Who or what is Adonis?

I only learned about it in connection with its one-time plans for Emerald Park (but haven't been inside one). It is a grocer - its "roots are in Montreal as a Middle Eastern grocer" although they have expanded the concept/offerings since then. This is their website and this piece from 2014 has a bit more on it.
 
I saw that RioCan is hosting a "block party" on October 17th to celebrate the Yonge/Sheppard project completion: RioCan to celebrate $300 million Yonge Sheppard Centre rehab .

No word on any freebies or deals but I suppose we'll see. Based on the postings here they are probably really trying to drum up marketing and promotional interest in the space and I'm sure they expect an event like this might help.

I’m guessing freebies would be food samples from various mall vendors set up throughout the mall around lunch time,.... at least that’s what I remembered from their Before Renovation events. Previously, RioCan had deals on $100 SheppardCentre gift cards for like $70, then $75, then $80, etc,.... to drum up business prior to renovation but haven’t done that in the past few years.
 
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I work at Flock in the mall with frontage on Yonge and this is entirely true about the brand names. I trained at the one on Richmond where they avg $7000 during a weekday. Whereas at Sheppard, we avg 1200, maybe, 1500 on a week day. Now obviously Yonge/Sheppard doesn't have the same density as Bay and Richmond but I can't help but feel that the discrepancy is very troubling. Should I be looking for a new way to myself through university?

Many shops around here - especially at EmeraldPark - would kill to average $1200 revenue per day! It's also a perspective of overhead like headcount & rent.

Flock does well downtown - in financial core there's a captive customer base of office workers looking for lunch. As Flock expands downtown, downtown workers & residents are already familiar with it.

YongeSheppardCentre Flock is really their first satellite shop outside downtown - here it's a different ball game:
- In the last 20 years since amalgamation, here in the North York Centre Secondary Plan area (Yonge corridor between Beecroft & Doris from 401 to Drewry/Cummer) there's been 60+ condo towers built VS 1 office tower - it's now a Vertical Sleeping Community!
- ratio of office worker to restaurant is a lot lower here since there's fewer office workers & likely a higher density of restaurants with greater variety???

For a restaurant to survive here, they have to win over the residential crowd. The restaurants that does well here are the true ethnic restaurants and unique restaurants with cult following (like Blaze?). Why? The ethnic demographic here is very diverse with 25% Chinese, 15% Persian, 12% Korean in Ward 18 Willowdale. It's not just diversity but also the "fresh"-ness of it,... this area is also known as the new Spadina - the first landing area-settlement for many new immigrants. Why is all this important? Because the best dish Flock offers like white chicken meat with a bowl of fresh greens/salad would be viewed by some as an inferior product! Chinese folks who were raised oversea value the fattier tastier dark chicken meat over white chicken meat,... and they would never eat raw vegetables - it must be cooked or steamed.

When you look out your Yonge Street window, look at who's driving the fancy cars & who's wearing the expensive clothing - they have disposable income. How can you're store cater to their needs & wants?

Many folks were excited about Flock coming here, but now they have to support it,... with their wallet.

A midtown Flock at Yonge&Eglinton area would probably do better since the local residential demographic is,... less diverse.

Service gigs are a dime a dozen these days - your next gig will pay attention to how long you lasted at Flock & why you left,... As a university student, a less-busier Flock would probably be better for you as it's less demanding & less stressful.


Since Flock is the only Yonge frontage restaurant with direct connection to mall, I'm wondering if Flock business will pick up over the Winter - while other Yonge frontage shops like Blaze, FiveGuys, IQ Foods, BasilBox & Sweet Jesus drops off.
 
Dollarama will be relocating from their 5607 sq ft space above Shoppers Drug Mart to the 8780 sq ft space directly east of Shoppers Drug Mart on the Sheppard frontage stores - maybe include the 6000 sq ft between it and What A Bagel. They seem to be closing off one of the interior pedestrian walkway for townhouse so that the new Dollarama with Sheppard frontage will have direct mall access - just east of Shoppers Drug Mart entrance. Double red lines on map indicates the walls being knocked down so Dollarama will have direct mall access. BTW, these Sheppard frontage retail space were the ones rumoured pitched to LCBO and Beer Store few years ago.
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These images show some of the Community Space from Section 37 Community Benefit - above the TimHortons on Sheppard frontage:
- first image shows part of the Non-Profit Childcare facility on 3rd floor
- second image shows part of the Family Services Community Centre on 4th floor
Both were supposed to be open earlier this Fall, but keep having their opening dates pushed back,.... images show they’re focusing on finishing touches?
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Ok,... so what are we supposed to do with this #OurBlock thing???
- Take selfies with it??? (is it supposed to be like a "Toronto" sign - that doesn't light up)
- Maybe we're supposed to Hash-tag tweet about it??? (so far it gotten only 2 tweets from the nearby Cardinal Carter Academy For The Arts students who designed it and school board trustee)
- Or we could just Ignore it - like everyone else??? Maybe if it had a cup-holder it'll get more attention,....
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Or maybe we're supposed to say "Hello" to it???
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Ok,... so what are we supposed to do with this #OurBlock thing???
- Take selfies with it??? (is it supposed to be like a "Toronto" sign - that doesn't light up)
- Maybe we're supposed to Hash-tag tweet about it??? (so far it gotten only 2 tweets from the nearby Cardinal Carter Academy For The Arts students who designed it and school board trustee)
- Or we could just Ignore it - like everyone else??? Maybe if it had a cup-holder it'll get more attention,....
View attachment 211107

Or maybe we're supposed to say "Hello" to it???
View attachment 211108
When I first saw it in person I thought it was a temporary thing for the block party. But if I understand correctly this is a permanent art installation. I agree, in that I don't see the point of it. It seems like the idea came from someone who was painfully eager to be trendy, combining the success of the Toronto sign with hashtags. Meanwhile the Toronto sign concept only works in photogenic tourist areas and hashtags are becoming passé.
 
Everyone's been copying the sign since Amsterdam did it and it's so overdone by this point. And it's not just munis - organizations are jumping on it. For example, Seneca Newnham campus recently installed one as well.
 
SunnyRay:
You said that the wall east of Shoppers would be opened up (shown as red lines on the retail map) for mall access to Dollarama. A double door was installed at the indicated location when that area was renovated earlier this year. Of course, the current doors are not the finished product.
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SunnyRay:
You said that the wall east of Shoppers would be opened up (shown as red lines on the retail map) for mall access to Dollarama. A double door was installed at the indicated location when that area was renovated earlier this year. Of course, the current doors are not the finished product.

I just find it’s a clever way to give direct mall access to at least one of the Sheppard frontage retail space; especially given that the nearby pedestrian passage - highlighted in yellow in image - seems to belong to the property owner of the Forest Laneway apartments instead of RioCan.

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