One of the reasons why "new small-scale retail, service, and office uses" are now permitted in low-rise neighborhoods of Toronto -- and why many are on to talking about these uses in our laneways -- is because it's a way to serve the "needs of residents" and "reduce local automobile trips". But what are these needs exactly? And if you had to choose only one, what would it be?
Let me provide some further background.
According to this mapping, 94% of Parisians live within a 5-minute walk of a bakery. And according to this mapping, 94% of people in Mexico City live within a 5-minute walk of a taqueria. So in other words, these two cities seem to have the kind of "small-scale retail, service, and office uses" that satisfy at least some of the needs of their residents.
People in Paris need bread. And people in Mexico City need tacos. But what do people in Toronto need? I'm not sure we have a perfectly parallel thing. But according to Instacart, the top-selling grocery item last year across both the US and Canada was -- bananas. One and four carts typically contain them, and apparently this number has remained fairly consistent.
So maybe this should be our small-scale retail and walkability test metric: What % of the population lives within a 5-minute walk of fresh bananas? (I'm open to other food suggestions here.)
Blair Welch, co-founder of Slate Asset Management, was recently on Institutional Real Estate's podcast talking about grocery-anchored real estate. In it, he talks about the role that this asset class plays in last-mile food logistics, why ecommerce might actually be strengthening its importance, and why it needs to be considered as being distinct from other kinds of retailing. This is a topic that we have covered a few times before on the blog and I think many of you might find it interesting. To have a listen, click here.
One of the reasons why "new small-scale retail, service, and office uses" are now permitted in low-rise neighborhoods of Toronto -- and why many are on to talking about these uses in our laneways -- is because it's a way to serve the "needs of residents" and "reduce local automobile trips". But what are these needs exactly? And if you had to choose only one, what would it be?
Let me provide some further background.
According to this mapping, 94% of Parisians live within a 5-minute walk of a bakery. And according to this mapping, 94% of people in Mexico City live within a 5-minute walk of a taqueria. So in other words, these two cities seem to have the kind of "small-scale retail, service, and office uses" that satisfy at least some of the needs of their residents.
People in Paris need bread. And people in Mexico City need tacos. But what do people in Toronto need? I'm not sure we have a perfectly parallel thing. But according to Instacart, the top-selling grocery item last year across both the US and Canada was -- bananas. One and four carts typically contain them, and apparently this number has remained fairly consistent.
So maybe this should be our small-scale retail and walkability test metric: What % of the population lives within a 5-minute walk of fresh bananas? (I'm open to other food suggestions here.)
Blair Welch, co-founder of Slate Asset Management, was recently on Institutional Real Estate's podcast talking about grocery-anchored real estate. In it, he talks about the role that this asset class plays in last-mile food logistics, why ecommerce might actually be strengthening its importance, and why it needs to be considered as being distinct from other kinds of retailing. This is a topic that we have covered a few times before on the blog and I think many of you might find it interesting. To have a listen, click here.
Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
. It is amazing to see how big of a deal Tik Tok has become. In Q3 2022, the average Android user spent 98 minutes
per day
in the app. That is a lot, and it's roughly 2x what Facebook and Instagram each saw (though if you combine these two apps, I guess they're pretty similar). Either way, this is where people's attention is now being spent. For those of us in real estate, the report also has some interesting slides on grocery stores. The key message here is that physical stores remain hugely important.
The year-over-year change in online grocery spending is now flat to a little negative:
No matter which generation you ask, more people prefer shopping for groceries in-store, versus online:
And even when people do shop for groceries "online", they still tend to pick them up from their local store or have that local store deliver it to them (so the store matters):
. It is amazing to see how big of a deal Tik Tok has become. In Q3 2022, the average Android user spent 98 minutes
per day
in the app. That is a lot, and it's roughly 2x what Facebook and Instagram each saw (though if you combine these two apps, I guess they're pretty similar). Either way, this is where people's attention is now being spent. For those of us in real estate, the report also has some interesting slides on grocery stores. The key message here is that physical stores remain hugely important.
The year-over-year change in online grocery spending is now flat to a little negative:
No matter which generation you ask, more people prefer shopping for groceries in-store, versus online:
And even when people do shop for groceries "online", they still tend to pick them up from their local store or have that local store deliver it to them (so the store matters):
