One Young (née Mayfair Hotel) | 5 fl | Complete

[tomh009]

Welcome to the forums, KWchick!

(...)  when i first moved here in '83, there were two grocery stores; one where city hall was, and one in the market square building (i am pretty sure)
as well, there was a hardware store.. woolworth's.. movie theatres.. the king centre was busy with interesting stores.. in fact the whole downtown was busy with shoppers and ppl who just wanted to browse.

now we have... how many pita shops?  a couple sushi bars.. there isnt very much really to go downtown FOR anymore.
bargain shop is gone.. the td bank moved..  and even factories.. all gone or converted to 'lofts'..

it is a real shame.
anyway.. nice to meet you all. interesting thread.

I moved here in '77, and went to high school at Cameron Heights.  Other than Market Square (which had Eaton's and Zehrs), the downtown core was pretty run down at that time already.  King Centre came later, but there simply weren't enough shoppers to keep those busy -- most people preferred to go to Fairview or Conestoga.  And the decrepit factories and run-down car dealerships certainly didn't make the downtown any more lively.

We now have a fabulous city hall, older buildings with a new life (Kaufman Lofts, Arrow Lofts, Tannery, Breithaupt), more people moving to downtown (lofts above, 1 Victoria, 100 Victoria, City Centre Condos), the UW school of pharmacy, LRT and a transit centre coming.  It's night and day compared to 30 years ago.

And there are lots of great restaurants downtown, both casual and more upscale.  271, Ellison's, Northern Thai, Holy Guacamole, Kinkaku, Twh Social, Niko Niko, The 41, Cheeses Murphy, Crepe Cafe ... and the list is way longer than this.

I've been waiting for the downtown to be revitalized for nearly four decades.  But I'm finally confident that it really is happening now.