Archive for the ‘Opinions’ Category

  • All Aboard The Kingfisher Line

    Date: 2013.04.05 | Category: HRM, Opinions | Response: 0

    Wouldn’t this be nice

    The Mighty Kingfisher Line

    Servicing Downtown Halifax to Windsor Junction

    kingfisher

    see it on a map here http://goo.gl/maps/4kD4U
    Carmichael would be part of the Cogswell rebuild and the main downtown station
    Seaport would open towards the Market

    Saint Marys

    Dalhousie

    Mumford would connect with LINK buses heading to Southern Suburbs also a good location for Park and Ride

    The Mount

    Rockingstone various lands around there ideal for Park and Ride

    Larry Uteck

    Mill Cove another opportunity for Park and Ride

    Sunnyside could be integrated with back side of the Mall and further Parkade Built

    Bedford Commons great location for Park and Ride and short Bus Routes to service Sackville

    Windsor Junction another great opportunity for Park and Ride for Fall River, and run airport services from

    for the most part these could be simple platforms and all these stops use the existing rail cut

     

  • What’s in a Window?

    Date: 2013.02.26 | Category: HRM, Opinions | Response: 0

    Sorry haven’t been blogging much lately, just been living 140 characters at a time but …

    Here we go a little look into how I come up with some of my info and what I observe

    Well there is always the easy one when the paper on the window is clear Mills opening in Spring Garden Place

    sgpmills

    Haberneros/Cheese Curds opening on Windmill

     

    habsccc

     

    Then there are times when a store is dark in the day and the sign on the door says they have gone out of business

     

    backyard

    Sometimes a For Lease sign in the window indicates a change and the Halifax Cycle Gallery is looking for new home

    halifax cycle

    In this case the lack of a sign indicates that this space has been leased

     

    mar campus

    As well as the fact the for lease sign is gone from here and there is now construction behind that paper

    blowers

     

    Now that the old Janes location is all brown papered up I’m curious what’s going on there as it was already stripped

    janes

    Then sometimes what I see in windows conflicts with other info. This says that Barnes & Castle is opening soon (like it has for 2 years, but Dartmouth Crossing website no longer references

     

    barnes

     

    Sometimes I see a window and understand what they are going for but the Eastlink Store on SGR look just like an ad now and you can’t really tell its a storefront

     

     

     

     

    eastlinksgr

    and then there are windows that make me not what to frequent an establishment because it’s indicative to attention to detail

    Ginger Gra(ss) hasn’t redone their sign in a few years but have posted other things in the windows during that time & Piatto its almost March 2013 the June 2012 date is well passed

     

    gingergra   piatto2012

  • editorial: Messing with Hal-icons

    Date: 2012.10.11 | Category: Opinions | Response: 0

    With Mills moving out of Mills I wonder about Micco and their messing with local icons.

    First the Chickenburger who has been rapidly expanding in the last year or so, what was once weaved solely with the Bedford fabric, now has locations at the airport, downtown and in Dal.

    Now it is a reality that Mills has been spun off and will be moving into Spring Garden Place. The iconic Mills store will just be a building. I wonder if it will keep it’s remaining Tudor styling.
    What happens to Snow White and the 7 Dwarves? Supposedly there is a tenant already lined up for the existing Mills I suspect it will me a large multinational. Not exactly what that corner has represented for so many years.

    Mickey please stop messing with our icons and go back to taping cellphones to your head.

  • Mic Mac Mall – the mighty are falling

    Date: 2012.07.10 | Category: Dartmouth, Opinions | Response: 2

    Mic Mac Mall once the Atlantic destination has lost some of it’s lustre, it frankly now seems boring and dated but they are trying,

    for example

    Jack Jones is opening their first Atlantic store in Mic Mac and Thyme is opening a shiny new store front, and a mystery construction on the 2nd floor

    There a few new stores that I hadn’t noticed before

    Access (which appears to be a temp Bentley clearance centre) , Stockhomme (another version of International Clothiers), the Mic Mac Lounge which is using empty space, ThinkKitchen which is a rebranded Stokes, and Pandora

    but then there are the empties, including Mic Mac Mall Lounge, and Access which seem temporary, and the GO Cards and Games which always seem temporary and then a slew of other open spots including the Sony Store which is now gone

    and then there is the eventuality that Toys R Us is going to close, not if but when with the new store so close in Dartmouth Crossing

    There are other major tenants that just look like they are waiting for an out

    The Bay looks like a Zellers with lower shelves (but kudos to the Bay for putting the registers back in the departments) and that BMO counter which has looke the same since the 70s

    there are some quirks I enjoyed though


    Senior Parking is a nice touch, better than Hybrid parking IMO
    and proof that Crocs are bad

    When target opens here in 2013 i think it will be a draw, but a draw unto itself and MMM has lost it’s spot as a destination that it once was.

    Update July 16

    I may have spoke too soon, Forever 21 will be opening a large store when Toys R us vacates. This is a huge win for the mall combined with H&M this will be a great draw for out of Townes and locals alike. Now if they can fill those empty first floor spaces things would be great. Maybe down that bottom corner they should try and attract restaurants

  • Crossing a Milestone

    Date: 2012.06.05 | Category: Opinions | Response: 0

    This year is a year of change for me, perhaps a middle age crisis as I just had my 40th birthday in May, however cliché it maybe. I realize the stereotype is to get a younger woman and a fast car but I am simply not that type of guy. I decided instead to focus my internet energy that I have been tolling around on newsgroups and forums and start using my energy for a positive change for my community. I have always been interested in retail and restaurants and anyone who knows me have always been known as the guy with the inside scoop. When people pick up The Coast you always see them going to back first to read Savage Love I was headed to ShopTalk. I also want this city to live up to the potential it can be, we should be both historical and modern, exciting and reliable, we have the advantage of being the greatest city in large chunk of land and there is no reason that we should not be the urban gem of Eastern Canada.

    So I decided that it was time to blog, and in turn the micro blogging of Twitter. Now I have no great political aspirations but I know a lively downtown and the businesses scattered throughout the Municipality are a reflection of what we are as a community, so I enjoy sharing what is going on. Big Box stores are unfortunately a realism of our society so I report on them, but I love the unique so that is what I like to express. Even in the mess of Bayers Lake there are independents like Dhaba Express. So I tweet what is opening and what is closing, I blog about my opinions and archives of business gone past, those who are doing things well and not shying away from those who are not.

    The response so far to my idea has been way higher than I had hoped for, when I posted my first tweet in February I was hoping for modest results by the end of the year, a success to me would have been 200 followers and 250 unique hits on the blog, but it isn’t even July yet and I am approaching 500 followers and 1000 unique hits a month. I am so pleased that people are interested in what I have to say and wonder why I haven’t done this sooner. There are folks that have helped @haligonia who very early on got what I was doing and added me to their site http://live.haligonia.ca/, @ILoveLocalHFX who also was on board with the idea and I felt comfortable taking my idea of a Local Tourist event to Gordon Stevens, and Gordon took my idea combined it with some he already had and  in 8 short weeks, Gord turned it into the new Halifax tradition of OpenCity which is already transforming into this falls CityHarvest. Krista Spurr @krisp131 and I share similar passions for the local and travel and I have guessed blogged over @ http://bitesizedtravel.wordpress.com/ @bitesizedtravel and @HalifaxTweeters  who spread my word. Also thanks to every one of my followers who interact and contribute, and those of you who just like to watch.

    I will continue on this path and for the upcoming municipal election I will have my sister identity http://ArtCanning.ca @ArtCanning where hopefully I can get people engaged in voting to help facilitate what we need our leaders to do to help further my simple vision of HRM greatness.

    I have no more set milestones, I will continue doing what I do and I trust it will just grow on it’s own.

    Yours Appreciatively
    Arthur Gaudreau

     

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