blogcutter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blogcutter) wrote2020-07-15 04:05 pm
blogcutter) wrote2020-07-15 04:05 pm
Entry tags:
Mall rats of the plague
My big adventure for today was to take the bus to Billings Bridge for some pandemic-era shopping. My last bus trip was 6 weeks ago; I haven't braved the LRT since March. This was also my first visit to an indoor mall since March.
You know, until some time in the mid to late 60s, there was no such thing as an indoor mall in Ottawa. I believe St. Laurent was the first one that was actually built that way. After that and throughout the 70s, they started building walls around the outdoor malls (what we might nowadays call "strip malls" although some were fairly big and had anchor stores like Ogilvy's or Freiman's and major grocery stores like Loblaws as well as "dime stores" like Woolworth's). It probably made sense given our harsh winter climate and with a growing population of shoppers, it had the added benefit of allowing stores on BOTH sides of a centre aisle (and later, additional aisles and alleyways too) as well as centralized services like coat checks, lost and found and information booths. And the rest is history! We got benches and food courts and fountains that encouraged shoppers to linger and spend more money and buy more stuff they didn't need. As long as it wasn't teenagers looking to just hang out with their friends and escape parental supervision and disapproval, the merchants were happy.
They sure weren't ready for Covid-19. Now it's the stores with direct street or parking lot access that have the real advantage. With masking and physical distancing restrictions in place, nobody wants customers to linger. We're barely allowed to stop at a bench to rearrange our purchases. We certainly are not encouraged to use washrooms or drinking fountains or - shudder - mingle at a food court or relax in a wifi-enabled café or restaurant! But I digress.
Billings Bridge was once a respectably sized strip mall anchored by a Woolworth's and an Ogilvy's, with a couple of grocery stores, clothing stores, a bank, a Birks and a Davis Agency (which also sold 45's and a small selection of LPs). Nowadays it's an indoor mall with many more stores and services, most of which were shuttered for several months and have only recently re-opened. I'd say about two-thirds of the stores were open when I was there. I went to the bookstore, the drugstore, the grocery store and the LCBO. The Laura Secord was open and was still flogging Easter candy. The Reitman's was open and was advertising some deep discounts but will soon close for good (I believe it was one of the original stores there, too). Of course, they all require that you wear a mask, follow the arrows, respect the little footprints painted on the floor to ensure appropriate distancing, use their hand sanitizer, don't pay with cash and so forth.
In spite of my grumbling, I found it a rare treat to actually browse in a bookstore for the first time in months. I browsed their mystery and magazine sections and bought a couple of puzzle books. At the Rexall there I managed to find a couple of packages of disposable masks - just in case. And at the grocery store I found lemonade and soy sauce and a block of parmesan, none of which were in stock at our local Loblaws earlier this week. So all in all, it was a productive shopping trip.
It was a reasonably good day and time to go, too. My bus trip was free, the weather was not too bad, the stores were not that busy. But I was glad to get back home too - it's tiring to have to go through all the additional steps and procedures just to accomplish basic tasks.
You know, until some time in the mid to late 60s, there was no such thing as an indoor mall in Ottawa. I believe St. Laurent was the first one that was actually built that way. After that and throughout the 70s, they started building walls around the outdoor malls (what we might nowadays call "strip malls" although some were fairly big and had anchor stores like Ogilvy's or Freiman's and major grocery stores like Loblaws as well as "dime stores" like Woolworth's). It probably made sense given our harsh winter climate and with a growing population of shoppers, it had the added benefit of allowing stores on BOTH sides of a centre aisle (and later, additional aisles and alleyways too) as well as centralized services like coat checks, lost and found and information booths. And the rest is history! We got benches and food courts and fountains that encouraged shoppers to linger and spend more money and buy more stuff they didn't need. As long as it wasn't teenagers looking to just hang out with their friends and escape parental supervision and disapproval, the merchants were happy.
They sure weren't ready for Covid-19. Now it's the stores with direct street or parking lot access that have the real advantage. With masking and physical distancing restrictions in place, nobody wants customers to linger. We're barely allowed to stop at a bench to rearrange our purchases. We certainly are not encouraged to use washrooms or drinking fountains or - shudder - mingle at a food court or relax in a wifi-enabled café or restaurant! But I digress.
Billings Bridge was once a respectably sized strip mall anchored by a Woolworth's and an Ogilvy's, with a couple of grocery stores, clothing stores, a bank, a Birks and a Davis Agency (which also sold 45's and a small selection of LPs). Nowadays it's an indoor mall with many more stores and services, most of which were shuttered for several months and have only recently re-opened. I'd say about two-thirds of the stores were open when I was there. I went to the bookstore, the drugstore, the grocery store and the LCBO. The Laura Secord was open and was still flogging Easter candy. The Reitman's was open and was advertising some deep discounts but will soon close for good (I believe it was one of the original stores there, too). Of course, they all require that you wear a mask, follow the arrows, respect the little footprints painted on the floor to ensure appropriate distancing, use their hand sanitizer, don't pay with cash and so forth.
In spite of my grumbling, I found it a rare treat to actually browse in a bookstore for the first time in months. I browsed their mystery and magazine sections and bought a couple of puzzle books. At the Rexall there I managed to find a couple of packages of disposable masks - just in case. And at the grocery store I found lemonade and soy sauce and a block of parmesan, none of which were in stock at our local Loblaws earlier this week. So all in all, it was a productive shopping trip.
It was a reasonably good day and time to go, too. My bus trip was free, the weather was not too bad, the stores were not that busy. But I was glad to get back home too - it's tiring to have to go through all the additional steps and procedures just to accomplish basic tasks.