Birch Bistro

Laurie’s note

The well-known former bank building at Mt.Pleasant and Manor Rds. has a new tenant. The large premises will open soon as the Birch Bistro. Not too many details are known but the operator, Laurie, has posted her friendly hello on the door. This location was for many years Celestin and was purchased by the Bailey Brothers, Ivan and James, in 2009. They changed the name to Bar Mar in April in keeping with their Peruvian ancestry but  in December announced they would close the restaurant. The little shop that adjoins it on Mt. Pleasant was a butcher and it is understood that Laurie intends to operate a cheese shop in this space. Hope so.

East York Town Cenbtre

The retail revolution goes on with department store J.C. Penney in the US saying this weekend it will close 130 to 140 stores. That’s said to be nearly 15 percent of its total. Macy’s and Sears are also faltering with the future unknown. Walmart’s boundless ambitions have been dampened by a chaotic in-store atmosphere some shoppers complain about. There is certainly no hurry to build the Walmart in the Wicksteed Ave. extension of the SmartCentre. The site has been still for more than a year. Walmart has recently begun a grocery home-delivery service in Toronto.

FOOD RETAIL

For its part, Loblaws seems to have no interest in following Walmart or global merchant Amazon into home delivery of food. Loblaws CEO Galen Weston likes what he sees so far in the so-called click and collect side of grocery sales. You choose items online and then come and  get them. You can do that at the Redway Road store. Click and collect is less costly than home delivery, vital in the low-margin world of food retail. The most buoyant retail scene is the dollar-store phenomenon. It shows no sign of slowing. Dollarama is being joined on the streets and in the shopping malls of Canada by such contenders as Giant Tiger (in Ontario and Quebec) the Great Canadian Dollar Store in Atlantic Canada and the Japanese entry Ichiban, now open in the East York Town Centre.

Update @AirCanada #AC623 landing gear went off runway into grass after landing. Mud all over the plane. Busses on scene for pax. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/auCvZ6xXLy

— Tom Podolec Aviation (@TomPodolec) February 25, 2017

Air Canada #623 from Halifax blew a tire on landing at Toronto Friday. There was a scary moment or two as the plane slid off the runway. No one was hurt.

No train service on Line 1 from St George & Downsview. Extra service added to all east and westbound surface routes. #TTC pic.twitter.com/AJ8cweNDcU

— TTC Service Alerts (@TTCnotices) February 25, 2017

Laugh Out Loud In Leaside at William Lea Room

It was a sold-out event again Friday night at Charlene Kalia’s benefit Laugh Out Loud in Leaside. The William Lea Room was full as friends turned out to support the Maddie Project, a charity helping teens struggling with depression.

The glow in the west-end Toronto sky last night and early Saturday was caused by yellow grow-lights installed over the grass at BMO Field at Exhibition Place. They are on a lot but the misty skies seemed to accentuate the effect. Now you know.

A large sinkhole has shut down South Kingsway between Bloor St. West and The Queensway.  The road opened up at South Kingsway and Morningside Avenue, a street with the same name as a thoroughfare on the other side of the City. The sinkhole may be caused by a water main break.

Meridian CU at 690 Mt. Pleasant Rd. opens Monday, March 27 not Monday, Feb. 27

Donald Trump blocked CNN and the New York Times from attending a White House “gaggle” Friday. A gaggle is a variation on a scrum, reporters gathered in a gang to hear from a politician or someone else who has something to say. He shouldn’t have done it. This is not because democracy will live or die because of it. But kicking out reporters you don’t like is petty and, in the end, self-defeating. It does not, as some claim, stop anyone from questioning Trump’s message.

Belsize Drive no parking

The picture of a parking enforcement car dumped on Belsize Drive in brazen disregard of the no parking sign says it all.  Forget whether you think the City is running a cynical cash grab with its parking program. Opinion may differ on that. But there is no question that the person who parked this car is breaking the law, doing it purposefully and with the complicity of fellow police personnel who choose to let him/her do it. These are simple facts. It is behaviour for which anyone else would be ticketed, perhaps even towed. It would not do to say that you had just stopped for a minute or two (you know, to issue a few parking tickets for the kids). No, you would get the ticket and pay it because after all, you would not have a leg to stand on in court. The police and their political masters on City Council should have no surprise about the reasonable resentment and in some cases distrust of the police that flows from practices like this.