About ten years ago, downtown Saskatoon Saskatchewan had a Starbucks on nearly every corner. However, the fancy coffee phase has calmed down and they are down to one prominent location. I figure Timmies didn’t move in downtown back then because they didn’t want to compete with Starbucks. But now, Timmies can move in for the kill. It doesn’t matter what absurd price the rent is, because Tim’s owns that city. Most Canucks have probably heard of the timmyMe iPhone app - it was developed in Saskatoon.
On one of the major streets, the Timmies was running into a problem: too many people. Too many people lined up for the drive-thru, so they were spilling out into the street and disrupting traffic during morning rush hour. The solution was to build another Timmies, almost directly across the street. Now no matter what side of the street you’re driving down, there’s a Timmies for you! I was actually in the city a couple of weeks ago and noticed on Circle Drive they built a Tim’s in the parking lot by Millar Ave, just a few blocks from the one at the Home Depot.
I’m in Regina now, and the complete lack of love for Timmies mystifies me. There’s a cult of Robin’s Donuts here, and it feels so wrong. Back home further north of Saskatoon, Tim’s is where the church crowd congregates on Sunday. Hell, Tim’s is practically a church in itself.
Anyway, I’m waiting for the inevitable headline “One killed, 5 injured in stampede at newly opened Tim Hortons”.
Every time I see the name ‘Saskatoon’ I think immediately of the song. Which then makes me think of Slap Shot, because that was where I first heard it. And now I have to see if Slap shot is available on demand.
Actually I was told Calgary is the anti-timmies. When I was there about three years ago, I was told there was only about three of them in the whole city and one was in the airport.
This may have changed
I just hide out here, because while the large cities in the country bicker, I take advantage of online shopping, no global warming, no overcrowding and no 401.
Calgary is anti-Timmies? That would surprise all the people lined up around the block every time I drive by one. And there are more than three - there’s more like one on every other corner.
Em, I was given a tour of the city, not the whole city mind you, starting from seventeenth ave and I seen no street side timmies. Coming from Ontario, were every five hundred feet , you can see the big sign, it was a bit disconcerting.
Now I know that you folks living there have the straight dope, but was there a time in recent times, when timmies may have been scarce ?
It was very exciting - we were hooting and hollering all evening. Jim knows Naheed from university, so we were more involved in this election than ever before.
Not as far as I know. Mind, if you were in the downtown area, you might not notice them–Calgary (like Toronto and Montreal) has an extensive indoor pedestrian network, allowing pedestrians to walk all around downtown without going outdoors. Much of this network is lined with stores and services–including Tim’s. Get farther out into the suburbs, especially along commercial roads such as Macleod Trail, 16th Ave N, and 36th Ave N east of the Deerfoot; and you’ll find that standalone Tim’s are just as ubiquitous as they are in southern Ontario.
There’s actually a place in Canada that doesn’t like Tim’s?
Jim knows Naheed from university, so we were more involved in this election than ever before.