{"id":4355,"date":"2011-03-21T20:26:05","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T03:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2011-03-29T17:32:20","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T00:32:20","slug":"dying-downtown-victoria-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/2011\/03\/21\/dying-downtown-victoria-bc\/","title":{"rendered":"Dying Downtown Victoria BC"},"content":{"rendered":"

If downtown Victoria BC storefronts were teeth, this city would need a new bridge.<\/p>\n

…Oh, wait. That’s a bad joke (see posts tagged with Johnson Street Bridge<\/a>)… We are<\/em> getting a new bridge. But as the following photos will show, what we really need is economic revitalization.<\/p>\n

This afternoon, I was walking down Fort Street to Monk’s at Fort and Blanshard. I passed one empty storefront after another – just on one<\/em> side of the street, just on one<\/em> street, just on three-and-a-half blocks.<\/p>\n

This is what many parts of downtown Victoria look like.<\/p>\n

We start at Fort and Cook Streets<\/a>, the northeast corner, before we head east on Fort St. (we’re traveling on the north side of the street).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We see 1090 Fort St, and there isn’t just one empty storefront, but two.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This is Kona Coffee Shop - or rather: was. Now gone. <\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up, same building:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This used to be a hair salon. Even a hair salon can't survive here?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next up, in a small, low building a few doors down:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charles Baird Antiques - closed<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next one’s demise (just a few doors down) was new-to-me:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Plenty Epicurean Pantry will be closing next. \ud83d\ude41<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nearly next-door to Plenty (ironic name) is the Korean specialty clothing boutique that closed earlier this year. The sign claims that someone new is taking over, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Right now, the place is empty and bereft:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Specialty knits boutique - closed earlier this year. <\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ok, we’re still in the same block (1000s), and here’s another place that has been sitting empty for months and months:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This used to be a niche home decor store. Has been empty for months. No new takers.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ok, we now come to the 800 block of Fort St. (The 900 block on the north side of Fort is mostly surface parking lots – next to Lund’s – and a grassy trash-lot in front of View Towers. So, there are only a few stores in that block anyway…)<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Seeing that this one is closing was a shocker: it's a Korean grocer, next to a French butcher. Why is it closing?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A couple of doors down, there’s the carpet place, which recently started claiming that it was closing. Probably just a ploy, but I thought I’d include this to replace Marvan (in the 1100 block of Fort, on the south side), which is<\/strong><\/em> closing, sadly:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I'm guessing this store isn't really closing. It's just a cheap ploy to convince rubes there are deals to be had.<\/p><\/div>\n

The alleged going-out-of-business carpet store did take over (in a most unattractive manner) an empty storefront next door – yes, another one, and it has been empty for …what?, years now?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The ex-Miroirs home furnishings store, an empty storefront for months upon months, currently being used by the carpet store two doors up (the carpet store that's claiming to go out of business, too)...<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now we’re in the 700 block of Fort. I can’t even remember what this store used to be – but it’s empty, and will probably stay that way for ages…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Empty storefront in 700 block of Fort St.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And next door to the above, the former Cairo Coffee Merchants, defunct:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cairo Coffee Merchants, closed, empty, ...for how long?<\/p><\/div>\n

Ok, that was depressing.<\/p>\n

It never fails to amaze me that Victoria is full of attractive neighborhoods, bounded by gorgeous scenery that’s unparalleled.<\/p>\n

But go downtown, and you have to wonder why Victorians hate their city so much that they let it die.<\/p>\n

Note: this post is the first of a series of three – it just kind of happened that way. Part 2 is here<\/a> and part 3 is here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If downtown Victoria BC storefronts were teeth, this city would need a new bridge. …Oh, wait. That’s a bad joke (see posts tagged with Johnson Street Bridge)… We are getting a new bridge. But as the following photos will show, what we really need is economic revitalization. This afternoon, I was walking down Fort Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1061,99,31150,6171,2233,880,1418],"tags":[397],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-business","category-dying_downtown","category-johnson-street-bridge","category-land_use","category-scenes_victoria","category-victoria","tag-economy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4395,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}