Another Place Closing in Carleton Place?

So word on the street is Mac’s Milk on Moore and Lake Ave is either closing, restructuring, re-branding or moving– and the official BIA response is:

Cathie Hawkins McOrmond–-BIA Mac’s Milk is restructuring and has purchased Esso locations. Three Macs Milks in Carleton Place will remain and will be renamed Circle K. The fourth location on Moore Street is not officially closing as the paper work for this has not been completed. The potential of the closing is a result of corporate restructuring and not based on the business or this location doing poorly.

The BIA will be working together with Macs Milk, and the property owner within the next month.

Let’s hope a solution is found. ALL of us blame someone: the landlords, local consumers, big box stores and the list goes on.  No matter who you blame the bottom line is this: the town of Carleton Place needs a help line right now and fast.

Many keep complaining that the local landlords are not willing to revitalize their properties. I would also like to to remind everyone that our local landlords do not have endless pockets and have tried to no avail to get people interested in their properties. I know this for a fact. Some continue to lose money EVEN renting them out. This is also a fact. How much bleeding out of your own pocket can you keep up with?

So our empty properties sit– and our businesses suffer, and it is not because landlords are NOT trying to rent out these properties, or because the store owners that faithfully open up their stores each day for us are not trying. You cannot get someone interested in buying or renting when there is very little business in the town of Carleton Place. This is not Almonte, nor Perth, nor Merrickville. Would you personally open a business on a street or a town with no traffic?

Look around you, it is not only the downtown-have you seen both businesses closed on each side of the Dunlop Industrial Park corner closed? The list goes on.

So who do you hold accountable?  Who do you blame? it just the sign of the times?

For Carleton Place to survive I keep repeating:  we need new approaches to bring people to town. If not, we might as well go back to being just a collection of gas stations, banks, and churches surrounding the school, post office, and the town hall. Let’s support the new ideas that bubble up to benefit the town without arguing for a change and see where it takes us. Let’s stop fighting people with ideas and encourage them and not discourage them. What have we honestly got to lose?

I love my town- I hate to see very little traffic on Bridge Street when I know how hard these small business people work. But, you only have to look at the history–very few new ideas are being implemented or considered. It’s easy for everyone to point the finger at someone or something– but the bottom line is change is desperately needed in how EVERYONE thinks

I feel like a broken record complaining and maybe will not see change in my lifetime, but my family lives here- your family lives here- and I want change for them so the town thrives.

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I have written at least two dozen pieces on changing Carleton Place- not going to bore you with them all..RELATED READING:

So Who is to Blame for Carleton Place’s Problems?

The Obituary of a Main Street? Carleton Place

Is Carleton Place Really Meeting People on the Mississippi?

Back to the Future— Carleton Place—- Project Tim Horton’s

Carleton Place Does Not Have to Live in a Walmart Economy

Should We Blame the Landlords?

The Willy Wonka Blues of Carleton Place