08-02-2021, 01:40 PM
(08-02-2021, 11:25 AM)ac3r Wrote: 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.Well, there was a clothing store and a shoe store downtown for many years, but they closed a few years ago. If you look at historical pictures, the downtown was the main shopping district. Then they built the suburban malls, which hollowed out the downtowns of many small cities. It will take a few years for retailers to discover how to serve the new residents that will be filling the new buildings downtown.
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.