Toronto MEC Queen Street (Mountain Equipment Coop) | 21.03m | 3s | Parallax | Sweeny &Co

Michael's does feel odd for the area, but why not MEC? They do very well just a couple blocks away on King. What better places in the downtown would you locate them?

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I understand MEC being here. They essentially are already here just down on king. So I don't get that argument. Also queen west is a hot spot for cyclists. It's just so suburban looking. Also - ya Michael's is trash but I have a biased opinion on that.
 
MEC unnecessary? Where will I buy clothing, shoes, bike stuff and chocolate for me and my kiddies. OK, so there are other shops around with chocolate, but still.

Some years ago I heard that MEC's sales per square foot were ahead of any other Canadian retailer, by a significant margin. So any downtown corner that their members find it convenient to get to is fair game as a location.

What "belongs" here? I'm curious, if MEC is emphatically not it.

That render is bad though. LCBO indeed.
 
I wonder if the design choice is deliberate to appeal to their current target demographic, who is more comfortable with the SmartCentres design vernacular, compared to their original olde-time demographic who was likely more in tune with the pomo/deconstructionist logs and concrete warehouse theme.

MEC hasn't been targeting their core members for years now, it seems most of their marketing is targeting the SportingLife crowd or the urban yoga adventurist; they probably sell more Canada Goose/Patagonia, yoga mats, water bottles and iPhone cases than all the "mountain equipment" combined.
 
Pardon me for being a little confused...is this 'really' going to be an LCBO or is this simple a suggestion? Anyone?
 
LUVIT! said:
Pardon me for being a little confused...is this 'really' going to be an LCBO or is this simple a suggestion? Anyone?
Click to expand...
It's going to be a MEC. Forgotten just made a little joke – the building is so banal and anti-urban it may as well be an LCBO, who are notorious for dropping bland single-storey shops into spots that should by all rights be mid- or high-rise.
 
Don Mills said:
I wonder if the design choice is deliberate to appeal to their current target demographic, who is more comfortable with the SmartCentres design vernacular, compared to their original olde-time demographic who was likely more in tune with the pomo/deconstructionist logs and concrete warehouse theme.

MEC hasn't been targeting their core members for years now, it seems most of their marketing is targeting the SportingLife crowd or the urban yoga adventurist; they probably sell more Canada Goose/Patagonia, yoga mats, water bottles and iPhone cases than all the "mountain equipment" combined.
Click to expand...

It's not quite that bad, but there's too much truth to what you said. I still find the store useful, but the quality of their products has gone down, particularly clothing. The focus seems to be on anything "active" including running and yoga, which never should have been part of Mountain Equipment Co-op's (er, MEC's) market. There's enough competition for selling running shoes and yoga clothing.

It's still a good place to go for say, hiking boots, or bike accessories, or camping gear. But it's definitely not what it was.
 
January 24, 2017 - Looks like work on the new Mountain Coop building may now be starting. From this morning:

Queen Street Mountain Coop Site.jpg
 

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Was hoping that this monstrosity wouldn't see the light of day under its current incarnation... For such an important location, i'm shocked at the lack of ambition to provide something that is both visually cohesive/appealing and also contributing to the public realm...
 
UrbanFervour said:
his is big-box smart center meets ye olde Queen Street meets contemporary architecture trends circa 200os. To me, it fails on all accounts - neither standing out nor fitting in. It's a cheap, clumsy lipstick job on a pig.
Click to expand...

Well put, it looks like it belongs in a Milton Smart Centre circa 2007.
 
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