Comment 28046

By geoff's two cents (anonymous) | Posted January 07, 2009 at 02:35:41

It squares with common sense that the larger, more distant grocery stores have a terrible ecological (and sociological) impact, doesn't it? Most people who love cars and giant supermarkets, however, won't be convinced by numbers - not yet, anyways.

Had the pleasure of spending several hours downtown Vancouver yesterday. (Oddly enough, the weather cooperated). One thing that struck me, even moreso than during my last sojourn around the city, was the sheer number of grocery stores - both private and corporate - in areas directly adjacent to the central business district. Even the corporate brands that build big-box monstrosities in the burbs seem to adjust well to the urban, little-or-no-parking, format. Many are at the base of residential and mixed-use high-rises. Some stores (such as a new Safeway at the corner of Robson and Denman) are even architecturally interesting. Crazy.

Can't wait to see Hamilton's first large (or at least comprehensive), urban-format grocery store. I'd settle for just about anything that faced a sidewalk, architectural significance be damned. . . I would have been a regular customer when I lived near downtown Hamilton if there was one there, instead of supporting that hideous Fortinos on Dundurn. Thankfully, we were regulars at Denningers (which somehow manages to combine streetwall with a hideous, empty parking lot), occasionals at the organic place on Locke, and sometimes managed to make it to the Farmer's Market before it closed.

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