{"id":1927,"date":"2007-05-26T13:02:07","date_gmt":"2007-05-26T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:46:03","slug":"little-box-in-the-big-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Little box in the big city"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG\" \/><br \/>\nCross-posted from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeweekly.com\/daily\/?p=412\">Eye Daily. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>In an effort to break into the urban market, big-box stores are learning to adapt to the big city, a trend that has yet to make it&#8217;s way to Toronto, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/article\/216684\">reports the Toronto Star in its Condo Living section.<\/a> In Vancouver, for example, a new Costco store recently opened under Concord Pacific Place, a new residential condo in the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Installing a resized, redesigned version of their stores in the base of a condominium building gives the retailers an affordable, acceptable entry into urban markets while allowing city dweller access to big-box prices,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d writes Paul Marshman, the author of the article.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, planners here and elsewhere are hot on the idea. You get multiple uses on one piece of property, increased density, plus convenient, one-stop shopping at low, low, prices without having to make a trip to the suburbs (mega parking lots not included.) But just because a development is dense, doesn&#8217;t automatically mean that it&#8217;s good. Developers, and even many councillors and planners, have been using the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153density\u00e2\u20ac\u009d lately to win over the public to new developments. But beware the buzz-word &#8212; there&#8217;s much more to good development than density.<\/p>\n<p>You may be able to forgo the car and walk to big-box stores built downtown (which, I agree is a good thing), but that doesn&#8217;t mean that these kind of stores won&#8217;t cause the same harm that they have elsewhere. With all the talk of attracting jobs to the city, is the kind of low-wage employment that large-scale retail tends to provide what we want? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/councillors\/fletcher1.htm\">Councillor Paula Fletcher<\/a>, who&#8217;s currently faced with the prospect of not being able to do anything to stop a traditional, suburban style power centre from being built in her ward, was planting the seeds of her malcontent in council this week by speaking repeatedly of value-added jobs.<\/p>\n<p>And just because a Wal-Mart, for example, is located downtown doesn&#8217;t mean that it&#8217;s not going to wipe out other small, locally-owned businesses, or stop having its cheap products shipped from factories with questionable working conditions half way around the world.<\/p>\n<p>All this talk of big-box stores on downtown streets is reminiscent of debate last summer and fall of a Home Depot possibly setting up base in the heart of the Queen Street West shopping district (now Adam Vaughan&#8217;s ward). Marshman talks to the vice-president of development for RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, the company rumored to bring a Home Depot in. No contracts have been signed, he says, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153RioCan would consider including \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcan urban prototype&#8217; of a big-box retailer if it fit the Queen St. neighbourhood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshman writes. Meanwhile, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[Wal-Mart] spokesman Kevin Groh says the big-box giant is still working on a urban store prototype, but a push into cities is part of Wal-Mart&#8217;s overall plan.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo of apartments atop a Best Buy outlet in Chicago by Peter Wynn Thompson Photo from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/article\/216684\">the Toronto Star. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeweekly.com\/daily\/?p=412\"><strong>Click here to leave a comment. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cross-posted from Eye Daily. In an effort to break into the urban market, big-box stores are learning to adapt to the big city, a trend that has yet to make it&#8217;s way to Toronto, reports the Toronto Star in its Condo Living section. In Vancouver, for example, a new Costco store recently opened under Concord<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Little box in the big city&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4003,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,2,32,20,6],"tags":[1050,379,5795,2541,5801,431,5799,408,23,3200,5797,3634,5796,656,5798,12,316,5800,936,339,19,341,54,5794,793],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-space","category-politics","category-streetscape","category-urban-design","category-walking","tag-adam-vaughan","tag-author","tag-author-of-the-article","tag-best-buy","tag-big-box-giant","tag-chicago","tag-costco","tag-councillor","tag-environment","tag-home-depot","tag-kevin-groh","tag-large-scale-retail","tag-paul-marshman","tag-paula-fletcher","tag-peter-wynn-thompson-photo","tag-planning","tag-queen","tag-riocan-real-estate-investment-trust","tag-spokesman","tag-the-toronto-star","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-vancouver","tag-vice-president-of-development","tag-wal-mart"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cross-posted from Eye Daily. In an effort to break into the urban market, big-box stores are learning to adapt to the big city, a trend that has yet to make it&#8217;s way to Toronto, reports the Toronto Star in its Condo Living section. In Vancouver, for example, a new Costco store recently opened under ConcordContinue reading &quot;Little box in the big city&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-05-26T17:02:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:46:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dale Duncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dale Duncan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\",\"name\":\"Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-05-26T17:02:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:46:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/0b7aac892ac8cfff42d1afc439a45786\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Little box in the big city\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/0b7aac892ac8cfff42d1afc439a45786\",\"name\":\"Dale Duncan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a661d41f6f8bddb7086be206cb78fc7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a661d41f6f8bddb7086be206cb78fc7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dale Duncan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/dale-duncan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Cross-posted from Eye Daily. In an effort to break into the urban market, big-box stores are learning to adapt to the big city, a trend that has yet to make it&#8217;s way to Toronto, reports the Toronto Star in its Condo Living section. In Vancouver, for example, a new Costco store recently opened under ConcordContinue reading \"Little box in the big city\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2007-05-26T17:02:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T19:46:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dale Duncan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dale Duncan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/","name":"Little box in the big city - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG","datePublished":"2007-05-26T17:02:07+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T19:46:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/0b7aac892ac8cfff42d1afc439a45786"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/images\/assets\/229848_3.JPG"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/26\/little-box-in-the-big-city\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Little box in the big city"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/0b7aac892ac8cfff42d1afc439a45786","name":"Dale Duncan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a661d41f6f8bddb7086be206cb78fc7?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6a661d41f6f8bddb7086be206cb78fc7?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Dale Duncan"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/dale-duncan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4003"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38847,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions\/38847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}