[toronto2016]

I found this article about Wal-Mart's expansion in the Globe and Mail today.

Here's the section that caught my eye.

Wal-Mart also plans to open stores in downtown cores of cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, Mr. Pilozzi said. He did not elaborate whether these stores will be the traditional discount store or supercentres.

“There is a trend to redevelop the urban core, and we plan to take advantage of the opportunities that this trend presents,†he said.

In Toronto, there are development plans for an old building on a major downtown route along the waterfront and Wal-Mart expects to be part of that renewal, Mr. Pilozzi said.

Does anyone know which building he is referring to?
Thanks,

Here's the original article.
www.theglobeandmail.com/s...iness/home

 

[scarberiankhatru]

We don't want a Wal-Mart downtown...we want an IKEA!

 

[alklay]

Project Symphony??

 

[spmarshall]

If we build an IKEA downtown, maybe they'll build a subway to it. Worked for North York and Vaughan.

 

[cdl42]

Why, this does sound like a good time for baseless speculation!

- Toronto Film Studios?
- TFS's twin to the east?
- Hearn?
- The Docks?
- The disused Ferry Terminal?
- Something in the Lakeshore/Commissioners/Carlaw/Leslie block?
- Canada Malting silos?
- Fort York Armory? (the feds are talking about selling off real estate, right?)
- Better Living Centre/Queen Elizabeth Building? (Plenty of parking!)

 

[bizorky]

Damn, those are really good baseless speculations!


I particularly like the speculation about the WalMart in the malting silos - never mind on the site! That would bring people to the water front.

 

[spmarshall]

Maybe Loblaw's gave up on the old warehouse/Daily Bread building, so its archrival is grabbing it!

The Better Living Centre is great idea! The CNE grounds are so undercommercialized and needs to sell out. Who needs the Food Building when you can have the Wal-Mart grocery section? So much crap sold at the CNE you might as well let Wal-Mart hock it.

I'm sure Joe Pantalone will go for it - the additional traffic will justify his pet Front Street Expressway.

Post # 4-666 :evil

 

[Admiral Beez]

I always find it amusing when you have those towns where the locals protest a proposed Wal-Mart, saying that the town doesn't want it and that the company should listen to the people, and then when it open, the parking lot is jammed with local customers.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart much, as I prefer to avoid made-in-China goods, but I find may of the criticisms of the firm unfounded. One of my favourites is the claim that Wal-Mart USA provides pitiful health benefits to their American staff, which forgets to mention that most of these folks had NO benefits before, and were in many cases unemployed before. This is why the poor neighbourhoods of Chicago finally demanded that the city break its rule against Wal-Mart in the city, since they wanted access to the jobs and benefits.

 

[beaconer]

This was talked about a few months ago on this forum.

The story that was reported in the papers was that Mitch Goldar, who brought Walmart to Canada, bought a 50% stake in the Toronto Film Studios site, for when the TFS moves to filmport, his hopes are to convert the old TFS site to a Walmart and mixed residential.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The story that was reported in the papers was that Mitch Goldar, who brought Walmart to Canada, bought a 50% stake in the Toronto Film Studios site, for when the TFS moves to filmport, his hopes are to convert the old TFS site to a Walmart and mixed residential.

Seems like sound planning. Toronto's film industry is/was dependent on a low dollar, local tax incentives and a lack of successful competitive reaction from other film-friendly cities, none of which would last forever.

Now that I'm returning to Toronto, I can wait to see the re-development of the east Don Lands, Regent Park, Don Mount Court and perhaps now the film studio area. It's an exciting time to live in Toronto.

 

[roch5220]

If your going to have a walmart store downtown, better hope its an actual walmart store. If they put a giant walgreens in, which I've seen in US downtowns, they are friggen expensive. So if you are going to have crap downtown, better be cheap crap.

 

[alklay]

Walgreens is a drug store chain and has nothing to do with Walmart.

 

[thx1038]

wally

date?

 

[spmarshall]

I would be very disappointed if a Wal-Mart opened on the waterfront. They do not have a very good record of urban stores, and are still one of the most unethical retailers in the world. I avoid Wal-Marts whenever I can. Can't Wal-Mart find somewhere else?

Mitch Goldar, who brought Walmart to Canada

Mitch Goldhar, of First Pro/"Smart" Centres has a terrible record of building the worst of the big box developments (longest walks from sidewalks and through parking lots, biggest, most dispersed), even compared to competitors, like RioCan. He didn't bring Wal-Mart to Canada, he just became their biggest real-estate man after Wal-Mart started to abandon the Woolco stores for new big box megamonstrosities.

Not the man who should be on our waterfront.

 

[alklay]

Vancouver, before ultimately rejecting an urban Walmart, really forced Walmart to develop a relatively urban and environment friendly store design. We can only hope that if we are forced to accept a Walmart at this location, that the city does everything it can to force/encourage a decent design (instead of just rolling over and letting the developer decide the design. Lord forbid that the land is controlled by TEDCO because we will certainly not see any design pressure if this is the case).