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Mississauga Developments
#31
(01-27-2020, 04:34 PM)plam Wrote:
(01-27-2020, 10:08 AM)westwardloo Wrote: Absolutely Big box Strip malls are my personally hell. I avoid them at all cost. Unfortunately downtown doesn't have the one box store i frequent a Canadian tire. I think the city really messed up the sportsworld redevelopment. Hopefully an lrt stop with encourage them to try again at creating a nice mixed-use neighbourhood.

Sportsworld redevelopment and Boardwalk are relatively modern fiascos. I just can't even.
The boardwalk is awful in every way, but unfortunately was destine to be suburban due to its location. The sportsworld development is the worse one in my opinion. The region was already thinking of the lrt by the time they allowed this to happen. Why not try to preemptively justify the extension by building mixed use. It boogles my mind that we are in a housing crisis yet we continue to allow commercial developments (big box/ strip malls) with a ridiculous amount of surface parking, that will never become completely filled and we give no thought to putting housing above said retail.  

I will say I have an special hate on for The Boardwalk as it took the adventure guide away. I used to frequent it for outdoor equipment regularly. Haven't been in it since it moved. I always thought it was a weird business decision. Seemed like the perfect brand to be located in uptown or downtown, not in strip mall that only serves one side of town.
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#32
(01-27-2020, 04:56 PM)westwardloo Wrote: The boardwalk is awful in every way, but unfortunately was destine to be suburban due to its location. The sportsworld development is the worse one in my opinion. The region was already thinking of the lrt by the time they allowed this to happen. Why not try to preemptively justify the extension by building mixed use. It boogles my mind that we are in a housing crisis yet we continue to allow commercial developments (big box/ strip malls) with a ridiculous amount of surface parking, that will never become completely filled and we give no thought to putting housing above said retail.  

Not just allow, require. Remember, traditional mixed-use neighbourhoods are illegal in most parts of most municipalities in Canada. We should start by eliminating all parking minima, and allowing most uses to mix as-of-right. Certainly if a developer wants to mix apartments and townhouses with shops, restaurants, and professional offices, it’s entirely their business if they get the mix wrong and one or the other doesn’t sell or rent.

Really the only valid justification I can think of for a government-mandated separation of uses is for safety and nuisance reasons. For example, making it illegal to build a propane transfer facility within 1km of housing, or housing within a 1km radius of a propane transfer facility, are perfectly reasonable.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell the whole concept of “that’s none of my business” simply doesn’t exist in the minds of planners, or is a shrivelled remnant of what it should be.

Oh, and I totally agree about the Boardwalk. It has neither the “get out of the car and into a building once” of a large mall, nor the “wander around a pleasant commercial neighbourhood” aspect of a place like Uptown. It’s bad for everyone who uses it, even those who prefer to drive places.
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#33
(01-27-2020, 04:56 PM)westwardloo Wrote: I will say I have an special hate on for The Boardwalk as it took the adventure guide away. I used to frequent it for outdoor equipment regularly. Haven't been in it since it moved. I always thought it was a weird business decision. Seemed like the perfect brand to be located in uptown or downtown, not in strip mall that only serves one side of town.

Yeah, I was at one of the Banff Film Festival screenings and Adventure Guide announced the move and people cheered. I was like "this is terrible!" To be fair, the old space was pretty hard to work with, and probably much of their customer base has a car and lives closer to there than not, but I'm personally generally not willing to go there. (Biking there is actually terrible). I've complained to front line staff, though of course they don't make the decisions. But something like the Chapters location would be much better.

(01-27-2020, 05:24 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Oh, and I totally agree about the Boardwalk. It has neither the “get out of the car and into a building once” of a large mall, nor the “wander around a pleasant commercial neighbourhood” aspect of a place like Uptown. It’s bad for everyone who uses it, even those who prefer to drive places.

Can we rant about Toronto Premium Outlets again? They do have awnings though.
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#34
(01-27-2020, 05:53 PM)plam Wrote:
(01-27-2020, 05:24 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Oh, and I totally agree about the Boardwalk. It has neither the “get out of the car and into a building once” of a large mall, nor the “wander around a pleasant commercial neighbourhood” aspect of a place like Uptown. It’s bad for everyone who uses it, even those who prefer to drive places.

Can we rant about Toronto Premium Outlets again? They do have awnings though.

Do not get me started! Tongue
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#35
While online shopping has hit bricks and mortar retail hard, it has also largely made mall-style retail obsolete. The style of shopping that malls are optimal for - wandering into various stores, seeing different things etc. - just doesn't happen as much anymore. People do that on the internet and either buy it online, or go to the shop that sells the item they are looking for to try it on. In that context, a format like the Boardwalk or Sportsworld works really well. People can drive close to the store, walk in, and then leave. Doing the same at a mall is typically a much bigger ordeal that someone like myself anyway, is simply just not going to bother with. You still drive there and park. If you're lucky, you parked in a good spot, if you're not, you're walking a long time. You have the trouble of finding the store in the mall. You have to deal with more people and are more likely to run into people hawking things at you like cellphone vendors or random knick-knack carts. All just to go try one thing on and walk away again. Boardwalk-style malls don't have any of those issues.
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#36
(01-30-2020, 09:01 AM)jamincan Wrote: While online shopping has hit bricks and mortar retail hard, it has also largely made mall-style retail obsolete. The style of shopping that malls are optimal for - wandering into various stores, seeing different things etc. - just doesn't happen as much anymore. People do that on the internet and either buy it online, or go to the shop that sells the item they are looking for to try it on. In that context, a format like the Boardwalk or Sportsworld works really well. People can drive close to the store, walk in, and then leave. Doing the same at a mall is typically a much bigger ordeal that someone like myself anyway, is simply just not going to bother with. You still drive there and park. If you're lucky, you parked in a good spot, if you're not, you're walking a long time. You have the trouble of finding the store in the mall. You have to deal with more people and are more likely to run into people hawking things at you like cellphone vendors or random knick-knack carts. All just to go try one thing on and walk away again. Boardwalk-style malls don't have any of those issues.
People can't drive close to the store  because everyone doesn't have a car. The Boardwalk is a horrible, horrible place for pedestrians and transit users. I was forced to go there several times for medical appointments at the medical building. I fucking hated being there. The place should be bombed. It was designed by an idiot.
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#37
(01-30-2020, 09:01 AM)jamincan Wrote: While online shopping has hit bricks and mortar retail hard, it has also largely made mall-style retail obsolete. The style of shopping that malls are optimal for - wandering into various stores, seeing different things etc. - just doesn't happen as much anymore. People do that on the internet and either buy it online, or go to the shop that sells the item they are looking for to try it on. In that context, a format like the Boardwalk or Sportsworld works really well. People can drive close to the store, walk in, and then leave. Doing the same at a mall is typically a much bigger ordeal that someone like myself anyway, is simply just not going to bother with. You still drive there and park. If you're lucky, you parked in a good spot, if you're not, you're walking a long time. You have the trouble of finding the store in the mall. You have to deal with more people and are more likely to run into people hawking things at you like cellphone vendors or random knick-knack carts. All just to go try one thing on and walk away again. Boardwalk-style malls don't have any of those issues.
I don't expect new malls to be built anytime soon in the region, nor do I want them to. What I want is for city/region planners to think a little bit before having minimum parking requirements for each store in these plaza. At best on the busiest day it might be half full. That is an incredible wasteful land use policy. Especially as the city/ region are recognizing that we have a housing crisis. I also don't understand why planners don't build mixed use in these new type of plaza. I understand zoning separation of industrial and residential, but residential and commercial never made sense. We have been doing it for 80 years, there is enough literature out there that supports mixed use developments even in suburban locations. Sure there are people that would not want to live above a south st. burger chain, but there would be lots of people who would have no problem with that. Especially since we tend to put transit hubs in these large strip mall plazas. If the region were to rezone these areas to allow mixed use, I believe developers would see the potential dollars.
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#38
I totally agree that the Boardwalk isn't great; I'm just pointing out why that model seems to be taking off and why traditional mall-style retail doesn't. I'm not really a fan of either.
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#39
(01-30-2020, 09:01 AM)jamincan Wrote: While online shopping has hit bricks and mortar retail hard, it has also largely made mall-style retail obsolete. The style of shopping that malls are optimal for - wandering into various stores, seeing different things etc. - just doesn't happen as much anymore.

Yes. Libraries and wandering the stacks vs buying it on Amazon. Still, Toronto Premium Outlets?
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#40
(01-30-2020, 03:32 PM)Acitta Wrote:
(01-30-2020, 09:01 AM)jamincan Wrote: While online shopping has hit bricks and mortar retail hard, it has also largely made mall-style retail obsolete. The style of shopping that malls are optimal for - wandering into various stores, seeing different things etc. - just doesn't happen as much anymore. People do that on the internet and either buy it online, or go to the shop that sells the item they are looking for to try it on. In that context, a format like the Boardwalk or Sportsworld works really well. People can drive close to the store, walk in, and then leave. Doing the same at a mall is typically a much bigger ordeal that someone like myself anyway, is simply just not going to bother with. You still drive there and park. If you're lucky, you parked in a good spot, if you're not, you're walking a long time. You have the trouble of finding the store in the mall. You have to deal with more people and are more likely to run into people hawking things at you like cellphone vendors or random knick-knack carts. All just to go try one thing on and walk away again. Boardwalk-style malls don't have any of those issues.
People can't drive close to the store  because everyone doesn't have a car. The Boardwalk is a horrible, horrible place for pedestrians and transit users. I was forced to go there several times for medical appointments at the medical building. I fucking hated being there. The place should be bombed. It was designed by an idiot.
Um, I am not quite sure how you really feel about this place,  are you able to be more clear ?  lol   sarcasm here, that was awesome.  you made my day !
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