Get out your hankies, and wipe away your tears…
Yup, another local landmark has a date with the wrecking ball…
Long time Riverside landmark, the Royale Tavern is falling for some big box goodness, as Shopper’s Drug Mart has decided they need to thrust their stucco clad nonsense on this neighbourhood.
The Royale has been a fixture at the corner of Wyandotte and Dawson since at least the 1930’s.
The Royale is shown in the map above from 1937 as the Royale Hotel.
Not to worry. I’m certain that that Shopper’s will be great!
Boo history!, Yay new!
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David - The tavern part of the Howard Block was in the rear off the alley...
Brian - That is crazy! However, most of the time these places like to build new, they like all their stores to look the same, and to be built off the same set of plans.
I suspect they think consumers are idiots and if every store isn't exactly the same as the next one, there's no way people could figure it out... It's just a wasteful existence.
The only time I can ever think of an exception was the conversion of the old Future Shop at the Roundhouse Centre into a SDM. Again however, there was one at the Mall, now it will be a lateral move across the street.
What do ya mean a few blocks away there is a small pharmacy right across from the Royal & now a Shoppers,well how is the little pharmacy going to survive ? Big businesses like Shoppers gobble up whoever they can. do you remember Big V ... Shoppers gobbled them up and slowly raised their prices !!! No competition..Shoppers isn't a pharmacy It's a glorified shopping centre with a Pharmacy !!!
Though I've never been there myself, I heard stories that you could enter the tavern (in the Howard Block) though one of the front doors (from Howard St.) Part of it was also in the front. The bank was there on the left side for a long time, but the tiling place was there briefly. The workers at Champion's used to go there for lunch and after work they'd hang out at the bar as their regular local watering hole. When Champion's shut down and moved back to Cleveland, those patrons stopped going there and then the building went downhill. You can challenge me all you want. That's just what I heard.
The Royale Tavern in its current state is horrendous looking. Personally I think it brings down the look and feel of the Pillette Road/Wyandotte Business District. As for building a new Shoppers, can't this city enact some sort of bylaw that forces these large companies to build something more aesthetically pleasing so it would fit in better with the neighbourhood? As much as this city wants forward progress and development of areas we continue to let companies move locations, build a cookie cutter ugly store and do nothing with their old buildings (Walmart on Lauzon, Home Depot on Howard) except let them sit and be an eyesore. I know we can't have our cake and eat it too in this world but small steps would help improve the look and feel of the city.
It's true that the Royale Tavern is a shit-hole (I used to live near it), but don't forget that the whole building housed lots of people and families in affordable apartments.
I'm pretty damn sure Shoppers Drug Mart isn't going to have apartments overtop of it...
The fences were up when I went by this morning.
There's one sector that isn't suffering in Windsor - whoever rents those modular fences, oh and also the demo equipment companies.
they will probably close the shoppers at seminole and george as well
THATS THE RUMOUR I HEAR ALSO 2 CLOSE ONE OPENS !!!
I spent part of my childhood growing up on Dawson (between Ontario and the tracks) and was always creeped out by this place. I can appreciate that at one time this building may have had some relevance, but the thing was in rough shape even when my family moved into the neighbourhood in 1980. The Royale has no interesting or unique architectural features, and unless it has some notable history I can’t say I feel any loss over it. In all honesty, having moved away in 1991, I am surprised to see it was still there. A building like the Prince of Wales Public School is one thing, but this building has nothing to offer to warrant preservation. As for Shoppers, I agree that they seem to be popping up everywhere, but I would take that over something like another crappy fast food restaurant to compete with the McDonald’s across the street. And speaking of across the street, even though I’m fairly certain you can see most Shopper’s signs from space, I can’t see it being as bad of an eyesore as the old run down Boots Drugs that used to be where the McDonald’s now stands. Just sayin…