03-03-2020, 02:27 PM
(03-03-2020, 01:01 PM)westwardloo Wrote:(03-02-2020, 05:53 PM)Bytor Wrote: It's the "generic, unexciting" retailers that show how Downtown viability is growing, though, when they want to move in.
This is a great point. As much as I prefer to shop at independent retailers sometimes it is just not an option for the things I am looking for. I made note of this in the downtown shopping survey on EngageWR a couple months ago. I would love it if a few of the bigger retailers like sportschek, Canadian tire, winners, ebgames or bestbuy would set up shop in the downtown core. Unfortunately I do not see this happening for a variety of reasons. Firstly there are not too many large retail spaces available. secondly the failure of both the king centre and market square have left a stain on the retail viability in the core. Lastly for decades the cities in this region have enticed those types retailers to set up shop in the mess that is Conestoga mall, fairway rd and heslper rd area through poor zoning and urban planning practices. There maybe ample parking at these locations, but traffic is a nightmare, so I stay away at all cost. Hopefully as kitcheners Downtown population continues to grow the retail options will grow with it.
King Centre's failure was more than 20 years ago, I doubt it will impact anyone. There are some larger spaces, such as the corner of King St W and Water St, and there will be more, although most will not be directly on King St, or they will be outside the Victoria St to Cameron St stretch. But even if a chain such as Best Buy or Sportchek were to open a DTK store, it would likely be an urban-format one with a smaller selection than they have in the suburban malls.
Better would be stores that can be smaller, and that don't duplicate the ones in the malls. Uniqlo, Muji, Mango, Flying Tiger, Patagonia etc.