Shown is the old Desjardins IGA/Loeb Booth Street, located just a few metres south of where Booth crosses Somerset.
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The building has been vacant for several years. Attempts to find a new grocer have failed. A government funded study on installing a food coop floundered. The building has a typical industrial facade, but behind the facade I hear there are several old houses joined together. The result is uneven and shifting floors bridging stone foundations.
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Thirty years ago Desjardins had the current Loblaws marketing plan in place. There were grocieries, and furniture, a hardware aisle, and upstairs a baby furniture department (remember when this Dalhousie neighborhood had kids? they are pretty scarce now…).
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While the “for sale” signs are posted outside, I hear that it will shortly be demolished to permit the construction of a 40 unit apartment building for seniors. This is good news. It removes one of the uglier underused parts of the street and replaces it with something new and vital.
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The Z6 condo building now under construction a few blocks south will add a jolt of fashion and style to the streetscape. Now, if only Domicile or someone would replace Chado’s/Cousin Eddey’s garage, the biggest eyesore of all, just a few blocks further south, then Booth could resume its role as a respectable street in our Dalhousie neighborhood.