Around Main St. Newmarket - The Last Video Store

Timothy St off Main St. Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Fairy Lake Falls by Main

Main St has become a pawn of the candidates of the local elections, containing such sensitive balancing acts as shopping, housing, construction and historic sites - to events to parking - the latter always being a sore point with any concerned it seems.

Even the Town Clock Tower, once declared a great example of how we could use historic buildings and maintain their integrity whilst usefully using them was deemed semi-expendable for a time. Little did we know the ultimate goal was to develop condos there and move seniors from their homes!

And not just residents, with the same Markham based development group having bought the town clock block of 4 buildings, forcing all store owners and residents out, save one, ironically called "The Last Video Store" which was given until Oct 15 2014 to also be out! They plan to stay beyond that date, with no where to go, and a development staging company ready, willing, and apparently able, to board up those stores and leave them boarded until the town agrees to their development conditions, while meantime displaced business owners and turfed residents are left in their wake.

I know Matt the video store owner has felt alone though this process, and I'm sure not too thrilled when,  at the same time he's being told to leave, up the street, the Mayor meantime was posing for pics with a Magna CEO and pushing " Life Is Good T-shirts - reading " Life is Good Newmarket". Not for this business owner it isn't. Still another Main St business is suing the town for allowing "illegal construction" and obstructing their businesses access while doing said work. Oh boy.

Another lawsuit against town, owner, & conservation authorities

Of course,  these are things that are not really in control of Councillors - Mayors perhaps more so, but when they run into landlord and tenant issues law for example, or the push for development, these businesses need some protections. And I don't mean by adding another layer of power to " bylaws" departments. I mean both the Heritage Act and the Planning Act need amending.

And how much development would be deemed too much? Everyone it seems has an opinion, but one thing remains - no real growth plan for Main St. And where's the B.I.A. in this?

Right now, as we sit, I feel Newmarket actually already has the most picturesque, yet functional, Main St. in York Region - outdistancing Unionville by far in my opinion, with the additional outing option of nearby Fairy Lake Park / Trails, and sometimes events at Riverwalk Commons Square as well - such as the weekly Farmer's Market.

She is a thing of picturesque beauty Main St., Newmarket, Ontario is, yet she has some holes that need filling.

View to Town Clock Tower, now empty

Most observers will agree that Main St, at least the main vein of her, which would be the stretch from Roadhouse & Rose Funeral Home, south to Water St., has had some interesting new stores, services and shops open up in the past few years but where some turnover has also occurred - sometimes not having the right mix - like too many coffee shops!

Riverwalk Commons & Stadium opened during current council

Restaurants in the area have really taken on a life in the past few years with the success of Cachet, and later Made in Mexico spurring that growth on. Rawlicious, Brewhops Pub, Suchi, and The Goulash House joined the existing fast food Pizzeria and Chinese Food restaurants and soon to come fish & chip shop and Italian restaurant as well as 2 new locations featuring baked goods, round out the "in the near future" bill. Toss in some "lunch only" locations, upscale coffee, baked goods and tea-houses, and Main has hospitality pretty well covered!

Replaced old arena

This being said, there are some holes to fill, and you don't fill them by opening similar businesses to compete against each other unless there's a demand for that, via having a bad existing similar product / service, which I don't see. What we could use are offices filled with people, or doctor's offices, health services etc. such as in the same building the food bank is now located, and also the unit that was formerly a children's day care, now sitting empty. I believe Anne Martin, running for council in the ward, owned the business once called Teddy Bear's Picnic. An elect her sign now sits in the window instead.

A challenger, John Heckbert thinks he has the answers and has studied other top downtown communities to bring that to his vision. He's new and brings new ideas but would they do justice to her history?

Vs Wildlife behind Main

Of course also running in the ward is the incumbent Joe Sponga who's in hung tough through a pretty tough job to juggle town construction woes vs plans for Main, along with business and tenant concerns, in a part time job. Joe has a big heart and means well, and is living proof why Newmarket Councilors' jobs should be full time. This town is getting too large and indeed it's downtown and heritage too important, for us to have councilors concerned with it all only part time. Joe has his fans and share of detractors, but, like any incumbent, will be tough to beat I think regardless.

But that doesn't mean side bars such as a disgruntled Main St store owner suing for having their property access tampered with - illegally as far as they are concerned - can't come out to play. We'll have to wait for this one to come out though...after the election! Stay Tuned for...(insert cheesy soap opera theme music here).. The Edge.. of Newmarket!

Building Owner slash Candidate

At any rate, Main Street needs a plan of attack for sustained growth, and to that end, I would suggest a plan to target types of businesses Main St wants, not gets. Take stock of what is there now, and actively pursue businesses from a wish list created, and offer a rebate incentive to give them a shot at survival. Beats having units empty.

WISH LIST

The General Store - A hardware store / printers / souvenirs store - Perhaps these days a full out  hardware store cannot be feasible on Main, but a good old fashioned " General Store", modernized, would be cool - complete with old coke machine for drinks. As well, no more Printers for photo-copying seem to exist on Main St so they could also offer that service from a copier machine.. and souvenirs are a given with all the movies now shot here, as well as Canada stuff!

Really? They should create one for them here behind Main!

A New Market - Whatever happened to selling fresh fruit and vegetables? Add some garden plants and flowers to the mix. With the farmer's market connection this should be a given. Add groceries too with competitive prices and you have a workable grocer's type business.

Butcher Shop - Classic Main St staple - emphasizing fresh, offer organic options

Record Stores - They have the cool factor. Vinyl records are at a 40 year high in sales and with Newmarket's boomer population new & used records would fly, and attract people to Main St! Recently CanadaT.com, which is Main's last manufacturer, featured some in-house promo of records and print art, and sales were very good!

Thriving Main St business being forced out by developers

Printing Shop - Hard copy printing specialist could survive - approach an existing one!

Thrift Shop - Trade-in used goods, furniture, clothing, and books - always a draw

Arts - Visual - A number of art galleries would add balance and create ambiance

Antiques - Always an attraction

High Tech Internet Cafe - I'm surprised there's not one already. Big screen gaming too.


Rental Housing: The Town Clock is already set up for housing since seniors were housed there recently...just saying...

Nooks & Crannies

Preservation work

One of the new Restaurants at Newmarket's Main St

Still In Style after all these years! Long time success story on Main St...Oh, and did I mention it's for sale?!

Coming Soon

Regression - Movie Shoot on Main St Newmarket

Main St Newmarket becomes Main St USA

The town of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, doubled for a retro American town for a day as, Regression, a psychological thriller film Directed by Writer, Director & Composer, 29 year old Alejandro Amenabar (The Others, Tesis, Abre Los Ojos), starring Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke, wherein a police detective investigates activities of the paranormal and evil happening in a small rural U.S. town, was shot on location on their Main St. Insert scary music here.

Although the storyline had been kept under wraps, a style similar to Amenbar's previous work in the genre, like the snuff film based Tesis, is likely to emerge.

The film will be released by Dimension Films, owned by the Weinstein Company, in 2015.

The last time a movie production was in town with Main St. as it's set location, it was the remake of Carrie being shot, and, like then, locals turn into patronizing wannabes whenever the circus comes to town, just happy to be a part of it and willing to lend our streets out and restrict residents while the shoot goes on. The only thing missing was the red carpet, but hey, it's all part of the small town charm Newmarket maintains, at least on its Main St, as everything else seems to be under construction - but again - the magic of movies will edit that out for us thank goodness.

The movie shoot was fairly typical with Main St. being used for part of a chase scene. In a scene like this, continuity is very important so everything from the road being wet for a rainy scene, to the people walking down the street (extras) have to be the same and are shot from different angles so must be done numerous times. This shoot had several crane cams too which was very cool to see in action hovering high above the streets, which, while observing, I also noticed a dog in a window and wondered if it was part of the flick. Ha.

The crew and A.D.'s et al were actually quite accommodating I found, allowing me some pics and the like in between takes and posing for the odd one too. Last time out (Carrie production) I found them a bit condescending and pushy which always gets my back up a bit when I figure we're doing them a favour as locals, allowing them use of our beautiful Main St. (not an easy task for a local to do) and suspending our use of it for their movie -  which I won't likely ever see until it hits cable.

But that's the charm of Main St Newmarket - and a charm that's beginning to pay off as movie credits for Main pile up with increased business in the shops and restaurants or those just soaking up the well preserved older historical-like buildings, including one of the few remaining Main St, old town clocks which sets her apart as a town, and, I guess, for the movie locations scouts.

Rover restricted during movie shoot

I likely won't rush out to see this movie Regression or anything, as thrillers aren't my thing, but I do look forward to seeing the final shots of Main St  - especially with all the development hounds salivating over it of late including the clock tower - so we may lose attracting these movie shoots soon, as well as lose the charm.

Meantime, Newmarket has it's our own Talent Show in town tonight featuring Canada's Idol Star finder Farley Flex so who knows!? A star is born!?

Below a video I put together of some backstage stuff. See you in the movies!


Here's some more photos below and check out the TPE You Tube video of some behind the scenes scenes from Regression!

Mr. Newmarket checks in

Even extras are Stars in Newmarket!

Optical Delusion..Hey its a horror!

Blogger given 24 hours to Get Out of Town!

I was sent an e-mail - not mail but e-mail - ordering me to remove any and all references or connection to Town of Newmarkett official events or website and of showing any town logos within 24 hours from my blog post address. I have purposely spelled the town's name wrong so it does not get deemed having been used in any official capacity. Ha.

Designed for / by a youth contest to end graffiti..Will they censor this too?

Q:Does this mean people can't attend town events and post pictures of anything on FB, or blog about it, or reference it if it's a town event?
I don't think so big brother....but you can try. 

I've looked at my blog content at the blogspot location they sent me and saw nothing even remotely connecting myself or TPE to the town in any official capacity nor deemed me trying to connect myself with the town's events in any official capacity nor any other entity as such. I've removed one link essentially promoting them and some event pics now. 

I once called Town's Arch Mcdonald's-like - No more!

I've been told by a considerable number of business owners and residents, including a number of town councillors, that my unofficial promotions of / for events in the town (not always run by town) should be commended. 

On occasion a blog opinion doesn't match the town's official position but so what? I'm not an agent of them nor did I ever claim to be, just a resident I'd thought, who grew up here and still happens to give a crap. Blogs are for opinion and sharing things. Period.

Perhaps someone didn't like me posting a picture of the sign they have which is a life sized likeness of the guy in charge of the budget putting coins in a piggy bank  that was sitting inside the town offices, or the street sign that advertises Newmarket's place in the world according to a magazine's opinion - of which I called both wastes of money. Can they legally silence opinion?

When this last farm goes due to council decisions I won't blog about it now

By the way, I volunteered to be on an organizing committee for a recent Town of Newmarket event, as well as I ran a booth at it with free activities and prizes for kids, and there in front of the rest of the dozen or so attending organizing volunteers, I specifically mentioned to a staffer who'd asked us to spread the word of the event that I could blog about it and was encouraged to but apparently the legal department wasn't informed. 

No matter, I could use the publicity as a fledgling blogger getting pressured for perhaps politically motivated reasons should it come to that I guess. Not saying they are, but someone's miffed. Meantime...Time's a wasting!

These things are mentioned and shown because they need to be. Waste is waste and corruption begins with censorship.

Meantime I must get ready for the upcoming Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge upcoming at the Newmarket Community Centre and Riverwalk Commons - but has no DIRECT or indirect CONNECTION TO THE TOWN JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR. Although there was at one time and at that time insisted we use the logo but so we're clear there is  
NO TOWN AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER.  


Remember...24 hours..!(spoken like from the Flintstones ala Rock Hudson!)