Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment

[ac3r]

The retail doesn’t have to be inside. I don’t think there is anything about the north side of Victoria between King and Duke that makes it any worse than any other block in downtown for street-facing retail.

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.

But, this is Waterloo Region. Pretty much zero chance of anything good like this happening, so we'll get this expensive train station that few people set foot in apart from waiting for a train or one of a very few number of buses that will connect here.