I chose to do the walk on Wednesday because both Thursday and Friday were scheduled for heavy rain. It was really cold but I am sure I made the right decision.
We’ll start this month with a piece from Toronto discussing how streetside/patio catering (a reaction to the pandemic as you may recall) brought in $181 million for retailers in the 13 weeks of summer 2021, compared to the $3.7million that the replaced parking stalls would have generated. I wonder when we will get the stats from Vancouver’s similar experiment.
What was briefly the Cafe des Amis at 2017 Commercial has morphed into Cafe Near and Dear.
CTV’s Mike McCardell did a nice piece on the family behind J, N, & Z Deli at 1729 Commercial.
The new Pax Romana at 1670 Commercial does not yet seem to be open. VIA notes: “The co-ownership team of Pax Romana represents a union of some key players from a couple of existing Italian restaurants on The Drive. Currently the Manager of Sopra Sotto, Damiano Pedrolli will serve as GM of Pax Romana and is joined by Daniel Dominguez, who will be its beverage director, and who now has the same role for Sopra Sotto. Enrico Fratoni, Sopra Sotta’s executive chef for both locations, will be a chef at Pax Romana alongside Luke Boswell, who will also serve as chef, and who is presently the executive chef at Bar Corso.”
The former Norman’s Market at 1604 Commercial is looking more forlorn by the month. I understand the plan is still to rebuild the space as a nightclub but I also hear the building is full of asbestos, so the cleanup will take a long time.
The odd little gift store at 1409 Commercial has closed.
The new Vietnamese snack bar, 377 Hem at 1108 Commercial has finally opened.
Vacancies on the Drive this month:
2210 Commercial, 2105 Commercial, 2058 Commercial, 1670 Commercial, 1604 Commercial, 1428 Commercial, 1409 Commercial, 1250 Commercial, 1230 Commercial.
This does not include Dolce Amore or Hanai which are currently closed due to fire damage.
Previous editions of Changes on the Drive
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 