19 search results for "bayview playhouse"

What’s the future of Shoppers in the Bayview Playhouse?

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The question in the headline is reverberating along South Bayview Ave. as word comes that Shoppers will locate an outlet in the new Whole Foods Market complex at 1860 Bayview. Many swear it means that Shoppers Drug Mart in the old Bayview Playhouse at 1601 Bayview will close. Parking is said to be an issue. The best response from two sources at the two-level South Bayview store is that yes they’ve heard the story and nobody seems sure what will happen. It does not seem too unreasonable in terms of distance for Shoppers to keep two locations. Rexall Pharma has a store at Moore Ave and in the Sunnybrook Plaza. They both seem very busy. But there is much behind-the-scenes business not visible to outside observers. The playhouse building is a special case as leasing goes. It takes a public-spirited retailer like Shoppers, and before them Brunos, to shoulder the size of this space. The complaint heard most often against it is parking. But there is parking. The grocery stores that leased this space got into trouble because groceries are heavy. No one wanted to cart them a block. When Shoppers opened there in the Spring of 2011 (before Loblaws) they were still keen on the two-storey concept for their stores. But they went a step too far in manipulating the clientele by putting the dispensary on the second floor. People resented it. The perfume promenade inside the front door (like Bloomingdale’s in New York) was one thing, but it was quite another to send old people up to the cheap seats for their medicine. Anyway, the story is  out there for Shoppers to deny. Right now, there are people in South Bayview who think that Shoppers will forsake our pleasant high street for a home at Bayview and Broadway,

Playbills recall vital years of Bayview Playhouse

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Virginia Cooper and Theatre Museum Canada have been kind enough to let us use some of the many playbills from productions which were staged at the Bayview Playhouse at 1605 Bayview. The Theatre, which has had many incarnations now, was built in 1936 as the Bayview Cinema. As Ms Cooper has noted, the theatre’s life as a film venue ended in the 60s. It was then that the Bayview Cinema became the Bayview Playhouse and began a distinguished additional 30 years as a place of live production. Ms Cooper was present at a recent meeting of supporters of the Leaside 100 film  being produced by public-spirited Leasiders Barry H. Samuels and Anthony Regan. Anyone with vignettes or physical recollections (pictures, film) are invited to contact the producers. As to the Bayview Playhouse, it has had a pretty interesting history in recent years as well. It was renovated as a grocery store by Bruno, the well known grocer, and then a couple of years ago became the Bayview Ave Shoppers Drug Mart. Much of that history was recorded as it occurred by the The South Bayview Bulldog and may be accessed here. The composite above shows playbills from Automatic Pilot, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, Harry’s Back in Town, Brel is Back, The World Goes Round, The Desert Song, Growing Up and Tableau. 

Artifacts, memories of love in bloom at Bayview Ave. Jupiter

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Ornaments from long ago. Price sticker says 57 cents

Posts at Leaside Community this Boxing Day carry a photo of an old box of Christmas ornaments purchased at the Jupiter variety store on Bayview Ave. in a long-distant past. One comment comes from a woman who recalls that she met her husband at the Jupiter when they both worked there. This store is said to have been located in the large space where Dollarama now lives. Many will recall that Shoppers Drug Mart lived there until it moved up to the former Bayview playhouse space in 2011. But the history gets murky when it comes to Jupiter, a 1960s era five-and-dime store which was associated with S.S. Kresge. Both are defunct now.

1961 depiction of a typical Jupiter store

SDM seeks help in EY and who will manage 1860 Bayview?

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https://twitter.com/SDMPharmacyJobs/status/844687446675787776

The huge Shoppers Drug Mart empire must be seeking fresh talent all the time but Thursday morning it’s an appeal on Twitter for a pharmacist in East York. Nearby, scuttlebutt along Bayview Ave anticipates the opening of the SDM at 1860 Bayview (and Broadway). Conspiracy theorists had said that Whole Foods was reluctant to open there because snoopers from the Loblaw-owned drug chain would be into everything next door. Not likely and in any case WF will open at 1860 on April 26. It’s rumoured that this Shoppers will be close enough (too close?) to the one in the former Bayview Playhouse at 1601 near Fleming Crescent that perhaps 1601 pharmacist/manger Brian Mok may make a trip or two up the street to help out. Brian Mok

Small but instructive drama played out on Bayview Ave.

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There was a small drama on Bayview Ave. when the fire department roared up to the Shoppers Drug Mart in the old Bayview Playhouse sirens screaming Saturday morning. What played out next was a classic rite of passage in the lives of all children. A father was waiting with his little daughter. She gripped her dad’s hand tightly. Then she apologized to the firefighters for pulling the alarm. Then everybody went home.

drama

1927 heritage status Regent Theatre for sale at $7,400,000

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Regent Theatre today
When the Belsize/Regent was the Crest
Belsize (later Regent) Theatre/Toronto archives

The heritage-status Regent Theatre at 551 Mt. Pleasant has been put on the market for $7,400,000. It’s a hefty price for the historic old movie house. The place can’t be legally torn down so any new owner has to think of a commercial purpose that fits. The former Bayview Playhouse was rescued twice by owners when it was renovated by Bruno’s Fine Foods and later by Shoppers Drug Mart. Worse things could happen to the Regent and to the Mount Pleasant Village BIA. Listing

Built as the Belsize

The Regent Theatre has had three incarnations. The large “B” in permanent stone on the front of the theatre is a clue that it was built as the Belsize Theatre to match the pleasant residential street beside it. Both were named after fashionable Belsize Park in the London suburb of Camden. Later the Regent had an exciting period as a live entertainment venue when it was known as the Crest.

Mt. Pleasant, Regent given heritage status by T&EY Council

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Belsize became Crest, then Regent
Inside Hudson (later Mt. Pleasant) Theatre

Toronto and East York Council has voted Tuesday to designate the Mt. Pleasant and Regent Theatres as heritage sites on a motion by Josh Matlow (Ward 22)  The two old movie houses date from the mid 1920s when a night at the cinema was high entertainment for a suburban family. The Mt. Pleasant was born as the Hudson Theatre and carried the name until 1951 when for reasons not recorded it was changed to the Mt. Pleasant. The original name seems to have had its origin in the Hudson telephone exchange. The name Hudson lives on south of Eglinton in business names and a street name. The Regent was born as the Belsize, a suitable name for a theatre beside the elegant street of the same name. Later it was famous as the live-entertainment Crest Theatre and then the Regent. There is much joy expressed on Facebook Tuesday that these two landmarks have a chance at survival. Times are not especially propitious for an expensive re-make of either building nor is it an easy job at the best of times. Public-spirited businesses renovated the Bayview Playhouse. The first such benefactor was the Bruno’s grocery chain and later Shoppers Drug Mart. On Bloor Street West, the beautiful Runnymede Theatre was saved by Chapters before it went bankrupt. Once again Shoppers volunteered and turned the Runnymede into a very pleasant drugstore.

Excellent remake of Brunswick House into a Rexall

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418 Bloor West
Unknown millions drank here
Much-loved sign

The 141-year-old Brunswick House, 481 Bloor West at Brunswick Ave., has opened as a Rexall Pharma Plus drugstore. The superb result of the renovation is recorded by Retail Insider online. The tavern’s much-loved Ye Olde Brunswick House sign now hangs over the fridges in the pharmacy’s food section. Unknown millions of university students and who knows what number of beverage room idlers will surely want to make a sentimental visit to this storied beer hall haunt. It is a considerable credit to Rexall and rivals similar public-spirited work by large firms such as Loblaw (MLG) and Shoppers Drug Mart (Bayview Playhouse).

Meeting hears of streetscape masterplan for Mt. Pleasant

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bia.png

A public meeting Wednesday night heard that the Mt. Pleasant Village BIA is intent on creating a “streetscape masterplan” for the business district from Davisville to Eglinton Aves. Three members of a private planning firm, PUBLIC WORK, spoke of their ideas so far and solicited the thoughts of merchants and residents at the auditorium in the Briton House building at 720 Mt. Pleasant. The planners, Adam Nicklin, Marc Ryan and Lauren Abrahams, took turns describing the natural attributes of the street and how they might be brought closer together and amplified to make the street even more attractive. As you will note below in the remarks of Ms. Abrahams, the width (or narrowness) of sidewalks and traffic lanes were recurring subjects. Mt. Pleasant is a four lane route (two north, two south) with additional flow permitted by rush hour no-parking rules. This is thanks to the 1948 planning vision to speed cars from downtown to the midtown neighborhoods of Lawrence Park and beyond.

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge of introducing more trees and wider sidewalks in the presence of such traffic stood out. Nonetheless, it appears that no application will be made by the BIA to narrow the street and Josh Matlow (Ward 22) says he has been assured that this is the case. Mr. Matlow was present at the meeting and spoke on financing of the project and other local matters. Ideas are being solicited and may be sent to info@publicwork.ca  It is a large project which could be achieved through many expensive efforts. The venerable Belsize Theatre (subsequently Crest and Regent) would be a potent attraction if it were renovated for almost any purppse. On Bayview Ave, a series of public-spirited companies have made the old Bayview Playhouse a vital part of the street.

Whole Foods will face bristling competition

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Bree Rody-Mantha writing online in PostCity.com reviews the arrival sometime in 2015 of Whole Foods in the little commercial complex yet-to-be-built at 1860 Bayview Ave corner of Broadway Ave. This is the former site of Rumble and later Brennan Pontiac. The article is worth a read for the opinion offered by Stan Janecek, the owner of White House Meats  at 1523 Bayview.  The issue for many is just how hurtful yet another grocery anchor will be to business along South Bayview. Mr. Janecek seems to think that it will be a battle of the big guys (our term). Ms Rody-Mantha mentions Loblaws, Metro, Sobey’s Valu mart  and Longo’s. She might have added Summerhill Market in both Rosedale and at 1054 Mt. Pleasant Rd. in Sherwood Park. Many families remember mom and dad shopping at the Mt Pleasant location when it was Bilton’s. Summerhill Market will be no slouch in defending its well-heeled clientele. What they prepare and stock is top notch and there’s no worrisome doubt about brand names. Whole Foods is finicky. The firm has a reputation for refusing to carry things like Coca Cola and other items apparently for dietetic reasons that aren’t always clear. In any case, it is commonly said that South Bayview, as nice as it is, cannot support a full-up grocery store which has no parking lot. Unlike most of the things one can purchase here, groceries are heavy. That was the lesson of the public-spirited effort by Bruno’s to plant his business in the old Bayview Playhouse. And those who followed  Bruno’s at the playhouse location did not pursue an aggressive policy of carry-to-your-car for customers. As we know, the playhouse is now a Shoppers Drug Mart.  Carry-to-your-car  is a lesson that Summerhill seems to have learned.  Bree Rody-Mantha  

We got a buck that says Dollarama likes it here

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Those who wondered how on earth a lowly dollar store could make a go of it on Bayview Ave. may have by now revised their view. Three months in since Dollarama opened, it seems that the company is doing a lot of business on our upscale high street, thank you. You don’t have to go inside the store at 1531-33 Bayview  to see just how brisk things are. It’s evident through the front windows that the cash-out aisle (cash or debit only) is seldom empty. The space that for so many years housed Shoppers Drug Mart seems like a good fit for Dollarama. At its new location in the old Bayview Playhouse building,  Shoppers has moved even more heavily into name-brand cosmetics. It has added groceries and other household products. Perhaps unwisely, the dispensary was placed on the second level. Down at the low end of things it seems possible that Shoppers will have noticed the presence of Dollarama in such things a cheap bath soap and toiletries, paper goods and candies. The company’s quarterly earning will be released tomorrow (Friday,April 12, 2013) and they are expected to show a strong performance. One estimate suggests that Dollarama will report earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $118.6-million in its fiscal third quarter, up 21.4 per cent from a year ago, with earnings per share rising to $1.01 from 84 cents.