The president of Starbucks Canada, Roseann Williams, has told The Toronto Star that its thousands of locations across Canada will be serving an “evening menu” of wine, beer and tapas by the end of this year. There will also be a delivery service of some type. The story says this move is driven by flat coffee sales and a need to appeal to the 60 percent of the Starbucks clientele which is female. It is an interesting strategy and the questions abound. Many women arrive at Starbucks behind a stroller, even after six. The baby bottle is as common as a latte in a lot of places. Will that mix work? Then there’s the food thing. Tapas is a Spanish word meaning cold or hot small dishes. Most people are familiar with this type of eating. Ms.Williams mentions flat bread, olives, nuts and cheese. These seem to be cold dishes. No mention of hot. Recalling the Starbucks lunch, the company’s history with food has not been outstanding. The question will arise as to whether the tapas is being done on the cheap. Will it look as tempting as the dishes at Tinto Bar de Tapas? Read all about it. Lisa Wright Toronto Star Globe writer dumps on everything, including the coffee. Hey, the coffee’s okay.
Cody kids visit Councillor Matlow at City Hall
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Pupils from Maurice Cody Public School on Belsize Drive hang out with Councillor Josh Matlow at City Hall Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Cody school is part of Mr. Matlow’s Ward 22 constituency. Lookin’ good gang.
Sutherland barber shop dies behind LRT hoarding
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The Leaside Barber Shop at 423 Sutherland Drive (behind the Domino’s Pizza) has closed. The long-time business of owner Lui Lavecchia has fallen to the LRT construction. Mr. Lavecchia spoke to the East York Mirror and complained that his landlord seemed to think that a new wave of prosperity had swept the street even as crews dig holes all over the landscape as part of the LRT construction. In fact, the Leaside shop has been hidden from Eglinton for months by an enormous underground access facility that blocks Sutherland north of Eglinton. “It makes me cry but I’ll be OK, my customers will support me,” Lavecchia said. “Local people always did support me. I was a barber to them, they were customers to me, but we were more like friends.” The Mirror records that the Leaside Barber Shop first opened in 1944. Mr. Lavecchia has owned it since 1979. Lavecchia has accepted a job with a neighbouring barber shop, Mister Barber Lounge at 814 Eglinton Ave. E. in the middle of the block between Sutherland and Laird Drive. He hopes to bring his customers over to the that shop.
CBC sorts out today’s ISIS recruitment arrests
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There is very informative analysis here by CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault on the arrests made today related to recruiting of ISIS sympathizers in Canada. Recruitment has emerged as an ancillary threat which authorities would like shut down more effectively. This brief video expands understanding of how recruiters work.
Wrigley plant on Leslie Street to close in 2016
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Star Business reporter Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew has the details on Wrigley’s decision to leave. It will cost the City 383 jobs at the long-standing factory and office at 1123 Leslie, she reports. Wrigley seemed eager however to reassure Toronto that it will keep a permanent staff of some 1,200 here in sales, marketing and manufacturing after the layoffs on Leslie. Production at the plant will be reduced in seven phases and job cuts will be staggered as manufacturing is shifted to Wrigley’s Gainesville, Georgia, facilit. The company said it will offer “a lengthy period of working notice, favorable severance packages, career transition support, reasonable paid time off to attend job interviews and counseling,” to affected employees. Wrigley is owned by candy bar maker Mars, Inc. The low-rise building has been part of the pleasant light industrial look of Leslie Street for decades. Many speculate that they will be looking up many storeys at what replaces it. Toronto StarRCMP charge three with terror recruitment
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Pregnancy clinic for Thorncliffe “fertility capital”
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Premier Wynne has opened a pregnancy clinic in Thorncliffe Park right beside the Leaside Midwives Clinic and the Thorncliffe Community Office. All the offices are in the building at the corner of Overlea Blvd and Leaside Park Drive. The official opening occurred Monday (February 2, 2015). Ms Wynne is quoted by Globe and Mail reporter Adrian Morrow as naming Thorncliffe Park the “fertility capital of the country.” The clinic will support mothers and babies of the fastest-growing neighborhood, which is part of the Premier’s riding of Don Valley West. “Our plan for Ontario is centred on investing in people, and that means ensuring that everyone has access to the care they need to flourish,” The clinic includes a waiting room, two examining rooms and an office and will provide care for up to 150 mothers and babies during pregnancy and for six weeks after birth. An annual operating budget of about $100,000, funded through the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network, will cover salaries for a halftime nurse and a halftime community intake worker.
U.S. Staples talks merger with Office Depot
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Staples and Office Depot are in advanced talks to merge according to the Wall Street Journal. The two office supply firms have tried to merge before (in 1997) but the government prevented it. The price and structure of the proposed deal couldn’t be learned and there is no guarantee it will happen, the newspaper reported. Staples has a market value in U.S. dollars of about $11 billion, while Office Depot has a market value of about $4.1 billion.
South Street Burger grills up some smackeroos
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South Street Burger is running an imaginative Valentine’s contest called Pucker Up For Free Fries. It asks customers to go to a South Street Burger location on February 14th and take a (two-person) selfie as they kiss. For this they will get free fries. But wait, if the picture is shared on Instagram or Twitter with #SouthStBurger and tagged @SouthStBurger the kissy face couple will be eligible for $50 in South St. Burger Bucks. (Who knew there were Burger Bucks?). Anyway you have to get your picture up by 11.59 p.m. on February 14, 2015 to qualify. To get contestants in the mood South Street has re-created some famous kisses of recent years. Below we see the sweetest of kisses from Lady and the Tramp, an alfresco great one depicting the real-life sweethearts who just gave in to love on the pavement during the G-20 meeting riots in 2010, flash back to 1945 when jubilant sailor and nurse marked victory in Times Square and the theatrical moment Spiderman fell.
FM John Baird resigns all political posts
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Thrills, fears and foreboding at Upper Canada
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It has been, from all appearances, a thrilling evening for many students at the live video appearance of Edward Snowden at Upper Canada College tonight (February 2, 2015). The event was organized by 18-year-old Conor Healy who sent an invitation to Snowden. A snippet of Mr. Snowden’s reception as seen on CP24 was reminiscent of a rock star’s welcome. A sampling of the linked video exchanges between he and the students focused largely on a world view which Snowden typically expresses. It features a kind of foreboding about what government collection of meta data (information) may mean for personal freedom. This outlook is a modified Orwellian vision which is often accompanied by Mr. Snowden’s explanations of himself: “It all depends what you can live with,” he said at one point tonight by way of justifying his decision to flee the U.S. with his secrets. The nature of the perceived issue — the government spying on people for the purposes of controlling them — leaves lots of room for the imagination. Upper Canada College
Target liquidation sale begins Thursday: CBC
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The CBC says it has learned that Target Inc. will begin the massive liquidation of all inventory in Canadian stores beginning Thursday, February 5, 2015.