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  • Thread starter marksimpson7843
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Work permit displayed in the window of the heritage building at Yonge and Richmond. Looks like Rexal is expanding into the space that was previously a fitness equipment store.
 
That's good news. Space has been empty for awhile, and while a pharmacy is hardly the most exciting tenant, pharmacies tend to have longer hours.
 
Excerpt from the above article:

"Last fall, Leung and Castellan bought a 10,000-square-foot industrial building in Toronto’s Brockton Village neighbourhood, near Bloor and Dufferin Streets. They plan to rent out half, and are converting the other half into the company’s main factory as well as a retail and educational space. Leung designed the facility so the public can wander through to see the entire chocolate-making process from behind glass partitions. And the couple are overbuilding everything: storage, capacity, even the electrical circuits."
 
Speaking of the above....

The Coxwell store has not yet reopened, nor have permits even been issued for renovation/reconstruction.

According to local community sources....

Loblaws has been acquiring the storefronts to its south along this stretch.

To what ultimate purpose is not yet clear (merely a larger store, or a different redevelopment scheme altogether)
 
Even if Loblaws had some ultimate purpose (redevelopment, perhaps, although seems premature in the case of the Coxwell store), it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to suddenly close the stores and to generate no revenue.

The trend here is that these No Frills stores are operating in really old grocery stores that have seen little investment over the years in the bones of these buildings. Some engineer is probably telling Loblaws that there is a liability/danger here.

ETA: Loblaws did recently make building permit applications for the Coxwell store - in addition to the one shown below, they've also applied for mechanical and plumbing permits.

Coxwell.png
 

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Even if Loblaws had some ultimate purpose (redevelopment, perhaps, although seems premature in the case of the Coxwell store), it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to suddenly close the stores and to generate no revenue.

The trend here is that these No Frills stores are operating in really old grocery stores that have seen little investment over the years in the bones of these buildings. Some engineer is probably telling Loblaws that there is a liability/danger here.

ETA: Loblaws did recently make building permit applications for the Coxwell store - in addition to the one shown below, they've also applied for mechanical and plumbing permits.

View attachment 93836


Thanks for the permit update.

I've been checking semi-regularly on the the City's site, for any permits and hadn't seen any up to last week.

I see the acceptance is last week of November, I'm guess that that doesn't make it online immediately, but I'm not sure.

***

I wasn't thinking in 'conspiratorial' terms, w/respect to the closures.

It's just the fact they were both sudden with little/no notice customers, and barely any to staff in both cases.

It's unusual.

If they've got engineers all of a sudden, reporting catastrophic or near catastrophic fails, in more than 1 building, such that urgent closures were needed;

that smacks (to me) of a serious systemic problem in property maintenance.

The failure to be forthright w/the public about the nature of the closures also adds to the speculation.
 
[...]
that smacks (to me) of a serious systemic problem in property maintenance.

The failure to be forthright w/the public about the nature of the closures also adds to the speculation.

Agreed. These are discount supermarkets - I doubt a lot of money has been spent on building maintenance over the years.

I believe most of the No Frills stores are franchises. Loblaws itself might not be the party responsible for building maintenance, but it's possible that after what happened with Coxwell that Loblaws is forcing its franchisees to do building inspections.

I'm not sure that Loblaws or the franchisees have any responsibility to disclose engineering issues to the public, unless there is a current risk to members of the public.
 
The last I heard, Loblaws used a property management company to look after its real estate holdings. However, as a franchise, it is possible that those NoFrills franchisees lease the property directly. Different stores have different arrangements. So it could be a franchisee issue, a landlord issue, a property management issue, or a Loblaws issue!
 

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