It’s been confirmed that a Tim Hortons is slated for the ground floor of the new Exchange condo being built at Richmond and Bentley. It’s due to open in December. It will be a block away from the existing Starbucks on the corner of Roosevelt and Richmond.
Gah! I can’t imagine what this will do to neighborhood traffic.
My question: who decides which businesses come into this neighborhood? And would you consider this one a suitable addition to the current Westboro mix?
1 | Dagne
Who decides which businesses we get? Developers and landlords. Domicile, the company that built and is leasing retail space in the new Exchange building, presumably chose Tim Hortons as it represents guaranteed rent money for years. Who cares whether residents want it there or whether another, smaller business should have been given a chance? Who cares about building a diversity of businesses and services that will truly build the neighbourhood?
I still can’t believe that Westboro is getting a Tim Hortons. To my mind it’s a business for drive-through traffic (don’t get me started) and has absolutely no place in a busy “village” or otherwise well developed community setting. I’m very anti-Tims – it’s not even Canadian any more – it merged with Wendy’s in the 90s and its HQ is in Delaware or somewhere like that in the States now.
I wouldn’t mind too much if another coffee shop opened in Westboro – I think we’ve shown we’re big on coffee, even if we’re not at Glebe levels (don’t they have five or six coffee places?). Frankly, I think we could support a second Bridgehead!
But, when is someone going to open something sensible like a deli or small grocery, where we can buy real food in our neighbourhood? The Real Canadian Superstore, or whatever it’s called, on Richmond Road does not qualify. Apart from the bakery, there is no where to buy food. It’s crazy that Westboro isn’t building its own internal infrastructure so that more local residents can WALK to get daily essentials like milk or fruit.
2 | andrea
The best place to live is a neighborhood where you can get your “essentials” on foot. We have a lot of that in Westboro already.
BUT, I would love to see a Nicastro’s-type grocery/deli and a good butcher. It would be my dream come true if a sushi joint opened up.
We often walk to the Superstore. Emergency milk comes from the nearby corner store.
Problem: Westboro rents have gone through the roof. I doubt that the available spaces at the Exchange (and a few other recent vacancies along Richmond) would attract many mom & pop kinds of stores. How could a smaller business be able to afford to do business there at all anymore?
3 | Leah
I have to admit that when we decided to buy a house it was a real toss up between Westboro and Wellington West. We finally found a house in Wellington West…a 10 minute walk down the street from Westboro. I’m now petrified that our little hood, that still has a butcher, deli, independent coffee shop, bakery… will soon go the way of Westboro. Not that I don’t like Westboro, but I REALLY like Wellington West, which is right now just like Westboro used to be.
And “Hi Dagne!”…we went to high school together…tee hee
Leah (formerly Leah McInne…for Dagne’s benefit)
4 | Leah
Okay…that would be McInnes, not McInne…I’ll go get a cup of coffee now.
5 | Anna
October 20th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Want to make a bet when the shoe repair guy next to North Face is going to close down or move? I love that guy, he’s a miracle worker. But look at all the stores that have moved out of there in the past few years….the frame business and the sewing machine place.
It’s hard to keep the balance when a neighbourhood is booming like this.
6 | liss76
October 20th, 2006 at 11:54 am
Ew. I like Tim’s, myself, but Westboro/Wellington Village/Hintonburg aren’t really a good fit, IMO. How many coffee places does one strip need? We’ve two Bridgehead’s and a Starbucks already–if we were getting another one, it would have been nice to see Francesco’s open a small cafe-only location (they roast in the Industrial Park now, near Costco). It would have been much more in keeping with the non-chain feel of the ‘hood.
7 | Dagne
October 20th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Hi Leah! You made a great choice with Wellington West. I often cast longing glances that way especially because of the local food infrastructure that you have. When the weather is fine and we have time I’ll cycle or even walk that far to get things from the Herb, etc, but there is only so much I can carry that way. More often I bring my car and hit Saslove’s, the Herb, Nicastro’s and the Bagel all in one go. We also use the farmer’s market at Parkdale quite a bit, though not as much as I would if I lived closer to it.
When I have to go to a supermarket, I use the little Loeb on Wellington. I’m morally opposed to the big Loblaws/Superstore – it’s so huge that the whole experience is time wasting, their produce sucks, and I’m not into all of the “lifestyle” stuff they try to peddle (and which often makes it difficult to get around, especially when it’s busy).
I use our inner-neighbourhood shop for emergency milk and bread too, and love the interaction with the owners, but it’s limiting due to the nature of what is carried there.
And Andrea I agree about the rising rents making it difficult for truly small businesses to have a go in Westboro. I’m a bit starry-eyed in this respect – I wish the developers and landlords had the community in mind along with their desire to make a buck. Balance can never happen if people aren’t interested in helping it to occur.
8 | Curious
Does anyone know if they will be renting out condos in the exchange??
A.K.
9 | Canuckflack » Blog Archive » Cappucino urbanism: battling out neighbourhood identity
November 4th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
[…] In the oh-so-eager-to-be-hip neighbourhood of Westboro, there’s a skirmish for the community’s identity being played out over retail development: do you side with Starbucks, the aggressive imperialist; Bridgehead, the local free trader; or Tim Horton’s, the traditional and, in comparison, down market, coffee pusher that wants to open an outlet in the neighbourhood? […]
10 | liss76
Personally, I would have preferred to see a Timmy’s instead of a Starbucks, and I firmly believe Bridgehead has an important place in our neighbourhoods. I would have liked to see a Francesco’s to replace the one that left for the Industrial Park if it was deemed utterly necessary to have another coffee place.
In my personal opinion, however, the market is already well saturated in Westboro. Hintonburg might be able to handle another one, or perhaps Chinatown.
11 | Bob LeDrew
And you can get great coffees at Caffe Mio at Wellington and Western, on the border between Well West and Westboro
12 | Nick
November 17th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Well, my gf and I just bought a condo at the Exchange, and received a letter about this the day after signing our conditional papers. Needless to say it is a bit of a concern for us.
Two main concerns:
1) traffic 2) value
Am I being pretentious by saying that if there was another coffee shop to go there, it should be a higher scale one a la Bridgehead? I don’t think so, I’m just thinking of the value of the building and the neighbourhood. I also think that in a .5km radius there isn’t a need for another coffee shop, but as someone said a nice gourmet grocery store would have been perfect.
To Domicile’s (the developer) defence, they did take the time to send a letter to all buyers which is appreciated rather than us finding out the hard way, and is definitely more than what other builders would do. They have also made plans to make this Tim Hortons location much nicer than the average one. Nicer seating, nicer lighting, etc. The sent us pictures with the letter and it definitely is nicer than your average Tim’s.
In the end the question I ask is, is Tim Hortons still just Tim Hortons in the end? I tend to lean towards yes unfortunately.
My name is Andrea and I live in Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Sunny who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. During the day I work as a freelance writer. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.
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