ttk77
Senior Member
1. WMT caused rural communities' downtowns to have issues. Clearly not a concern for central Toronto.
2. If WMT's customer base are not the same as Kensington's, then it should not be a concern for Kensington, either, right?
And maybe this is slightly more of a shot at progressives, but wouldn't low income activists normally welcome a 'cheap & cheerful' retailer with fresh food within walking distance of Alexandra Park? I'll still go to Jumbo Empanada for my fix despite WMT. I don't think Kensington is threatened, nor is Chinatown.
1. Why is this clearly not the case for downtown Toronto? Sure, it's not going to cause mass retail closures through the core, but that doesn't mean it won't have detrimental impact to local surrounding businesses. To a resident of that local community, I can see it being a concern.
2. I don't see this as two different customer bases. I see this as a fear from Kensington residents and businesses that the customer base will change...that people will stop walking through Kensington a few times a week for their necessities and start doing a weekly car trip to the local Walmart instead.
The multi-cultural aspects of Kensington and Chinatown won't be replicated by Walmart, but will it be able to survive without the foot traffic of people going there for their "daily necessities" as well?