Riverdale

[Skeezix]

Probably not. Who knows. I count 4 spots. To the extent that those spots are owned by landlords that aren't sitting on their empty spaces, collecting the tax rebates and waiting for a chain with big bucks, then possibly those are lost opportunities if the dispensaries all disappear and other businesses could have been in those spaces. But, to be honest, I don't know any of the details, the dispensaries might be paying big wads of dough for these leases (which interesting independent shops could never have afforded anyway), and the spaces could have remained vacant anyway were it not for the weed dealers. It's not like there is a shortage of leasing opportunities on the Danforth at the moment.

At least weed is a change of pace from souvlaki.

 

[Ex-Montreal Girl]

Or sushi.

And, mmmmm, gummies.

 

[Skeezix]

I'm told that the Canadian Tire Express has closed.

 

[Tulse]

Does CT own that location? It was a Marks just prior, so it's been in the CT family for a while.

 

[Goldie]

I'm told that the Canadian Tire Express has closed.

Is your reference to the CT store at Danforth & Gough?
If so, here's a history of that location.
It was the Iola Theatre (before the Ace) when I was a boy --- and went each Saturday afternoon to see the Captain Marvel serials.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

That first picture shows Al Jolson in black face. Quite a contrast from contemporary Riverdale.

 

[GKW]

I guess that revamped Home Hardware down the street can breathe easier now

 

[Skeezix]

At least the old Court Jester location next door now appears to be leased.

 

[Tulse]

Is part of the old Mr. Greek site now leased? There used to be For Lease signs in the corner windows as well as the windows to the east, but now the western part of the location has no signs, and new paper covering the windows.

 

[Skeezix]

It looks like part of the old Mr. Greek might now be leased. Only 500 square feet with 20-ft of frontage seems to still be available for lease (with a municipal address of 530 Danforth, while the main Mr. Greek entrance is 526 Danforth). I don't see anything online for the rest of the space (although there used to be listings online for it).

Interestingly, it appears that Crema, Lolita's Lust, Von Doughnuts and the Fox and Fiddle are all for sale.

 

[Tulse]

I'm surprised that Crema is for sale -- I would have thought they did well enough at that location. I'm not surprised, however, that Von Doughnuts is also up, as I have never been impressed with their "gourmet" donuts.

 

[Skeezix]

I just want to bitch for a moment about the most pointless heritage "preservation" in Toronto.

This is nothing new. We all know it, we've all rolled our eyes at it. But I was walking by this weekend and was struck again by how useless it is.

Here is the Google Streetview from 2007, showing the old Ralph Day Funeral home. The red brick building immediately to the west of the funeral home, the funeral home itself, and a small gas station on the east side of the funeral home would all shortly thereafter be demolished to make way for Shoppers Drug Mart.

Here is roughly the same view in 2015. The "heritage facade" glued onto the Shoppers barely resembles the old funeral home, isn't even located in the same spot, and is just an ugly dead zone along the streetwall with covered windows. Who thought this crappy replica would be a good idea? Does anyone recall how this nonsense came about?

Sorry, I know this not new. But was simply reminded how useless it is.

ETA: MHBC actually admits to being involved in this project ("Utilizing heritage aspects of the former funeral home, the project team was able to transform the store into a unique blend of old and contemporary" - ha ha). What's even scarier is that this page features the project renderings that were presumably supplied to the City -- they clearly show opaque, street-deadening windows. So the City knew what it was getting.

ETA2: Lovely photo of the old funeral home building on Flickr. I didn't know this Ralph Day was the one and the same as the former mayor of Toronto. So, apparently we decided to honour the former mayor's legacy on the Danforth with this piece of crap.

ETA3: The City actually granted an easement to the developer to help facilitate this redevelopment. Did nobody at the City ask themselves whether a half-assed token allusion (I'd call it a reproduction, but it really isn't on) to the old heritage building made a whit of sense, before they approved this thing? The Shoppers building has a long facade and it's a large site - they could have accomplished a lot more than this, while still enabling the new store to have a contemporary design.

 

[chriskayTO]

That is pathetic.

Sadly, though, not surprising for Shoppers. They are terrible at anything other than template "stamp em out" stores in a big box power centre.

 

[Skeezix]

Torontonians react to pot dispensaries moving into the Danforth
CBC.ca, 24 April 2016

 

[Tulse]

It is pretty absurd that there are at least three dispensaries within five doors of each other. It's like they're Greek restaurants or something.