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Yeggy said:
When I lived downtown I went anywhere BUT starbucks.
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I'm with ya - I avoid Starfucks like the plague.

I want my java from local shops or Canadian chains: Blenz, Second Cup, Take 5, Square 1, Felice, PACT, Remedy and Sorellina. I'll go to Tim Hortons occasionally or if I'm in a small town. I'm hoping to try Colombian and Deville sometime soon.
 
I don't go to Starbucks all that often, and tend to prefer local coffee shops, even over other Canadian chains (and I have a pet peeve against everything Vancouver, which means I'll go anywhere but Blenz, but that's personal). I do love DeVille (their iced teas are to die for) and would love to see at least one in Oliver, Whyte and another one Downtown.

The same goes for most fast food chains.

It would seem that this is the general tone amongst the forum members, and that's good, but anecdotal. When talking about a big city, especially one with loads of immigrants from places where these chains can even have a "premium" status (Starbucks in places like Latin America and India, for example), we gotta consider that there will always be a large portion of the population who will choose these over local or less known chains.
 
ChazYEG said:
2 of the Calgary Starbucks and 1 of the A&Ws and at least 4 of the Vancouver ones were opened in the last 2 years.

In the same period (maybe a little longer) starbucks closed 3 DT/Oliver locations, McDonald's closed 2.

I never said that other cities don't get the focus on drive thru, but it is WORSE in Edmonton, because it seems like car-centrism is far worse here than other major Canadian cities. Is it that hard to understand this logic?
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Might it be that many people who work/live downtown or in central areas don't actually want or need to drive every frickin where to get a coffee or fast food?

Vancouver and Calgary are good relevant nearby examples. Why does every other city get that the suburban model does not work well in the core, but some seem so determined to ram it down our throats here?
 
David A said:
Might it be that many people who work/live downtown or in central areas don't actually want or need to drive every frickin where to get a coffee or fast food?

Vancouver and Calgary are good relevant nearby examples. Why does every other city get that the suburban model does not work well in the core, but some seem so determined to ram it down our throats here?
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In Vancouver it's not like it 's just downtown either, off the top of my head I can think of an urban format Mcdonalds, Tim Hortons and DQ in uptown New Westminster.
 
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David A said:
Might it be that many people who work/live downtown or in central areas don't actually want or need to drive every frickin where to get a coffee or fast food?

Vancouver and Calgary are good relevant nearby examples. Why does every other city get that the suburban model does not work well in the core, but some seem so determined to ram it down our throats here?
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I dont think anyone is ramming it down our throats
 
Yeggy said:
I dont think anyone is ramming it down our throats
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Yes, they are.

As it is clearly evident, other major cities in Canada don't suffer nearly as much from this same issue. Out of curiosity, I went to look at Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, too (and Halifax, for fun). Even Halifax, being A LOT smaller, has more urban format stores than Edmonton.

If you are still claiming that this is not an Edmonton issue, I wonder what kind of evidence you need of that. Out of all 6 1M+ cities in Canada, Edmonton suffers the most with this issue, by a substantial margin. Even comparing with smaller cities, like Halifax, Quebec City and Winnipeg, we're behind, or at the same level. This is not only big corporate decisions, because opening stores is something that is also decided on a regional level.
 
The limited number and lack of retail choice is a huge problem for those who live and work downtown for those who would like to walk to businesses nearby, but are forced to drive elsewhere.

It is not as bad with food as other things, but it really undermines the attractiveness of living downtown if you have to drive everywhere and is a big reason it is difficult to attract more people to live downtown.

We have dug ourselves into a big hole with poorly thought out choices over many years and we really need to seriously consider, do we want to be a real city or just a big suburb.
 
hold on now. I live DT/Oliver. I don't have to "drive everywhere" as David A states, in fact, Oliver has one of, if not the highest walkability score of any neighbourhood in Edmonton. In fact, the only retail I cannot access without a vehicle at the moment is a hardware store; it's almost like I already live in one of those 15 minute cities. Several new coffee shops / bars / restaurants / retail stores have opened around me and a Red Robin and a Starbucks have left. Big whoop...stores open and close in cities all the time. So what exactly is the big hole we've dug, (not me, don't have a shovel); is it that suburban format fast-food brick and mortar, stand alone venues have taken over downtown? No, and the existing ones are leaving...I see that as upward, positive evolution. And what exactly, as another poster stated, "is being rammed down our throat"? especially if it isn't being rammed down the throats of those feisty Haligonians? F*** boys, we're talking about a mall. Oh, and the fainting spells over having to ride up 2 (TWO!) escalators to get to the ECC food court? Sort yourselves out.
 
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