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Originally Posted by cutchemist42
Over on r/reddit some are think AA is close to closing? Also didnt know until seeing that thread that Black Rabbit closed already?
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Back in early October, Black Rabbit closed until the 21st. The 21st came and went, the place remained closed, and eventually the signs came down from the windows. I'd heard they were having problems for a while so it's not a huge surprise. It is a shame, though. Their quality had dropped off recently but they were, for a while, one of my favorite restaurants.
As for overall OV retail vacancies, I want to take up that discussion in this thread. Esquire wondered whether OV was becoming a victim of a healthier Exchange district. That could be true--Tiny Feast has filled most of the void left by Desart, for example. And clothing chains looking to open on the city (as opposed to in a mall or the suburbs) seem far more interested in the Exchange than OV. Were AA to open in Winnipeg today, I'd bet on them opening in the Exchange over Osborne. Kit and Ace, a chain that insists on opening downtown locations, is a prime example of what the Exchange can and will draw.
That said, I'm not sure we couldn't have strong Exchange district and OV retail, even in a similar market. For example, the AA building, with its multiple vacant floors, is exactly the kind of building where you would find a Zara or Topshop in another city. The trouble is that Osborne Village doesn't have the sustained retail density to draw more retailers. We've all wrung our hands enough over how Osborne Village is basically a block long. Its dumpy hinterland south of Stradbrook is not going to draw any retail chains. And like I've mentioned before, the setback rules on Osborne make building anything new borderline impossible.
Osborne has been increasing its population density and wealth recently, which should be granting it the means to support more retail options even as other people choose to visit the exchange instead. But, ironically, without several more spaces like Desart and AA over the length of Osborne, it doesn't have the space to become a good retail draw. Also ironically, the wealthier demographic of the neighborhood is unlikely to support the return of anything like Collective Cabaret/die Maschine.