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Victoria retail thread: retailer news, comings and goings


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#8801 Ismo07

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:10 AM

Even established businesses are having a tough time. Many people will blame it on downtown, the bulk of it is the economy. How often does the average person eat out nowadays? My husband and I used to several times a week - now it’s several times a month (and I think that’s more than most.) I’m sure Saturday and Friday nights are still great money makers but the rest of the week is probably pretty weak.

 

Yeah I'm still out and about quite a bit..  Yes weekends are the strength like they always have been, they have to carry food and beverage businesses.  Many close now Mondays, some on Tuesdays as well...  It's a tough go for sure.  Prices of food are up there so certainly less people able to go as often.



#8802 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:27 AM

We still go out regularly as before but we almost never go downtown Victoria anymore. Oak Bay, Sidney, Brentwood Bay and a couple of places further out. 

 

Cant even park for free on Sunday anymore and dont want to have to worry about having my car broken into or dealing with Zombies or dealing with bike lanes and all the signs.. Like most things in life it is not just one thing rather the whole package is not appealing. But different strokes for different folks, your idea of vibrant is my idea of crowded really ugly condo towers built with all the charm of East German architecture.

 

I just vote with my dollar and strangely a lot of my neighbours do as well.



#8803 Mike K.

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:27 AM

It’s the expectation of a 20% minimum tip and 25% standard now, that has made going out so much less appetizing.

Not long ago, for $100 you’d go out all night long and forget the night. Now that’s the cost of an entre, an appetizer and two drinks (plus tax, plus tip).

$28 (entre)
$17 (appt)
$15 (cocktail)
$15 (cocktail)
= $85 with tax.

Then an expectation of 20-25% tip on top, $102-$107.

Then add parking, $9 if you’re on-street in central downtown, for two hours. I don’t know the rates in a parkade, and I’m not a fan of parking in them by night.

In think some cocktails are even more expensive than that, depending on where you go, what you want. Admittedly I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but a few years ago it was $14 all day long. I can’t imagine the price has stayed flat.

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#8804 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:30 AM

I imagine they hate me since I do 15% at most and if you give me a machine with no 15% option you will get 10%. 



#8805 lanforod

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:46 AM

What are you talking about re. Sunday parking? It's still free in parkades.



#8806 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:52 AM

Dont want to park in a parkade these days since more than a couple of my neighbours had their cars broken into in parkades. Before you tell me how safe it usually is the fact of the matter is that I dont want to have my linch or dinner disturbed by wondering if my car is okay. Three of my imediate neighbours had their cars broken into, the BandB has had a number of its visitors with cars broken into when they go downtown, She is now recommending restaurants to her guests that are not downtown. 



#8807 Mike K.

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:55 AM

I’ve actually stopped driving into downtown, 9/10. Only if I absolutely have to I’ll drive. Otherwise I leave the car at mum’s and bus in, without worry of what’s happening to the car.

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#8808 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 09:19 AM

That is logical Mike, but since I dont have to go to downtown most of the time I simply drive to Oak Bay or elsewhere for restaurants and evenings out. Each to his own. 



#8809 Lashlarue

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 09:30 AM

We had some family visiting from out of town at the end of summer and spent the afternoon with them downtown. Had zero issues parking in a parkade, took the water taxi around the harbour, got off at fisherman’s wharf, walked back downtown along the water, got ice cream on government street, did some shopping, browsed some kind of pop-up market in market square, had dinner at Cafe Mexico, walked leisurely back down wharf street to see the lights at the inner harbour. No zombies, no issues, was really the perfect downtown Victoria day. Just for some balance here
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#8810 lanforod

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 10:14 AM

We had some family visiting from out of town at the end of summer and spent the afternoon with them downtown. Had zero issues parking in a parkade, took the water taxi around the harbour, got off at fisherman’s wharf, walked back downtown along the water, got ice cream on government street, did some shopping, browsed some kind of pop-up market in market square, had dinner at Cafe Mexico, walked leisurely back down wharf street to see the lights at the inner harbour. No zombies, no issues, was really the perfect downtown Victoria day. Just for some balance here

 

^ this, and the occasional date night for a restaurant downtown, is almost the only reason I go downtown these days. Its not because of parking or the bums on Pandora though, its just because downtown does not have a lot to offer for locals.


Edited by lanforod, 28 October 2024 - 10:15 AM.


#8811 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 11:58 AM

Like I said each to his own, and I agree more often than not everything is fine. I just prefer Oak Bay or Sidney or the Four Mile pub.



#8812 Daveyboy

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:28 PM

I just spent an hour looking at the new draft for the Quadra McKenzie Plan.  Wow, there are some major changes happening and as expected, public input is in a very small window of opportunity.  McKenzie ceases to be a four lane artery and instead becomes a multi-usage capillary.  The total cost of this plan will be astronomical.

 

https://www.saanich....Kenzie Plan.pdf


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#8813 Barrister

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Posted 28 October 2024 - 08:35 PM

Public consultation is just a pretext these days. 



#8814 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 31 October 2024 - 02:05 AM

For much of the 30 years that Phil Nicholls has been operating his high-end running shoe and apparel store in Fairfield Plaza, his storefront has been covered in plywood.

 

If it isn’t thieves smashing his plate-glass windows to steal Nike merchandise, it’s out-of-control cars, either as a result of medical emergencies or the driver hitting the gas instead of the brake in front of his store.

 

“It seems to a lot of people that I like being behind plywood,” Nicholls said Wednesday.

 

But no more, he said.

 

Nicholls has installed bulletproof glass at 2:18 Run in what might seem like a drastic move for a small shop in a quiet suburban shopping centre.

 

But Nicholls said he reached a tipping point this fall.

 

After a smash-and-grab in January, thieves hit the store twice within a few days in September, breaking the glass on either side and making off with merchandise. In one case, a rock was thrown through the glass. In the other, it was likely a hammer that did the damage, he said.

 

He said “thousands of dollars” in merchandise was taken in this year’s break-ins.

 

Last week, Nicholls installed two sheets of Riot Glass at a cost of more than $15,000. He admits it’s a hefty price, but considering what he’s lost, he considers the investment worth it to ward off thieves.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ashings-9736260



#8815 LJ

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Posted 31 October 2024 - 07:49 PM

Those boneheads will take it as a challenge to try and break his new glass.


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Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#8816 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 01 November 2024 - 03:10 AM

This was 2014:

 

 

 

 

Costco staffers in the U.S. start with an hourly wage of US$11.50. An average Costco employee earns US$21 an hour. But all that spending doesn’t negatively impact the company’s profits: Costco share prices soared 38% between 2012 and 2014.

 

 

 

 

https://financialpos...the-market-rate


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 November 2024 - 03:10 AM.


#8817 Mike P.

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Posted 01 November 2024 - 07:20 PM

Limey's on Wharf Street permanently closed, post from their Facebook page:

Sad news:(

It is with deep sadness and great regret that we have to inform you; our loyal customers and friends, that Limey, The British Shop has had to close our doors, with effect immediately. Both Shops and Online are permanently closed 😢

Market forces have made it impossible to continue. Everyone is struggling right now, and we understand, we really do, but we simply haven’t had the sales that get us through. The cost of product is insane (we just got back from the UK and our prices are not dissimilar despite the fact we have to import through countless hands) life over there is expensive beyond imagination too. Shipping is through the roof and every which way we turn we are loaded with new and increasing costs that we can’t (and won’t) pass on.

On top of all this, we have done nothing but struggle to get stock in - Port Strikes, Rail Strikes, Postal Strikes, it’s all killing small business. We had to personally finance Christmas last year, which is supposed to take us through to Easter, and neither sales came remotely close. We’re still paying that off.

We just can’t keep subsidising the business in the hope we will ‘get through’.

We will speak more as and when we can, but please know how much we love you, our Customers, how devastated we are to lose what we have built during some of the hardest times in our lives and how grateful we are for you all and for our amazing Team who have had this news with very little notice.

We will get through this and are so humbled by the incredible comments and support we’ve received thus far. It truly helps.

Please bear with us while we navigate this hard time..

Edited by Mike P., 01 November 2024 - 07:21 PM.


#8818 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 02 November 2024 - 01:57 AM

Limey's on Wharf Street permanently closed, post from their Facebook page:

Sad news:(

It is with deep sadness and great regret that we have to inform you; our loyal customers and friends, that Limey, The British Shop has had to close our doors, with effect immediately. Both Shops and Online are permanently closed

Market forces have made it impossible to continue. Everyone is struggling right now, and we understand, we really do, but we simply haven’t had the sales that get us through. The cost of product is insane (we just got back from the UK and our prices are not dissimilar despite the fact we have to import through countless hands) life over there is expensive beyond imagination too. Shipping is through the roof and every which way we turn we are loaded with new and increasing costs that we can’t (and won’t) pass on.

On top of all this, we have done nothing but struggle to get stock in - Port Strikes, Rail Strikes, Postal Strikes, it’s all killing small business. We had to personally finance Christmas last year, which is supposed to take us through to Easter, and neither sales came remotely close. We’re still paying that off.

We just can’t keep subsidising the business in the hope we will ‘get through’.

We will speak more as and when we can, but please know how much we love you, our Customers, how devastated we are to lose what we have built during some of the hardest times in our lives and how grateful we are for you all and for our amazing Team who have had this news with very little notice.

We will get through this and are so humbled by the incredible comments and support we’ve received thus far. It truly helps.

Please bear with us while we navigate this hard time..

 

 

 

December, 2021:

 

 

 

 

 

A new store, Limey, has just opened across the street from Capital Iron downtown, and it’s full of English food like Marmite, Hobnobs cookies and Yorkshire Tea, and plenty of English candy, including Cadbury Christmas selections.

 

They’re still bringing more stuff in and there’s a blackboard where you can write a product you’d like them to bring over. The board is jam-packed with requests. In my case, Schweppes diet bitter lemon, a drink that still evokes happy memories and puckered lips. You can take the boy out of the country, but not the country out of the boy, as they say.

 

I found it somewhat strange that a store selling exclusively British fare would find a market in Victoria, a city that is becoming more cosmopolitan and less the twee English stereotype with every passing day.

 

 

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...england-923380/


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 November 2024 - 01:58 AM.


#8819 mbjj

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Posted 02 November 2024 - 02:18 PM

That's a shame but it was an awkward location. Any time I tried to visit, I couldn't find a place to park. I think my husband bought some things there last Christmas for our stockings. If that had been in a little mall somewhere with parking, I think it would have done better. I see that Bulk Barn is going to open in that strip mall near where the bank robbery happened on Shelbourne. That is good news for me. 



#8820 Lupurus2901

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Posted 02 November 2024 - 10:44 PM

That's a shame but it was an awkward location. Any time I tried to visit, I couldn't find a place to park. I think my husband bought some things there last Christmas for our stockings. If that had been in a little mall somewhere with parking, I think it would have done better. I see that Bulk Barn is going to open in that strip mall near where the bank robbery happened on Shelbourne. That is good news for me.


It's across the street from one of the biggest surface lots downtown?

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