Decision 2: Coffee time

Decision 2: Coffee time!

You head to the kitchen to make your morning coffee and realize you used the last of the beans yesterday. You can’t start your day without it – what do you do?

  • ⏹️ Square

    You head over to the new coffee shop in the revitalized plaza on your neighbourhood’s main street. You sit on a bench in the plaza and watch folks walk by while you wait for your coffee to cool down.

  • ⏺️ Circle

    You grab a coffee from the coffee counter inside the grocery store that just opened on the ground level of the new mixed-use building next to the transit hub. You can grab some beans while you’re there before getting on transit to your next destination.

  • 🔼 Triangle

    You walk a couple blocks to a small café that just opened in a converted house in the neighbourhood. You’re happy to see your neighbour’s daughter behind the counter and take a minute to catch up as you order your coffee.

Making informed decisions

As Kitchener grows, we face important choices about how to create spaces for shops, services and jobs in ways that are sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with how people move and live.

Key considerations include:

To be successful, businesses need to be in the right places: close to customers, employees, and reliable transportation networks. For example, a small grocery store needs 15,000 people living within a short distance to stay in business. This means if we want local shops and services to thrive, we need to plan for the right mix of housing, population density, and infrastructure to support them.

A daycare has different needs than a bakery, and a salon needs less space than grocery store. Some businesses need room for production or seating, others thrive in smaller or shared spaces. And typically, larger units mean higher rents, making it harder for small or independent businesses to afford a spot.

Adding new businesses, services and jobs can change the feel of a neighbourhood — sometimes in great ways. New cafés, shops, and workspaces can improve convenience, encourage walking, rolling and cycling, and help promote connection leading to a stronger sense of place and community. But we know that change can also be challenging for existing residents.

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