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Ferris Bueller's Honda Day Off

Bits and Bites

Globosapiens Used Bookstore in their new location on Portage (top picture) and old one on Roblin (bottom picture)

Last year Globosapiens Used Bookstore closed on Roblin Boulevard. Thought it was gone for good but it took over the spot on Portage Avenue once the location of The Chronicle, a hemp shop. Don't know what the quality of the bookstore is but any used book store is good for the city.



Sydney Morning Herald travel column

I had meant to talk about this a couple of time and it was once again mentioned in brief in the Free Press in the last weeks about the Sydney Morning Herald.

Unlike a lot of travel column writers, the Australian writer did not come for the main attractions like museum or a festival. He came for the flavour of the city. That is not something easy to see for someone to find.

How do we define ourselves? What are we proud of? What attractions do we love and want to show off?

Going downtown is not going to wow someone unless they are at The Forks or attending an event like Fringe. The downtown can be desolate place a lot of the time. I can't tell you how many times people have mentioned how empty it seems or how threatening it is.

The place our intrepid travel found to be the real Winnipeg was found in Osborne Village.

As a backpacker, our traveller says this:

So what does Winnipeg have going for it? On the surface, not much. This is a city that counts a difficult intersection (the aptly named Confusion Corner) as a famous landmark, which should tell you all you need to know.

The tourist brochures would point you towards the Manitoba Museum, an undoubtedly interesting collection of artifacts and historical pieces in the town centre. But I'm not much of a museum goer, so that was only going to keep me amused for a couple of hours.

Sooo, no museums for our fellow. Guess Human Rights Museum wouldn't rank high either.

Not all travellers will be be attracted to such things.

So off to Osborne Village our reporter went:

But help was at hand. That friend I once travelled with was still living in Winnipeg and she'd offered to meet up for a drink. We were going to Osborne Village, she said, the artsy, creative side of Winnipeg that I only realized existed after I was told we were meeting there.

And that's when Winnipeg started to make sense.

You know how dodgy, rundown suburbs seem to become cool over time? How places such as Surry Hills in Sydney used to be no-go zones until the artists and musicians moved in and suddenly the people who wanted to be around artists and musicians followed suit?

Winnipeg is on the cusp of that transition. It was never dodgy - just dull. But it was also cheap and the government offered incentives for creative types to move in, so the artists and musicians packed up their vans, tackled Confusion Corner and settled down on the prairies, completely changing the city's landscape.

There have been a few people who mention how the Shopper's Drug Mart will destroy this unique culture. I don't particularly buy it. A displaced video rental store and one restaurant won't do it.

Having said that, a well designed multi-story Shopper's could have addressed a few concerns about diversity, density and design.

Is it too late? Would have loved a Vi-Ann overlooking Osborne from above. And a Movie Village could have found a home in that concept as well.

Anyway, all is not lost. Osborne Village is a work in progress and people continue to want to live there. And that is a good thing.

Our reporter had this to say in the end.

It would probably shock the customs guy as much as the rest of Canada, but the city I found is not just cold - it's cool. Who'd have thought?

Not James Turner but he might know the guy

James Turner has been a reporter in Winnipeg since 2005. He has bounced around from one media group to another but is now at the Winnipeg Sun. Good reporter. Too bad he can't do the headlines as well since the stories are good, the headlines cringeworthy.

There is no truth to the rumour that he is creating the Turnerington Post.






Academy Road, Bejeweled and Frenchway

Some closures of businesses on Academy Road. Bejeweled, across the Street from Starbucks is shut down. Likewise, Frenchway restaurant.

Both have been around for a couple of years.



Charitable Giving

We have seen a number of stories of charitable giving in the last years from gifts to the universities to hospitals to the human rights museum.

The Silverberg's gift to the Jewish Foundation which in turn will gift others such as the Humane Society and Manitoba Branch of the Cancer Society will be lifetime contributions. The $8.5 million will go far.

Similarly, the contribution by Laurie Johnson, a retired pharmacist of $1 million split between Riverview Health Center and Misericordia Health Centre is a remarkable gift.

I contribute monthly to the Winnipeg Foundation. I hope that when I am long gone, my family will be deciding on what things in Winnipeg to fund in perpetuity.

Seasons of Tuxedo

Seasons of Tuxedo from SPINE on Vimeo.

It has been busy in terms of Kenaston Route 90 and the IKEA/Seasons of Tuxedo site.

Two separate announcements but related in every way. The first is that there is a video showing what Seasons of Tuxedo will look like. Yes, it will be different from a lot of malls: It will have traffic circles. Most likely they will work better than the ones in River Heights.

As far as malls go, it resembles what Polo Park once was which was a mall with open air components. At 1.5-million-square-foot commercial feet, the site will rival Polo Park. The 395,000 square foot IKEA is proceeding well. Lots of construction on site and the opening remains fall of 2012.

Seasons of Tuxedo is slated for 2014 or 2015. If I had to guess the first components might be earlier than that. For example....a movie theatre complex. My view is there might be a race on to capture the new market with three malls forecast in the near future: Seasons of Tuxedo, the new mall west of Assiniboia Downs and the stadium site at Polo Park. Add to that the proposed factory outlet mall with no start up date or location announced for Winnipeg yet.

As this all goes on, Kenaston creaks and cracks. A city committee has targeted houses for purchase to expand to 6 lanes of Route 90 traffic. Keep in mind that there is no budget to purchase, no plan for the St. James bridge, no timetable on the Kapyong Barracks and no end in site to probably the most expensive traffic corridor in the history of city of Winnipeg.

Helllo? IKEA is in a few months. Hundreds of houses are being built every few months in Waverley West.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Think we need a tri-level meeting of government now as this is problem that will go boom. It is already going boom.

Anyways, nice mall by the looks of it. Too bad the best traffic management is probably inside the site itself.

Winnipeg Free Press - Rate Your Journalist Part 1

The Free Press is the paper of record for the city of Winnipeg.

There are some excellent writers and there are some that tend to make some readers crazy as they read. I will list those writers and editorial staff according to the the paper's own biographies listed. Some I have an opinion about, some I don't know what they do as it might be setting editorial policy in the background. I know many of you will have an opinion about the writers.

Have at it:

First...

Administration

Bob Cox, publisher

He has been a reporter and editor for the Free Press and publisher since 2007. He has had a few columns over the years. They seem random in that they cover a wide variety of topics from the personal to local and national.

Nothing wrong with that per se. I would love a "paper-making" column that explained the nuts and bolts of how the Free Press operated in every capacity. I'd love once a week but every month would be improvement over nothing at all.

A publisher is responsible for a profitable paper but also for carrying out a direction that the owners establish. What is that editorial policy in general? Do we have a mission statement? Is their a political angle? Are the owner's politics known? Is the publisher's?

Who is the publisher responsible for in terms of hiring and firing and why? Can we find out more? It isn't very transparent. And I can imagine the Free Press would be asking those questions of business and government. We need to hear how the publisher handles these crucial issues. Certainly, I'd love to know in a general way how things get decided.

There was a documentary on the New York Times recently. It was enlightening. It would be good for the Free Press to have a regular feature in the paper showing what was behind the curtain.

The opening of the Free Press Cafe downtown was innovative. I have not been there yet but it is a good way to reach out. Would like to see more.

There are some that have criticized the Free Press for not looking more closely at construction of the human rights museum early on. The issue of being a promoter of such projects is being questioned as interfering with analyzing of said projects as they develop. It seems clear at the moment that the museum might be in a spot of trouble. Some people were pointing out for a while that this might be happening.

So what is the view of other people on the publisher? As I've said, I want to know more about what happens at the paper and explanations of why it does what it does and sometimes a more focused look on what it hasn't done well in the past or present.

Margo Goodhand, editor

She has had many firsts in her career. She still posts regular columns of a variety of subjects. She takes credit as well for the News Cafe. The Community News Commons is still not up yet though according to the website. Could be good, no way tell yet.

The site is here.

Some critics have said that the Free Press editor was too quick to jump on criticism from some of its detractors, specifically The Great Canadian Talk Show. Freedom of Information requests have provoked questions.

It seems to me that the Free Press had nothing to fear from pokes at being the paper of record and might have even done well to allow their reporters the ability to respond. Chances are that lines of communication would have shed light on news gathering, reporting and opinion. And all of this might have been done with humour, humility and gentility.

Differences of opinion will exist. That's fine. No need to be defensive.

As with the publisher, I think we need to see more of an explanation of how the news operation works. Regular informed commentary would be huge to that end.

As far as the direction the paper takes, it seems to me that the paper could stand to address the issue of a makeover where each section of the paper might be re-done. Better pictures, graphics and news bulletins would be welcome. I have no idea when certain columns run. Tell me.

I would love to see a finer, sober thinking approach to Sundays. Can't we have the View From The West there?

More guest columns and bloggers, please.

Is a columnist shuffle out of the question? We have seen a few shifts from Ottawa to Manitoba and Arts to City Hall. If a columnist can switch to a new portfolio or take on a certain role for a while, it can be amazing journalism. Some great pet columns came from Bruce Owen.

Would love to see the whole team come aboard for things like elections. It should be a full court press from humour columns, general columns, sports columns, TV and arts columns and business columns. I can't help think that a story about a treehouse could have waited till after the election.

I think I wrote to the editor directly one time about the lack of inclusion of screenwriters in movie reviews. I am happy to say that I notice that the writer or writers are included in reviews. If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.

So what are people's views on the editor? I want to know more, see more, expect more.

The Free Press is not going down for citizen reporting via tweets. It won't. And with other media struggling or folding and city forums ending or other city media folding like Sandbox, the Free Press will be looked to as a continued paper of record.

I hope it steps up even in light of a lesser local competition in providing news.

to be continued...

Don Percy Back on Winnipeg Radio

Ever wonder where Stan Kubicek and Don Percy ever went to?

Until the conversion of 1290 to TSN Sports Radio, Don Percy was spinning oldies.

I wondered back then if he would land a job in the multitude of radio stations in the city.

Well, looks like he has found a home at Breeze along with Stan Kubicek.

At 100.7, Breeze is not exactly tearing up the charts. Bringing in Don Percy will get noticed and the newspaper ads certainly indicate they think he has a fan base.

It is hard to keep up with the changing formats of 100.7. It was The Lounge over Christmas, HANK FM before that and Cafe 100.7.

Way back, it was nostalgia radio.

New ownership has come out with a little spirit. The Evanov Group started up Energy 106 to poke an eye at Hot 103. Until very recently, it must have been quite clear that 103 had the top 40 pop hip hop market to itself. Not anymore. Interestingly, it looks like the intention was to call 106, The Jewel before settling on Energy.

Now we are seeing an attempt to move into 102.3 Clear FM's territory for another Evanov property. Breeze has probably got a long way to move past the Rogers owned station but you never know.

The complaints on Winnipeg radio are many. Never has so much been offered in such a limited range. We'll see if anyone breaks from the pack.

It will be interesting to see the new radio ratings and whether TSN Radio is big.

In any event, welcome back to two Winnipeg broadcasters.

List Time - Top Posts of 2011

I am a little late in getting up lists for 2011. It was quite a busy final weeks to the end of the end and it remains fairly busy.

My top viewed posts generally revolved around commercial enterprises that are opening in the city. Without doubt, the top post by far was on Swiss Chalet. Menards takes up two slots as well as a post I did on black and white police cars. Who knew the cars would be so fascinating.

I have no idea why my top 10 book list from last year continues to get hits each week.

I have two posts that are joke posts on Harper and Martha Stewart which gets hits each week.

The rest of the list is filled with store openings.

I think some of my Charleswood stuff has to limited an audience.

Anyway, on to the list...

Swiss Chalet Returns to Winnipeg
Mar 27, 2011, 24 comments

8,845 Pageviews

Menards - Deliveries to Winnipeg
Dec 6, 2010, 2 comments

2,804 Pageviews

List Time - Top Manitoba Books
Dec 23, 2010

2,565 Pageviews

Menards Coming To Winnipeg - Sort Of
Nov 24, 2010, 2 comments

2,355 Pageviews

Martha Stewart Gets Too Close To Polar Bear
Nov 6, 2010, 2 comments

2,143 Pageviews

Black and White Police Car Models - After Crown Vi...
Nov 24, 2010, 4 comments

1,363 Pageviews

Black and White Police Cars
Jul 5, 2010, 2 comments

1,338 Pageviews

Harper Talks About Pulling Out
Apr 1, 2011

1,317 Pageviews

Coach Store Coming to Winnipeg
May 15, 2011

1,202 Pageviews

Aeropostale Opening in Winnipeg
May 6, 2011

933 Pageviews

Hitler Rant - Loves Winnipeg Jets - Hates Washrooms

Rogers Closing Video Stores in Winnipeg

It sucks if you rent videos or games. The choices are becoming limited to small kiosks for videos and nothing really for games.

We keep hearing this is the wave of the future and that it is old technology, etc. However, as I have pointed out a few times, to access this technology, you need a high speed connection to the Internet, computer or electronic device or cable and satellite connection. Not to mention a subscription to a content provider like Netflix. Video on Demand on cable and satellite is still too limited in its offering, is expensive and has no extras.

People may say: So what? I get all my stuff with free downloads. Well, we have seen that those avenues are being blocked more and more. Could be a time soon when we might not be able to access things nearly with the convenience or lack of consequences.

Rogers Video Plus are the latest to announce a series of closings. Four of their stores are being shut down. It is part of a 40% reduction of their stores in Canada.

If you live in certain parts of the city, there are no larger video rental places left at all. It can be a good thing for an independent willing to stick it out but we have even seen the owner of Movie Village looking to sell.

Here are the stores that are closing.

1853 Grant Ave
Winnipeg, MB R3N 1Z2
(204) 488-4969

756 Pembina Hwy
Winnipeg, MB R3M 2M7
(204) 452-1234

823 McLeod Ave
Winnipeg, MB R2G 0Y4
(204) 654-1234

47 Goulet St
Winnipeg, MB R2H 0R5
(204) 237-7496

There was a point made here that if you wait a while, a DVD will be sold for around the same price as a rental. While that might be true of DVDs, it isn't true of games that they can be purchased so soon for so little. The rental places truly made it possible to check out a game and decide if it was worth it.

I know one thing that has happened since most of the video stores have closed around me: I have not watched as many new or older movies.

A Bar Street For Winnipeg?

Top picture is 456 Main Street today where Fox and Fiddle will be located

Middle picture is Fox and Fiddle on Yonge Street, Toronto

Bottom pic is 456 as the old Bank of Toronto

In the last weeks, we have been inundated with stories of bars and restaurants opening, often in the downtown.

One of the restaurant groups in Toronto that has worked with older buildings is Fox and Fiddle, an Irish pub-style group. They announced recently they going to build on Main Street near Whiskey Dix.

Fox and Fiddle is likely to appeal to those looking for a meal, pre or post sports or theatre events and after work or as a neighbourhood eatery. It is likely to bring a slightly more mature crowd than the nearby Whiskey Dix. And this is good, since there should be a variety of crowds up and down the street if for no other reason than to create excitement but also a civil interaction.

Whiskey Dix has been around a few years, overcoming some violent altercations ending in death in its previous incarnations. At 12,000 feet, it is monster sized and has one of the largest patios in the downtown area.

Violence is the type of stuff can destroy any bar even suburban ones. Security for bars and restaurants is both an internal and external matter. Bars have to enforce no weapons policies and over-serving protocols. Police have to be very vigilant and everyone should be aware of zero tolerance of shenanigans.

However, a lively bar and restaurant quarter can also be a boon for cultural and business affairs. It is not enough to have the Fringe Festival or MTS Centre in an area if there is nothing to do before, in between and after.

The streets of Portage and Main Street used to be lined with offices and retail. We have lost both offices and retail to the suburbs and in its place we have suffered either empty store front or offices or worse, large surface parking lots.

We have seen a scattering of restaurants and bars in the Exchange District and elsewhere but never in a real grouping like they have in Austin, Texas or Ybor City in Tampa.

The addition of Fox and Fiddle on Main might actually attract other similar businesses. At 3,100-square-foot and $750,000, this is a major investment downtown.

And it isn't the only one. The old Chocolate Shop restaurant is being converted into a Mediterranean-style restaurant. That 3,500 square foot location has been a restaurant for years aside from a stint as a cooking school. Arkadash Bistro and Lounge at 268 Portage Ave will be getting around a $300,000 facelift.

Farther down the street, some major players are sniffing around locations near the MTS Centre. More on that in a Portage Avenue update.

We have been seeing some interesting developments over the last several months. Except more private cash to start investing. And time to get some of the large surface lot landholders off their duffs and looking at possibilities.

Shopper's Drug Mart Osborne Village Part Deux

Shopper's Drug Mart and Vietnamese restaurant Vi-Ann

After the first expansion plan went poorly, Shopper's Drug Mart is putting forward another plan. This time it has found two willing sellers to facilitate growth up Osborne Street.

Already there is neighbourhood resistance. The city's board of adjustment will look at the proposal in a meeting at City Hall on December 21. Expect a lot of concern.

Two things emerge from the genesis of this plan: The first is that Movie Village might not be long for Osborne Village. If the owners are looking to sell and are unsuccessful, it doesn't means that the movie rental shop will stay open.

The neighbourhood has already lost Blockbuster. This would be a major hit for the non-car drivers living in the area.

Now, some people will say no loss...things are going digital anyways but people forget that the seeing movies via TV or computer still requires cable, satellite or high speed Internet connections all of which cost money. Then you have to pay for content. This can end up more costly than a TV, DVD player and a rental.

However, this isn't about video stores. If Movie Village wishes to sell or close, it is their right to do so. However, it would be wrong to assume the store will remain a video store by resisting Shopper's expansion.

If Movie Village does close, chances are something would go into the location. Just not a video store.

The one business is this endeavour that is at the mercy of the property owner's is Vi-Ann. The restaurant doesn't own the building it is in and if it is sold and redeveloped, they might not have options about going somewhere else. This is a sad situation but one we see often repeated with businesses that lease space. Sometimes the owners of the property push you out in favour of other things.

Once again, stopping Shopper's to save Vi-Ann may not work if the owners of the building looks to re-develop on their own.

Both Shopper's and Vi-Ann face out to Osborne Street and have entrances to it. Movie Village has long turned its back on the street and looks on to the more lucrative Safeway behind it.

The street behind Osborne, more of an alley, really has become the choice route for pedestrians. It is a long stretch of street from Shopper's to the Liquor Commission where you don't see the same vitality as you do in the blocks after. With only two businesses having any access to the street, there is very little presence there.

So, what exactly happens if Shopper's gets its wish? Well, we lose two beloved businesses, both of which might be in danger regardless if the proposal is turned down. Will it affect Osborne? Probably no more than what is happening now. In fact, with a good zoning ruling on the proposal, maybe Shopper's can be persuaded to be more street friendly on Osborne. Ditching the frosted glass might help.

If resistance to the Shopper's proposal is about "fighting the man", it is as wrongheaded as resistance to Safeway's expansion in the Village.

Outright resistance to Safeway ignored the fact that the neighbourhood was successful because there was a large grocery right in the area. Some homes were displaced in the area for expansion but Osborne Village's entire history has been marked by development and increasing density. Dogged resistance to change would have left the neighbourhood a low density section of the city. Who knows? Had activists been at the ready long ago, it still might be a barracks.

I am in the middle on this. I am not against Shopper's expanding for the sake of saying no to a large corporation. I am also of a mind that no one should roll over. If Shopper's get the green light, significant consideration needs to be looked at on zoning to make sure Osborne Street is vital. The look of the building is worthy of consideration. Entrances, windows, colours should be appealing.

Perhaps one aspect that might be promoted is: Can floors above the Shopper's be built? Now isn't that a novel idea? A residential component, offices? Wouldn't be rather neat if the floors above a Shopper's contained a restaurant like Vi-Ann? Just saying...

We'll see what happens next week. An open mind will be good. Don't resist, don't roll over, be constructive.

Westport Festival

Plans and Location for Westport Festival

The Westport Festival is a new development being promoted by Shindico. It seems festival has replaced Centre, Plaza, Court, Common and Village.

I guess the developer thought a retailing concept called The Downs was too sad.

In any event, this development near the Assiniboia Downs is very large. How big? Well, bigger than the lot where Unicity Fashion Square used to be before being converted to a WalMart big box concept in 2000.

The Westport follows that same big box line with two very large box store locations with one unique difference. There is a listing for a large movie theatre complex on the site.

We have already seen that we are losing one discount movie theatre chain with the conversion Cinema City on McGillivray. What could this theatre be? First run movies, second run?

One thing is clear: The people of St. James and Charleswood have been under-served for years in the movie theatre department. The only real theatre in St. James was the King's Theatre and it closed decades ago. And the Polo Park Theatre in the deep dark recesses of the basement of Polo Park Mall was not worthy of the place.

Silver City Polo Park has been serving the west part of the city since it was built in the 1990s.

That is a large section of the city where kids faced a very long bus ride in some case or difficult to impossible access if they lived in Charleswood to any movie theatre. It was one reason that for a very long time, there was a lot of video rental places along Portage Avenue.

The 450 acre Red River Exhibition Park is immediately north of the site. The eight auto dealers of Pointe West Autopark is right next door on an equally large piece of land.

In short order, things are getting busy in this area. It is easy to see the streets serving a mall, Red River Ex and the autopark are not up to snuff. Work will have to be done to avoid a three ring circus there.

So what big stores might be looking at those retail boxes? Well, a good bet is Lowe's. However, could not Target be a possibility? Kohl's would be the next dream store for Winnipeggers but there are others coming like J. Crew, Brooks Brothers and Crate & Barrel.

Only time will tell but fully leased signs are up in a lot of the city malls and some retail street strips.

The other interesting element of the Westport Festival is a hotel. Like a lot of others, Shindico hopes to capitalize on the nearby MTS Iceplex and the need for hotel space for the teams going to tournaments. It is obvious that there seemed to be no need just to serve the Red River Ex and Assiniboia Downs.

There has been a flurry of hotels built in that area after years of nothing.

The stretching out of our infrastructure and the traffic chaos in Headlingley is a debate that should happen as this project starts to take shape. Nevertheless, the increasing fully leased signs all over the city means that if we are ever to get certain stores, they will have to have a place to go.

To that end, the city continues to expand outward. Perhaps city council will continue to try and backfill spaces without some of the NIMBY-ism we have seen in recent weeks.

Kiehl's Opens in Winnipeg

Kiehl's Opens Wednesday

They only have 135 stores around the world but Kiehl's is an an iconic New York store that has been around since 1851. Each store as motorbike in it and Winnipeg is no different. The bike in the 1000 foot second floor location has a 1969 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. The store is now a division of L'Oreal.

The store describes itself as an "old apothecary" concept.

Polo Park continues to pursue exclusive retailers to its location. Any local retailers would fare far better in the regional malls or at street level than hope to get into the mall now. In fact, many Canadian retailers will have to look over their shoulders in the next months.

Blockbuster is Dead, Long Live the Local Video Store

The aftermath of the closure of Blockbuster has been rather swift moving in Winnipeg. Most of the old locations have been grabbed by other retailers, restaurant operators and service industries. This is in stark comparison to the sad state of affairs in the States where so many Blockbusters stand empty.

Snap Fitness has been grabbing up many of the old locations. In the Charleswood Shopping Centre Plaza, Pet Valu has grabbed up the old Blockbuster location leaving their smaller spot in the mall. I think it will fill fast.

Farther up in the north part of the city, one of the Blockbusters is becoming Famous Dave's.

The Portage Avenue location near Grace Hospital remains empty.

Still, within one year, it is likely every empty Blockbuster will have found a new tenant.

But what of video stores in general? Has online crushed the bricks and mortar store?

Well, not quite. Simply put, Netflix does not carry everything and often lacks new stuff. The price maybe good for the service but you still need high speed Internet and delivery devices such as computer, cell phone, tablet or TV.

Netflix has come a long way but the truth is that some areas may never have fast reliable high speed Internet to receive high definition signals.

As for cable and satellite: Their selection of stuff on Video on Demand is limited, the price is high and the means to select what you want to watch is not the best.

So, what has the closure of Blockbuster really meant? Well, according to the Free Press, it has meant additional business for existing video stores. In short, local business has benefited the most.

In essence, it is Back to the Future for the rental business. Prior to the Rogers, Jumbos and Blockbusters, the video rental market was very local. For years, I used to get my videos at Video Zone on Academy Road.

There was a shakeout later in the 1980s and most of the smaller shops closed up shop.

Now the shakeout is the bigger shops.

What has happened is that the over capacity in the market has been removed.

While Netflix and other downloads are having a huge impact, the DVD market is still viable. The very cheap DVDs in Safeway are still not as plentiful or diverse as a well stocked store.

It is doubtful that a major industry player would look to do what Blockbuster did and have a national chain of stores. The margins are too low.

However, until highspeed downloading arrives everywhere and the price and selection are there, most people will not toss their DVD players out.

The market needs local players. A new business opportunity has arrived.

One suggestion to local business out there. Charleswood and Tuxedo need both a hotel, a video store and if we are to believe some seniors, A Sal's.

Winnipeg Internet Pundits

I guested on the brilliant program Winnipeg Internet Pundits on Wednesday at 5 on UMFM.

Tessa Vanderhart hosts smart bloggers Christian Cassidy from West End Dumplings, James Howard, Slurpees and Murder and Winnipeg Cat, Graham Hnatiuk, Progressive Winnipeg , Robert Galston, Rise and Sprawl and Walter Krawec, One Man Committee on a roundtable discussion of Winnipeg and the blogosphere.

Tessa had provided a very detailed program plan which I apologize for going rambling past. Listening to the program, I think my stuttering is cringeworthy. Thanks to Christian, James and Walter tried keep thing on course and I thank them for that. Note to self: Bring something in writing yourself so you can not just talk off the top of your head.

The topics covered included the future development of Polo Park and surrounding area. I expressed confusion as to how the Asian food grocery was lost and how Western Financial suddenly became part of a mixed use mall.

We talked about retailer we might like or expect to see. First off, I should say I have no problem with local retailers and will seek them out whenever possible but I will say right up front that Polo Park and St. Vital Shopping Centre are poor prospects for a purely local retailer.

The better areas are most certainly along Henderson, Nairn, Main, McPhillips, Portage Avenue, Academy Road, Osborne and Corydon.

We talked about the little music area on Portage near Advance Electronics. I don't know that anyone has ever mentioned how many local music stores call that area home. There is Yamaha and Encore along with a few others.

The Free Press has written about how many wedding dress shops are along Portage near The Bay. What hasn't been mentioned is how many optical places are there too.

Touching upon The Bay downtown, there was a discussion of how the restaurant Oliver and Bonacini was going to be a destination location.

Downtown will only draw people with something exclusive like Mountain Equipment Co-Op or Birks. The old Bay restaurant certainly wasn't going to draw pre-Jets games crowds. Oliver and Bonacini will.

As far as the old stadium site, I expressed doubts about Lowe's locating there but thought Kohl's might be the right store. Truth of the matter though, nothing will be set in stone until the stadium is knocked down.

And many big retailers might be looking at the Seasons of Tuxedo to see how things shake out there before committing to an undefined stadium site.

I criticized the province about squatting on parking lots when they could have out the space on offer as both a parkade and office or residential and help create more energy and density around the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

I hope I didn't sound too negative about things because generally speaking I see positive things happening.

We are still finding our way on things but discussions of where we live, work, shop and play have to be in the forefront of any discussion we have on the city.

Thanks to all on the show who help try identify the city's strengths and where there needs to be improvements. And I will try not to ramble on as I did if I am ever back. I was nervous.

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (Sing Along Songs)

Seemed a good time to be happy after such a sunny Wednesday.

Store and Restaurant Wish List Part 2

Lowe's Home Improvement Stores

Back in July of last year, I wrote what I heard from some people was their wish list for restaurants and retailers for the city of Winnipeg.

There was as follows:

Restaurants:

Outback (already in Alberta and in Ontario although many closed in that province in 2009)
Hard Rock Cafe (in some Canadian provinces)
Chili's (already in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta)
Rainforest Cafe (already in Ontario)
Ruby Tuesday (already in Ontario)
Sweet Tomatoes

Stores:

Target
Lowe's
Juicy Couture
Crate and Barrel
J Crew
Brooks Brothers

We continue to be the one gap where Lowe's has no location.

However, all is not lost. In the last couple of years we have seen locations open up for Forever 21, Apple, Sephora, Hollister, Aeropostale.

For restaurants, Famous Dave's and Woody's Barbecue are on tap. And TGI Fridays just opened at the airport with Swiss Chalet a week before.

I should point out that no other post I have written has ever come close to matching Swiss Chalet for traffic.

I think we can add a few other retailers to the list we'd like to see:

Kohl's
Menard's
Abercrombie and Fitch
Victoria Secret
Marshals
Wet Seal
Charlotte Russe
DSW

and the one that seems so close to making an announcement:

H&M

To be fair, some of these stores don't operate any locations in Canada but it seems the big question has to be as what is taking Lowe's, Victoria Secret and H&M from coming?

Winnipeg is one of the hotter retail markets for non Canada's retailers to look at.

Part of the problem is no room in any of the big malls. Polo Park is full up. Ditto St. Vital Centre. Some older Canadian retailers have toppled like bowling pins the last few years as interlopers come in.

My guess is if Polo Park had a third floor, they'd fill that sucker in no time flat. However, how likely is that when they would have to build an addition to their parking deck. As for St. Vital, would any approval come with that traffic nightmare that is there now? Even a second deck of parking will not fix bad access off of other streets.

So, Victoria Secret and others wait with their faces pressed up against the glass to see if Polo Park will throw other tenants such as Broadway Florists under the bus to make space for them.

To be sure though, more stores are coming.

Central Canada Comic Con and the Conventions

Me as Rorschach and my friend Wonder Woman

Halloween weekend and Central Canada Comic Con all on the same weekend. It certainly makes for a costume friendly weekend.

Sad to see the downtown explode in shootings and stabbings once again because there was quite a lot going that was peaceful and fun. It is quite ridiculous when you think about how someone's checklist for Halloween goes like this: Booze, drugs, gun, knife. Check! ready for my night out!

If this is left unchecked, it won't long before some people make a decision about going to a Winnipeg Jets game, convention center show, Concert Hall outing or The Forks based on fearing that they will be killed in their cars.

It will be useless telling people that perception is not the reality.

The reality is that we will surpass our murder rate this year. The reality is that shots are being fired and stabbings are occurring. Everything and I do mean everything should be done to prevent protect the population from this unsettling trend.

Anyway, I won't try to spin this story about how good things are. Suffice to say, I want to go downtown to Jets games, conventions and plays. I am demanding that things be better. And yes I am looking at you Mr. Mayor and you Mr. Premier.

Anyways, back to the convention that I attended...

For those interested in knowing, there were many people from very young to very old at the Winnipeg Convention Centre enjoying Central Canada Comic Con. Since 2006, it has taken off and thousands are in attendance. I suspect it will only get bigger.

There were some stars from TV and film present for autographs and question and answer not the least of which was William Shatner.

Met Kevin Sorbo who seems to be a genuinely good guy.

There were so many excellent costumes and activities that it was enough to keep most people engaged for hours. Wonderful show and you know it will only get better.

****

It is the type of show the Convention Centre has been doing so well over the years. Home show, car show, boat show. Literally thousands of people who generally don't go downtown for a host of reasons go to the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

I am not an expert on the economic activity generated by a Convention Centre. It is probably lots and although the costs are high to build them, I think they are worth it so long as they have the tools to generate some cash for their operations. Parkades can make money after the initial huge start up costs.

It is curious to note that developers are keen on buying parkades. There is high interest in Portage Place's parkade to spur a tower. This isn't a bad idea but CentreVenture should hold off till they get a commitment for both towers to be built on west and east side before selling. They should not think of this as losing a revenue generator in the parkade but getting seed money for further projects.

This weekend's convention had two decks of parking lot filled. It had every food service counter filled to capacity and probably more could have done business.

I think more revenue has to come from services provided from the Convention Center. It should have more restaurants, concessions and the like.

The plan for expansion that I have talked about here includes a hotel. This is a good thing and should be thought about in terms of how it can create further revenue and support for the convention center.

The Convention Center has been isolated too long from the rest of the downtown or Broadway by a selfish province that thought nothing about having huge surface parking lots spread out all around and no plan for doing better. Those parking lots were owned by the province and any thought of developing them till this year was rejected.

Here's hoping that enough vision is in place to try and make what works in the city work better and stop working at cross purposes.

Swiss Chalet Now Open in Winnipeg

Swiss Chalet opened Wednesday, October 28 at 11 am according to reports.

It has been chaos around there as people who have been waiting for some time for it, head there.

Horizon Insurance

Almost unnoticed in September was the purchase of Manitoba's largest independent insurance broker Horizon Insurance by Hub International of Chicago.

Horizon has operated in Manitoba for 100 years founded by Louis Leipsic. Today it is has 18 locations and 180 staff. It also owns the locations of Ryan Gateway Insurance. Not a small company by any stretch.

The acquisition by Hub is supposed to help the company in terms of products and expansion. Hub has an interesting background. It was founded in Canada and moved to the States. It has been on a tear with insurance companies being snapped up left and right across North America.

By all accounts, Hub buys an insurance broker and leaves them intact with their head office forming a super regional office. However, B.C.'s biggest independent brokers with nearly 600 employees seems to have lost their own website in favour of Hub's. hardly the local presence you might want to have for such a large company.

The best business for a place is one where there is a strong local head office and independence to charity, sponsorships and have your local execs out in the community.

I hope that is the case with Horizon.

I have seen too many times when a local company is purchased and then they chop or eliminate any head office staff or have thing run by a small supervisory staff who have no authority to do much of anything including things like the United Way.

Horizon still has a website and identifies who runs the company and who they are. Barton in B.C. doesn't list anyone as far as I can tell. Not good.

A Modest Proposal - Movie Theatres

Cinema City: Before and After

In what is surely a preemptive move from prospective construction of a multi screen movie theatre on the IKEA site, Cineplex Odeon at McGillivray Boulevard and Kenaston Boulevard.

From the beginning, it has been reported that part of the IKEA site was going to movie theatres, possibly from the Empire chain or the expanding AMC chain. This obvious didn't sit well with dominant player Cineplex.

The response from Winnigeggers has been somewhat mixed since a decent second run movie theatre is now going to have first run movies and posh prices.

So now the Cineplex Odeon McGillivary & VIP Cinemas is born.

What will it consist of? It will be eight traditional auditoriums and three VIP screening rooms. Presumably, if Justin Bieber is back in town, he will be able to entertain his girlfriend Selena Gomez at this theatre rather than at Silver City Polo Park.

The Cineplex announcement is part and parcel of $6.5 million of renovation being done to most of the properties the company owns in the city. New concessions, paint, seats and entertainment are all part of what we'll be seeing in the various facilities.

Now...a modest proposal:

Since we are losing a discount movie theatre in the south end of the city, is not time to consider the Empire Theatre location at the Grant Park Mall. It is the only location of the Empire chain in Winnipeg.

If indeed, it is Empire intending on building on the IKEA site, would it not make some sense to possibly convert the Grant Park site to a discount theatre?

I know I'm not the owner or anything but yeesh, we do like our discount theatres in the city and Grant Park might do well by it.

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Just picked up the Uniter at McNally Robinson. Saw the story on OMC there. Good job!

I'd love it if the Uniter, Manitoban and Projector were available in boxes around the city. Just sayin'

Despite the fact that so much is online, I love the feel of the paper in my hands.