Shoppers Drug Mart Solo District opening March 31

With Whole Foods and the BC Liquor Store having already opened, Shoppers Drug Mart will soon follow with a March 31 opening next week.  I have also heard that Uncle Fatih's Pizza is already open as well.

Whole Foods readying to open January 28

With 14 days to go for the opening of Whole Foods, the activity around Solo District will begin to increase.  I particularly can't wait for the Ricky's Diner to open.  BREAKFAST!!!!!

Solo District's Stratus taking form

As the Stratus tower and Whole Foods continue to evolve, the Altus tower will begin to rise shortly.  When Whole Foods goes in there in 2015 with Shoppers Drug Mart arriving later, food choices will significantly increase.  With Loblaw having purchased Shoppers Drug Mart, the new Shoppers will surely begin to carry Loblaw food products.  These two additions will complement the existing Save On Foods on Lougheed and the Costco on Still Creek.

Photo taken this morning

Solo District ready by 2015

The first tower accompanied by Whole Foods will be ready for occupancy by 2015.  The project has progressed significantly since Morrey Nissan, Milestones and Good Year Tire cleared out.

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More commercial/retail tenants confirmed for Solo District

With Whole Foods, Shoppers Drug Mart and a liquor store already confirmed to move into the Solo District site, Uncle Fatih's Pizza will take up residence there as well.  There is word that Ricky's Restaurant and BCAA will also move in along with a Starbucks coffee shop.

It's nice to see another restaurant come into the area.  I wonder if Milestones will make a comeback.

Shoppers Drug Mart part of Solo District

We've already known for a while that Whole Foods will be an anchor store in the Solo District project. Now it has been learned that Shoppers Drug Mart will be part of the Altus Phase 2 of the project.  The addition of Shoppers Drug Mart will also be accompanied by a Signature LCB Liquor Store in the retail space in Phase 2.  The current Liquor Store at Brentwood Mall will close with the arrival of the new store in Solo.

The details of regarding Shoppers and the LCB Store are in the following City of Burnaby link:

https://burnaby.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=14107#

Burnaby NewsLeader article below:

Signature liquor store proposed for SOLO District

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: October 01, 2013 12:00 PM

A new "signature" liquor store is being proposed for the SOLO District project under construction at the southwest corner of Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway.

Signature Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) stores are the largest of the provincial government-owned and operated liquor outlets which offer the largest range of products and special events such as product tastings.

The proposal is to open up such a store in the 48-storey residential-commercial tower now being built as the second phase of Appia Development's SOLO project. It's expected to be completed in 2015.

If approved, the store would be located on the second level over two levels of parking and retail space, and underneath 11 storeys of offices and 33 storeys of condominium apartments, according to a city staff report.

The proposal would fall in line with a liquor store location framework, adopted by city council in 2006, which called for the establishment of a government signature liquor store in each of Burnaby's four town centres.

"The purpose of this objective is to offer equity and certainty for consumers throughout the City in terms of product availability, convenience, and stable pricing," the report said.

A smaller LDB store currently in Brentwood mall is expected to be replaced by the proposed signature store, said the report.

The store would be located on Skyline Drive, a new street that would be built through the development site parallel to Lougheed.

And while signature stores are generally open later than smaller liquor stores, such hours would be consistent with at least two other major commercial tenants confirmed for the project, Whole Foods Market and Shoppers Drug Mart, the report noted.

Burnaby's planning department will work with the applicant to create a development plan suitable to be presented at a public hearing in the future.

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

twitter.com/WandaChow