Toronto Panda Condominiums | 107.59m | 30s | Lifetime | Turner Fleischer

The World's Biggest Bookstore is too close to Indigo inside the Eaton Centre, both owned by Indigo. It would make better sense, to me, to move the smaller Indigo and merge it with the World's Biggest Bookstore.
 
World's Biggest Bookstore is now Amazon. There's not much point in carrying the huge location on Edward anymore for better or worse.

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Tulse said:
Surely this will be sold for a tower, rather than a big box store, right? I really don't want to see a Target or Wal-Mart here...
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I would absolutely love to see a Target or Wal-Mart here. Another downtown Condo Tower with rinky-dink retail in the base is of no use to me.
 
Peepers said:
I would absolutely love to see a Target or Wal-Mart here. Another downtown Condo Tower with rinky-dink retail in the base is of no use to me.
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An evil Wal-Mart or Target would annihilate at least half of everything within five miles in one year. Not smart.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
An evil Wal-Mart or Target would annihilate at least half of everything within five miles in one year. Not smart.
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A Wal-Mart or Target won't annihilate anything within five miles that is worth preserving.

For sure they would hasten the demise of Sears which would be a good thing because the space that Sears is stubbornly occupying would become available to other retailers , for example Nordstroms who have made clear that they want to enter the Downtown market.

As for retail inside the Eaton Centre I cannot see any of these stores being adversely affected by a Wal-Mart or Target, they happily coexist in suburban malls.

Most of the retail occupying the ramshackle buildings along Yonge from Queen to Bloor don't compete with the Wal-Mart's or Targets and if they did it would be no loss to lose them.
 
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I see, so out with the small, hard working mom & pop shops and Sears, then in with the mega conglomerates. Have you seen what Walmarts have done to downtown areas throughout the US? The central shopping areas are now dead zones.
 
Its is VERY different to compare the impact of a suburban Wal Mart built on the fringe of a town of 15,000 in middle America to a Wal-Mart opening in downtown Toronto and arguing that it would have the same impact.

A) The current downtown retail mix of the Eaton Centre doesn't compete with a Wal-Mart as has been mentioned
B) In the above scenario which you allude to (destruction of downtown because of Wal-Mart) the opening of a Wal Mart shifted traffic out of downtowns to suburban super centres... what could happen here is completely different.

I'm not advocating either way... its just faulty logic to use that argument in this situation
 
valkoholic:

This site is quite a bit further away from McGill/Granby than Aura is, so I am pretty sure that won't be much of a factor.

re: site

If they wanted to do something big, this site is one of many that should be consolidated with properties on Elm and/or Yonge.

AoD
 
The kinds of products that people purchase in and around the Eaton Centre are not the kinds of products that Wal-Mart sells. I'd be more worried about the Shoppers across the street or the Canadian Tire at Bay & Dundas.

It wouldn't "kill" downtown, but regardless a Wal-Mart here would be a massive waste of prime downtown real estate.
 
My hope is that this lot does not get redeveloped until the next cycle. This is one of the few legitimate potential supertall sites in the city.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
And besides, Wal-Mart don't really do hardcore urban sites like these.
AoD
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Nonsense, if its happening in America it will happen in Canada, i think it wont be long before they announce one for the core

Retail is Moving Back to the City

Wal-Mart in late 2010 announced plans for its first-ever stores in Washington D.C. To make the new stores fit an urban environment, the company has agreed to consider an array of new layouts, designs and parking arrangements.

The store planned for New Jersey Avenue illustrates Wal-Mart's new approach. The company plans a store of 75,000 to 80,000 square feet (much smaller than usual) on the ground floor of a five story mixed use building featuring 315 apartments, underground parking and space for small retail stores.

At the same time that Wal-Mart and Target are planning new urban stores all over America, as many as 400 former big box stores sit vacant on commercial strips. Most analysts agree that urban neighborhoods are the new frontier for retail: the one place left with more spending power than stores to spend it in.

minneapolis-uptown said:
as much as i am excited about this, its definately not a new thing. The downtown Minneapolis Target store opened in 2001:
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AG:

Yes, of course - considering the run-ins the Canadian subsidiary had in even remotely urban locations (Vancouver and Toronto), good luck to them on that one. Notice I didn't say Target.

AoD
 
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Walmart's business model does not work well in dense urban environments. Walmart has infrastructure needs to great for that parcel and small streets. The amount of trucks required to service it and it has no main street facing side. It's biggest frontage is on smallish Edward. Can you imagine the 18 wheelers Wal-Mart needs to keep it shelves occupied running ramshot on Yonge and Edward. - Won't happen. Trust me.

The streets here are too small to support retail that is required for Wal-Mart to run a profitable location.

What will likely happen:

The parcel will get subdivided amoung smaller name brand retailers - possibly a few start up Canadian or International chains. Or it becomes a condo and retail.
 
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