Ella

[Grandan]

I used to live near Ethyl on Hwy 97 when I first moved here in 1980. There were not a lot of grocery stores in the downtown area and I don't recall many more being added since. So I want to know I where all the new people shop for groceries in the downtown area? Do they get in their cars and drive out to the Superstore, Save On etc. or do they walk to a corner market and pick stuff up? This from the Mayor and Developer:
https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#220422

The mayor says developments like this in the downtown area and similar ones in other designated town centres are key to Kelowna's continued growth up, and not out.

"We know if we continue to sprawl in the community it's going to be very expensive to run infrastructure, to run services out there, to police, fire department, parks, amenities.

"So, the further we sprawl the more expensive it gets as a ratepayer in the community. We want to make sure we grow smartly and in areas where we already have amenities to limit the cost."

Turri adds money the city has invested in infrastructure such as Bernard Avenue revitalization, Stuart Park and the yacht club helped spark projects such as this, and more are coming down the pipe.

"We really feel that public investment led to private investment which is now coming to fruition with projects like Ella which is something that, quite frankly, wouldn't be something we would have entertained 10 years ago," said Turri.

To me it seems to be defeating the purpose of living downtown if in fact one has drive away from downtown to shop for basics like grub.

[Queen K]

We walk to Nestors as a stop gap, milk, bread, not much else unless desparate. I wonder if Ella residents would walk to Safeway in the same way? I know Canadians are sort of stuck on "the big shop", drop a lot of money and don't have to go back for the big items all at once for a while. I know I am.

Will Ella residents have a lot of storage space though? Think about it, no storage space equals smaller trips, walkable when you're not trying to bring so much home.

[Grandan]

We walk to Nestors as a stop gap, milk, bread, not much else unless desparate. I wonder if Ella residents would walk to Safeway in the same way? I know Canadians are sort of stuck on "the big shop", drop a lot of money and don't have to go back for the big items all at once for a while. I know I am.

Will Ella residents have a lot of storage space though? Think about it, no storage space equals smaller trips, walkable when you're not trying to bring so much home.

I'm sure you are correct on food storage. We try to do weekly Costco runs to cut down on our time on the road.
It kind of blows me away that such facilities as the Yacht Club would be a driver of that development.
I visited some family in Port Moody where they were living while on assignment and the tower they lived in was connected by an underground garage where they could walk to the store across the street to shop for food. They also had a compost chute for food waste so they did not have to put it in the garbage.
It had super high security to get into the building as well.

[GordonH]

I suspect if a major grocery store could put a location in or near the downtown core (besides Safeway/Sobeys), they would. Issue is finding a large enough location.
How about the Courier building location, just a thought

[Anonymous123]

I suspect if a major grocery store could put a location in or near the downtown core (besides Safeway/Sobeys), they would. Issue is finding a large enough location.
How about the Courier building location, just a thought

How about part, if not all, of the old Bargain Store on Bernard.

[GordonH]

I suspect if a major grocery store could put a location in or near the downtown core (besides Safeway/Sobeys), they would. Issue is finding a large enough location.
How about the Courier building location, just a thought

How about part, if not all, of the old Bargain Store on Bernard.

That will depend on the owner of the property. imo maybe little to close to competition.

[GordonH]

As for the Ella, could be large increase of traffic on Ellis &/or Lawrence (this is a one way, heading West towards the lake).

Added later: during construction this area could be interesting to get around. Those who normally take either Ellis or Lawrence. May want take Water or Richter

[JLives]

I do big shops at Costco, dry goods at Superstore and produce at Quality Greens for the major stuff and pick up odds and ends from Safeway in between. It would be much harder to do if I didn't drive though.

[featfan]

As for the Ella, could be large increase of traffic on Ellis &/or Lawrence (this is a one way, heading West towards the lake).

Added later: during construction this area could be interesting to get around. Those who normally take either Ellis or Lawrence. May want take Water or Richter

Not sure where they are going to prestage materials.
There is going to be a clusterf in that area for a long time.
And I want to be a courier/ delivery driver in this town.

[common_sense_guy]

Shop pretty much wherever you want but if you want to save up to anywhere from 10 to 20% off your bill then go to Superstore. Depends on your financial situation

[GordonH]

As for the Ella, could be large increase of traffic on Ellis &/or Lawrence (this is a one way, heading West towards the lake).

Added later: during construction this area could be interesting to get around. Those who normally take either Ellis or Lawrence. May want take Water or Richter

Not sure where they are going to prestage materials.
There is going to be a clusterf in that area for a long time.
And I want to be a courier/ delivery driver in this town.

I would not be surprised if north side of Lawrence (or even the entire street) from Ellis to Pandosy is blocked off for the pre-staging area & unloading of materials.

[drex1999]

Shop pretty much wherever you want but if you want to save up to anywhere from 10 to 20% off your bill then go to Superstore. Depends on your financial situation

I will gladly pay an extra 10% to not watch a cashier look me in the face as she tosses my crap down a belt instead of taking the same amount of time to put it in a bag, lol

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

There is a daytime store on St Paul across from the Bottle depot, as well, handy for the tower dwellers..
I dont think the pre stage on Ella will be as bad as IF they build Milroys Edifice..

[Terris]

The developer said it all...

80% of the units are presold to lower mainland residents who are used to living in highrises but want to escape the city.

So much for escaping the concrete jungle...

[SteWe]

Bigger cities have smaller grocery stores in retail spaces like those specifically built for Ella. We live in the north end along Sunset and a store really needs to be located over here. I suspect the One Water dev. will obviously bring that.

The store on St. Paul that someone suggested (it is/was up for sale) is kinda meh – it's located in a brutally ugly building as well, so that doesn't help.

The Safeway on Bernard is not great, but serves a purpose sure. We do most of our shopping there by foot (or Nesters on Gordon), and when it's cold, we shop by car elsewhere. The newly opened One Big Table on St Paul is great too for specialty items. There are a general lack of food options downtown with respect to home cooking. The developments being built will no doubt change this.

I think only when the city and businesses and those thinking of opening up shops specifically catering to food figure out what might change and how it may all work, that we're likely to then see options open up.

Downtown is due for some more food shopping options. It'll keep us out of the car even more so.