24-hour Canada

[kool maudit]

Here in Denmark there is precious little 24-hour commercial activity outside of some businesses around Copenhagen Central Station (and old man bars).

I don't really mind it. It makes shopping hours, for customers and workers alike, a shared space. A time for all things under the sun and all that.

There are certainly individual cases that are ill-served by such an approach, and I have been among those, but societies choose their shapes and forms and outliers will exist.

[SignalHillHiker]

It all depends on your circumstances. When I visit St-Pierre, their keeping of French hours is part of the charm - bakeries being the first thing to open very early in the morning, everything - even restaurants - closed for hours at lunch, etc.

But when I'm sitting on the balcony of my hotel room trying to get Grindr to work on a French cell network and I just want a tin of Diet Pepsi and nothing re-opens until 2 p.m., then it's less charming.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Damn it, I called the Kelsey one - she thinks it was open 24 hours years ago, but hasn't been for years, and she thinks they still do 24 hours around Christmas. So scratch that, no 24-hour Walmarts in St. John's.

Yeah it's an Xmas thing now. Wal-Mart's were open 24 hours for a short while here, however there was excessive loss of stock....if you know what I mean.

For other things that are open 24 hours here....Denny's, Ropewalk Sobeys, and possibly Blackmarsh Dominion.

[vid]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

a tin of Diet Pepsi

A what?

[kool maudit]

Is a can for real a tin even if its Pepsi? Like, it is for soup but Pepsi seems different.

[SignalHillHiker]

Sorry, didn't mean to do that. Either or. Tin pop (no "of"), can of soda, whichever. Doesn't matter.

[softee]

In Toronto other than the usual convenience stores and Tim Horton's, there a bunch of 24 hour restaurants/diners scattered around the downtown area with more than a few clustered in Chinatown. There are also a bunch of Shoppers and Rabba (small grocery store) stores open 24 hours. Many of the big grocery stores that used to be 24 hours seem to have stopped that practice.

The TTC runs many 24 hour bus and streetcar routes.

[trebor204]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I’ve checked the Walmart website for opening hours and it appears that none are open 24 hours in the entire country. Perhaps the one mentioned in St.John’s and Winnipeg are but it doesn’t seem to be official.

Meanwhile in the US it hard to find one that is not 24 hours. Just around Cornwall there are three 24 hours Walmart within a 45 min drive in Malone, Massena and Potsdam.

Winnipeg North is open 24 hours during the week, however because of Sunday shopping rules it can't be open 24/7

North Dakota is the only state that has limited Sunday shopping for the entire state, and stores can only open at 12pm.


https://www.walmart.ca/en/winnipeg-n...percentre/3118

[Taeolas]

As mentioned, Freddy has a 24H Sobeys.

Many of the Irvings are 24H, as are both McDs (though the one on Northside closes their lobby after 11PM)

About half of the Tims are 24H, though some close their lobbies.

The Esso station on Prospect is also 24H I believe.

And Freddy's most famous 24H place is the Diplomat Restaurant on Woodstock road. It's the most common post-Bar closing stopping spot in the city, especially during the summer when Festival season is in full swing.

Beyond all that, there are the truckstops on the TCH. Acorn PetroCanada near Kings Landing, and Blue Canoe between Freddy and Oromocto.

ALC (I think) limits when the VLT dens can be open; St Mary's Entertainment Center closes at 2AM. Hell even down in Moncton, the Casino only goes 24H in the summer (and on weekends). They are open 7AM to 3AM during weeknights. (Table games even more limited).

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by le calmar

You are right about the Metro, I didn’t know about the Loblaws on Rideau but given the location that would make sense. I just checked and it turns out the Loblaws in South Keys is also 24 hours. So that makes at least 4.

The Independent at Bank/Somerset isn't 24HR and it annoys me a bit...would be nice to have a 24HR one that isn't in Byward or South Keys. At least with the new owners the hours have been lengthened from 10PM to 11PM.

I guess we'll need a few more condo towers to go up before it makes sense to be open 24HR.

[dennis]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I’ve checked the Walmart website for opening hours and it appears that none are open 24 hours in the entire country. Perhaps the one mentioned in St.John’s and Winnipeg are but it doesn’t seem to be official.

Meanwhile in the US it hard to find one that is not 24 hours. Just around Cornwall there are three 24 hours Walmart within a 45 min drive in Malone, Massena and Potsdam.

On the google search for north Winnipeg Walmart, the hours of operation show up as 24h everyday except Sunday. My wife works at Seven Oaks hospital just across the street and goes there to pick up the odd thing from time to time even during night shifts.
https://www.walmart.ca/en/winnipeg-n...percentre/3118

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by softee

There are also a bunch of Shoppers and Rabba (small grocery store) stores open 24 hours. Many of the big grocery stores that used to be 24 hours seem to have stopped that practice.

Within a 20-minute walk of my house in Halifax's North End, there are two full-sized 24-hour grocery stores. There's another downtown, and another in an inner-suburban area nearby, so within a 15-minute drive (at least in no-traffic middle of the night) there are at least four full grocery stores open 24 hours, plus a plethora of convenience stores. I find it hard to imagine there are enough dead-of-night shoppers to keep these all in business.

There's also the usual assortment of fast-food franchises and gyms and a few independent restaurants/diners that are open 24 hours or nearly so (like they close at 5 am and open at 7).

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by esquire

That changed a couple of years ago, things open earlier on Sundays now, often around 9 for things like supermarkets.

But yeah, Winnipeg is not really a big 24 hour city. We have a fairly minimal lineup of 24 hour restaurants, drug stores, gas stations and such. Beyond Tim's, McDonald's and Perkins type places, I'm not sure what else is even open 24 hours.

The Walmart on Mcphillips Is also 24 hours. They said it was since they are stocking shelves and staffed anyway. That it would be prudent to be open.

[Pinus]

Apart from essential services, why does anything NEED to be open 24/7?

[Acajack]

Quebec seems to have more restrictive store hours than much of the rest of the country. I believe the provincial government has oversight here and municipalities have less leeway and need to ask permission.

Even on Ste-Catherine in Montreal until very recently almost all of the malls and stores would close at 5 pm on Saturday even when there were still lots of people milling around. I believe this has been relaxed a bit in recent years but still - not much is open after 6 pm and even less is open until 7.

And most of the major regional malls in the province of Quebec are closed Saturday nights as well, and also aren't open until 9 on weeknights except Thursday and Friday. Sometimes Wednesday too.

Contrast this with Ottawa where the Rideau Centre and other malls are generally open 9 to 9 six days a week at least.

Also I believe there may be only one or two 24-hour pharmacies in the entire Montreal area.

Gatineau has 275,000 people and there is no pharmacy open past 10 pm in the entire city. (Ottawa has a number of them.)

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by dennis

On the google search for north Winnipeg Walmart, the hours of operation show up as 24h everyday except Sunday. My wife works at Seven Oaks hospital just across the street and goes there to pick up the odd thing from time to time even during night shifts.
https://www.walmart.ca/en/winnipeg-n...percentre/3118

I see it is shown as 24 hrs, I missed it apparently. That would effectively be the only one in the country (along with the other one on McPhillips if it is 24 hrs)

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Quebec seems to have more restrictive store hours than much of the rest of the country. I believe the provincial government has oversight here and municipalities have less leeway and need to ask permission.

Even on Ste-Catherine in Montreal until very recently almost all of the malls and stores would close at 5 pm on Saturday even when there were still lots of people milling around. I believe this has been relaxed a bit in recent years but still - not much is open after 6 pm and even less is open until 7.

And most of the major regional malls in the province of Quebec are closed Saturday nights as well, and also aren't open until 9 on weeknights except Thursday and Friday. Sometimes Wednesday too.

Contrast this with Ottawa where the Rideau Centre and other malls are generally open 9 to 9 six days a week at least.

Also I believe there may be only one or two 24-hour pharmacies in the entire Montreal area.

Gatineau has 275,000 people and there is no pharmacy open past 10 pm in the entire city. (Ottawa has a number of them.)

That's true there is not much in terms of 24 hrs businesses in Montreal. However the handful of grocery stores and pharmacies open 24 hours (some of which are outside the downtown core) show that it is possible to do so, but for some reason they are extremely limited in number. Ottawa has more 24 hrs pharmacies and grocery stores.

[DizzyEdge]

In Calgary there's McDs, A&W, a truck stop (maybe 2?), various gas stations, and a number of Shoppers Drug Marts and I believe one grocery store (Sobeys). About a decade or a bit more some of the Walmarts were 24 hrs, and perhaps more grocers. Then the oil prices went through the roof and the unemployment rate went to a historic low and I heard it was hard to hire people for those shifts. That of course has dramatically changed but the shifts didn't come back regardless.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

In Calgary there's McDs, A&W, a truck stop (maybe 2?), various gas stations, and a number of Shoppers Drug Marts and I believe one grocery store (Sobeys). About a decade or a bit more some of the Walmarts were 24 hrs, and perhaps more grocers. Then the oil prices went through the roof and the unemployment rate went to a historic low and I heard it was hard to hire people for those shifts. That of course has dramatically changed but the shifts didn't come back regardless.

It's the same here in Timmins, ON. We had a lot more 24 hour businesses until the price of gold skyrocketed just over a decade ago. Now restaurants and stores have a hard time finding employees.

Our A&W closes at 9pm! We don't even have a 24 hour Subway anymore.

I thought that all of our Tim Hortons were 24 hours but according to the website some locations here aren't anymore. I did know that the one in my neighbourhood couldn't find enough people to work at night.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Pinus

Apart from essential services, why does anything NEED to be open 24/7?

Because we're increasingly a 24/7 society and for some people, traditional 9 to 5 hours don't work. I work 9 to 5 and I can't shop at most local businesses in my city unless I take time off work because they're only ever open 9 to 5.

24/7 operations aren't limited to hospitals, the paper mill and Bombardier plant here are 24/7 operations because shutting down assembly lines of that size is a multi-week operation. When a mill shuts down for a 3 week break, it involves half a dozen contractors and over 100 people to facilitate it.