Interesting video by GLOBAL TV. They make some good points, but also are pretty out of touch. Here are a couple things that jumped out at me upon watching this.
1) The death of Toronto's club scene wasn't driven by standard market forces. It was driven by gentrification fuelled by a grandstanding City councillor, Adam Vaughn, who approved well over 50+ real estate developments in the district and justified it by going on a crusade to close down every club he could, branding them as "dangerous" and "bad for neighbourhoods"...despite the rising real estate values. Smh.
Click to read:
2) Millenials are still people. Everyone keeps pointing to "Tinder", Facebook, etc as reasons for people "not going out" which is bullshit. People go out to feel good and have a good time. To socialize. Social media exposes us to more people, but it does NOT make us feel "connected" to them. As a matter of fact, increased usage of social media actually raises anxiety & depression levels.
A new study came out that shows the more friends people have, the happier they are and the less pain they feel. Having 5000 people follow you does NOT make you a happier, more social person. Meeting people face to face and forging relationships with them does.
In chasing dollars and coolness, we lost that fundamental fact (People go out to have a good time, meet people and feel good) in the industry the world over.
People forgot what the party was for...and it's resulting in people finding other ways to entertain themselves than traditional clubs where the business model became "the worse you treat them, the more you make". That phenomenon was driven by economic forces that died in 2008 and everyone's been slow to realize / adjust to that fact.
Places like The Addisons and hotels as well as places that encourage ACTUAL socialization have never been more popular...as attested by Toronto's 21 board game cafes (trust me, I live near two of them, Castles & Snakes and Lattes and they are PACKED).
I'll write another blog about the reasons I feel the industry "slowed down" in the downtown core, other than Adam Vaughn's personal war against us. But feel free to watch the video, comment and let me know what you think.
See you on the dancefloor!
KB