10-27-2017, 02:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-27-2017, 02:37 PM by panamaniac.)
(10-27-2017, 01:29 PM)nms Wrote: Switching back to retail, downtown Kitchener is (has) largely shifted towards a service oriented streetfront, either restaurants and bars (or gastropubs if you want both); as well as some government/city/region/non-profits. Aside from a few places like Petsche's, there really isn't anywhere to buy anything (unless Shoppers Drug Mart is your thing). Or so I thought...
A brief list on a couple of blocks of King St in Kitchener found by Google:
- KW Bookstore
- New York Rock
- Dynamic Shoes
- Fritsch Fragrances
- Rock Universe
- Petsche's
- Try-City Music
- A Second Look Books and Movies
Yes, some of the long-time stores are closing for a variety of reasons (retirement in the case of Budd's and Petsche's; selling to a developer in the case of Schreiter's Furniture). I look forward to the downtown continuing to revive itself. At the moment, it doesn't look like it will simply become a strip of restaurants, cafes and bars to service the office crowd.
I've seen nothing to suggest a "retail revival" Downtown (something that many people in Kitchener, especially the more "mature" crowd, still seem to hold as the marker of whether Downtown is "back" or not). If anything, retail still seems to be trending down. It's not that new retailers haven't come on the scene, it's that most of them seem not to have been able to make a go of it, and the chains are entirely absent. It's why I'm always curious to know how new places that do open up (eg J&P Grocery, Black Arrow Cycle) are doing. Perhaps once all the proposed condo towers are up and occupied we'll see things begin to change, but that is some years down the road.