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

[holographic plastic]

No, it really isn't. Its worst offence is that it's boring and pedestrian. I mean this to everybody in the nicest way possible, stop being so dramatic. Life will go on.

 

[Blixtein]

It's a malignant tumour but apparently it's carbon neutral.

 

[Kenojuak]

Isn’t this store supposed to be open now? Any photos? Thx in advance.

 

[DSC]

Isn’t this store supposed to be open now? Any photos? Thx in advance.

Go to your local big-box store and take a look - the new MEC is similar - and it's nothing special!

 

[ProjectEnd]

It is open, yes.

 

[officedweller]

Article at Retail Insider:
https://www.retail-insider.com/reta...ip-store-on-torontos-queen-street-west-photos

 

[JamesKoole]

I visited on Saturday to pick up some stuff. The inside is pretty nice and an improvement over the old store. No comment on the exterior.

 

[PMT]

Today:

 

[junctionist]

I hate projects on corner lots of major streets that treat the side street like a back alley. This one, for instance, appears to have looming blank walls, a massive ventilation grill, and a garage entrance along the side street. While a garage entrance on its own facing a side street would be relatively benign, it's that combination of utilitarian features that's regrettable.

New construction on corner lots should dignify both the main street and the side street with windows, pedestrians entrances, architectural features, art, and a sense of street animation. I respect that the side street will generally have a more conservative plan for building usage than the busier and more activated main street frontage of the building. But it should still be more interesting from a pedestrian's standpoint than a mere back alley.

 

[Blixtein]

The side of this building looks like an architectural anus.

 

[Kenojuak]

 

[ShonTron]

I walked by here yesterday. The Queen Street facade isn't terrible. But several lost opportunities are clearly visible. With the exception of the bike shop, MEC itself should have been just on the second and third floors, with two or three long and narrow storefronts at street level to attract other retailers. The entrance to MEC itself should have been right at the corner of Queen and Soho, helping to animate the Soho frontage more.

 

[christiesplits]

Shawn Micallef with a great take-down in the Star.

Toronto’s new MEC store is an environmental, architectural and heritage shame

MEC opened their new three-storey Toronto flagship here in April, a squat, ugly and cheap-looking big box building that would be more at home in a parking lot by a highway interchange rather than in the dense urban core of a big city.
...

An environmental, architectural, and heritage shame for both Toronto and co-op members, MEC will likely abandon this temporary debris pile again in 20 years and build a new store, if its idea of sustainability hasn’t expanded.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...nmental-architectural-and-heritage-shame.html

 

[innsertnamehere]

Micallef largely hits the nail on the head - except for the "stay in their current location" bit at the end. The whole reason they are moving is that their old store is a prime intensification target - and its demolition will lead to much more sustainable lifestyles for hundreds of people by providing housing in a very urban location which creates very low carbon lifestyles. 530 units about about 1,000 people will live where currently there is only a single retail store.

 

[Roundabout]

For comparison, this is what Vancouver's new MEC looks like now (should open in the fall):