws or Metro. They have done nothing wrong or illegal. Blaming the winners for our own failure is wrong.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

fair. then why do you think these mom and pop stores run out of business?
They do because there is not enough sales, which is because not enough people are interested in buying their products, which means their business model doesn't work. It is pretty clear to me. Explain to me otherwise. Don't blame Loblaws or Metro. They have done nothing wrong or illegal. Blaming the winners for our own failure is wrong.

Reither's went out because costs were going up, business was going down and he's well past retirement age so the time was right. We'll see in time how the other's fare.
I didn't blame anyone for whatever failures there will be because of Loblaws, Metro and a Bulk Barn in the area now, I just reported what I knew. It's sad to see Reither's (and likely others) go but if they can't be competitive then we'll see some unfortunate change. That's life.

 

[Peepers]

As someone who patronized Reither's frequently - about once a week or more during nice weather I would have to say that Reither's could have increased their business with some simple minor improvements.

For example they never served good coffee - it was always horrible so you could never enjoy a good cup of coffee with a dessert. They should have invested in professional coffee makers and they would have seen an increase not just in coffee sales but in sales of their many desserts. Only recently did they invest in a toaster after going years without one!

As a butcher shop they should have been able to produce hamburgers from fresh ground beef that would rival anything on the street - instead Reither's "Hamburger" consisted of a reheated meatloaf-like pattie.

Had they upped their game I think they could have countered the effect of Loblaws (especially now that we are discovering Loblaws isn't the be-all end-all).

Ultimately however I think the big culprit was high rents on Church street. I don't think it is possible for any successful business to last on Church street as the greedy landlords just come along and jack up the rents. Remember Zelda's packed up and left when the landlord wanted $35,000 A MONTH for their spot! (I wonder if Reither's had the same landlord?).

This is why I think it is so important that City Hall allow Food Trucks to flourish since there is no way greedy landlords could demand $35,000 a month from Restaurants if they have to compete against someone operating out of a trailer.

 

[cdr108]

Ultimately however I think the big culprit was high rents on Church street. I don't think it is possible for any successful business to last on Church street as the greedy landlords just come along and jack up the rents. Remember Zelda's packed up and left when the landlord wanted $35,000 A MONTH for their spot! (I wonder if Reither's had the same landlord?).

This is why I think it is so important that City Hall allow Food Trucks to flourish since there is no way greedy landlords could demand $35,000 a month from Restaurants if they have to compete against someone operating out of a trailer.

out of curiosity, how big is/was the space that Zelda's occupied - indoor and patio?

 

[LordWanker]

calling others trolls won't help you win the argument, so stop doing that.
A store closes almost always because its products are not desirable, or its prices are too high, and its business model doesn't model. This is how capitalism works. Reither's, no matter how some of you guys love it, proves to be a loser which can't see enough revenue to support its existence.

If you don't agree with me, reason with me about why it can't continue its business. stop the silly trolling calling tactic. Won't work.

Pulling a Ford now are we? To begin with your initial New York City example on how the food truck burger entities are able to compete with the national franchises in brick & mortar locations are apple & oranges comparisons. Your operating expenses are completely different, especially if you do not own the property. As for the troll portion, well I will refuse to feed one as your previous posts in other threads prove rather contradictory comrade especially since your refused to answer my initial queries i.e. you have no experience running your own business.