Raise the Hammer

Beasley

" ...places like Denningers, Absinthe, Ya Man and that really nice used guitar guy are still on king east."

These are all primarily examples of destination businesses: places that people will travel to go to even when they don't live or work in the neighbourhood. Tundra Leather, the other leather place my mother-in-law drives to Hamilton to visit, and Bizclip also fall into this category. So does P0wnz the gaming centre. They're all attractional businesses people will take the time to come visit, although some of the food-based ones have a local/delivery clientele such as Le Chinois and Forbidden City and the pizza places.

And while they're GREAT to have in the area... they don't tell you much about the area itself.

They're a poorer gauge of the health of the area than the "walkby" businesses. That's why I keep mentioning coffee shops - I know them, I've worked at Tim's, Second Cup, Fortinos' coffee bar and more, and I've looked into the stats required to keep them moving. I'd looked at the possibility of putting one at King/Locke where G.P. Grumpy's used to be (not that I could get the financing to, but what it would take and how feasible it would be).

Foot traffic businesses are different than destination or delivery businesses.

Coffee shops, specifically operate on the general principle that out of every 150-200 people walking by, you'll have one person coming in and buying something. Unfortunately, that's not the case for the coffee shops in this area due to less disposable income. So even if you get twice the foot traffic, you don't get the same profitability. That keeps businesses owners away, unless they're badly educated on the realities of the business.That's the kind of difference between this area and most other downtowns.

Definitely, the destination businesses, whether it's Denningers, Newman's, Milli's, or the Reptile Store will survive (almost) no matter where they're plunked on the arterial roads or the state of the surrounding area. Most businesses aren't so lucky, though.

Of course, much comes down to management and operation and business plan too. I agree on you there.