Let's play the 'Re-invent The Downtown' game, shall we?

On this occasion, let's limit it to the 'existing' spaces available in town: two empty lots, two empty stores...and two locations that should be emptied of their current tenants.

So here's the latest round of 'Re-invent The Downtown':

#6-'Repair Depot', featuring shoe repair, key-cutting and clothing alterations

#5-Health Food Store

#4-Cheese and Butcher Shop

#3-Bike Shop

#2-Dinner-cinema

#1-Grocery store

Now, as I'd been discussing all this with a friend, referring back to the series that began all this talk (at least for me) at regular intervals, the top two suggestions are what I'd refer to as 'Game-changers'. Getting an independent grocery store would change the complexion of the downtown markedly. And could be a tipping-point. But I'm not talking about some crap knock-off notion, I'm not talking about a deli or a Denninger's...I'm talking about a home-grown version of a 'Whole Foods' type place.

The dinner-cinema idea is a no-brainer. There is no rep theatre outside of Toronto (I don't consider 'The Westdale' to be in this category.), you could cater to local retirees to a great extent...and the 'dinner-cinema' model is so unique, so wonderfully distinct that I believe it would find a home quickly downtown, and be an amazing draw for Stoney Creek. (For those of you unfamiliar with my yammerings-on about this idea, take a look at the site for 'The Commodore Theatre' in Portsmouth, Virginia.)

A bike shop...such as 'Ancaster Cycle' or 'Freewheel Cycle' in Dundas, or 'Neworld Cycle' in Burlington...might seem esoteric, but my feeling (having spent time in the biz, and having seen more than my share of how small towns become resilient and vibrant) is that the right shop opening in Downtown Stoney Creek could serve as a sortakinda 'initiator', jump-starting some of the major players in town into action.

The Cheese and Butcher Shop... I can also see this as a 'mews' development, or something akin to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Cheese...organic meats (as as Cumbrae's in Dundas and Toronto)...a baker...organic produce...a wine-seller...and maybe a health food store.

Of course, I still believe a dedicated health food store...such as 'The Horn of Plenty' in Dundas...is a natural for Downtown Stoney Creek.

Finally, the idea of a kiosk'd shop...shared space...for shoe repair, key cutting, alterations, and maybe non-warranty small appliance repair seems a great way to introduce small services on a smaller, more manageable (read that as: 'less risky') scale.

The bottom-line is that any one of these, or in any combination, might be the key to turning around Downtown Stoney Creek. Who knows? Stranger things have happened...