Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitz
^ For a grocery store, isn't there a Food Basics on Goyeau Street? I know it's not the best but not even downtown London has a decent grocery store. They seem to avoid the central cores.
I'm all for widening Cabana Rd as it's long overdue. The city has to keep growing whether it's the outskirts or the core. South Windsor / LaSalle isn't exactly a "sprawling mess" (not nearly as bad as you see in say Kitchener or Brampton for example).
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You must consider: if you expand the roads in South Windsor, more people will want to live there, which will cause more people to leave the downtown for the suburbs, causing the downtown to be empty and the congestion in the south side comes back.
If anything i think it should only have a centre turn lane as the majority of backups are caused by turning vehicles (or at least they were when i lived there).
As far as grocery stores avoiding the city centres: there are many factors behind this. Some obvious ones are:
(A) they will go to where they can reach the most people (you won't find a grocery store in the financial district, as it empties out after 5, which is when people shop for groceries) And they must consider how most customers will get to the store (city centres don't have a lot of space for parking, but if most customers walk there, this isn't an issue.) Also, many people will drive quite a distance to get to their favourite grocer, but taking groceries on public transit, especially infrequent transit is difficult.
(B) they need a large space (many people want to shop at stores with better selection)
(C) the large space they require isn't cheap, and they will balance accessibility with price (it's more expensive downtown, but at the same time, they want to be in or close to the population to attract customers)
As far as Windsor's downtown, the Food Basics is in a large building with lots of parking, making it accessible by the broader neighbourhood, and is within walking distance of most downtown residents. Yes, it is a bit south, but there just isn't the building footprint or the population density further north.