Is Guelph's Shopping Nightmare Finally Over?

Costco's Guelph store opened last Friday after much fanfare and extended wait. So what? I grant Costco the compliment that as a business, they're definitely more forward thinking in terms of wage and working conditions for employees, and being one of the rare private businesses that proactively compensates their employees well while being successful and proving that those things are not mutually exclusive. I welcome Costco as a good employer that offers Guelphites well-paying jobs, but what I don't welcome is the borderline religious fervor that accompanied another store opening in the City of Guelph.

Now I'm no communist. The convenience of being able to go somewhere, buy what you need is wonderful, and have a myriad of options as to where you do it at is wonderful, but there's commerse, and then there's so called "retail therapy." In the former, if you need a loaf of bread or a pair of shoes, you consider your options as to variety and price and you choose what's best for you. In the later, you have a weekly "date night" at Costco, like one couple I saw interviewed on CTV Kitchener, and are elated that you can do that in town now.

It astounds me that a society that rants and raves about waiting in line at Service Ontario to get their licence renewed, or about waiting in the Tim Hortons drive-thru line, will wake up early and stand in line to get into a store that will be there tomorrow, or buy a product that will still be available a week later. So it goes, and so it went when Costco opened. Same thing with the Giant Tiger at Willow West Mall albeit to a lesser degree.

For background, check out the Guelph Citizen's post on the reasons why Costco's opening was delayed.

So that brings us to the question I pose in the headline, "Is Guelph's Shopping Nightmare Finally Over?" That is to say, is there a chain store that Guelph doesn't have that people feel a desperate need for?

I ask because, obviously, I'm not shopping expert. Very rarely do I need something I can't find in Guelph, and if I can't then I can likely order it online. The only thing I can think of is an Apple store, although there is a Jump+ at Stone Road Mall, which is Apple store-ish, so maybe we don't need one that badly. So I put this to you Politico readers, What does Guelph need now? Is the local shopping scene bereft of anything in partiuclar?*

*I realize that some areas of the city are underserviced with commercial businesses, but this isn't about that. We're talking about specific businesses, no matter where they end up in the city.