07-30-2022, 02:05 PM
(07-29-2022, 01:38 PM)ac3r Wrote: In all actuality, it would likely do better outside or at least with outside facing entrances (with interior as well, naturally). My wish for retail has a lot to do with my time living in Germany where I have a home, but thinking about it again...their train stations have more traffic, so indoor retail fares better. Most stations in any city/region with at least...400'000k has what is referred to as "einkaufsbahnhof" - a compound word that translates to something like train station shopping centre (but literally, something like train station point of purchase). They can often be shopping mall sized retail areas, even in modestly sized cities of like...400k.
We wouldn't have that here despite Waterloo Region having 630k people, but at the very least it could support a couple of shops. Having them outside would probably be a huge benefit too. Central Station doesn't have much handy retail nearby. There's a coffee shop across the street...and a place to rent U-hauls. 2-4 little retail spaces with outdoor access could be a real benefit to the area, even if it was something like crappy fast food, a convenience store or whatever else. Entirely outdoor or partial outdoor+indoor acess would be great because even with a lack of passengers in the station per day, outdoor access could at least help draw in revenue for the businesses.
Those train stations in Germany will have lots of arriving and departing trains. At best, we'll have a GO once an hour. So, indoor shopping makes far less sense than outdoor, in our case.
Round Table (coffee), Dispensary (coffee) -- and Smile Tiger Coffee just N of the current station, at Ahrens St. And this is before some opens up in the Station Park complex. So, coffee in particular isn't in critically short supply.