AlbertC
Superstar
511 Church Street is being listed for sale at $13 million. It is just north of this recently proposed project: 68 Wellesley St E
Stick a tower on it and make it lame!
From BlogTO:
Toronto's most famous and important book store is facing eviction
The oldest queer bookshop in Toronto — for that matter, in the world — is facing eviction due to a mounting debt. Since opening its doors in 1970, Gl…www.blogto.com
AoD
Long and short:
They owe the current landlord $100,000 due to being short on the rent pretty much every month for the last 2 years.
They've praised the landlord for patience, but note that landlord is now requiring the debt be paid by July 2024,.
They are seeking to fundraise the 100k and 200k on top to give them breathing space.
The landlord has agreed to modestly reduce their rent for one year from July, if the debt is paid, to give them some breathing room.
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Their fundraising campaign is here:
Save Glad Day — Glad Day
www.gladday.ca
There's lots of content at the above link, but I'll bring forward the 'how we got here' section:
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I think this is a good illustration of how cutting to profitability/stability is rarely a good strategy.
Budgetary restraint is sensible if one is short of funds.......... but you can't keep customers if you're diminishing inventory, hours and customer service.
I wish them well. Big hill to climb.
I've read their strategy., I have to say it concerns me a bit, I agree they should raise well beyond the $100,000, but its what they proposed to do with balance (buy runway for a year), a small nest egg for 'transformation'...... that has me concerned.
I think they need to be thinking bigger, as in 'endowment'. I suspect the low end of that number is closer to 2M than $200,000. I don't know if they can raise that, but to me, that's what would buy them longevity, along with putting more $ into rebuilding what made them successful in the first place.
CBC Toronto reporting on a small patch of grass outside a hydro substation that was supposedly meant to be maintained as a parkette, but has instead been a mostly neglected eyesore:
Hydro and the City can't even seem to agree whose responsibility the space is......... while Councillor Chris Moise seems to be missing in action.
It's foolish to expect the lawn to hold right in front of (and immediately around) a bike share corral anyways.
AoD
Sure, but there are alternate landscape treatments that could be employed, if desired.
A bit more hardscape, a curb and a native ground cover like Virginia Creeper could work.
Of course there are - but the little parkette as implemented suggests a certain level of slapshoddiness so common in landscaping projects here in this city; and I am not sure whether it is a lack of funds, lack of care or lack of thinking - or perhaps a combination of all three.
AoD