259 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Nanaimo also smells even the mills are going. No matter how nice of a home you have between Duncan and Qualicum, if the winds are just right, you’ll know why Victoria real-estate is so expensive.

[AllseeingEye]

That was never my experience no matter what time of year it was when I was there, other than the Harmac pulp mill back in the old days, pre-scrubbers and pre facility upgrades, which virtually every mill on the mid island has today. I remember the smell of Harmac very well - in the 1960's and 70's when I was a kid.

 

Probably on the south side of the city the mill still produces outgassing as a result of its present day operations, but sitting on my deck on the north side back then, or sitting in the back yard of friends living on the Hammond Bay waterfront today, this is a complete non-issue. Only thing to do there is admire the view of the Georgia Strait, the orcas playing literally in the back yard, and sip your mint julip.... 

 

I'm fairly certain pretty well every poster on VV knows IKEA has made it clear time and again it will not come to any metro area with less than a million people. So unless they change that corporate policy Victoria, Nanaimo and the Island generally might as well resign themselves to making the trek to Richmond. Or Coquitlam.

[Redd42]

Two comments on this thread.

 

Last fall had a getaway at a huge Airbnb house in Nanaimo.

 

Was shocked how dead downtown Nanaimo was. It was depressing. Actually ended up having lunch in downtown Duncan on the way home because it is more attractive. 

 

And I don't get this obsession with IKEA. How many times does an adult need to buy cookware, a couch? And last time I was at the IKEA in Richmond, I pulled on a door of some piece of furniture, and it fell off. The quality seems to have really declined.

[Victoria Watcher]

nanaimo is like city of industry in LA. it should be there but nobody should live there.

https://en.m.wikiped...try,_California

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2020 - 04:17 AM.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, much of LA’s Inland Empire fits that description. Crazy stuff.

[Mike K.]

That was never my experience no matter what time of year it was when I was there, other than the Harmac pulp mill back in the old days, pre-scrubbers and pre facility upgrades, which virtually every mill on the mid island has today. I remember the smell of Harmac very well - in the 1960's and 70's when I was a kid.

Probably on the south side of the city the mill still produces outgassing as a result of its present day operations, but sitting on my deck on the north side back then, or sitting in the back yard of friends living on the Hammond Bay waterfront today, this is a complete non-issue. Only thing to do there is admire the view of the Georgia Strait, the orcas playing literally in the back yard, and sip your mint julip....

Some people are more sensitive than others to the Eau de Nanaimo. A young buck ASE would have been preoccupied with much more than Nanaimo’s, well, essence.

I was up there last month and it smelled like a bad salmon run. Had to ask someone what was going on, and he said it was the wood operation just south of downtown. Another person said the mill a Duke Point/Harmac was making cash. So you get to take your pick, I guess.

Here’s a guy who got awoken by a stench at 6AM, lol. https://www.reddit.c...mments_view_all

And to add to it all, when the Crofton mill really gets going that adds it’s own touch to Nanaimo and points well north of there.

[AllseeingEye]

Two comments on this thread.

 

Last fall had a getaway at a huge Airbnb house in Nanaimo.

 

Was shocked how dead downtown Nanaimo was. It was depressing. Actually ended up having lunch in downtown Duncan on the way home because it is more attractive. 

 

And I don't get this obsession with IKEA. How many times does an adult need to buy cookware, a couch? And last time I was at the IKEA in Richmond, I pulled on a door of some piece of furniture, and it fell off. The quality seems to have really declined.

 

Agree about IKEA. I lived in Vancouver twice from 1987-91 and again from 1997-2000. I went a grand total of twice, to Richmond.

 

First it was a gong show both times. Second the quality was, um, average to OK at best. It was fine the first time for basic kitchen utensils etc for a couple of young bucks living together both attending UBC at the time. But I would certainly never buy major furnishings due to the quality in addition to the hassle of having to put it all together yourself. On occasion the item would sometimes actually fit together as advertised but most of their stuff is hardly of the highest quality.

 

That said as someone noted above there is the option - and this happens a lot - where people usually through social media order items that someone heading over there, agrees to p/u on their behalf and haul back to Victoria. They agree on a price which includes a little extra so the cost of gas and the ferries are essentially covered for the person doing the hauling. My wife and daughter did exactly that in August and our truck was jammed to capacity with items other people had requested.

 

There were close to 50 items and packages all told and I was frankly surprised they all fit in the back seating area and truck bed. So clearly there are lots of island folks all in on the 'IKEA express'. In this instance people from James By to Royal Oak to Langford all eventually came by our place to pick up their stuff. 

[Victoria Watcher]

yes it's not super high quality.  but if you don't knock it all around it'll be OK.  (which is harder with say chairs than a bookshelf or lamp).

 

esp. a chair that ase sits in.     

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2020 - 08:52 AM.

[AllseeingEye]

yes it's not super high quality.  but if you don't knock it all around it'll be OK.  (which is harder with say chairs than a bookshelf or lamp).

 

esp. a chair that ase sits in.     

 

Niiiice: you hang around with my fishing buddies by any chance? I do have a 'reputation' for destroying camping chairs, and not necessarily just my own....

[johnk2]

Back then the population would have been around 200k, pretty small even with Moncton etc within a day’s drive.

On the Island the logical placement would be Nanaimo.

The metro, yes. But except for Cape Breton just about all of Nova Scotia is within a few hours drive of Hfx and the provincial population at that time was about 800K.

Edited by johnk2, 14 November 2020 - 09:46 AM.

[Barrrister]

Try "Used Victoria", I got some great solid oak dressers and vanities for next to nothing. The oak furniture will not last forever but it is good for another two or three hundred years.

[AllseeingEye]

The metro, yes. But except for Cape Breton just about all of Nova Scotia is within a few hours drive of Hfx and the provincial population at that time was about 800K.

 

Totally concur; while Victoria is separated from the rest of BC on an island Halifax, unlike here, is truly a regional hub for a broader population more likely to head to it as its the only real game in town. Lots of people on the mid-island here will opt instead to hit up Vancouver rather than come down to Victoria for example.

 

My cousins live on the "other" side of the province from Halifax but driving an excellent 4 and sometimes 5-lane highway, unlike the goat trail that is the PBH (it also doesn't have four way light controlled intersections every 2 klms as we do here!), they can get there in about 40 minutes or less, making a trip to IKEA very feasible for those non-Haligonians who are so inclined. You also won't find any slo-poke 80kph speed restrictions on the "102" like you do on the PBH. Its 100-110kph all the way.

 

In 2020 according to the NS government, Halifax has 440,000K people meaning its about 46% of the total for the province; another 110,000 people in Cape Breton are 3.5 hours away (equivalent to driving from Campbell River to Victoria). My family in the western region (Annapolis Valley) constitute yet another 130,000 potential IKEA customers who as mentioned are less than 45 minutes away by first class highway. Lastly the counties to the south comprise another 120,000 or so people mostly within a 2 hour drive of metro.

 

Finally you need to factor in the cost of (IKEA) doing business there as opposed to here - the average F/T retail salary paid to workers and management, is significantly less in Halifax than it is in BC/Victoria, again per the government of NS stats, by up to 35% or more depending on the job function. 

[Mike K.]

The metro, yes. But except for Cape Breton just about all of Nova Scotia is within a few hours drive of Hfx and the provincial population at that time was about 800K.

What’s crazy is 50 years later the population still hasn’t cracked 1M.

[North Shore]

yes it's not super high quality.  but if you don't knock it all around it'll be OK.  (which is harder with say chairs than a bookshelf or lamp).

 

esp. a chair that ase sits in.     

POANG: best single piece of furniture that Ikea ever made.  Back in the days when I was working at an airtanker base (lots of guys hanging around all day for 6 months...chairs get *a lot* of use) we used to buy new La-Z-Boy recliners every few years 'cos they would fall apart.  I Always thought that we should try a couple of Poangs, and see how they stood up. https://www.ikea.com...blue-s89306568/

[Mike K.]

Those are slick! Wow.

[lanforod]

Poangs are very good yeah. I have several Ikea pieces that are now 11 years old. It’s fine, no issues, other than one that got destroyed in a move. Couches are still great and get used daily.

[Brantastic]

It's called The Hub City because it's the fulfillment and industrial centre of the Island, and that's why Duke Point was built, to handle almost exclusively freight traffic to the Island.

 

The big big box stores tend open there first, or just there, like Cabela's most recently, Costco back in the 90s when they first came to the Island, then SuperStore, Jysk, etc.

As a former Port Alberni resident (21 years), I know this well. I'm just saying that the population of Nanaimo is tiny relative to any other city in Canada with an IKEA. 

[Redd42]

I Always thought that we should try a couple of Poangs, and see how they stood up. https://www.ikea.com...blue-s89306568/

 

I do get this one. I have one of those chairs that someone else left behind in a house I rented in the early 90s. 

[Mike K.]

As a former Port Alberni resident (21 years), I know this well. I'm just saying that the population of Nanaimo is tiny relative to any other city in Canada with an IKEA.

The big box chains don’t view the population of the actual location as important, but the population catchment area. You’ll find most big box stores are not located within the “city-proper” of a metro, but in a suburb. Nanaimo, within 1.5 hours of driving (big box catchment) is within reach of 750,000 people. Victoria would be closer to 600,000.

[johnk2]

What’s crazy is 50 years later the population still hasn’t cracked 1M.

I think it may be growing now as younger people bail from high-priced cities in search of a better quality of life. You may be in a $100,000 BMW but you're stuck in the same traffic as the guy in the rusty Pinto!

I lived there 1975-84 and there was not a lot of in-migration from the RoC. Offshore immigrants tended to head for Toronto, or Vancouver if coming from Asia. Many newcomers left after a year or two because aside from gov't jobs there was not a lot of economic opportunity, I recall that one year something like 50% of Nova Scotia's operating budget derived from fed programs one way or another. I left in 1984 feeling Atlantic Canada was somewhat stagnant. Overall, Atlantic Canada has a population that is aging more rapidly than pretty well every other province.