Specsavers, a corrective lenses store has entered the Winnipeg market in a big way. They have opened two stores in CF Polo Park and St. Vital Centre and a third one will open in SmartCenters Winnipeg West also known as Unicity. The one in Unicity was formerly Orange Theory gym. Above is work being done to meet their September 12 opening.
Glasses are incredibly expensive even when purchased from Costco or Walmart. Specsavers will be offering glasses at $39 for single lens until September 22. Progressive lenses are every day priced at $149. Seniors 65 and over get 50% off starting September 9 for lens upgrades.
Specsavers started 40 years ago in the UK and entered the Canadian market in 2021. They have a 125 locations in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. These will be the first Manitoba locations. Worldwide they have 2,700 locations run by optometrist owners. That is roughly 44 million customers.
Competition in the glasses businesses has been difficult to come by. It comes as a shock to many Canadians that many of the optical shops out there have the same corporate owner. There used to be a lot more competition out there. Specsavers should help in this regard. And the fact that they are opening in large malls is welcome as so many shops over the decades have closed in those locations.
I don't remember too much of the 1972 Democratic and Republican conventions as a kid except what might have been on Canadian news. We had only moved into our new house in 1970 and a had a black and white television with rabbit ears and really only two channels. CBC French channel really didn't come in that well in River Heights without a rooftop antenna. We got Videon cable in 1971 and a colour TV in the same year. The colour TV was a gift from my mom's parent's.
It was our first exposure to ABC, CBS and NBC at home. Our family had begun to venture down to Grand Forks, North Dakota the same year and had discovered Saturday morning cartoons. We would stay at the Town House motel as it had a pool and all shopping at the time was downtown as Columbia Mall was a few years away from being built.
In 1972 in our travels to the States, I noticed the political signs for Republican and Democratic candidates and even in elementary school, it was an impressive site. Pretty much even before elementary school, I was aware of politics through the news. The words Vietnam was something I heard on the news all the time. I knew Canada was not in it but our neighbour to the south was.
As a child in Canada experience the joy and pride of a new flag, a 100th birthday party for the country and a new prime minister called Pierre Trudeau, there seem to be a celebratory mood everywhere. This was followed by Manitoba's birthday in 1970 and Winnipeg's birthday in 1974. Meanwhile the U.S. seemed to be in chaos with wars, assassinations and street riots.
Travelling to the U.S. at length showed the U.S. was much more than that. North Dakota and Minnesota were familiar territory and comfortable for those in Winnipeg travelling. It had exciting differences too. Cartoons for one. Cereals for another. And for 7 year old me, the pageantry and colour of a U.S. election was hard to look away from.
As mentioned, I was a bit too young in 1972 to stay up late watching the U.S. conventions. On a school night, it would be unusual for me to be up past 9 and that is when things were just getting going for conventions. However, by 1976 I was old enough and aware enough about real differences in the U.S. and Canada. Our family travelled months in the U.S. in the early 1970s which gave a different spin on what one saw on TV and through entertainment.
The amount of media exposure a kid could have by 1976 to the U.S. was overwhelming. And with only a dozen TV stations, the shared experiences via that medium were more widespread. Kids all over were watching Six Million Dollar Man in 1973. Today, there is far more diversity in entertainment offerings. May don't watch TV at all in favour of video gaming. As far as news goes today, if kids don't see it on TikTok, it often is something they don't know about.
As a little kid I remember the whole house watching the Apollo lunar landings in 1969. The broadcast were watched by nearly 90% of the population. Today that number would seem to be impossible no matter the newsworthiness. CBC covered the landing for hours just as all world networks did. The National on CBC TV was on at 11 pm so my exposure to news was mostly from the local news at 6:30 PM, Yes, you heard that right. CBC's 24Hours news program ran 6:30 to 7:30 until 1977. In our house, we had CBC Radio on and listened to the national news at 6 while eating at the dining room table. With no microwave, toaster oven or other cooking devices, dinners took longer to prepare. In 1971, we'd listen to As it Happens at 6:30 PM with Barbara Frum before the TV might go on.
The 1972 U.S. election saw Richard Nixon re-elected with the biggest majority ever by a Republican. The U.S. economy was booming even as the Vietnam War continued. The Canadian economy, by contrast, was slumping and the Trudeau government was re-elected with a minority. In Manitoba, it meant the only Liberal representation was businessman James Richardson who served in the cabinet. As as kid I saw how Trudeau went from loved to hated in four years. It was mystifying. However, in retrospect the Canadian and U.S. elections happened almost at the same time and a turn to Republicans in the States had some impact in Canada as people compared economies. The 1972 Summit Hockey series was on at start of campaign but did little to help Pierre Trudeau make people forget inflation.
Since Canada has different part conventions, there is no excitement of selecting a leader and policy debates can be a little dry. Both the Liberals and PCs had leaders in 1972. Even Nixon has to secure his party's nomination despite being incumbent president. All I remembered from the 1972 Democratic National convention in New York was that it was chaotic. The Vietnam War still raged on but an extremely Democrats were not able to capitalize and ran on a very liberal platform. Their nominee McGovern was not able to balance the ticket with a big city Democrat with Kennedy-like popularity and by the time he secured the nomination he ended up giving his acceptance speech around 3 AM. Nixon would go on to beat McGovern badly.
It would be the following year that I began delivering the Winnipeg Tribune. I had started filling in the year before and started my own route the next year. For kids, comics was often the first thing they read in the paper. Often sports might come next. I was already interested in the news so as a carrier I would usually read the paper cover to cover. People in Winnipeg were either Free Press people or Tribune people.
The Vietnam War was still a major issue but something called Watergate began to emerge in the U.S. and appearing in the papers in Winnipeg. Nixon dominated the headlines. It was around 1973 that I started watching American evening news more regularly. At first it was CBS and Walter Kronkite, then some NBC with John Chancellor. However, because ABC kept trying to reach new audiences, I would tune in to them and often keep watching their programming into the evening.
I mention the networks because CBS, NBC and ABC all build large studios at Democratic and Republican conventions. It is a rather impressive fare when seen with the backdrop of every state having markers for their delegates and the large convention arena seating. As mentioned, I was a bit too young to have been following the 1972 U.S. conventions but the 1976 ones were a different story.
In 1975, Saturday Night Live started on NBC and in the central time zone, it was on at 10:30 PM. It was the perfect program for weekends for younger people. While I had seen presidential and political humour on Johnny Carson, the craziness of SNL was unparalleled. Nixon was gone but they managed to parody Gerald Ford with pratfalls done by Chevy Chase that were hilarious.
It was shocking to me how popular Nixon was in 1972 and by 1974 he was most hated. My memory of him leaving out the back door by Marine helicopter while Ford took over in the front door remains with me today. The shocking decline felt familiar to me as in 1968 Trudeau was super popular but by 1972 had fallen hard.
I had been interested in politics right from Kindergarten. A teacher had told my parents that I shouldn't be worried about the Arab-Israeli conflict. I obviously had talked about it at school after listening to the news at home. By 1973, I was seeing a war in Israel and was still asking questions but school was a great place to ask them. My school text often had American references to presidents in them. Canadian history was thin. World history even thinner.
By 1976, I was able to take in the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Gerald Ford had to fight a contested nomination with a few challengers such as Ronald Reagan in the convention in Kansas City in August. I was unfamiliar with the primary system but I do know that there were many who were not happy in the party with the Fall of Saigon, détente and what happened with Nixon's resignation.
By contrast, the Democrats seemed more upbeat and Jimmy Carter, Governor of Georgia ran as an outsider. In 1975, our family had passed through Georgia on the way to Florida. I remembered Carter's name from our travels there. Carter chose Walter Mondale, the senator from Minnesota.
The one thing I really remembered was the keynote speech from the Democratic convention in New York was Barbara Jordan, the first black woman to address at convention. She had recently been elected to Congress in Texas. It was a great speech and was the first time I had heard of a keynote speech before. It was amazing and surprisingly, no duplicated in the 1980 convention.
Jimmy Carter won the election but a terrible economy, price and wage controls and Iran taking American hostages crushed Democrats in the polls. Ronald Regan was back. I remember a little about the conventions. They were a little chaotic but then the who election cycle was overshadowed by American hostages. The Republican convention in Detroit had a keynote speaker who spoke with no notes for 37 minutes and probably set the tone for what was to come with Reagan. It really was a movement.
I won't go into all the conventions but in 1984 Reagan's speech to Republic National Convention and Mario Cuomo's speech were among the finest ever given at a convention ever. I have included Cuomo's speech above.
The downtown head office in True North Square of Skip the Dishes will look a whole emptier today as 100 corporate staff are laid off and 900 operations staff. In Winnipeg the number might be 350 staff. Four floors in the True North tower were Skip offices. It was estimated that in 2019 that nearly 2000 employees were in Winnipeg.
Skip has has three top execs in one year so clearly something has been going on there. The purchase of GrubHub for billions in 2021 has been a major drain on the company, a huge mistake. The heavy debt and the reduced demand post-pandemic on takeout has hurt the multinational company.
Further details likely to be released but with so much debt, Skip is struggling in 2024 and is looking to cut where it can.
Polo Park goes through changes every ten years or so. Sometimes it is a surprise such as when Sears or Zellers closed and sometimes it is expansions they take on themselves. It is what make this particular shopping center the number 1 one in Manitoba and one of the tops in Canada.
The second floor has gone through a few changes. After many years as department stores like Brettons and Zellers, the mall decided to do a horseshoe of a variety of stores. Some have been very successful such as Tommy Guns will be moving to a larger location. Others unnamed will close. It was revealed some others like Famous Footwear are moving.
London Drugs will be the new store taking up second floor space at Polo Park. A few more stores are to be closed or moved before that happens. Below the Belt and Urban Outfitters will no longer be in the mall. Build-A-Bear has already moved. It will be sometime in 2025 that London Drugs will open which will be 25 years since they first arrived in Winnipeg at St. Vital Mall.
There is already a Shopper's Drug Mart in the mall. However, London Drugs is also known for electronics and other items that Shopper's Drug Mart does not carry. There are over 80 stores of London Drugs across western Canada. It is curious why Manitoba has only had one for 24 years when Saskatchewan has 5.
The horseshoe part of the mall has had more difficulty attracting and retaining stores than other parts of Polo Park. A pharmacy and store like London Drugs is a game changer. It will stabilize that area of the mall and make it and attractive stop for those not wanting to go all the way to St. Vital Mall.
Taiwan is roughly 130 kilometers off China's mainland. It is separated by the Strait of Taiwan. Since 1949, it has been governed by the Republic of China (ROC) which was on the losing side of the Chinese civil war that saw the Communist Party take over China as the People's Republic of China (PRC). Till the 1970s Taiwan held fast that they would re-take all of China and most western countries would not recognize the PRC as the legitimate government on the mainland.
Canada would recognize the PRC as the government of China in 1970. It would take till 1979 for the United States to do so. And while it looked like Taiwan was being displaced and was, they received from the U.S. and other countries specifically from the 1950s on because it was anti-Communist. During the Korean War in the 1950s, the U.S. as well as Canada were at war with North Korean as well as China.
China's attempts to take Taiwan and associated islands was rebuffed and the U.S. helped defend Republic of China with U.S. military assets as well as the equipment. The Taiwan Strait might as well have been a moat. And it wasn't lost on China that the U.S. would use nuclear weapons to defend Taiwan.
The Korean and Vietnam Wars meant enormous U.S. spending in the region and Taiwan benefitted in the 1960s from economic reforms. Huge growth was the result. Meanwhile mainland China was struggling with a planned economy and Communist governance. Taiwan also had a dictatorial government that saw many thousands arrested or executed but the rising economic fortunes continued year after year.
By the 1970s, martial law in Taiwan began to weigh on the population. Many overseas Chinese saw the freedoms in places like the U.S. and yearned for not just economic success but personal freedom. Government crackdowns only stiffened the resolve. In 1987, martial law ended and elections began to be the norm The people of Taiwan began to assert their vision of their country's governance even as the Communist regime pushed back. It seemed they were more wary of a multi-party democracy than they were of a nationalist military force in control of Taiwan.
Taiwan is now a fully formed democracy with regular elections and has moved back and forth between the nationalist KMT and newer parties forming government. From economic miracle to a democratic model, the 23 million people in the densely packed islands have shown remarkable resilience. While the One China policy may still exist, Taiwanese have shown pride of place and no longer harbour ideas of ruling mainland China. The 23 million people of Taiwan have been trying to forge their own path and it is a democratic market economy.
China, on the other hand, has created economic success but any sign of democracy is crushed ruthlessly. Threats to Taiwan are a routine occurrence and calls for invasion come often. China has not ruled out force to bring Taiwan under their control. Understandably, Taiwanese are resistant to that and wish to just engage in a non-hostile relationship. Were it not for the United States and a fairly prickly defence Taiwan has invested in, China would likely take Taiwan if it could.
Taiwan has a fairly significant military force. At times they have painfully had to beg countries to sell to them weapons. And when that hasn't worked, they have built there own. Compared to Canada, Taiwan has substantial navy, air force, army and marine units. If they were brought to full defence, it is likely they could land more than a bloody nose to China but ultimately couldn't defeat it. It is the United States that holds China back. Sink a U.S. carrier and America will respond.
Canada and Taiwan maintain trade offices with each other and Canada has sailed military ships through the Straits of Taiwan in favour of international shipping lines. This has supported Taiwan while irritating mainland China. However, international travel lanes are essential to trade and China laying claim to vast areas in the region and creating artificial islands has been causing fear with many countries.
Taiwan has been facing this since 1949. There has been several military flare ups over the years and even now, China has navy and air assets squeeze in and intimidate. There is still support for one China policy in Taiwan but real fear about loss of autonomy and persecution if the Communist government does ever take over. It is clear there is discussion that seems to lead to a mutually happy joining. Taiwan's mere existence seems to whip up Beijing's ire.
The business climate of Taiwan is well known but the community has many artists, particularly film and television. Netflix has numerous offerings from Taiwan this year and none from China. This is largely in part due to China making it hard for western partnerships. Hong Kong once produced 300 films a year but none for Netflix this year. Taiwan used to invest heavily in film production there but the cold chill of recent relations has meant Taiwan is turning to home investment in the industry and western partners. Meanwhile Hong Kong suffers more stringent rules and caters production to China. This it finds it's home audience in its own city in decline as tricky subjects like police corruption that moviemakers used to love in Hong Kong can't be done as they once were.
With this in mind Taiwan has repatriated money that they used to invest in freewheeling Hong Kong industry including film. It isn't a surprise then that Taiwanese TV and filmmakers have thought about mainland China and what it might be like if Taiwan was taken by force. The result has been a TV series called Zero Day that has recently released a 17 minute trailer that can also be watched in English. Why English? Because this is just as much for western audiences as they are for Asian.
The actual series won't come out till 2025 but the trailer was released during a air raid siren drill. The trailer obviously got everyone talking. The producers consulted widely and researched how a forced China takeover of Taiwan might overwhelm the island and isolate it from any potential help. Quite rightly they identify how China would have many pieces already in place in Taiwan before they acted. They would need a pretext such as a false flag attack against Chinese aircraft, they would need people on the ground to sabotage transportation, communication and utilities. Everything in the trailer sounds plausible and worse for Taiwan, it seems likely.
China has already test-drived filling both air and water with military assets. It remains to be seen if the U.S and other allies would attempt to keep those routes open. If there was fear that American and western citizens could be harm's way, they certainly would. Any mixed messages from Taiwan might stall that help. This is why verifiable communications would be essential. In the TV series, it is suggested that China would use deep fakes to confuse the population. It would likely confuse allies as well. It is for this reason that the U.S. is about to build new bases in The Philippines within 150 kilometers of Taiwan to support that area if needed. To the north, the U.S. already has massive bases in Okinawa.
It is likely Zero Day will see interest in other countries as well. The security of Taiwan has always been the back of the people's mind but the level of wariness has increased. The one area that was not really detailed in the trailer is what Taiwan might look like following a takeover. I guess we will have to wait for the sequel to find that out!
In a meeting with 7-Elevens CEO and officials from Canada, Winnipeg City Council was warned that 10 more of their convenience stores face closure over crime issues. This is a unique warning for Winnipeg as the company has tremendous success in the city but shoplifting challenges have outpaced all their considerable security measures. The time-lock safes, the LED lights, the security cameras, the removal of lottery tickets and tobacco from easy access at night and the low amount of cash on hand has not been enough to stop wholesale removal of product. Police regularly stop at 7-Elevens for coffee and Slurpees. It still isn't enough.
Some helpful people have suggested liqour store-like IDs and locked doors. This would an expensive add on as a full time person has to be doing security. Heaven help us if every store went this way then it would lead to line-ups the likes we haven't seen since Covid. Perhaps there is a way to streamline this but it puts the onus far too much on the retailer. And to be fair, 7-Eleven already does a considerable amount on security.
The ten stores likely to be closed have not been identified but there are several such as William and on Ellice that have shuttered and remain boarded up. No other business has seemed interested in the properties. And why would they? If heavy security 7-Eleven can't withstand it, who can? Some areas of Winnipeg that are a food and convenience store desert will be even more so.
The province has stepped up policing with supports and retailers and restaurants are asking for it to be extended and expanded. The feeling is that some crime issues manifest from seeming lack of consequences. Add to that a real increase in toxic drugs that result in addiction and more desperation.
So what stores are in danger of closing? They are: 1895 Wellington (Airport location) 119 Salter Street, 1184 Portage Avenue (Wolsely location), 909 Lorette (Fort Rouge location), 665 McPhillips, 120 Keewatin, 456 Talbot, 891 Arlington, 1485 Inkster Blvd and 815 Ellice. At some of these locations stock was entirely removed from shelves and walked out the store.
One suggestion was for doors to be locked and only a few people let in at a time. In the U.S. sometimes only a take out window is open. Some suggested security guards full time but even grocery stores are finding only police actions and consistent arrests will put a stop to it.
Others will blame society, police, housing, poverty, drugs and say only a re-make of society will be helpful. That likely won't save the grocery and convenience stores. Certainly police arrests of some people with tens of thousands of goods should give some idea how pervasive the problem is. The loss of so many stores is an emergency requiring provincial and city effort. Having only two city councillors meet the officials from 7-Eleven might not be enough. The warning should be enough to reach all elected officials on holiday.
Dakota Foods closed this August 11 weekend although any stock left Monday and Tuesday could be sold as well. The Clement family still has their location on Portage Avenue. In a day where every grocery store can contribute to a neighbourhood, the store at St. Mary's Road struggled with shoplifting, higher lease prices, inflation and labour costs. Most retailers have said the police strategy for shoplifters is starting to work and have asked for an extension but it is not to save the 60 workers at the store.
The old Safeway design of the building is still visible on Dakota Foods. It isn't clear what will replace the old store. Ideally, it would have been another grocer. Dollar stores generally won't be sellers of dairy or meat. As mentioned in this blog, we could really use discount grocers in Canada and still don't have any.
There were a lot of sad faces in St. Vital over the closure. A lot of memories of the 20 years for Dakota Foods store as well as as groceries past. Just prior to Dakota, it had been an IGA store. It is a very busy commercial area by the grocer. It seems the perfect place for that type of business to succeed.
Schools, apartments and various roads intersect by the store. Gimli Fish Market is nearby and successful. They may be hurt somewhat by the closure depending on what goes in the space left by Dakota.
Grocery stores drive regular traffic to an area. While department stores have reduced capacity as anchor stores, a grocery store will have people from early in the morning till late at night. A shopping mall relies on this for success. It is also essential for apartments, transit and other services to have commercial hubs or areas become food deserts and people have no choice but to travel far for essentials.
It is the smaller grocers that have really suffered. One example: Academy Road had three grocery stores on it till at least the late 1980s, early 1990s. Now there is one specialty grocer. In general, people in River Heights have to travel outside their neighbourhood for grocery, banking and pharmacy. And now people in this end of St. Vital will have to do the same thing.
Across from Dakota Foods were apartments, a hotel and many businesses. It truly was a hub.
The cross section of streets by Dakota Foods should still be attractive to some businesses.
Fast foods restaurants across the street.
There is already a Dollarama across the street so some grocery items are still sold nearby. Just no dairy or meat sections.
It is certainly the end of a multi-decade era of a grocery store where Dakota Food was. A sad time really. We can use all the competition in the food industry as we can. And something local versus travelling far is more affordable for everyone.
It really does seem to be standard that it takes 10 years to get approvals for any type of buildings in Winnipeg. Now, not all of this is the fault of the city and zoning but a lot of it can and has been. The site at 127 Bannatyne has been a parking lot for decades. The East Exchange has a been slowly transforming along Waterfront Drive. Taking advantage of a new roadway and space to build, housing has gone up pretty consistently over the years. Warehouses along the east/west streets have seen conversions from the 1980s onward. However, there have been very long gaps where nothing has been getting done.
Conversions of older buildings have always been a labour of love. Many have required some incentive lest the decision was to demolish them. Some might say that is a good business decision to tear down old buildings but it doesn't make for good cities. And in Winnipeg it has often led to decades of parking lots because it is always easier to keep spreading out than to try and get land for building anywhere else. Most of the costs of sprawl are not borne immediately but later on where services are provided and infrastructure such as schools, police and fire houses, parks and recreation and transit. The low density then begins to affect budgets for the city overall. For example, there is nothing in the budget to presently replace the Arlington Bridge. This soon will likely be the issue for the Louise Bridge as well. No money in the budget.
Infill is the only way to use existing infrastructure while raising density and the tax base. Parking lots pay less in taxes than other forms of development. Parking lots in Toronto converted to patios in the pandemic took in 49 times what they took in parking fees. That is an indication that parking is heavily subsidized by business and government. It is hard to pay for transit when overnight parking costs only $60 a year in Winnipeg. The city provides parking below cost for cars and subsequently there is no incentive to use space wisely.
From the above picture it is clear that the development by Alston Properties and built by Concord Projects comes right out to the curb side and out to the back lane and side to side touches the historic buildings next to it. It is uses up the entire surface parking lot. I've not seen the entire number of parking spaces allotted but they will be underground.
The configuration of the building is a four storey pedestal with an eight floor residential tower setback and canted to one side. No longer a windy gap of a surface lot but a building with retail on the first floor and offices on the second floor. More of a true mixed development rather than just an office or just a residential building. Success in the past and in the future would appear to be mixed developments.
Retail at ground level will help create vitality on the street that the Exchange is very much in need of. Concord Projects which has had its headquarters on Henderson for a very long time is moving their 65 employees to the second floor offices when they are complete. If this isn't standing by your work, nothing is.
The 80 apartments in the upper floors will join give other apartment projects that Alston has brought to the downtown. They have already indicated the margin for return is low but that their belief in the project is high. As commented on many times here, Canada needs far more housing built and with a variety of configurations with more bedrooms. However, it takes so long to get projects done that it is hard keep up momentum.
The completion of this $30 million project should help bring some vitality to this stretch of Bannatyne and continue the work of more housing in and around Waterfront Drive. What also will be interesting will be the type of retail and restaurants that will go in on the ground floor. The last few years have been tough on foot traffic in the Exchange and having 80 apartments and a few hundred office workers in the building or very near by gives new businesses hope that they have customers nearby.
Security comes from having a lot of people around. It is much harder for crime to take root when a lot of people are vigilant in looking out for issues. We have overcome tough crime situations before in the 1990s. It is likely we can do again. The strategies are some times the same such as identifying who are the repeat offenders and getting them off the street. The next is changing security measures to keep step with the times. It involves fewer entry doors, more security cameras, more fire prevention measures and security and police foot patrols rather than just a patrol car.
The Exchange has a few of these surface lots that would make excellent new homes while moving the parking underground. In some cases, people who live and work in the area may require fewer or even no vehicles as we see in places like New York. But it only happens by filling the gaps and mixing development so that it gives an opening for grocery stores to service the population.
Charleswood has long stretches where there is not much in the way of commercial development. As such, it is a bit of a drive for grocery, pharmacy and restaurants. The Safeway in the Charleswood Mall and the No Frills in the Westdale area along with some Shopper's Drug Marts are it. Residents have to go further afield for other stores. And so it is for restaurants.
There are just not a lot of spots for any commercial development in all of Charleswood. It is largely a sleeper suburb of Winnipeg. Opportunity arose when No Frills Charleswood had a renovation. It created three spaces for other businesses either side of the entrance to the grocery store. In one of those spaces between the Liquor Mart and No Frills, a 1,690 square foot restaurant went up. That restaurant called Boardwalk Burgers Fries Shakes is totally new to the Winnipeg market.
Boardwalk, started in 1981 in Maryland and had grown to 750 locations worldwide with 22 of them being in Canada. There are six more locations coming in Canada. Known for their lightly salted fries and a variety of shakes, Boardwalk is consider a mid-priced alternative to the higher priced burgers elsewhere and a step up from the big chains. The Cheema family and around six employees have the franchise in Winnipeg and quietly opened May 25 with an official opening in July.
The 6650 Roblin retail area has slowly transformed into a mix of housing, retail and offices. It hasn't always been easy. Resistance to any change around the area has been fierce. Any multi-unit housing has been painfully slow to come on stream. The Charleswood Condos went up only after a decade of being an empty field. The renovations to No Frills was mostly painless and the result is an insurance outlet and a new restaurant. The third space remains ready to lease.
Long time landlords are realizing they have to spruce up their properties and right size them for the market. Charleswood is no different. Space is needed but hard to come up. And the space offered sometimes is far too big. It was one of the reasons why some spaces in places like Osborne Village were so hard to lease. Landlord refused to subdivide and subsequently, the space went unused until this year where Basil's used to be. Today, two restaurants are being built where one once was.
Charleswood residents now have a place to go that is local to them and will likely see a few people come from farther away just to try out Boardwalk.
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