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

ponyboy said:
surprised to see only 3-stories here. You have to sell a lot of 18 dollar socks to do this.
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Look around,.... this is trendy Queen Street West,... lots of 2-3 storey with street level retail,.... very rare to see any empty store fronts,.... whatever they sell, at whatever price they sell it, at whatever quantity they sell,... these stores do well,... very rare to see business close down here,.... and whenever there's a vacant store space, there'll be a line up of usually higher quality (brand name and more established) businesses wanting to open shop on trendy Queen Street West.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
Sheppard may as well be 70km away for the average downtowner. I'm sure the two can exist simultaneously and prosper.
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For the average downtowner, there's something called TTC,... the Sheppard MEC is on the Sheppard Subway (ok, STUBway) line, with Bessarion subway station right next door, literally! The Queen Street West MEC is NOT on a TTC subway line,... close, but still not on Subway line,.... and we know how Torontians loves subways VS streetcars VS LRT
 
stjames2queenwest said:
sorry to disagree but the average downtowner would rather walk 5 minutes. I'm sure there is a demand for a MEC up there, but it will not be the same customer.
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Well,.... these same downtowners sure don't have a problem taking the subway up to Sheppard and getting off at Leslie or Bessarion station to go to IKEA,..... have you seen the amount of IKEA junk downtowners have,..... soon, they'll be able to kill two birds with one stone,... go to the North York IKEA and North York MEC both in one trip,... even Rob Ford knows Torontians love subways, Subways, SUBWAYS!!!! The IKEA in Etobicoke is too far off subway line and the IKEA in Vaughan won't get subway service until another 5 years or so and counting,....
 
From my perspective most people I know live and work downtown, many of which are students many more have massive student loans and work in the arts or retail. They do not drive regularly and only take the ttc when necessary Many love both IKEA and MEC

People love Ikea so they make the trek. Personally I go to Etobicoke Ikea. I think it's better, I just take the shuttle bus from Kipling. But I wouldn't say this is a trek people make frequently for the most part. Where as MEC is walkable, many people cycle there etc. There are similar retail options to MEC, that I'm sure would absorb many of the regular clients if they were to move so far from the core.
I'm sure people would visit a Sheppard location occasionally from downtown but I imagine with far less frequency than its current location.

My point is that many people do not have the means or desire to leave the core. Two locations for MEC would be great because there would be enough demand and a split demographic.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
From my perspective most people I know live and work downtown, many of which are students many more have massive student loans and work in the arts or retail. They do not drive regularly and only take the ttc when necessary Many love both IKEA and MEC

People love Ikea so they make the trek. Personally I go to Etobicoke Ikea. I think it's better, I just take the shuttle bus from Kipling. But I wouldn't say this is a trek people make frequently for the most part. Where as MEC is walkable, many people cycle there etc. There are similar retail options to MEC, that I'm sure would absorb many of the regular clients if they were to move so far from the core.
I'm sure people would visit a Sheppard location occasionally from downtown but I imagine with far less frequency than its current location.

My point is that many people do not have the means or desire to leave the core. Two locations for MEC would be great because there would be enough demand and a split demographic.
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You make it sounds like downtown Toronto is the centre of the universe.

You really need to get out to "the suburbs" once in a while,.... and see all the people with MEC branded gear in the suburbs,... yes, these surburbanites actually make that long & horrific trek downtown to the MEC downtown,... whether they drive and fight Toronto traffic congestion to get ripped off on downtown parking or they pay the $3 TTC token to take a heavily subsized TTC ride,.... the same $3 TTC token that it'll cost a downtowner to take a heavily taxpayer subsidized ride to North York IKEA or MEC.

Actually, there are NOT really any similar options to MEC,.... MEC's $5 co-op fee to access relatively cheaper prices on brand name and good quality MEC products. Sure there are other stores that sell similar brand name items at usually higher prices but they definitely don't carry MEC product.

If you look at the downtown Toronto MEC membership,.... you'll realize a lot of their membership and demographic is from outside of the downtown core and actually from the suburbs,... that's why they're openning shop in North York,...
 
I do leave downtown. But I know many people who rarely do.

I don't even know what you are trying to argue at this point.

MEC on Sheppard. Great.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
I do leave downtown. But I know many people who rarely do.

I don't even know what you are trying to argue at this point.

MEC on Sheppard. Great.
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Just pointing out that not every downtowner has McJob and deal with deep debt. And the vast majority of downtowners can easily afford the $3 TTC token to take the subway to North York IKEA as per all the IKEA items they have,.... soon on their IKEA trip they can also visit the nearby MEC,...... just like many suburbanites often make the trip downtown to visit the only MEC currently around, and they often visit other nearby stores too,... it's not a downtown VS suburb thing,.... we don't live in an insolated world,... it only cost a $3 TTC token for a heavily subsidized TTC ride to anywhere in the city. I'm sure once this Queen Street West MEC opens, many suburbanites will continue to make the trip downtown to visit MEC,.... just as many downtowners will continue to visit IKEA in the suburbs like North York,....
 
I love MEC, it's nice to find reasonably priced quality gear for so many sports. Glad to see them expanding to North York also, it's about time there was more than one MEC in the city.
 
I never mentioned a "McJob" People can have good jobs and still have deep dept.

On the flip side some people have "McJobs" and money in the bank.

I'm just as much for a north York MEC as I am a downtown ikea.

Let's just get rid of this ugly parking lot.
 
Will a downtown IKEA ever happen??? I mean, it's considered a BigBox store and we know how some very vocal downtowners feel about any bigbox stores,..... remember the fight against urban format (half size) Walmart @ Bathurst at old KromerRadio site,.... or HomeDepot on QueenWest near Bathurst,... or even various Loblaws supermarkets including the one going in near KensingtonMarket,... let's face it, the typical size of an IKEA makes these regular BigBox stores (Walmart, HomeDepot, etc,...) look like little mom&pops stores,.... so it's not just the nieghbourhood NIMBY opposition, politics, but also the financials in terms of the amount of real estate needed, the cost of such a large plot of land and would it ever be profitable for IKEA?,.... after all IKEA already got downtowner (even like you) going to the suburban IKEA.

Hmmm,.. would this Queen Street West MEC (40,480 sq feet) count as bigbox store??? If the retail space is 90,000 square feet or more as the urban format Walmart - that would be considered bigbox

The parking lot isn't so bad,.... it's an open space in an area lacking of open space,.... yes, it's open space for cars,... but people use it for various activities,.... and it does serve as a staging area for the various freebies samples at are often given out at the corner of Queen Street West & Soho/Peter,..... and that's part of the fun of going to this area, you never know what freebie you might get at this corner,.... sometimes, multiple different freebies (chips, drinks, gums, candy, lotions, food, sunglasses, bags, hats, etc,...) ,.... sometimes nothing,.... those freebies samples will likely disappear when this MEC start construction and they close the parking lot since there will be nowhere for the van/truck full of freebies to park,.... that'll be a chacteristic of Queen Street West that I'll miss,...
 
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