Retail strips sans retail

[adma]

...just thinking of this issue, after noting the stretch of Dundas btw/Dupont and the Wallace ped bridge, across from the tracks; aside from a corner restaurant, there's *no* retail left in whatever ancient purpose-built retail strips exist. (And it's not that it needs it, either; though w/gentrification, who knows how those storefronts might be repurposed in the future, for galleries etc. But for now, no retail at all.)

Wondering if this is something we can reflect upon and discuss, i.e. the commercial strips about town where anything commercial has largely disappeared (and is there anything that can match this stretch of Dundas?)

 

[ShonTron]

Yes. That whole section of town has plenty of examples - around Jane and Annette, there are a number of former retail units that reverted to residential. Along Dundas, there are a number of these all the way to Keele. West of Keele, the retail is much healthier.

 

[adma]

At this point, Dundas may be less healthy W of Clendenan than E of Keele--and re Annette + Jane, I'd rather substitute something like, say, the Dovercourt-Hallam zone. Though I guess Weston Rd thru Mount Dennis beats'em all...

As for Dundas along the tracks goes, though, it's interesting in that it feels less like blight than a certain incipient quirkiness--perhaps because it seems as though the storefronts have been disused as such for far too long to matter. (Like, this was perhaps *always* a white elephant of a retail strip.)

 

[urbandreamer]

I counted 100 empty...

...and a few underused old retail buildings in just the strip between Sorauren and Dundas/Bloor St West.

Yesterday i went for a long walk *i love walking*--from OCAD (student show this year kinda bored me) all the way to Sorauren along Queen W, up Sorauren then all the way back to Yorkville along Bloor W. One of my habits/hobbies is to count all the potential retail spaces and old houses i'd like to buy/renovate/live in. I was shocked at the number of dumps (yet left in an untouched kinda circa 1940s state) along Dundas St W. It's funny, many of my artist friends in the city moan about the lack of affordable retail spaces to rent along Queen W for galleries; go to Dundas St say I!!! I'm not even talking about the Junction--that area is dead--i mean at night it's like a ghost town up here--(i live in the nabe)--there's so much potential for the old city of Toronto; makes me realize for all the condo projects downtown, there's room for thousands more! Insane.

One of my fantasies: to gather together 100 ambitious reasonably-monied folk and take over such a down-and-out strip: cafes, galleries, boutiques, etc. Make something from nothing.

Btw, I've decided that while kind of rundown, one of my fave retail strips in Toronto is Bloor St W between Lansdowne and Christie. The mix of ethnicities, the lack of ostentatious wealth, the absence of cool and pretentious hipsters: I love it!

Next up: i'm gonna begin photographing every single (older) retail building in the city. Especially in the down and out nabes.

Glad to see someone is thinking similar to me!

 

[adma]

...I'm not even talking about the Junction--that area is dead--i mean at night it's like a ghost town up here--(i live in the nabe)

Here's a paradox: it might convey itself as "deader" when it displays a pretense to "life" (i.e. around Keele) than when it's given up all such pretense (i.e. the stretch south of Dupont/Annette).

Better a bleached skeleton than a decomposing corpse, I always say...

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Wondering if the "hipsterization" of the Roncy strip has any bearing on this phenomenon.

 

[junctionist]

Is the Junction really dead? There are still a lot of abandoned storefronts, but a lot of industrial space is used by artists. Some stores have been there for years like the audio/video place and that fancy furniture store. There are some interesting restaurants west of Keele, as well as the well known Axis. Contact photography festivals has many venues in the area. It may be just a matter of time before the area sees a new era of glory and the facades of those beautiful yet faded blocks are restored. New density projects such as the options for homes project, housing developments north in the stockyards district area should bring more interest too.

 

[Observer Walt]

I think over the last 2 - 3 years, the Junction has turned into one of the more interesting neighbourhoods in Toronto. The City did a massive cleanup of the streetscape, putting wires underground and improving sidewalks etc. to make the area pedestrian-friendly. As artists are kicked out of the Queen Street neighbourhood, this may well become the next artistic centre of the city.

 

[unimaginative2]

I agree. While it's certainly not the liveliest place at night, I used to more-or-less live there and there were a lot of places open. I mean, compared to North Scarborough every place is pretty dead late at night, but the Junction is pretty similar to many downtown strips in the evening. I'd argue that it's the best part of Dundas, which isn't saying much.

 

[junctionist]

Let's not forget that it was "dry" from 1904 to 2000.