City
Are Loblaws and David's Tea killing Church Street?
The big names on the block are now David's Tea, ACME Burger, Second Cup, and, of course Loblaws. And longtime Church and Wellesley institutions — Reither's Fine Foods and the Barn, to name a couple — have packed up and left, taking a little independent character with them.
And with neighbourhood gift shop Flatiron's set to close its doors in March, it looks like rising rents and encroaching chains might change the Village for good.
According to a feature by Xtra Canada, residents are worried that the recent influx of corporate franchises is having an eroding effect on Village culture. Some have noted the relative disappearance of rainbow flags, while others have gone so far as to say that franchises are "ruining" the community.
Indeed, from a economic consumer perspective, the area is thriving just as much as ever. But does it come at the expense of neighbourhood character? Loblaws, you ho, this is all your fault.
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No.
Well gentrification is what happens to communities.
Its now happening on Church St.
So now the gay community should feel more a part of Toronto than ever before.
http://accozzaglia.ca/2011/02/10/a-meme-comes-full-circle/
The "best retailers" aren't in the village. It's easy for the small businesses to point the finger at the big name chains. Loblaws came in and took the majority of shoppers because really, Loblaws is a far superior grocery store than Reither's or Pusateri's. Now that the village havs larger competition, they are blaming it on big box chains rather than themselves. Most of these small businesses didn't innovate to the modern shoppers needs. Church Street businesses will keep closing if these retailers don't step up their game.
Really BlogTO?
Excellent entry into the Top 10 Most Stupid Things BlogTO published in 2013
Glad to see the transplants have learned the distinctly Toronto phenomena of showing outrage at things they don't understand.
Keep up the good work. Ignore the bullies in this forum. Loblaw type places and shoppers drug marts destroy neighbourhood character, undoubtly. I have seen it happen, and live in the midst of it. The Ossington queen corner is a prime example. ZERO Character. Unless you are a builder, where all of this kind of crap gives you a throbbing errection. Galen Weston Jr., my peer, you will be held to account for crushing the mom and pop type places in urban centres in time, you will be one of the fathers of "bland". Loblaws type places are best left to the sub-burbs, as are the Shoppers drug marts, which it seems, have a plan to have one shoppers drug mart on every block and sell everything under the sun, ensuring that all the local places don't stand a chance. The blandness of the future can be seen along queen street now, west of ossington, and that strip where the loblaws is on queen on the south side round bathurst, or have a peek at much of king street, that, replicated 1000's of times, is every builders/chain store dream. Is this how we want toronto to look? Like square one in mississauga? Or some strip mall? Man, our city sucks. Look at the shitty construction of the Lolaws on queen...the cheapeset materials, sloppy brick work, a total eye sore. If Loblaws wants to lay its fat ass right in the middle of queen street, then we are going to have to demand that these guys build the exterior of the store within the existing character of the surrounding buildings. This was not done at all for the one on queen and bathurst or any other one as far as I know. Galen, you can do better, so do better. 'scuse the spelling and gramamer
That's really ignorant. Not only do you not understand what gentrification is, you obviously don't undertand the significance of the Church/Wellesley community to LGBTQ people.
As for the article to which I am responding. When are going to stop having to listen to personal whining dressed up as journa...sorry it was just blogging. nuff said.
Your conclusion that i feel that "everyone who has an opinion is a bully" is entirely baseless.
I really don't care about the ho line, but treating people like they're dumb and uninformed because they don't know every random reference out there is hardly fair. You could have mentioned what it was in reference to without being elitist and snotty about it.
That said, it's just as sad that so many people are getting bent out of shape over that one line.
I do think that the overcharging by Village landlords is disgusting. There should be some controls on business rent increases to protect communities from the predatory greed that ultimately drives this gentrification & homogenization.
Church street has been home to chain stores for decades, most of them are indifferent to their customer. The restaurants are over priced mediocre food.
If the rents are so high why are there 2nd floor business on the first floor How do low volume retailers make it?
Where has the BIA been? Filling the already crowded sidewalks with stuff and removing places to gather keep people away not attract them.
There is also the rampant nimbyism that permeates the whole area.
Anyway, this "article" is pretty terrible.
Partly, it's gentrification. Partly, it's the cost of living in a liberal and tolerant society. But in a big part, I suspect it's that the community "keyholders" in the Village are not interested in changing the way that they've been operating, because they've done so good so far, right?
Gay villages all over North America are starting to disappear. And that's sad - not because all queers live there (indeed, queers have lived everywhere, since the dawn of time) but because it's a place for a community of people holding a particular identity to congregate. Imagine the experience of Chinese Canadians without having a Chinatown, and you'll get what I mean.
So yeah - David's and Loblaws are not the *cause* of the decline of the Village - rather, they are a *symptom* of deeper urban concerns. Unless the leadership of the Village makes a change of direction, the decline is likely to continue.
This is the heart of what splits the gay community: those who buy into this illusion that we are all rich, super educated, able to afford these ridiculous condos/apartments, and wear top of the line clothes. That is not the reality, but the reality doesn't sell gay magazines or other services the gay community hawks to make us feel bad about ourselves.
The rents in Yorkville are around $300 a sq foot. That would put Woody's paying $1.5 million a month, Timothy's $300,000 Lets be realistic it was said the Rent for Zelda's was $35K that would put the monthly rent at more like $12 a square foot and this place would be at a premium.
Xtra has been flogging the myth for a long time, they have never offered facts to back it up. Personally I would not have bothered reporting on something Xtra reported.
Lets step back one moment so that I can ask an important question from a different perspective. What business do you want to see there? Restaurant? What kind? Clothing store? What brand? As a consumer where do you want to spend your money? I am thinking of opening a restaurant there and would love to hear what the public wants.
What the Church Street BIA needs to do is be like the Kensington Market BIA and stand together as one entity to say 'NO!' to the further encroachment of chains in the area. Besides, Loblaws is too expensive anyway; the prices at No Frills are a lot better, and you're better off buying fruit and veggies at a farmer's market than a a big grocery store, to boot.
Jokes apart though, I think the village is doing very well right now. Chains or not, these business (much like the condos) are bringing new life to an area which was slowly becoming degraded again. Loblaws was the best thing to ever happen to a Church Street where the so-called 'neighborhood business' lack the vision, will and balls to innovate and go that extra mile to impress and/or satisfy customers. COMPETITION IS GREAT.
Congratulations Canada, your obsession for a corporate logo is the reason for your own demise.
GOOD JOB BLOGTO!!
GETTING THE BALL ROLLING EARLY!
In China, the top 400 wealthiest individuals list is nicknamed the "Black List" or the "Death List".
Even in the United States, successful individuals (even doctors and medical professionals, which make up about 25-30% of the 1% of earners) were demonized throughout 2012.
Canada is a comparatively nice place to "be successful!"
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/709153--exodus-sees-church-st-losing-its-gay-village-identity
Confusing causation with correlation, in other words.
The good news is, this just means the fabulousness is being spread around. How is that a bad thing?
Chains are coaxed into existence by our demand for them. People want Loblaws and they want David's Tea, as is evidenced by many of the comments above.
It's pretty funny that the two stores mentioned in the article are the exact thing you want to see, but complain about having.
But, anyone been to either of those spots before Loblaw's opened? Shitty sandwich counters, expensive goods and (in the case of Reithers, mostly) specialization in niche goods that don't have broad appeal. Honestly - in the case of Reithers - how can you expect to stay open when you're selling Pfeffernussen, schinckenbrot and Mozart's balls to a crowd that is (a) not German and (b) on perpetual diets? I know Pusateri's still has a loyal following.
I think David's Tea and Loblaws are helping the area diversify and bring a much needed facelift to an area that was starting to feel really, really tired.
"And with neighbourhood gift shop Flatiron's set to close its doors in March, it looks like rising rents and encroaching chains might change the Village for good." How much are they rising by? What's the average rent at the moment (per unit of area)? What was it 5 years ago? Which other chains are "encroaching"? I'm sure more would like to set up shop, but which ones and when?
The solution is to limit the square footage of new retail, encourage many 'urban size' neighbourhood stores over a few big box mega stores. But that would require some sort of planning in a city that is run by developers and their ilk The result is a built form that elevates developer profits above any other considerations.