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Ikea

gabe said:
Most department stores back then had cafeteria's or snack bars, even the lower end ones. I remember my parents taking me to the cafeteria at K-mart or the diner at Zellers, for grilled cheese and toasted westerns.

I remember some malls had Sears or The Bay with second floor restaurants over looking the mall. I used to love sitting by the window watching all the shoppers. Then by the mid 90s, they closed them down, dry-walled over the windows and put patio furniture or appliances in the restaurant space.
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And then Nordstrom starting showing off how department stores drive traffic w/restaurants.......

LOL

It's all so cyclical; people lack patience and vision, they spend money to change things for the worse instead of refreshing a working concept that's just as bit tired.
 
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You go to Japan, and department stores are the best places for finding a quick, reasonably-priced, and reasonably good meal. As many of the JR and private railways integrate department stores in with their railway stations, there is great synergy. The Queen Street Bay Store almost had the right idea again with the food hall in the basement, but they didn't have enough seating, and the pandemic did away with that sadly.

It's strange how Ikea is the one to bring that back to downtown.
 
ShonTron said:
You go to Japan, and department stores are the best places for finding a quick, reasonably-priced, and reasonably good meal. As many of the JR and private railways integrate department stores in with their railway stations, there is great synergy. The Queen Street Bay Store almost had the right idea again with the food hall in the basement, but they didn't have enough seating, and the pandemic did away with that sadly.

It's strange how Ikea is the one to bring that back to downtown.
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It's also relatively common in Europe as well - but I suspect department stores are still relatively more popular than here in NA, and food services (and food marts) are seen as a core component of their business.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
It's also relatively common in Europe as well - but I suspect department stores are still relatively more popular than here in NA, and food services (and food marts) are seen as a core component of their business.

AoD
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I think this is particularly true with the 'flagship' type stores, Harrods, Galleries Lafayette etc.

They're all over 500,000ft2 to upwards of 1M and change.

They have good architecture, full service, they're as much tourist attractions as anything........

But also if you hear Galleries being discussed in Paris, it's often referred to as a shopping mall; therein lies a key item, the mall concept
as we think of it here is relatively rare in Europe; the biggest Departments stores often service that same market instead.

The lesser stores, have suffered some setbacks there, (ie. Marks and Sparks)
 
Scouting report: randomly took a stroll over to the new store. No line up! Popped in the secret side entrance on Gerrard, which is right where the food counter is. Moderately busy, but I'm relieved to say that I could have spontaneously ordered the meatballs without any significant wait time. My future return is confirmed.
 
AlbertC said:
A review on the downtown Ikea store:

www.designlinesmagazine.com

A Day in Downtown Toronto's New Ikea Store

The furniture giant's latest urban retail location, Ikea Downtown Toronto, offers a fresh but familiar experience for shoppers.
www.designlinesmagazine.com www.designlinesmagazine.com
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One thing I have noticed is just how colourless the entire place is - in a 50 shades of grey (and pastel bordering on the white) way. It's a bit joyless compared to your typical big box Ikea. There are also some headscratcher decisions - is it really necessary to have a huge amount of the same item available - when the space can be better used to increase the variety of times? This also extend to the food options - extremely limited.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
One thing I have noticed is just how colourless the entire place is - in a 50 shades of grey (and pastel bordering on the white) way. It's a bit joyless compared to your typical big box Ikea. There are also some headscratcher decisions - is it really necessary to have a huge amount of the same item available - when the space can be better used to increase the variety of times? This also extend to the food options - extremely limited.

AoD
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. I know that current design trends favour the neutral, devoid-of-personality, welcome-to-the-dystopia look, but I found it a bit crushing that IKEA has also embraced this aesthetic to the near-exclusion of everything else. I remember when IKEA was daring, boldly colourful, and felt like the future. Now it feels so bleak and oppressively bland.
 
I don't know about that. Neon blue and purple are very trendy right now, albeit perhaps in a different context than you have in mind. And contemporary car design, albeit for ICE cars, not EVs, is the opposite of bland to the point of being aggressively ugly.
 
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