08-08-2023, 03:39 PM
(08-08-2023, 10:13 AM)SF22 Wrote: I don't really see the problem with having lots of restaurants if they get used and people enjoy them? When I was a kid in this city, literally all we had was chicken or burger chain restaurants and like, Golf's and the Charcoal. We have come SO far in having food options, and not everything will stick, but we've gotten some absolute bangers in the past 10-15 years that are a part of the city fabric now.
I'd rather live in an up-and-coming city filled with tech workers and all the businesses they patronize and support, than a city on the decline where people are leaving in droves and restaurants are closing their doors forever.
But does the choice have to be between economic prosperity vs being a unique, distinct place? I mean, I don't think the generic up-and-coming city meme businesses are a bad thing (they show up everywhere because people enjoy them I guess), but some local identity and a reason for people to visit would be nice too.
(08-08-2023, 02:01 PM)SF22 Wrote: But those things will take time. It's easiest to pop up a little restaurant, more than anything else - downtown Kitchener likely doesn't have enough residents quite yet for larger box stores to gamble on opening new locations there, but I expect we'll eventually see a few move in, as more towers go up and there are more people downtown after-hours. I agree that need to take the pandemic into consideration - nearly every company was looking at how to pull back on expenditures between 2020-2022, and very few were actively expanding into new locations. We've only had about 2 full years of non-COVID LRT operation, and we know that there's thousands of housing units downtown on the way. We've seen the Gaukel Block officially turn from a closed street to a pedestrian-only street in the last couple of years, and the city is actively taking input on what amenities residents want to see in the core. That has to mean that some civic space change is coming. It's slower than we want, sure, but the city and its residents are only able to create so much change - the rest is in the hands of businesses who are/are not ready to invest in downtown.
Interestingly, I would anecdotally argue that the downtown restaurants are more likely to be open after working hours than during lunch. A lot of places that used to have lunch service pre-pandemic have cut back on it, and I was a little frustrated to see that the upcoming Don Julio Tacos will be running their hours 4:30pm-midnight/1am.
Definitely not my experience regarding food hours, but looking through Google maps it seems you're more right than I thought. I guess I just don't patronize the places you're describing. Yet downtown seems to be much busier doing workdays, and honestly is a bit of a ghost town at night considering the number of people who live here. This weekend I was looking for some late night food with friends and the options felt limited, and they commented on how depressing and dead downtown was. I don't go uptown terribly often, so my view isn't as nuanced I'm sure, but every time I'm there I'm shocked at the number of people out and about. It feels like on any given evening there are 10x as many people on the uptown streets vs downtown (20x if you discount the homeless), and the overall vibe is so much more positive and lively.