Every once in a while, I’ll stumble across a building I’ve probably been past many times without noticing.
One such building I recently noticed was this one, the Belleperche Block, built in 1914.
Located on the west side of Pierre St., just south of Wyandotte St. The street front retail remains vacant, but it takes you back to the days when you could find a grocery store in every neighbourhood.
Looking back through some old City Directories, the 1919 Directory lists the building as being home to the East End Meat Market. Living upstairs was Joseph Bennett, who was a manger of the local grocery store chain Mailloux & Parent.
By 1923 it shows Alex Allan grocer and butcher as being in the store front, with Mr. Allan residing on the upper level.
great looking dumpster.
Too bad we don’thave more local businesses like those from this buildings past.
Instead we cater to big box stores where you can buy all your cheap junk in one location while ignoring neighbourhoods.
So lets invest in roads, sewers, transmission lines so that we can keep buying our junk at cheap prices. It seems to have worked for the last 20 years..or has it?
Come on – there’s no way that store would have room for 50 kinds of energy drinks! While it may be a nice idea to walk down the block for some meat or bread, I don’t think I would like the delivery traffic that a store that size would have to require to stay stocked. Just looking at a Mac’s or 7-11, there are quite a few deliveries daily, with the noise and pollution too. Plus, these neighborhoods had alleys, which most people don’t like as being dangerous, trash collectors, hard to plow, etc. That’s why people moved to something different, where they make a short drive of 1-3km to a big store. Probably more efficient than 50 small stores. It’s all scaleability, man!!!
I’m with ‘ME’. These small neighbourhood stores are part and parcel of what makes up a vibrant neighbourhood. I consider myself fortunate to have a number within walking distance and can’t say I’ve even noticed (much less been bothered) by delivery trucks. It’s much nicer walking 3-5 minutes to Schwabs for a pound of cold cuts, or to Macs for a carton of eggs on Sunday morning, than it is driving 25 minutes in good traffic out to the Costco badlands.
The Big Box outlets might offer more variety but the old neighborhood grocery offered you way better customer service and often carried fresh, locally-grown produce. You knew the store owner and all the employees by name and anytime the little league team needed help you could count on the local grocer because, more often than not, they LIVED close to their business and took an interest in the neighborhood. Compare that to a modern supermarket where the produce is brought in from miles away in a refrigerated truck and personal service is almost non-existent. Who the hell needs 50 kinds of energy drinks anyway? I’d be happy with tomatoes that don’t taste like sawdust.
Currently on MLS
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=7554645
I wish I had an extra 70K laying around… Maybe I’d open that grocery back up 😉
I really miss that there is no grocery store left in the Walkerville area. when I moved into the area almost 20 years ago there were at least 2 on Wyandotte and 2 on Ottawa St. Feeling as I do now I would have patronized them more but I remember spending more than a few bucks at Rocco’s on Ottawa Street.
Does anyone remember the ones on Wyandotte? One was called Mary’s or something.
If it’s still available when you retire, might be a good retirement project. The upstairs seem livable. I would imagine, you could probably pick this one up for 55-60k. I’m currently looking for a house…if I was a braver man, I would. Little to no mortgage but everyone else would think I’m crazy for buying this one.