I noticed on Friday that 2 Queen West is finally going to be used for something! It's going to be a pop-up for the Olympics, sponsored by McCain (yes, the fries company).

I think this also does help explain the decline in the registry industry though. If the average age of marriage is up to 35 now, a lot of people will have gone and bought those things already. I'm that age and unmarried, and I've spent the last couple years (since I stopped having roommates)...

I'd say it remains primarily mass market brands, at least for the corner stores around where I live. A lot of Budweiser, Coors light, etc. Steamwhistle is pretty common though, so at least there's something with some flavour. Generally I've found 7/11 has more interesting chocies than Circle K...

Agreed, Sephora anywhere along the Yonge frontage would be ideal. They're one of the few brands who really seem to love having both exterior and interior entrances to malls. Meanwhile at TEC they're up on the second floor (in a part where that isn't ground level) for some reason. Ideally...

I'd argue that it wasn't enough to keep a giant chain of department stores afloat, but a bunch of small boutique stores? That seems more plausible.

Given the original store was apparently a pop-up, I'm guessing it did well enough that this is the transition to a permanent store.

I'm pretty sure it's RW&Co. The store they set up in the Banana Republic location has always has signs that it's a pop-up and I noticed that while their "we've moved" signage originally just covered their store, it now covers the former Armani Exchange space. Plus last year they updated their...

As far as I know it's going to be Harbour Street West of Yonge, Downes Street East of Yonge. Sorta like College and Carlton (although those were not originally a through street so those are more justified in having different names). Is that the best choice, idk, but that seems to be the current...

Ah yes, City Staff are literal demons to be blamed for everything. Glad to know that I, as a civil servant in an unrelated part of the City, with no connection to City Planning (who are not even to blame for the delays here, it was the developer!), am apparently personally responsible for Frank...

The City has previously recommended implementing the King St rules on both Queen and College (as well as the entire length of King). At the time this was projected for somewhere around 2028, I'm sure it's been delayed as everything is around here, but there absolutely has been some looking into...

So the inside of HBC Queen St isn't just going to be white construction walls! Passed through today and the construction walls have been painted with murals. Work was still continuing on the concourse level but Levels 1 and 2 are done. Some pictures below (all taken on the second floor).

So last week I was talking with a coworker who's also from the Kingston area about how crazy it was that Toys R Us was still open there given it's parking lot is at least 95% empty all the time and has been since probably the 2000s (it is in a very unwalkable area, so it's not like people are...

This thing is like the stereotype of a Toronto condo. Soulless. Grey. Nothing interesting about it. That said, the height is correct for an area with an LRT station, but that's all it has going for it IMO.

I got a bit thrown by the RENX article when it said Ruby Liu had acquired 28 leases. Then I noticed the article was from July. RENX may have jumped the gun a bit there lol. That said, not sure about Primaris' other malls, but the HBC store at the Cataraqui Centre was DATED. My parents said it...

I also don't think that the Farm Boy on QQ East is helped by the fact there's another (much busier) location not that far away at the Harbourfront Centre. So anyone West of Yonge is probably using that location instead, and that limits the potential market of the location at the LCBO tower.