Living First
By samanthaorwell on April 10, 2008 - 1:48pm
READ FULL POST: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/living-first-with-furn...
Vancouver has transformed itself dramatically ever since the 1991 Central Area Plan that aimed at revitalizing Vancouver’s downtown core. During the unexpected 80s recession, Vancouver planners decided that it was going to be people that reinvigorated Vancouver streets to revive business. In 2008 it is obvious the “Living First” strategy has worked. Starting with Concord Pacific development, luxury condominiums now spread like wildfire along Vancouver’s downtown streets. The sounds of construction are unavoidable as you walk down newly landscaped streets that are waiting for the designer billboards into reality.
But just because you build it does it mean they will come? In short, yes. Vancouver is too spectacularly beautiful to not have people vying for her land. The single most obvious indicator that these luxurious shells of condomoniums are also luxurious on the inside is the sudden proliferation of furniture stores like Yaletown Sofa. I’ve been seeing these types of stores spring up everywhere downtown. Half a dozen of these luxury furnishing stores sit in or surround the downtown.
Furniture stores in the downtown core signals a boom in successful luxury living. Downtown commercial land is expensive, and these stores would not choose to pop up without knowing there is a strong customer base in the area. Yaletown Sofa smells a niche market. A rich niche market that needs furniture that is specially designed to look great in smaller condominium spaces. Furnishing stores are, in fact a pretty safe way to tell if a housing market is booming. Afterall, Martha Stewart’s contract with Macey’s went bust in the midst of the U.S. suprime crisis. Who is going to spend money on Martha Stewart furnishings if they can’t even afford to make mortgage payments into their home? Home furnishing stores and the housing market are directly related. Stores like Yaletown Sofa know it and are, quite literally, banking on it.
READ MORE: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/
You're into your 'nesting' mode, I see...
Speaking of furniture, you might be surprised at what others throw out, for want of a couple of screw-nails, or some basic tightening up of the joints or legs, or whatever.
Over the years, and the many moves, my own furniture has taken a real beating, and some of it had to be tossed out. I've now replaced a lot of that with easily-repaired 'recycled' stuff that my neighbours have left by the big blue bins. A few minutes repairs, and it's as good as ever again, and it is a shame to waste it. By 'rescuing' such things, I now have a once expensive office desk, and also a nice computer desk with a hutch above it. Neither one cost me anything more than a few minutes of fixing up, and both are very useful.
Years ago, there used to be a furniture rental place downtown on Burrard Street, with a warehouse branch out on Grandview Highway, just west of Boundary Road, where you could pick out various items of furniture to rent by the month. If you liked it, there was a purchase plan. If not, you could return it and rent something else instead. Never get tired of your furniture because it really wasn't yours anyway... This was a good idea, I always thought. They also had periodic sales at their warehouse location, where they sold the returned rentals at reduced prices. Lots of us got some cheap furniture there. Some of that lasted for years, too. I had a set of occasional tables (coffee & two end tables) that I finally had to throw out, because I just got sick of them. There's probably still a market for places like that.
Answer is:- Yes, they probably will. Some of them are already sleeping under our bridges. Why? Because the climate here is better than almost anywhere else in Canada, or most of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, for that matter. We almost never get nine months winter, two months of bad skiing and one month's summer, like they frequently do back east, on the other side of the hills. And aren't we glad? You bet your sweet bippy we are!