Thursday May 25, 2023 | COLWOOD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Two major retail outlets in the fast-growing Royal Bay area of Colwood celebrated their grand opening, drawing about 300 people out to mark this step-forward milestone for retail.
The weather this morning in the west shore was ideal for the event and picture-perfect… sunny, warm and dry.
Quality Foods and Cascadia Liquor both opened their stores at The Commons today, a new shopping mall at 345 Latoria Boulevard (near Metchosin Road amidst non-stop housing development in the area.
Quality Foods was open for a few hours yesterday evening to get things rolling.
Colwood Mayor and council:
The official ribbon cutting was at 9 am, with Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi helping to lead the celebrations in front of both stores before guests and customers filed into the new premises of Quality Foods and Cascadia Liquor.
Colwood council members attended. Mingling in the crowd were David Grove, Dean Jantzen, Kim Jordison, Misty Olsen, and Ian Ward.
Housing development:
The event was coordinated by Gablecraft which is building housing in Royal Bay. They offer diverse housing options to suit a range of lifestyle needs, whether you’re buying your first home, raising a family, or enjoying your golden years.
The opening of two major retail outlets signals growth of the local community. The Royal Bay buildout is about 50 percent complete so essentially what is a ‘pop-up’ community (everything new) will continue to grow over the next decade or so.
Royal Bay Secondary School is nearby on Ryder Hesjesdal Way, and the drive-through Sequoia Coffee shop that opened in early days (November 2020). The upcoming elementary school in South Langford (school yet to be named) was mentioned in the official speeches… retail needs the busy traffic of families shopping locally.
As development continues there, the area’s customer base will also include a major long-term care and assisted living centre (operated by Island Health) and the new BC Museum Collections and Research Centre (set to open in 2025). Other retail includes Pure Integrative Pharmacy (still to open), Sequoia Coffee (which opened in November 2020), and Megson FitzPatrick Insurance Services (opening June 12, 2023).
Some photos from the upbeat day:
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends (formerly West Shore Voice News) covers news of the west shore community of Greater Victoria, as well as south Vancouver Island and BC issues.
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been covering news of the west shore region since 2008, as founder and editor of MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (2020 to present).
Ms Brooke now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
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