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Toronto non-mall retail (Odds & Ends)

  • Thread starter marksimpson7843
  • Start date
Costco Wholesale Corporation, the famous membership-only warehouse club, has plans to open a store on property previously owned by Coca Cola on Overlea Blvd.
 
This is the building on the northwest corner of University & Queen. The ground floor has been vacant for years.

Application: Building Additions/Alterations Status: Not Started

Location: 250 UNIVERSITY AVE
TORONTO ON M5H 3E5

Ward 20: Trinity-Spadina

Application#: 13 182883 BLD 01 BA Accepted Date: Nov 12, 2013

Project: Retail Store Interior Alterations

Description: Revision to building layout for "Rexall"
 
You mean south west ; - )

This is great ! It was suppose to be a restaurant for years and it never materialized ... it'll be a challenge though, I'm not even sure where the entrance is !
 
There was a drug store in the North end some years ago - when the fraudulent health clinic was briefly there - the drug store never really took off because there were never any patients.
 
A Rexall right at the entrance to the subway. This will do well! However, I would think there should be more density there.
 
yeah I saw through the papered up windows once, and it looked like it was once a pharmacy.

There's a building entrance on university, but there's also an entrance on Queen

That corner gets congested as it is in terms of pedestrian flow... I think that this will make it even worse. Why on earth are there TWO subway staircases on this corner? They should get rid of the one on Queen. It's too tight a squeeze there.
 
The World's Biggest Bookstore will close in February, the Star reported today; the lease was up and Indigo says they can't afford the new rent. Looks like Lifetime bought the land. Not at all surprising, that's a prime chunk of real estate.
 
JasonParis said:
The "Runnymede Theatre" Chapters in Bloor West Village will be turning into a Shoppers Drug Mart...
http://www.torontomike.com/2013/11/runnymede_theatre_from_chapter.html
Click to expand...

Good lord, what is it with Shoppers Drug Mart in this city? You can't go five feet in any direction without banging into one. What is the appeal? They are almost always more expensive compared to their competition, more on par with convenience store prices, and as far as I know offer little in the line of specialty or hard-to-get elsewhere products. And you can get prescription drugs everywhere. How can there be such an insatiable market demand (and business case justification) for umpteen million locations of this store?
 
adHominem said:
The World's Biggest Bookstore will close in February, the Star reported today; the lease was up and Indigo says they can't afford the new rent. Looks like Lifetime bought the land. Not at all surprising, that's a prime chunk of real estate.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, as much as I love books, the bookstore is a dying breed. When I first moved here, that store drew me in like stink to sh*t. I can still remember when Chapters first opened and had racks and racks of rare and hard-to-get titles, it was such an improvement over the smaller WH Smith and Coles stores in the malls. then they removed the plush seating to get rid of people just sitting there to sip coffee and read (guilty) and only stocked more mainstream and quick-moving titles. And now they are becoming mostly a knick-knack and home decor type of store.

Luckily, I have the North York Toronto Public Library, with 6 floors of old and new titles, to browse, with no pressure to buy or leave after an "acceptable" amount of time. And eBooks, which I hated when they first came out, have quickly taken the place of my wall of books. Everything I'm reading or could ever want to read right there on my portable tablet, couldn't ask for anything more.

Though I feel bad that bookstores are on the way out, I'm sure people felt the same sentiment for blacksmiths when their day finally came.
 
NorthYorkEd said:
Good lord, what is it with Shoppers Drug Mart in this city? You can't go five feet in any direction without banging into one. What is the appeal? They are almost always more expensive compared to their competition, more on par with convenience store prices, and as far as I know offer little in the line of specialty or hard-to-get elsewhere products. And you can get prescription drugs everywhere. How can there be such an insatiable market demand (and business case justification) for umpteen million locations of this store?
Click to expand...


I actually disagree ... price wise ... its pretty darn competitive on some grocery products ... but you need to know your stuff ... what I mean is some things are actually very well priced and they tend to have amazing sails on groceries at times (i.e. better prices then no frills and the like) ! But some of the non-sale items can be a big rip off compared to any other grocery store.
 
adHominem said:
The World's Biggest Bookstore will close in February, the Star reported today; the lease was up and Indigo says they can't afford the new rent. Looks like Lifetime bought the land. Not at all surprising, that's a prime chunk of real estate.
Click to expand...

Wow ! I really wonder what'll they consider doing with the land ... in some ways its sad but really land use wise it was a big waste, ... I'd love to get some inside information regarding what they have planned ...

The article mentioned they may just keep the land in their inventory (i.e. not develop for some time ..)
 
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