Small Changes Are Still Changes

Here's a bit of an update on my post Restrictive Covewhat?

I had mentioned two former grocery stores near my house that had been sitting empty for some time due to Restrictive Covenants placed on the properties. In the past month, the status of both has changed, and I'm thrilled to finally see some changes to the ugly, old eyesores.

There's an old grocery store that I bike past on my way to work, or often drive past to get pretty much anywhere north of where I live. About a month or so ago, I noticed there were more cars in the parking lot, and then part of the strip mall was covered in a huge tarp, and then recently, upon closer investigation, I noticed that the actual grocery store part of the strip mall was now housing a Goodwill store. It may not be food, but I can definitely support a second-hand store making use of the property.

The other grocery store, a few blocks from my house, was rumored to have been sold to Giant Tiger. And sure enough, it wasn't just a rumor, they had their grand opening last weekend. While I'm not entirely excited about the Giant Tiger, and would have much preferred a farmer's market, I decided to take a gander last night while I was out on a walk enjoying the sunshine.

I was amazed to see that not only do they sell some grocery items, but there was actually fresh produce, dairy, and meat items. And the prices were cheaper than any other grocery store I'd been to lately (I was fearful of "convenience store" pricing). And the best part was that the parking lot didn't have very many cars in it, yet there were a fair amount of people shopping for food items. This means that an entire neighbourhood of people finally has a place to buy healthy food (and some not so healthy food) within walking distance, and they're actually walking instead of driving.

Now, if we could only create this situation of mixing healthy food and exercise in more Edmonton (and many other North American) neighbourhoods.