Liquidation World

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• Amazing to look back and see something from a time when even dime stores had style. When did the Woolworth's name come down--not that long ago? I know it did a stint as a Woolworth-owned Bargain! Shop before becoming Liquidation World.

• Funny enough, I went down Ottawa Saturday morning....My shot looks very similar .....I agree...wonder whatis being covered up under the sign there?? It was a great weekend to get out and take some pictures...

• There are a few old brick gems on Ottawa street covered by fugly aluminum facades and canopies. The recent past has been cruel to Ottawa street, not just downtown. :(

• Ottawa has loads of potential to be one of W's best neighbourhoods and strips if the economy turns around and a little gentrification takes place.

  Funny how gentrification in Windsor is a good thing because it needs some, but in Toronto it can be too much at times.

• Shawn, I was shocked when, on the weekend prior to Christmas, when my wife and myself dropped in at the Rockhead for lunch. We had our pick of any one of several open parking spaces directly n front of the pub. The sidewalks were almost empty. Just days before Christmas. What is wrong with this picture? Yet people were getting into fistfights over the last parking space in the Back 40 at Devonshire Mall. Granted there isn't the same complement of vendors on Ottawa as there was thirty years ago but there is still Windsor's largest men's clothing store, a large shoe store, one of Windsor oldest hardware stores, some discount/dollar shops, several banks, specialty stores, jewelry, cafes/diners, etc. Where was Windsor during the biggest shopping crunch weekend of the whole year?

  You are right Ottawa st. has the potential but I would go one step further and say it is already half-way there and yet no one is taking advantage of it. No wonder there are still so many vacant properties. We are a city addicted to the mall / big box shopping experience. Vendors know that and are reluctant to invest in neighbourhood commercial properties. Sad.

• Knowing a few vendors who are currently on Ottawa Street, when I asked them why a street with so much potential still looks so disjointed, the phrase I get is "tired blood; unimaginative people". Not them, but the merchants who have been around for years and have neither the energy nor inclination to do anything. Part of my childhood was spent on that street as my grandmother used to do her shopping along Ottawa Street and she took me in a stroller. I can remember Brotherhood, Gray's Department store, Teppermans of course and I think the current Canada Salvage was a Dominion Store. My dad used to take me to Armando's where Fred and Armando cut hair which was originally on Gladstone. Hell, even Gilligan's in the early 90's had a charm to it that the place on Walker Road never had.

• John, one christmas before I moved I was proud of have done all my shopping either downtown or on Ottawa. It can be done.

  A model might be Hess Village in Hamilton. Ottawa Street is bigger, and Hess is maybe a little too yuppie and too entertainment oriented, but along with the Wyndotte Walkerville strip to the south, it's the kind of thing that could be so wonderful if some new cafes, shops and nice bars came in. Ottawa's urban form is still intact, and doesn't suffer from the bad bars that downtown endures.

  There are 5 million people in Detroit with very few proper urban strips to visit. Of course, it's one of the harder hit places in the US in terms of the economy as well, and Americans don't like to leave their country as much anymore, unless it's to drink under 21 or see naked ladies.

• Very true, Ottawa St. is the closest thing to nieghbourhood retail that there is in this city. While it's far from dead, it is a little tired. When I first moved to Windsor, Ottawa St. was still a happening place. If you look back though, the "big" stores that closed through retirement haven't been replaced. Marvin's and Ordower's leave a big retail hole on the street, and so does the loss of Rocco's Fine Foods. I remember when Rocco's was a viable grocery alternative to the big stores.

  I think that there isn't enough empashis on local grocers anymore. Outside of La Stella on Erie and Gigglio's on Wyandotte near the University, I can't think of any more small local stores anymore.

  I think John hit the nail on the head that we are big box obsessed. The area within one kilometer of Ottawa street is probably one of the most densley populated areas in the city. The population base is there to support a retail revival, but there isn't the desire of the shopping population to see it happen. I think that a small grocery and one or two national retailers could do quite well on Ottawa st. and probably help lead a revival.

  Right now in my opinion it's only Freed's that is holding the area together and relatively stable. It is enough of an anchor to still attract some shoppers to the area, but our "parking lot" mentality need to change.

  When something breaks at home, I would rather go to Canada Salvage any day of the week. Yes it's disorganized, and hard to find anything in there, but I can drive there and get in and out in, and get back home in a fraction of the time it would take me to get to Home Depot. Once it moves from the mall area, it will be even worse to get to, and less of an alternative.

  I plan to make 2008 a year in which I try to support small local businesses as much as possible.

• Also - I'm pretty sure it was still a Woolworth's when I moved to Windsor in 1989...

  Also give credit to Gilligan's for staying in the area when they moved. Maybe the new location is kind of souless, but they stayed true to their Walkerville roots.

• Yes Andrew you are correct, it was still a Woolworth's when we moved to Windsor in 1989, complete with a lunch counter. One of the ladies who ran the lunch counter, bought the lunch counter equipment and opened a breakfast/lunch place across Moy on the corner. I used to shop a lot on Ottawa Street and now there is not much left. We keep hoping that there will be a revitalization. We love Walkerville, but there are really no buyers for the houses now. This whole area would be a gem anywhere else. Along with the big box store mentality, there is also a bigger, better house mentality as well. Most people don't know what they are missing.