Vimy Ridge Park Area at Portage Avenue

Right across from Vimy Ridge Park the Commissionaires have moved into their new office on Portage Avenue where Klinic was for years. Klinic has moved from their former locations here and on Broadway to Sherbrook to a building that recently housed a software company.

Both moves are good for both organizations.

Klinic gets a larger building along one of the most dynamic streets on Sherbrook and the Commissionaires get a larger headquarter fronting on the city's busiest street of Portage Avenue with enough parking for their fleet of vehicles.

The Commissionaires continue to retired military and police in their service and therefore play a major role in returning veterans to civilian service for good working years.

Over the last 60 years many office buildings along Portage Avenue have hosted provincial or federal government or non-governmental organizations in them. 

Even before the pandemic there was some indications that the city was about to take off. Doesn't mean it is without a problems. This stretch of retail across from The Commissionaires offices has had a few empty spots for some time. Still do. I generally believe at some point landlord either won't lower their leases or have let their place deteriorate so much that it lacks appeal.

Just past Commissionaires office are union offices. You can find several offices along Portage Avenue. This one also houses the Manitoba NDP headquarters which shows how close unions and NDP are.

Food Fare on Portage Avenue ensure this end of Wolseley and the West End are not a food desert. The foot traffic generated to the store means this bus station is also busy and a good draw for the bank. In short, they feed off each other's success.

A look east down Portage Avenue to downtown.

Vimy Ridge Memorial Park just off Portage Avenue was originally St. James Park from 1894 to 1926 when it was re-dedicated and the World War I memorial was added. Just goes to show name changes can happen in Winnipeg and do.

The park has received a lot of love recently after many years of neglect. Memorials have been upgraded, trails as well, garden beds and recreation. Parks and recreation as well as forestry always seems to take the brunt of cutbacks.

The street borders of Vimy Ridge are Portage Avenue and running down east side in Canora Street and on west side is Home Street. The south side if backed by Preston Avenue. It is mostly a park in the Wolseley residential area but the proximity to downtown and West End as well as the memorial nature of the park attracts and wider use.

Looking down Home Street.

Cherry blossom season seemed to last a long time this year whereas poof, you missed it last year.

First Presbyterian Church is a gorgeous stone church that overlooks Vimy Ridge Park. As with many churches nowadays, the congregations come from all over the city rather than just local residents.

Older homes along Picardy opposite the church so signs of families and restorations.

There is evidence of a lot of green thumbs as gardens proliferate.

In the 1990s the chance that Wolseley could be lost to creeping neglect migrating in from absent landlords, rooming houses and a decline in prices not seen since the Depression. Suffice to say that the area has had a 20 year sustained comeback. It is helping Sherbrook and Maryland transform every year.

As Broadway begins at Portage and curves its way east, it passed by the Gordon's Bell's newer field. It is worth noting that politicians only moved when the post office indicated they were going to build a sorting station there. Just an indication of the lack of foresight about the needs the high school had for a very long time with a concrete playground.

Local politicians were asleep at the wheel earlier when the care dealership across the street moved and made no attempt to grab the large site for a space that did not have to be pigeon-holed. Nevertheless, the new field attracts young people all the time. Even in a pandemic (as you can see here) during a no gathering mandate.

Don't want to point fingers at all. Experts are saying that young people are more resilient and suffering terribly from remote learning. But we also have 350 to 500 people a day getting infected, What a time. 

In non-pandemic times this field is filled all the time. And will be again. One wonders if there will ever be a school division fieldhouse and rink to support several school programs in the future. The money is not there now. But what if it could be? The University of Winnipeg could not imagine the fieldhouse it has now. Today it is top notch.

At Picardy and Broadway there are a series of small multi-unit apartments. This is the evolution of the area. On major bus routes, we will see density increase and this helps the vitality of the area using existing infrastructure.

Trees were planted on the property as it should be. I will explore this area a bit more in the future. There is a lot happening.

Across from Gordon Bell High is one of the numerous regional health offices. Provincial government offices are all over the place.

If I have complaint about government offices is that almost never have retail or other offices on the first floor. They can take up an entire block or more and nary a convenience store or coffee shop. Heck, some of them could go further and have apartments above them and retail on the first floor. Instead we always get non-descript, zero street presence anonymous government offices.

The pictures kind of speak for themselves. Gray or concrete. No life on them on evenings or weekends. Barely a name on them most of the time. Street killers.

The former Italian restaurant Paradise didn't remain empty for long. Garden House, East Indian restaurant took over even in a pandemic. The building beside it show classic mixed use. A longtime dental office with apartments above it. Street life. Just not enough of it with dead provincial government offices next door.

And yet another empty provincial government office with nary a sign on it. And their empty parking lot. I think this one at least has a daycare in it. Why do the bunkers get built?

When provincial government offices get too old they hand them to child and family services.

The East Portage Entrance of Vimy Ridge Memorial Park. Still awaiting their flowers. Notice the tree stump. Many never get replaced.

The memorials are worth stopping and looking. The sacrifices from this province's men and women have been painful.

Overall a beautiful park and residential area and worth looking at.

And if government wants to be helpful, more mixed development and less bunkers on Portage Avenue.

Corydon Avenue Construction 2021

It was scheduled for spring of 2020 but put over to this year. Why? Not sure. With the pandemic and everything closed and I mean everything, it seemed construction was the only thing running. But not in this case. Nothing happened till this year.

Corydon has always been an oddball. You have two autobody shops next to posh coffee places and barber shops. It has apartments on one side a lot of the time and commercial on the other side.

Sidewalk cafe at Cocoabeans might be a little dusty and noisy.

Corydon remains a street where you have to slow down even when construction isn't happening. Unlike some streets like Jubilee that banned parking, stopping, loading, Corydon by its nature can't be a speedway.

I didn't enquire about the boarded windows at Corydon Cycle but I have seen it a bit all over the city. Thom Bargen Coffee windows smashed for a bike inside, CPR Cellphone window smashed across from St. Vital Shopping Centre. So tough for small businesses.

We have had some arsons. Twice in one abandoned house recently.  Drug addiction, grinding poverty, lack of housing and the pandemic. And crime rising. We need to do better.

If we can see shop windows smashed on major commercial streets it suggests a desperation, a brazenness. It doesn't go away running to the suburbs. Or exurbs. Or cottage. It follows you around.

The end of the pandemic will help populate the outside. But will it stop the desperation? And sending people to prison here results in deaths that even U.S. prisons would find hard to match.

Corydon remains attractive for a lot of reasons that Osborne Village struggles with on the main strip. It has people living in higher densities right on the street. Now, the Village could make up for it with people of Stradbrook and River but there have been empty spaces for years as result of land hoarding.

And while it might seem like a lot of restaurants on Corydon, there are grocery stores, convenience stores and hardware stores on the street. Never underestimate what 7 Eleven is in a neighbourhood. It is a place to buy a paper, get a lottery ticket, Slurpee.

There are a few street killers that are more effective than front facing parking. No offence to these businesses. They do try with patios and have parking for their customers but is a big open area when you walk past. 

The service window for restaurants is something that should continue for pick-up and delivery for yeas to come even without a pandemic. Bar Italia here has one.

Another example of how front parking kind of kills the street vibe. It always will.

The King George Courts built in 1913 is the type of building now fought in neighbourhoods all over as not in characters with the area. It is gorgeous but resisted by many. However, it is what is needed for higher densities and for people starting out, downsizing and the like.

Character homes so close to Corydon at Jessie and Cockburn.

At Jessie/Cockburn with Corydon in background. This was a 1/ 1/2 size lot. Not sure what house condition was but as you can see already sold as it nears completion.

Not sure how it will look when complete. As houses age past 100 years, some will fall to wrecking ball.

Winnipeg Jets Beat the Curse

The last time we played Edmonton in a final in 1990 we were ahead 3-1 and looking like we would beat the curse that had dogged us since 1983 losing five times in play-offs runs to the Oilers.

I was in my last year of high school when the curse began and was graduated from university and watching highlights in Japan in spring of 1990. You could have heard my howls across the Pacific at losing the series 4-3.

 1983: Oilers win Division Semi-Finals 3-0

1984: Oilers win Division Semi-Finals 3-0

1985: Oilers win Division Finals 4-0

1987: Oilers win Division Finals 4-0

1988: Oilers win Division Semi-Finals 4-1

1990: Oilers win Division Semi-Finals 4-3

In 2021 the curse ended. And we beat a team with a player in Connor McDavid that some say is greater than Wayne Gretzky. It took two overtimes and one triple overtime to do but Winnipeg has swept the series.

We have finished so early that we have no idea who we play next: Toronto or Montreal.

While Edmonton Oilers had such a dynasty in the 1980s, it seemed to emphasize just how everything and anything about Winnipeg was in decline. The start of the decade saw such massive closures of businesses such Canada Packers, Swift and the Tribune. North Portage was either burning down or shutting down. And Winnipeg Jets could have a great team that makes the play-offs only to collapse in four straight in the first round...every time.

We watched as so many of our friends and neighbours moved to Alberta and checked their Jets and Bomber uniforms. Winnipeg dropped in population rankings to both Calgary then Edmonton, then Ottawa and it looked like we would drop below Hamilton and Quebec City. 

The Weakerthans song I hate Winnipeg harkened on the fact that "the Jets were lousy anyway" to emphasize how downtrodden we were. The same defeatist mood pervaded the population. In the 1990s the exit of so many and the rise in arson, car theft and murder showed how precariously close we were to losing it all. And when Jets left in 1996, it felt like the last person would have to turn the lights off in the city. It took a while to convince fan that Manitoba Moose was fun and embracing it would lead back to getting a team in 2011.

Somehow we picked up the pieces. Businesses that had run for years kept working, people who looked to change things in government continued to do so, people in neighbourhoods still looked after them. And for hockey, we had people go back to basics with a downtown arena and a team not named the Jets.

It wasn't easy but the city with some strong building blocks climbed out of the hole and with a progressive immigration policy, diverse business community in various areas of economy, strong education push from areas ranging from Red River College to universities to private business schools training people for the job market, we have done it.

We did the other things like build the best local arts and sports scenes you can find nationally. Festivals and concerts here packed them in. World curling, junior hockey, women's soccer and and Pan Am Games showed we could organize events and make them shine.

When Winnipeg Jets returned to Winnipeg from a city we did not expect to send us one, it took some polishing and a close run in 2018 that had the city peacefully and joyously celebrating in the streets. I was happily part of that renting equipment and working all day every other day to put it on.

And now after Covid continues to put us on our knees, the Winnipeg Jets come to sweep us away in four games.

We can't see them in person. We can't celebrate in great numbers on the streets but we feel joy.

We don't know how much longer we have in these odd play-offs but we'll enjoy the ride as long as we can.

Covid 19 is hurting us. And it isn't just the infections but businesses closed and suffering, employees hobbled and worried and so many people bereaved with loss from those who have not made it, those who are waiting treatment for others things and losing the battle.

We are seeing amazing achievement and terrible indifference but the Jets are filling us with cheer. 

For a long time Edmonton has had our number. This odd Canadian division in the NHL gave us a chance to say: Not this time. No more, no further. Not one win. For all those times before, 40 years of making us hate Winnipeg, believing in the curse.

And not just for hockey. For Winnipeg. Few things unite us. This is more sweet relief than bravado. Hope everyone can enjoy the moment and in weeks, it would be sure nice to celebrate some more.

INAC-Indigenous Nation Apparel Company Coming to Polo Park

INAC-Indigenous Nation Apparel Company looks to have a soft opening in June. It is the exact thing that Polo Park might want to have to distinguish it from other malls. If the mall wants to be different, it has to have stores no one else has. Or attractions no one else has.

Polo Park always has St. Vital Centre or Kildonan nipping at its heels. It has mostly maintained its edge but has let others close in on it. The loss of Sears and the space it occupied was an existential threat. When Zellers closed, it was an opportunity and the mall welcomed stores that were waiting for such space. Those days are long gone.

The new Sears will have a furniture store in it which will be a first for the mall. It remains to seen what sort of access through the mall to the old Sears there will be.

The old second floor entrance now looks like this,

INAC should be fully ready by July and I suspect much of the mall will start looking in shape for the first time in 18 months.

Changes Around Polo Park and Surrounding Area

 Even in a pandemic, the former HBC Home has been converted to other uses. Originally built as Linens and Things, the Bay changed it to Home Outfitters. In recent years they are closed and the ones in Winnipeg have been converted to other uses.

First Oomomo opened. It has not fully operated yet because of restrictions but specialized in sales of Japanese goods. Now next door they have finished painting the red sign of Petland. 

The old Sears building is getting closer to looking complete in the exterior changes.

Hakim Optical across from Polo Park closed. However, they are inside the mall now and down the street at Leon's Centre. Hakim has taken up the type of dominance that Winnipeg-based Shopper's Optical once had. King Optical on St. James once had 200 people producing glasses for all over Canada. It closed in 2014 and few years after all the Stewart N. King/Shopper's Optical stores numbering 74 locations were sold to Luxxotica for $67 million.

Winnipeg used to be a glasses powerhouse.

Sears Polo Park started at Simpsons-Sears in 1959 and was the anchor to around 40 stores arranged in two open air strip malls. It was the second enclosed mall in 1963 and expanded with the inclusion of Eaton's as its northern anchors in 1968. It was in this year that it became entrenched my memory as we became new residents of River Heights. I was probably there earlier but I remember visiting my grandparents on nearby Ashburn and going to the mall and seeing a very new Eaton's.

The Simpson-Sears always seemed to have a busy auto centre and garden centre. I even remember boats being sold. 

The St. James apartments were built in 1969. For years, there was no way to get down Ness to Polo Park because there was no road crossing the rail. This opened the street opposite to Polo Park to things such as the St. James apartments but also for a McDonald's further down the street.

This became the primary way for people south of the Assiniboine to access Polo Park.

Sears has been converted to a mix of offices and retail. It  likely managers never conceived they would ever not have stores leaping at the chance to locate at Polo Park.

EQ3 will be moving into the Sear renovation. This will leave the corner at St. James and Portage empty for the first time in decades. Pier 1 Imports closed years ago and EQ3 has a pop up in there. The re-located store will be larger than what they have now. Even in the pandemic Winnipeg-based EQ3 has done well and this will be a flagship store for them.

Cadillac Fairview wants to put apartments on that corner once EQ3 is gone. Winnipeg Airport will try to stop them. In the next year or so we should see how that turns out.

It is hard to imagine normal after the pandemic. Sometimes we are so busy that it seems like people are back to routine but then it important to point out some businesses have been shut since last March.

And some businesses have been struggling since before the pandemic. The question of what happens to The Bay is an open one. Will HBC survive? I thought no but the store probably needs more revenue streams that it does now. Whatever happened to its restaurants?

Many malls seem to be reeling from filling holes from large retailers collapsing. Some are doing okay. Some are having to do a re-think.

Meanwhile, along St. James some of the stores that have closed in last few years are finding tenants like here where HBC Home has given way to Oomomo and Petland. The sign says fully leased.

Lucky Brand Jeans to Open at Polo Park Soon

Lucky Brand returns to the Canadian market with a store in Polo Park's second floor. It is in the same wing as the area where Disney is closing but there is some evidence that a number of retailers are looking to establish themselves for the summer presumably when the pandemic sees lifted restrictions.

Millions of dollars of work is being done at Polo Park right now mostly in the old Sears wing but throughout the mall. One suspects if the mall owner gets the go ahead, there will be a lot of work still yet to come, especially in terms of housing.

The Winnipeg Airport has kicked up a fuss but it seems self interested when they have massive developments on their own land that includes three hotels. 

It used to be that Polo Park had a long waiting list. Those days are gone. While stores like Lucky Brand are good, they need exclusive stores like Apple that no one else has to drive traffic.

If Lucky Brand is only available at Polo Park then they should be okay. But it isn't just other shopping centres to worry about. Some people have gone online and they won't come back unless the shopping experience in store offers pick-ups, special sales and other things to attract people.

A resident population, a fitness centre, a grocery store will all drive daily traffic.

And for stores like Lucky Brand will make sure many people find reason to be in store a number of times a month. Malls can and will not look the same as they once were. The success of all of its stores depends on it.

Disney Store Polo Park to Close

It only opened at Polo Park in 2014 and in 2021 it closing.

All the Disney stores in Canada being shuttered.

A Disney store that had operated at St. Vital Centre closed in 2010.

The pandemic seems to have little to do with the closures as this was predicted would happen prior. However, it likely hastened the cost savings to shut them all. now. Disney lost a ton.

It seems just as likely stores open again unless Disney thinks young shoppers only need online resources to decide on their favourite stuffed animals. 

We are still in pandemic times but a lot of stores are gearing up to open at Polo Park and the new wing is almost complete in the Sears building. The loss of Disney is sad but the mall with survive.

And who knows? Disney might change their mind all over again. Like they have done in the past.

Sandman Hotel Addition

It seems like more than a year has gone for the Sandman Hotel addition on Sargent has been under construction. I'm not sure if there were delays but it is starting to look like something now. The site used to be a works yard as well as CDC Computers and for a while a a heating a cooling place.

It attests to the fact that so much of the airport area was industrial. Warehouses, manufacturing and other industry. It used to be that there really was only one hotel by the airport: The International Inn (Victoria Inn now).

Hotels started being built down Wellington. On the corner by Route 90 a Hilton Hotel went. At Sargent and Route 90 a Journey's End (Comfort Inn). Eventually other hotels were built in quick succession the last 20 years. Greenwood Inn (Best Western Plus) and a rapid success of hotels at airport and up and down Route 90: Hampton Inn by Hilton Winnipeg, Days Inn and Suites by Wyndam Winnipeg and Mainstay Suites. Almost all these hotels were built on former industrial land.

Three hotels were also built right on airport grounds. The Courtyard by Marriot, The Lakeview Signature Collection and The Grand Hotel.

For years Winnipeg was out of step with a lot of cities with so few hotels by the airport. Now there are many including the only 5 star hotel in The Grand at the airport.

The Sandman Hotel was built in 2007 and brought with it the return of Denny's which has been in the city but had failed in the past. The Chop Steakhouse and Bar was also added to the hotel. 

The Sandman is a Canadian chain starting to also build in the states. Their expansion will see the hotel occupy a full city block.

Across it is Don Vito who did a massive expansion on the collision center on Route 90 in recent years.

Winnipeggers often don't think of our city as a tourist place but people all over Manitoba and northwest Ontario come to the city for shopping and services. In recent years pre-pandemic, the city had a pretty good occupancy rate for hotels.

The Sandman looks like it is months away from completion. The timing might be perfect for a return to more normal in the fall and a Christmas rush.

Look for completion sometime late in the year.