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07-08-2021, 11:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-08-2021, 11:41 PM by taylortbb.)
(07-08-2021, 09:12 PM)Acitta Wrote: Their Twitter feed seems to be @marcheleosmkt which has no posts. This is different from the Toronto store, which is @Marcheleos.
I'm pretty sure they're the same company that's half-way through a rebranding. Their Instagram makes it pretty obvious, where there's an account with the old logo that got renamed from @marcheleos to @marcheleos1, and then a new account with the new logo that took over the @marcheleos name.
There's definitely a Marche Leo's Marketplace in downtown Toronto, in the Atrium on Bay. So even if they are different companies, there's still an existing Toronto location.
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(07-08-2021, 11:40 PM)taylortbb Wrote: (07-08-2021, 09:12 PM)Acitta Wrote: Their Twitter feed seems to be @marcheleosmkt which has no posts. This is different from the Toronto store, which is @Marcheleos.
I'm pretty sure they're the same company that's half-way through a rebranding. Their Instagram makes it pretty obvious, where there's an account with the old logo that got renamed from @marcheleos to @marcheleos1, and then a new account with the new logo that took over the @marcheleos name.
There's definitely a Marche Leo's Marketplace in downtown Toronto, in the Atrium on Bay. So even if they are different companies, there's still an existing Toronto location. It says "website launching soon". Marcheleos.com has different branding with the name as one word. Clicking on the Instagram icon on leads to the @marcheleos account. I wonder if they are going to rebrand the Toronto stores to match the Kitchener one.
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They were loading in pallets of merchandise today. I heard an August 1st opening, but not sure if anything has formally been announced yet.
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(07-23-2021, 01:52 PM)WaterLouGehrig Wrote: They were loading in pallets of merchandise today. I heard an August 1st opening, but not sure if anything has formally been announced yet.
A small sign on the door says they are opening in the "next few weeks" or something like that, so it matches.
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Marche Leo's looks very, very close to opening now: the shelves are stocked, signs are off the door, the cleaners were cleaning last night. Maybe as soon as after the holiday weekend?
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(07-30-2021, 01:56 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Marche Leo's looks very, very close to opening now: the shelves are stocked, signs are off the door, the cleaners were cleaning last night. Maybe as soon as after the holiday weekend? I passed by yesterday and it looked like it was fully stocked, except for perishables.
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(07-30-2021, 09:35 PM)panamaniac Wrote: (07-30-2021, 01:56 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Marche Leo's looks very, very close to opening now: the shelves are stocked, signs are off the door, the cleaners were cleaning last night. Maybe as soon as after the holiday weekend? I passed by yesterday and it looked like it was fully stocked, except for perishables.
Panamaniac is back in town! 
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I was, for a full day and a half. First time since covid hit. Bizarre to see all the development, with less change to the atmosphere of DTK than I would have expected. Covid seems to have played havoc with DTK, although one hopes this will improve post-covid. Meanwhile, Darlisle Cafe still serves a very nice breakfast! I hope Marche Leo’s has deep enough pockets to say in business until times and demographics are more favourable.
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08-01-2021, 02:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2021, 02:53 PM by ac3r.)
Condos, hipster grocery stores and cafes aren't enough to make the atmosphere of downtown Kitchener any more lively or unique than it is. The problem is that what currently exists downtown almost exclusively caters to the 9 to 5 crowd and there are very, very, very few reasons for "normal" people (aka anyone not living down there) to go downtown for anything, let alone outside of business hours. There's an art gallery, boring museum and a vaguely niche theatre that make it unique, but that's about it. Everything else downtown exists much more plentifully and conveniently (i.e. business hours) in the rest of the city. Until there are enough interesting shops and...well, basically anything to do downtown, it's always going to have this weird vibe made up of people getting lunch then disappearing and various riff raff roaming the streets asking for spare change or cigarettes. 620'000+ people living here and the main urban district doesn't even have a grocery store...
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(08-01-2021, 02:50 PM)ac3r Wrote: Condos, hipster grocery stores and cafes aren't enough to make the atmosphere of downtown Kitchener any more lively or unique than it is. The problem is that what currently exists downtown almost exclusively caters to the 9 to 5 crowd and there are very, very, very few reasons for "normal" people (aka anyone not living down there) to go downtown for anything, let alone outside of business hours. There's an art gallery, boring museum and a vaguely niche theatre that make it unique, but that's about it. Everything else downtown exists much more plentifully and conveniently (i.e. business hours) in the rest of the city. Until there are enough interesting shops and...well, basically anything to do downtown, it's always going to have this weird vibe made up of people getting lunch then disappearing and various riff raff roaming the streets asking for spare change or cigarettes. 620'000+ people living here and the main urban district doesn't even have a grocery store... Hopefully, once the new condo and rental apartment buildings are finished and populated and the new stores in those buildings are up and running, things will get better downtown. Also, when we are finally out of the pandemic, maybe some of the closed downtown entertainment venues will reopen and the festivals will come back, bringing more people downtown. Give it a couple of years.
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(08-01-2021, 02:50 PM)ac3r Wrote: The problem is that what currently exists downtown almost exclusively caters to the 9 to 5 crowd and there are very, very, very few reasons for "normal" people (aka anyone not living down there) to go downtown for anything, let alone outside of business hours.
...where have you been for the past several years? Clearly not in DTK. I really respect a lot of the stuff you post here, but stuff like this is just obviously wrong.
DTK is a major restaurant destination. There's like two dozen restaurants people head to DTK to go to outside of 9-5, making it probably the biggest concentration of restaurants in the region.
I can personally attest just how difficult it is to get a seat at the Grand Trunk, The Surf, TWH Social, etc patios on a Friday or Saturday evening when the weather is nice. There's clearly tons of people heading downtown at those times.
Does it have all the culture I want? No. But the evening vibrancy of DTK is picking up rapidly.
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And DTK doesn't have anywhere close to 620K people living there. Not even 62K.
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I think ac3r was commenting on the population of WR as a whole.
Anyways, pre-pandemic there was definitely a big 9-5 population that is now missing
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Yes, the population of the region as a whole, not just downtown. I guess it's complicated by the fact that we are 3 cities that all have their own downtown areas, so things aren't as centralized. London, for example, is much smaller than we are but their downtown feels a lot more bustling.
To me, downtown Kitchener is still lacking things that are not restaurants or a handful of other attractions. I go downtown very often, but it's easy to run out of things to do. I can only go to things like KWAG, the library, Apollo Cinema, walk around the streets or go to restaurants before I'm burning money to eat out. Things are changing for sure, but to draw more people down there for things other than getting lunch or dinner. We need more cultural and artistic things open up, more shops that can attract people downtown (I mean...is there even a clothing store?), more live music venues, clubs, recreation, community spaces (whether it's for youth, LGBTQ+, new migrants or "normal people"), something like a conference centre etc.
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(08-01-2021, 05:02 PM)taylortbb Wrote: (08-01-2021, 02:50 PM)ac3r Wrote: The problem is that what currently exists downtown almost exclusively caters to the 9 to 5 crowd and there are very, very, very few reasons for "normal" people (aka anyone not living down there) to go downtown for anything, let alone outside of business hours.
...where have you been for the past several years? Clearly not in DTK. I really respect a lot of the stuff you post here, but stuff like this is just obviously wrong.
DTK is a major restaurant destination. There's like two dozen restaurants people head to DTK to go to outside of 9-5, making it probably the biggest concentration of restaurants in the region.
I can personally attest just how difficult it is to get a seat at the Grand Trunk, The Surf, TWH Social, etc patios on a Friday or Saturday evening when the weather is nice. There's clearly tons of people heading downtown at those times.
Does it have all the culture I want? No. But the evening vibrancy of DTK is picking up rapidly.
I don't live or work downtown but I do go there quite often mainly in the evenings when I'm not at work. The vibrancy is definitely picking up rapidly and it's very noticeable.
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