Place du SPECTRUM / Complexe SIDEV - 26 étages (2011)

[Miska]

 

The partnership that operates the Quartier des Spectacles – a group that includes the city of Montreal – paid to fill in the urban gash.

 

It should be the owner that is forced to pay!

[cjb]

It should be the owner that is forced to pay!

 

They already paid, they financed Gerald Tremblay's re-election

[Malek]

Ils remplissent ça de terre et c'est tout?? Ils vont le gazonner au moins?

[Habfanman]

and why the hell not?? If its ideological then there's no point debating it here.

 

A few years ago I was rambling that it can be hard to live downtown because the lack of modern era general stores and big groceries. Today it's getting better but still a long way to go to compete with the burbs for convienience. Montrealers still come to the burbs in droves to buy furniture ( yeah I'm not talking about designer stuff that needs a second mortgage to pay them off).

 

Malek, I'm not talking about grocery stores. Grocery stores like the IGA in Complexe Desjardins are great and we need them all over downtown, not superstores, but neighbourhood stores that people can walk to. Discount furniture stores such as Brault et Martineau, The Brick, Ikea etc. locate in the burbs because of the cheap land. Since most people shop for major furniture purchases maybe once a year, it's hardly necessary to have such stores in every neighbourhood. I've moved over 20 times and never once have I said to myself "Where am I going to make my weekly major appliance purchases? I must be near a furniture store!" Chances are, I'm not much further from one in Rosemont than most people in Laval or Longueil.

 

If we put "the biggest Best Buy in Québec" on this corner, what effect will that have on other electronics stores that are already downtown? Since there will be no immediate increase in either population or the money supply of existing residents, this thing will suck sales from all existing businesses. By granting one company (Best Buy/Future Shop) a monopoly of three huge locations downtown, we'd be killing off 5, 10, who knows how many independant businesses. Filling one hole by creating 10 or more new holes is not a particularly intelligent strategy. And don't think for a minute that they won't close the Future Shop a few blocks down after they've put everyone else out of business. That's what they do.

 

There's a reason these stores are called "category killers". They enter an area and destroy the competition by (initially) offering low prices. Once they've killed the competition, they ramp up the prices because they no longer have any competion in that area. Not only that but they result in fewer net jobs than the businesses that they displace (and Big Box jobs tend to be lower paying Mcjobs). Any increase in taxes that they pay tend to be more than offset by the loss of taxes paid by the businesses that they've displaced. As well, chain stores do not support other local businesses as much as local retailers. They don't use local banks, lawyers, advertisers, web designers etc. More new holes.

 

Besides all of that, putting a Best Buy on the main corner of what is supposed to be the cultural heart of the city is a little like having a Taco Bell in the councourse of Place des Arts: not a particularly bright move.

[Habfanman]

what's wrong with best buy and future shop? why are they "craptastic?" why shouldn't i be able to buy a tv or an xbox downtown?

 

i mean, sure, maybe we'd all like a string of vintage lunchbox stores and interpretive jazz museums, but then again, maybe we wouldn't.

 

montreal is a real city and these are major canadian retail stips. they're not fantasy props for kids from ontario who have just moved here and are still marvelling over how exotic it all is.

 

Dude, you really have to try to get over yourself.

 

Do you not have enough toy stores downtown already? What is Best Buy going to offer that a dozen or so others (including their clone, Future Shop) don't already offer? And why should a major downtown Canadian retai strip have all the same stores as any mall or lifestyle centre in Cleveland or Buffalo? That we feel it necessary to have all of this generic garbage on our main street says more about the sad state of Canadian retail than anything else.

 

And btw, I'm no kid - I'm in my 40's and I moved here from Halifax, not Ontario. After living in 4 counties on 3 continents and in 5 Canadian provinces, I don't find Montréal "exotic". It's simply the best place I've lived in thus far.. by quite a margin. You may not agree with my opinion but at least know that it's an informed opinion. I've found that you can learn a lot more about a city/state/province/country by actually living and working there than you can by simply popping down for a weekend and/or looking at pretty skyline photos on the internet.

[saturnus85]

Do you not have enough toy stores downtown already? What is Best Buy going to offer that a dozen or so others (including their clone, Future Shop) don't already offer? And why should a major downtown Canadian retai strip have all the same stores as any mall or lifestyle centre in Cleveland or Buffalo? That we feel it necessary to have all of this generic garbage on our main street says more about the sad state of Canadian retail than anything else.

 

I agree. After the five Aldo stores on Ste-Catherine, two Mexx's, two Indigos, etc., I don't think we need two Best Buys, far less two that are less than 150 metres from one another. Future Shop, after all, is only a Best Buy operating under a different banner, giving the illusion of competition.

 

To think we sacrificed a top-notch entertainment venue for more overpriced electronics. If you guys think Best Buy is giving you a bargain, you're getting gypped.

[pedepy]

Besides all of that, putting a Best Buy on the main corner of what is supposed to be the cultural heart of the city is a little like having a Taco Bell in the councourse of Place des Arts: not a particularly bright move.

 

voila qui resume bien ma pensee ....

 

en plus d'avoir sacrifier une institution culturelle majeure a montreal, la situation de ce lot est aussi cruciale que centrale pour le qds & le centre-ville en general .. on peut pas simplement y batir n'importe quoi.

 

j'aurais pas necessairement de probleme avec un best buy, en autant qu'il s'integre a l'interieur d'un projet beaucoup plus vaste, preferablement a vocation culturelle (le terrain est bien assez grand)...

 

le cote best buy pourrait etre face a la rue bleury et donc moins 'visible' depuis le quartier des spectacles. serait bien si le magasin s'integrais a un architecture plus classique, au lieu de leur geants cubes mauves auquels ils nous ont habitues. alors la, ok, peut-etre ...

[WestAust]

Best Buy just like any other retailer can be integrated in an urban development project without clashing due to looking like their suburban counterparts

 

Here is an example in chicago:

 

or a Target store in Mineapolis

 

heck even a costco in downtown Vancouver

[Malek]

You guys are way too anti-entrepreunerials. Do I give a shit that there's 7948 Aldo on the same block?? As long as the store is busy, employs people and pays it taxes, good for them.

 

Geez, get over yourselves.

 

lol @ pops and moms stores being cheaper implied in this thread....

[rosey12387]

heck even a costco in downtown Vancouver

 

Off topic and another one of my utopian dreams, but I'd love to see residential towers built on top of the Costco and the Réno-Dépôt at Marché Centrale.