REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

MG1 · 12-10-2009, 10:47 AM

Getting away from Richmond for a while, I drove down Kingsway a few times not too long ago. I rarely go west on Kingsway past Commercial, but I had to recently because my mother-in-law was in VGH for heart surgery. Anyway, I noticed some huge changes to that stretch of road. So many Vietnamese businesses. Unbelievable. I think they're Vietnamese. Nothing wrong with it - just overwhelming. Kind of like Hastings Street in Burnaby being Euro and Commercial Drive being Italian/Hippie/Enviro.

One of the main reasons why I moved back closer to Vancouver from the Valley. The cultural diversity. You can be whoever you want to be and feel relatively comfortable. Everything from gay, Rustifarian <sp?>, Black, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, etc. Just not Calgary Flames fan, LOL.

Gumby · 12-10-2009, 10:57 AM

Corner of No. 3 Rd and Westminster, where London Drugs and TD Bank currently are, used to be a Safeway. When Safeway moved/closed, the library moved into the old space temporarily while the Brighouse branch was being constructed.

MG1 · 12-10-2009, 11:04 AM

Kind of surprised nobody has mentioned Steveston. It has changed a lot too.

mazdaboi · 12-10-2009, 11:16 AM

Ahhhh Richmond.....

Anyone remember Richmond Square? Now that was the worst mall ever.... and they had that small ass movie theater beside it. Then they tore it down and built Richmond Centre.

Growing up in Richmond, my favorite hang out spot was Lou's market (now One Stop Convenience) on No 3 and Francis. Used to go there every chance I got to play Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat!!! Now that brings back lots of memories....

InvisibleSoul · 12-10-2009, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by !nhan

I'm not as old as some of you guys, but do you guys remember when milk was availble for sale in plastic bags? I remember going to buy them and then putting it into a plastic container.

You know what, they're still available in some parts of Canada... don't know why they went out of style here in Vancouver.

MG1 · 12-25-2009, 08:01 PM

Holy bejeezus........ I just found out from my wife that Woodward's is open again. WTF? Why didn't anyone here tell me? I would have skipped work to be at the opening. My wife also knew about this and didn't tell me. Damn useless wife.

Sister-in-law brings a jar of Woodward's crunchy peanut butter today for Christmas dinner and I thought holy shit, that jar looks like new. I look at the expiry date and it says May of 2011. WTF? I ask and find out the place has been open for a few weeks.

Same downtown location. Holy carp......... fuck Boxing Day sales, I'm heading to Woodward's. I hope they're open. I even heard they had $1.49 day already. I am so happy they are open again. Probably not the same, but carp this is good news.

Blinky · 12-26-2009, 12:11 AM

While we're on the topic of oldskool retailers, you gotta remember the REAL retailer that brought the smack down on Boxing day: A&B!

I was cleaning out my parent's garage earlier this year and saw some crazy stuff from the mid 80s... $1000 speakers going for $150, $500 computers (remember this is the 80s!), crazy shit like $20 for 20" tube TVs that were actually decent. This is the REAL stuff that people used to line up for. Back then, it was more electronics than toys and clothes and all this other retail.

Now we have the drivel that FS pawns off on as as "doorcrashers". They're not.

I still remember the downtown row of electronic/music retailers - A&B and Sam The Record Man were on Seymour... the A&B on Hastings and the one on Marine. Not that long ago that they closed down, either... but the heyday of A&B was long, long ago.

JulyZerg · 12-26-2009, 01:16 AM

A&B was intense! I still remember lining up at the one by PNE with my mom and her brothers on Boxing Day in the cold! I was like 4-6yr's old. It was so packed and crowded, the line extended all the way around and stuff...however I was clueless as to why we were lining up in the cold..

MG1 · 12-26-2009, 03:04 AM

A&B Sound was the king of Boxing Day sales. Truly legendary. The last one they ever had was awesome. They gave away vouchers to the first 5 people in the line up worth 50% off every CD/DVD in the place up to $200.00 after the discount. I went by the Langley location 15 minutes before they opened up at 9 AM and I was the third one in line. That's how sad it got. I spent right up to the limit and bought, among other items, DVD-Audio discs that were already 50% off.

SumAznGuy · 12-26-2009, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

Holy bejeezus........ I just found out from my wife that Woodward's is open again. WTF? Why didn't anyone here tell me? I would have skipped work to be at the opening. My wife also knew about this and didn't tell me. Damn useless wife.

Sister-in-law brings a jar of Woodward's crunchy peanut butter today for Christmas dinner and I thought holy shit, that jar looks like new. I look at the expiry date and it says May of 2011. WTF? I ask and find out the place has been open for a few weeks.

Same downtown location. Holy carp......... fuck Boxing Day sales, I'm heading to Woodward's. I hope they're open. I even heard they had $1.49 day already. I am so happy they are open again. Probably not the same, but carp this is good news.

The grand opening of Nester's Market was on Dec 8. They spent $80K on media coverage that day.
I was there for the grand opening and it was nuts. There were tons of older folks who heard about the grand opening on the news and took the skytrain downtown. Some of them were telling stories about how they worked at Woodwards when they were younger.

In the store, they have tons of pictures and old ad flyers from way back in the day.

MG1 · 12-26-2009, 02:48 PM

SO it's called Nester's Market......... hmmmmmm....... I guess they couldn't call it Woodward's. They use it as their house brand?

EDIT: just gogled Nesters. The name came back to me. Saw pictures of the place. Looks nice.

Thanks, SumAznGuy. I'll make an effort to go see the place.

SumAznGuy · 12-26-2009, 04:17 PM

Nester's is part of Buy-low which is one of Jimmy Pattison's many companies. They used the Woodwards as a selling point, I guess, but in reality other than the location, they have nothing to do with the old Woodwards.

And there is also a London Drugs across the hall from the Nester's.

Inside this hallway, they have a picture from the 1971 (?) downtown riots.

I just got home from Brentwood mall and noticed there was a plaque on some pillar near the Sport Mart. It said this is the location of the old Jack Cullen music store. 1972-1979.

Interesting. Would love to hear more about it if anyone know's anything.

MG1 · 12-26-2009, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

I just got home from Brentwood mall and noticed there was a plaque on some pillar near the Sport Mart. It said this is the location of the old Jack Cullen music store. 1972-1979.

Interesting. Would love to hear more about it if anyone know's anything.

Wow, Jack Cullen. I used to listen to the Owl Prowl on CKNW. After his show at around 1 am, I'd listen to the old radio shows (who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows........)

Simpler times

Gnomes · 12-26-2009, 05:07 PM

Holy crap, Nostalgia! I watched 1st Ave market "plaza" during the construction. I cant remember what was in that 1st ave market before it was constructed. I used to have fun at the safeway by Broadway Skytrain station. Arcade games and coffee. I used to take a sugar cube everytime I walk by there.

Windstar · 12-31-2009, 01:35 AM

Circuit Circus is now in Burnaby near Kingsway Waltson (think thats how you spell it)
I remember their used to be an awesome little store, kind of like 7-eleven on Victoria and 41st. Then 7-eleven replaced it, and now its replaced by a coffee and vitamins store.

I was wondering, do they still have chinese dragon dancing on victoria and 41st on chinese new years?

Lomac · 01-16-2010, 01:39 PM

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but how about the Mountain High Racing track in Westwood? Canada's first purpose-built race track!

skyxx · 01-16-2010, 02:20 PM

^ Page 9. But I'll forgive you since you're a mod

ziggyx · 01-16-2010, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by welfare

haha. wtf? i grew up on 24th and knight. across the street from safeway. that tv store on the corner used to be a corner store.

oh shit. yeah, i went to dickens too. well, first annex then elementary. wicked school. mr rooney was the principal. i didn't like him much at all
yup. life was good. the nintendo entertainment system came out and rocked the hell out of atari/gemini/colecovision. the commodore 64 was astonishing
i'm gonna read some more of this later.

haha I was there when mr. rooney was there also! My teachers were ailsa and joan.

CP.AR · 01-17-2010, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spectre_Cdn

And not so long ago, Lansdowne Best Buy used to be a Safeway. The current Future Shop used to be Zellers, which moved to the other side of the mall. Near Gingeri, there used to be a huge playcentre sort of like those McDonald's kids areas but 10x bigger (forgot what it was called). There was also an Eaton's, with a restaurant upstairs where Zellers is now. After Eaton's closed, that space was a GM showroom for a while... no salespeople just full lines of GM cars in the mall. Winners used to be a computer store.

In Richmond Centre, there used to be a Zellers where Sport Chek is now, with a Kernels and Pet Habitat next door where Old Navy is now.

Around Christmas time, there was also a free trolley bus (like the Stanley Park trolleys) that went from mall to mall, including the old Aberdeen.

Almost every bus in Richmond used to go to downtown Vancouver because there were no dedicated Vancouver buses.

Other than the malls... there isn't much I can remember. Oh and there were NO CONDOS in the city centre 16 years ago.

Kerrisdale Cameras is still there.

Computer place in Lansdowne was called "Compucenter", which was actually owned by Future Shop, so when they eventually closed down they had no sale whatsoever, all the remaining stock was then sold across the street at FS. From what I recall it was a bit like "Fry's Electronics" in the states, but watered down.

That playplace in Lansdowne was called "Bonkers" - one of my friends held his birthday party there once; it was great

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

Kind of surprised nobody has mentioned Steveston. It has changed a lot too.

Remember when Moncton street wasn't flooded with townhouses on the side, and when there was NO traffic there whatsoever (free parking too)

Not so much steveston but... IRONWOOD mall and COPPERSMITH mall brought that entire area up (the Steveston Hwy + No.5 road area)

Oh yeah, and remember when Playdium planned to build a new facility next to Kwantlen? (OMG I WAS SO HYPED)

MG1 · 01-17-2010, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Picard

Remember when Moncton street wasn't flooded with townhouses on the side, and when there was NO traffic there whatsoever (free parking too)

That all changed when some of the residents figured out they could subdivide their properties and make a killing. Actually, more like the whole area got rezoned. Municipality wanted more tax money. Whatever the case, the place has lost its character. Not the tourist area, but the neighbourhood.

Didn't know Compucentre or is it Compucenter was owned by FS. There used to be one in Metrotown. I think where The Source (Radio Shack) is.

Senna4ever · 01-17-2010, 02:23 AM

There was also a Compucentre (I think) on the north east corner of Georgia & Seymour.

Grandmaster TSE · 01-17-2010, 02:37 AM

i miss the chinese theatres they use to had
the 1 in the old aberdeen and the 1 that use to be on commerical and broadway

versep · 01-17-2010, 04:00 AM

My dad told me lansdown mall used to be an airport

SumAznGuy · 01-17-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 89blkcivic

Didn't know Compucentre or is it Compucenter was owned by FS. There used to be one in Metrotown. I think where The Source (Radio Shack) is.

I remember going there to look at the video games knowing full well my parents didn't have the money to buy me one.

I remember some video game system called the Jaguar that was super expensive back in the early 90's.

MG1 · 01-17-2010, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Nester's is part of Buy-low which is one of Jimmy Pattison's many companies. They used the Woodwards as a selling point, I guess, but in reality other than the location, they have nothing to do with the old Woodwards.

And there is also a London Drugs across the hall from the Nester's.

Inside this hallway, they have a picture from the 1971 (?) downtown riots.

I just got home from Brentwood mall and noticed there was a plaque on some pillar near the Sport Mart. It said this is the location of the old Jack Cullen music store. 1972-1979.

Interesting. Would love to hear more about it if anyone know's anything.

Speaking of Nester's. I didn't know about them until the Woodward's thing, then the other day my daughter mentions a place opening up in Univercity up by SFU Mountain. It's also a Nester's.

BTW, what ever happened to Thumper? Looks like he disappeared off the face of this cyberplanet.