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Shoppers Drug Mart

Hard Rock Cafe was a tourist attraction. This is a significant step back for the area.

White picket fence? Could it have been any sadder?
 
And here it is...

What a terrible use of prime real estate facing into Toronto’s — Canada’s!! — busiest intersection and public square.

Berlin has a Shoppers Drug Mart equivalent (DM) fronting Alexanderplatz, so it's not the end of the world. If the square itself was better animated, this would be no issue at all. The fences and trucks that usually use this side of the square for staging make this area pretty unappealing. Shoppers is the least of its problems.

The lane needs to be closed off to vehicles permanently, and staging needs to move off the square and onto Victoria Street. Plant some trees here, and put in some bistro tables to get the public using the space instead of vehicles.
 
Some bistro tables would make scratching all those amazing scratch cards soooo much easier, too! ...and all of those points could be used to buy enough toilet paper to totally animate the square! Seriously though, I hope this new SDM brings more tourism to Toronto (and diverts some of those sweet Duane Reade tourists up here!)
 
And here it is...

What a terrible use of prime real estate facing into Toronto’s — Canada’s!! — busiest intersection and public square.

I think that as Toronto continues its transition from regional hub to national centre to international alpha city, there will be lots of annoying and cringeworthy bumps along the road like this. Eventually this area will be redeveloped to the point that it could be dropped into any world city centre and not look too out of place. (Unfortunately, by that time, only multi-millionaires will be able to call downtown Toronto home.)
 
Counterpoint: SDM has longer opening hours than a typical retail establishment; if dynamism is our goal, supplying local residents (of which there an increasing number) with a local pharmacy, and a grocery store is not a bad thing. I get that restaurant could be more dynamic (especially from a tourist perspective), but in terms of adding a necessity of urban fabric, there are worse establishments to open here (it could have been a winners!).
 
Yup, doesn't get much lamer. Not surprised since this has been an ongoing trend in this increasingly sterile, corporate city.
 
I'm confused. At the Yonge Dundas SDM, what is the purpose of the white picket fence surrounding the old patio space? Are they planning on having a patio of some kind?

Initial rumours after the takeover was that they were going to have a cafe and showcase some of the brand's products, but I can't find anything that supports that. Only recent piece of info is that will be space for beauty events, see this page I found on Google here.
 

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