Down to Ottawa Street today, and one of my favourite buidlings on that stretch. Located on the corner of Ottawa and Moy, the Liquidation World building, is truly an underapreciated art deco gem.
Built sometime after 1937, the building still sports the “W” of the original owner Woolworth’s tiled into the floor in the doorways. The buiding is a throw back to the days when everything you needed was located in your neighbourhood.
My favourite parts of this building are truly in all the details, like the original monel metal showcase windows frames…
To the ventialtion grates and and black grantie cladding…
Or the stepped deco stone door surrounds on the Moy side.
I would love to see what’s under that cladding. I bet there’s a beauty hiding under there…
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
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Yep, that's kinda how I used to look at it, but ... sometimes someone comes along and presents a compelling case that changes one's mind. In my case, this was it -
http://www.raisethehammer.org/index.asp?id=072
This blog article has been linked here before, I'm sure.
RE: Me,
Thanks for the clarification, It’s been so long since I’ve been in that store, though now that you have mentioned what they carry, I might take a gander in there to see what’s new!!..
Now for my two cents, I’m a young guy in case you guys are wondering where my perspective comes from, but I TOTALLY agree with David, and VP, it’s the parking. I drive a big vehicle, time, and convenience make or break my decisions, and big box stores are convenient. Ottawa street, simply put, isn’t!! At Wal-Mart I can pull in, park somewhere off to the back, and not have to worry about my mirrors being taken off because someone can’t drive on Ottawa, I don’t have to pay to park. I can leave my truck, and not worry about it being ticketed, scratched, backed into ect… I hate street parking!! I don’t agree with having to pay to shop, it’s all about saving a buck, so why pay, when you can park free at the big box stores? Furthermore, I often shop with a gang of people, me and some friends, and there is just not enough space for everyone to park on Ottawa, we make an afternoon out of it, and eat, shop, and chill. I do however agree that with the Home Depots, and Wal-Marts, your sacrifice is customer service, DEFINITELY!
Yeah, I mean cummon, doesn't the city rake in enough at the Hospitals, through taxes ect...ect...which is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS, I mean why should we have to "PAY" to see a dying loved one at a hospital is beyond me....but I make no rules, I just follow them!! But that is what we do at the hospitals, and doctors offices. Sad...sad...sad...in my opinion at least!!
It's the parking...for sure...!!
Free parking = it is much harder to park. Even with time limits,people linger longer in spots. So you would have an even harder time.
Well, Shawn, let them linger longer in the new free spots. When that happens, it means business is booming. It means there's more people spending time shopping along Ottawa Street instead of going to the malls and Big Box Stores, which means it's good news for Ottawa Street businesses. Much better than the alternative of seeing businesses go bankrupt along Ottawa because of lack of free parking.
That's a myth, David, but I'm likely not going to convince you that one car parked for a long time taking up that massively subsidized space vs. a few using that spot over the same amount of time is "less booming."
Free parking was attempted a few Christmas seasons ago if you recall. What you think should have happened didn't happen. People camped out in the spots all day - like employees - rather than an ongoing cycle of customers coming and going. It was a dismal failure. Customers actually had nowhere to park! What seemed like an easy simple solution wasn't.
There is no such thing as free parking, any more than there's such a thing as a free hotel room, or a free lunch, or a free ride.
The lot next to HDH came up, well.... who do you think pays for the million dollars worth of real estate downtown in order to make a surface for people to park their cars? That has to come from somewhere, and in HDH's case it comes from its users. Sure they charge too much, but I am pretty sure that is also a revenue booster for the hospital. Anyone who doesn't like it can find parking on the residential streets and hoof it in.... or take the bus. No one owes anyone a free parking space in their lot.
Always amazes me, no one has any trouble dropping $30,000+ on a new vehicle. Nor do people have a problem with feeding their gas guzzling big trucks $100 a week in gasoline. But ask them to drop two bits into a parking meter and the world comes crashing down around them. What a strange city....
I don't think it's a myth. LIke what would all those extra cars be doing there then? I always see empty pay meter spots along Ottawa Street that could be occupied by customers if they were free. The city pay lot behind the Liquidation World building is virtually empty every day. Secondly, the Ottawa Street businesses are subsidizing those spaces with some of the highest commercial property tax rates in Ontario, so the city charging for it is a slap in the face to any merchant on Ottawa Street. Why do the mall merchants and big box stores subsidize their free parking lots? Because they know it's good for business and that's why everyone's down there.
God...I can smell the Woolworths now....I remember going there every other Thursday with my mom I was allowed to buy a GI Joe or dinkycar...and we'd grab a bit at the lunch counter....what everhappen to the days of the true department stores.....
God...I can smell the Woolworths now....I remember going there every other Thursday with my mom I was allowed to buy a GI Joe or dinkycar...and we'd grab a bit at the lunch counter....what everhappen to the days of the true department stores.....