Dear editor,
When we returned home in the spring of 2012, it was with anticipation of the new Crown Isle Shopping Centre.
And what a disappointment it was — just another big box group of stores, no style, but we thought, oh well, it's early days, maybe as they continue it will get better.
When we returned home this year and the paper showed the plans for the new additions to the development we were astounded. Now in this week's paper, they have announced it's pretty well final and we are going to have another auto service centre for cars, and why on earth do we need another service centre in Courtenay, there are so many of them, and then they announced a drive- thru restaurant, and we all figured out it would be McDonald's.
Well, really, why would they put a really nice restaurant with style and good food when they could have an inexpensive burger place, in a big box shopping centre that doesn’t have any style anyway? And a drive-thru to boot!
Just what we need — another congestion to deal with at Ryan and Lerwick.
What happened to the idea of a village-style concept with some nice little shops, restaurant, coffee shop, someplace that people would love to walk to and spend some time there?
The idea that was proposed at the big meeting a couple of years ago was that the architect was going to do a drive-through to get the proper feel of Crown Isle community for the design of the shopping centre.
Well, in fact, other than being in the location, it does not in any way reflect Crown Isle. You don’t see any flat roofs, or square houses with metal siding in Crown Isle.
But, in the spring, we thought, as before, it's early days and maybe it will get better.
Not so, it’s not going to get any better at all, just another big box store shopping centre, no charm, no atmosphere.
The Scotts of Crown Isle,
Courtenay