06-09-2015, 01:43 PM
(06-09-2015, 01:28 PM)mpd618 Wrote:(06-09-2015, 12:57 PM)KWchick Wrote: and sure, ppl will go to bluesfest etc.. and they 'might' come back to shop... but there arent really any good places TO shop.
i dont know.
seems to me they have gotten rid of an awful lot of busy places...
There is no "they" that have gotten rid of grocery stores and hardware stores and such downtown. Given the proliferation of cars and the change in residential density towards the suburbs, the demand decreased and made many kinds of retail unviable. It will take a lot more residential density downtown to change that. And I don't think bringing people downtown to shop is a workable model, not to mention that Kitchener already tried this with all the downtown malls a few decades ago - to little success.
well someone must have. decisions were made to close or tear down buildings. i cannot say why in each and every case of course.
i dont own a store downtown but i do read what the store owners have to say when they close. some cite rents being too high.. some just have little traffic.. depends on the store and circumstances..
and if bringing ppl downtown to patronize stores is not the answer then what is?
if ppl are not down there to shop, stores will close. seems kind of obvious, no..?
so what then will the dpwntown area end up becoming do you think..?
an LRT passageway to anywhere but downtown..?
that does not make a downtown thrive either.
and even if there were more residents in the area it does not mean they will shop there.
especially when, as i said, there are no grocery stores, for example.
even old country villages have a general store.
just because new buildings are going up, and it 'looks nicer' (in some ppl's opinions) that does not help
the store owners that are left pay the rent and stay open.
sorry but what the city seems to be doing makes no sense to me.