City
A Home Depot on Queen West?
You can hear the hipsters crying. Queen West, long the definition of cool in the City of Toronto, is one step closer to selling out. If H&M, Roots and the Gap haven't already killed what street cred the region had, it looks like the arrival of a Home Depot will put the final nail into the trendy area's coffin.
A new seven-story condominium/retail complex is planned for the corner of Queen and Portland Street, near Bathurst. The structure will be built on what is currently a parking lot.
The building must conform to certain rules and must ensure that it blends into the look of the neighbourhood, since Queen West is a heritage conservation district.
So will a Home Depot send artists, musicians, and anti-conformity cynics running further west, trying to escape the over-commercialization of their previous bohemian paradise? Or will it provide convenient access to home improvement and construction supplies at reasonable prices? Or will it do both?
Will the big box store destroy atmosphere of the area, homogenizing it into a downtown version of every suburb in the country or will it actually take steps to conform itself into the look, feel and culture of Queen West?
Apparently the store will be operating more on a small storefront look, rather than the traditional big box appearance that people have come to associate with Home Depot. It looks like the store will be geared towards condo dwellers as well, similar to the proposed plans for the Leon's location at the Roundhouse.
If everything goes as planned, construction on the development could begin this summer. However, the plan is still subject to final approval. It is currently unknown what other retailers would be moving in to the complex along with Home Depot.
So will Home Depot end up destroying the area around the new development and, if so, why?
Because we can do it. They can help.
Home Depot logo from HomeDepot.ca
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If you look under "Site Plan" you can see the layout they're going for. Home Depot won't actually have much of a presence on Queen. This might be the coolest Home Depot north of Manhattan.
As for "pushing musicians, artists" further west - isn't that what Queen West West or West Queen West or whatever is these days? If anything RioCan are laggards not vanguards like the Drake.
Compared to that, this looks quaint. Are there any actual hardware stores left in downtown Toronto which this might put out of business?
And since when is building on a PARKING LOT such a bad idea? That has been an unsightly gap along the strip for longer than I care to remember. Putting together retail, commercial, and residential in one building is a wonderful idea, harkens back to what makes city life so vibrant, successful and safe. Remember Jane Jacobs? Eyes on the street and all of that. I doubt that she would consider this a bad thing.
Perhaps the only drawback is the height - 7 stories might be considered rather high given that most buildings fronting Queen on that stretch are between two and four stories. But then again the following tend to hollow out that argument: the CHUM/City Building, the Candy Factory, and those bastions of gentrification the Drake and the Gladstone, all would seem to loom over the neighbourhood, yet they have all become inseparable from the idea of Queen West. (Or am I venturing into Queen West West territory?)
Parkdale been waiting over three decades for it.
Push away, as far as I'm concerned.
Its special character started to disappear when the HMV and other chain stores came by and demolished the facades and the character of the buildings they now occupy.
So now it attracts the hip 905ers and the suburban 416ers to come and shop before going clubbing later in the day.
Mom and pop operations and multi-generation family stores are now disappearing at an alarming rate only to be replaced with big box stores (some of them notorious for bad attitude).
Next thing, maybe the Black Bull and the Rex will be converted to some type of franchies xxxxx&Firkin or Duke of xxxxxxx.
*sigh* There goes the neighbourhood.
Queen West is a real neighbourhood. People don't just make art and stuff here -- we *live* here. We can't live on boutiques and club drinks and expensive organic steaks alone.
yes...so it will change Queen St West more...and for everyone who hasn't quite clued in yet...the change has already occurred...yes it is a shame...and now as the decades pass and the locality of Queen St.W must continue to draw further and further West into areas undeveloped...the fact remains that for those who believe the Queen St W can contain remnants for those not wishing to for the old experience to stay...will have to go to new localities....I think funny enough..Dundas St. W will adopt the Queen St W experience it once had...however, it will be up the community that dwells there...
i do miss the old queen st w.....but that was gone when the day caban was scheduled to close its doors...
and to be fair to the gap, they have been there 20 years, long before it was a outdoor shopping mall.
"A new seven-story condominium/retail complex is planned for the corner of Queen and Portland Street, near Bathurst. The structure will be built on what is currently a parking lot.
The building must conform to certain rules and must ensure that it blends into the look of the neighbourhood, since Queen West is a heritage conservation district."
It's the story of a new seven-story building being built in a heritage area primarily composed of older two and four-story buildings.
Is that new 7-11 built differently from the typical structures in a heritage area? If it is - or if you have any other ideas that would necessitate stopping the aforementioned presses - please feel free to contribute to blogTO via the following link:
http://www.blogto.com/contribute/
Who cares about neighborhoods, listen, these people gotta buy our shit.
Don't ask, don't fight it, just shut up and sign up now for your in-store-credit card.
the problem with having a hope depot in downtown is the same as having a home depot anywhere; this chain, in particular, is ruthlessly competitive in its positioning. it works furiously to undercut competition on the retail side, and exerts undue pressure on suppliers to keep costs down. as the single largest purchaser of sheetrock in north america, for example, home depot has near total control over its price. this isn't just "big box retail." this is the walmart of building supplies, with all of that chain's associated problems. i'd love to see a hardware store on queen street -- indeed, having a place to purchase lumber and building supplies within walking or cycling distance is fantastic. i just hate to see it be a home depot.
I checked, "You can do it, we can help" is Home Depot:
http://www.homedepot.ca/wcsstore/HomeDepotCanada/images/HDHeader/en_CA/HDlogo.gif
As for Queen West being hip ... as others have already said it hasn't been hip or a home to artists for at least ten years or more.
If the people who live along Queen so worried because they've used their address to define their coolness, maybe they should try moving somewhere like Gerrard and Pape. That's an edgy neighbourhood with little to no gentrification. Ironically, the one thing it does have is a
Home Depot.
Home Depot."
And a McDonald's, and a Staples, and a Winners, and a Zeller's, etc. True, they're all mostly confined to that horrible mall, but still.
What exactly is a "real income", BTW?
I can't believe people are for this, say goodbye to the neighborhood.
Downtown is now filled with a lot of condo dwellers and there's a market for home improvements. It's makes sense for those who don't have a car to drive out to the 'burbs.
What I hate is chain restaurants driving out the little places that are delicious!! And walmart. I hate to see a Walmart go up anywhere. I would actually chain myself to a construction site to prevent one from going up.
Note that all of this info is horribly out of date, it's just what I remember from a community meeting in late 2006 before the election.
There are hardware stores nearby, notably one just West of the intersection of Queen and Bathurst, and one very near Queen and Cameron (not to mention those in Kensington and other nearby shops). I think that there is a place you can buy lumber near Dundas and Palmerston, so it is not as if there aren't already local businesses that serve this market.
On the whole, I think it might not be that bad, depending on the design, but it could also be atrocious.
"There [THEY'RE, or THEY ARE] knocking out a parking lot. I know what you mean though. Yes, I agree it sucks a lot to see you're [YOUR, not YOU ARE] favorite hood change to big chain stores. To set the recored [RECORD] straight anything east of Bathurst Isn't queen west in my opinion, it is an outdoor addition to the Eaton Centre if anything, anywhere near Much Music (Rogers) is shit tourist attraction. Like the other bloggers have said The Macdonald's has been on the corner of Spadaina [SPADINA] for some time. It was a matter of time for that parking lot to turn into something. I'm not surprised. I'm just glad it's not a 30 story condo."
Areas undeveloped? They look pretty developed to me. Lots of families, immigrants and workers living in affordable rental situations, me included. Looks like they are gonna be pushed, just like the QueenSt-culture feels like it's being pushed.
Did anyone ever thing that we could possibly use a grocery store? No...building supplies seem to be what we really need, cause those condo owners are so into renovations and the DIY. Phew!
I'm going to starbucks
Pis aut
The impact worth noting is that almost every store on Queen West is independently owned. With Home Depot you have a few minimum wage workers filtering all the profits to the US executives. The employee mold will not be suited for the artists that live on queen; therefore it will not help residents find employment. If it were an independent hardware store the profits would be shared between the store owners, employees and the neighbourhood. It would be more lax about worker appearance (allowing for free will) and create a personal bond with the community, adapting to the customer's needs rather than forcing a specific shopping experience.
Queen West has always been a beacon for free thinkers. The forced standard of living coming from stores like Home Depot will be devastating to the culture that thrives on Queen West.