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Bloor-Yorkville Scene

ACT7 said:
Fair enough, but you see the point I was going for. My experience has been that virtually every Four Seasons around the world that I've seen has true luxury retail in it. I think for their home base property, in Toronto's luxury retail area, they blew it.
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With the exception of the third luxury space (that started this discussion) I don't know if they blew it. Their internal/marquee restaurant was filled by a "Star Chef". A secondary retail/resto space was given to a local restaurant that is consistently ranked one of the best in the city (and its not exactly cheap). Their resto experience overall is better than the Shang (Bosc is nothing to write home about)... if whatever you're alluding to in the third space that brings down the overall experience - but as Filip noted - that stretch of Bay isn't a great retail stretch - in fact its gotten worse over the last few years. Perry's has closed - there was a great mens retail store where The Sandwich Box is now - and Pisodoro all closed; i suspect landlords have jacked rents on Bay which have created a mis-equilibrium...

As a sidenote - if you were Omega and were traveling to Toronto over the last six months to check on space saw the state of Bay Street - would you have committed to a multi-year lease? (construction took forever!)
 
Re: The Four Seasons retail space discussed, a broker provided me the following clue:

"It is a local jeweller who imports mid-range jewellery. She sells to Holt Renfrew. I think it is her first retail location."

Any guesses who? I'm honestly not sure.
 
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pw20 said:
With the exception of the third luxury space (that started this discussion) I don't know if they blew it. Their internal/marquee restaurant was filled by a "Star Chef". A secondary retail/resto space was given to a local restaurant that is consistently ranked one of the best in the city (and its not exactly cheap). Their resto experience overall is better than the Shang (Bosc is nothing to write home about)... if whatever you're alluding to in the third space that brings down the overall experience - but as Filip noted - that stretch of Bay isn't a great retail stretch - in fact its gotten worse over the last few years. Perry's has closed - there was a great mens retail store where The Sandwich Box is now - and Pisodoro all closed; i suspect landlords have jacked rents on Bay which have created a mis-equilibrium...

As a sidenote - if you were Omega and were traveling to Toronto over the last six months to check on space saw the state of Bay Street - would you have committed to a multi-year lease? (construction took forever!)
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I don't think you're wrong about Bay St and the poor retail showing, but the Four Seasons should be a good catalyst to give that stretch a boost. There are a number of luxury condos being built and proposed for that quadrant, and being in a five star hotel, I suspect you don't necessarily need the same kind of street front traffic that you would normally require for other locations, in order to make the space viable. I think the very fact that the hotel is home to two Bouloud restaurants, does elevate its status to a point that, in theory, we would have expected to see a luxury brand do a deal for at least one of the spaces.
 
Filip said:
Where am I supposed to buy my French comics now? After the closure of Librairie Champlain, I don't think Toronto has any French-language bookstores.
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Montreal.

Sorry for the smartass answer. I understand Labyrinth in the Annex has a decent selection of French-language comics.

Sadly, this city seems unable to support even English-language bookstores, let alone French-language ones.
 
Skeezix said:
Montreal.

Sorry for the smartass answer. I understand Labyrinth in the Annex has a decent selection of French-language comics.

Sadly, this city seems unable to support even English-language bookstores, let alone French-language ones.
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LOL I'd rather go to Paris (St. Michel has the best selection of comics I have ever seen) than Montreal. I found their selection even worse than what I was able to buy in Toronto... Maybe I just wasn't going to the right places.
 
Filip said:
Confirmed it's not.
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Hmm - then I'm actually stumped. Maybe it's a local name who's opening a licensed branded store? I had heard that the Four Seasons was being exceptionally particular about the retailer (both type and name) that they wanted, so I can't imagine them going with anything too obscure. Maybe there's hope after all.
 
Skeezix said:
Montreal.

Sorry for the smartass answer. I understand Labyrinth in the Annex has a decent selection of French-language comics.

Sadly, this city seems unable to support even English-language bookstores, let alone French-language ones.
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Bookstores are folding across the country. A French language bookstore closing in Toronto is less a reflection of Toronto's French culture than an overall decline in book retailing. French culture may be stronger than ever in the city.
 
junctionist said:
French culture may be stronger than ever in the city.
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I think this may be true. I can't go a block in Toronto this summer without hearing la langue française being spoken. Moreover, I noticed recent Quebec and France immigrants to my building, neighbourhood and circle of friends.
 
JasonParis said:
I think this may be true. I can't go a block in Toronto this summer without hearing la langue française being spoken. Moreover, I noticed recent Quebec and France immigrants to my building, neighbourhood and circle of friends.
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I see the same in my neck of the woods. At work, I'm used to hearing French (a good half of my coworkers are transfers from Montreal), but I'm hearing it in the parks at Humber Bay... It's nice, I always thought Toronto needed more French given its position as the metropolis of a bilingual nation (however fake the bilingualism may be).
 
Filip said:
It's nice, I always thought Toronto needed more French given its position as the metropolis of a bilingual nation (however fake the bilingualism may be).
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Exactly. French Canadian culture will always have an important place in this cosmopolitan heart of the nation. The national metropolis must be the nation's leading city, but it should always be inclusive.
 
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