[Urbanarchit]

I live in Hintonburg and ever since I was little I remember visiting the corner store on Gladstone and Fairmont, and petting the owners' Shih Tzu, Oreo. Every so often I would go in and buy bus tickets and then catch the #14 downtown. Now, however, that's not quite possible, as the previous owners sold the property to another person to run it as a corner store/ dry-cleaners, and they don't sell bus tickets anymore.

Looking at the site, it has a wrap around parking lot, where in the back they park a VirtuCar for locals. The store seems to slowly become less and less successful, and it would not surprise me if one day soon it, like the corner store that used to sit at Sherbrooke and Gladstone (but closed down, oh, 10 years ago), will close.

I think we should be more open to having more stores scattered throughout the residential areas, and have more commercial strips. Wellington Street is decent, but it would be great for Scott and Armstrong, among a few others in the area to be more diversified.

Not just anything could or should be OK, Chernushenko said. Most small merchants, from barbershops to florists to groceterias are fine. “Pubs on certain corners, and the people coming home late at night from them, is another story,” he said.

Um... little neighbourhood pubs on corners isn't okay because he thinks they are guaranteed to cause noisy, damaging people walking around the "quiet residential streets"? That those pubs on commercial strips don't cause similar problems? I don't know if I agree with this, especially if this excluded restaurants.

One of the things I loved about living in Montreal was how restaurants, pubs, clothing stores and more were not just on main commercial strips, but also off them and in more residential areas. How these probably were cornerstores that then were given more uses.


This street off of St-Laurent


ToucheH by Shel DeF on Flickr

This little corner restaurant in Westmount


by Shel DeF on Flickr

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Velo by Shel DeF on Flickr

Google Maps


Restaurant by Shel DeF on Flickr

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