News   Mar 27, 2024
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News   Mar 27, 2024
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News   Mar 27, 2024
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St Lawrence Market

Wonderful - their current hours suck. 6 pm on weekdays is not late enough for all the 9-5 office workers downtown, and not opening at all on Sundays was just stupid all around.

But being closed on Mondays is ok?
The difference being.....?
 
I wonder how much 4M buys you.

AoD

A pretty decent renovation of a Rosedale mansion. But we're talking the best components you can get for most of it.
Now considering this will be a public tender and thus requiring unionised companies only to apply, I'm guess it's the usual overpriced nonsense and will get you some new light fixtures on one level.
I could be wrong...but I doubt it.
 
Didn't say being closed on Monday is ok, but at least be open on Sundays because it's the weekend!
Agreed and do not forget that a fair % of merchants were (and remain) opposed to ANY expansion of hours. This is a one-year experiment. If the merchants find business increases with the extra hours (rather than just gets spread out) it will be easier to extend hours more in 2021.
 
Living in the neighbourhood, having them opened on Sunday is a really nice change. Closing on Monday definitely sucks to those that work in the area; I'm a bit torn though - in a way, I support those resisting adding more hours. Work/life balance etc.
 
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I'm not sure how recent this is, but Oliva at Front and Frederick is dark. There is no sign on the door, so not sure what's happening, but I did also notice earlier this week that their Yonge and Sheppard (Avondale) location appears empty (though I was in the car and didn't stop to check).
 
I'm not sure how recent this is, but Oliva at Front and Frederick is dark. There is no sign on the door, so not sure what's happening, but I did also notice earlier this week that their Yonge and Sheppard (Avondale) location appears empty (though I was in the car and didn't stop to check).
A notice posted near the door says the tenant is in default of the lease.
 
A notice posted near the door says the tenant is in default of the lease.

I'm not exactly surprised. I walked by the place almost daily and saw close to nobody there. This was across a variety of days and hours.
 
I guess it didn't help that it's located next to a busy construction site and there's a much more interesting coffee shop across the street.
 
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I guess it didn't help that it's located next to a busy construction site and there's a much more interesting coffee shop across the street.

But the construction hasn't harmed Neo, so far as I can see, and they were perched right on the edge of the hole for a year or two. I think the contrast with Neo reveals why Oliva didn't succeed. I visited Oliva a few times and wanted them to succeed but I was mostly disappointed. The coffee was average and I was always served in to-go cups, even when I was staying: I don't like drinking out of cardboard if I don't have to, and it feels wasteful and out of sync with the times.

The decor was high quality but strangely cold and sterile, with hard surfaces and oversized furniture that reminded me of a cafe at a train station. Finally, the food, which is what I though was going to be their niche, also wasn't very interesting: usually just a handful of sandwiches and wraps in a mostly empty fridge next to some soda and water bottles. There's a shortage of good non-chain lunch spots in the area so I feel like this opportunity was wasted. Someone needs to step in and become Toronto's Pret-a-Manger.

Coffee shops in walking-distance like Neo, Rooster, Black Canary, Arvo, Fahrenheit, Poet Cafe, St. Lawrence Cafe, and two Balzacs all have better coffee and a more welcoming atmosphere, in my opinion. And all of them are perpetually busy.
 

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