Following the fire that destroyed the Mel’s Plaza this past winter term, the Dean’s Office has decided to lend a hand in planning the future of the local businesses affected by the fire. The Office has recently unveiled the plan for the plaza entitled ‘Vision 2011’ and it outlines some new, groundbreaking ideas on how to get these local businesses back on their feet. The following outlines some of the key ideas proposed for some of Waterloo’s most iconic businesses.
Mel’s Diner
Students both in Waterloo and on co-op were struck hard with the news that the fire destroyed the ever-loved Mel’s diner. In the interest of getting the iconic restaurant back up and running as soon as possible, the diner will be turned into a new-age outdoor eatery experience. The iconic 1950’s tile floor, being the only part unaffected by the fire, will be kept but in order to minimize construction time, the booths and bar area that previously made up the restaurant will be replaced with patio furniture and picnic blankets. The new kitchen, which will consist of several barbeques and a pot of boiling water over an open fire, will be enclosed by a white picket fence in the back of the restaurant area as it was before. The colourful jukebox that used to fill the diner with classic rock and roll tunes will be replaced by a boombox found at a garage sale. The only tunes available will now be restricted to the mix CD consisting of mostly backstreet boys and pre-head shaving Britney Spears songs that is already in the player and cannot be changed since the CD-player has been melted shut. This new unconventional image is not expected to negatively effect business as the Diner will still be offering it’s classic hangover breakfast selections at all hours during weekends, or at least until the first snowfall hits.
140 West
Work on the club formerly known as 140 West has already begun. As the club has suffered from fluctuations in attendance over the years, and has changed management hands several times, the Vision 2011 team has decided to continue this trend and take the club in an entirely new direction. Although minimal changes will be made to the interior and the day-to-day operations of the club, the venue will have its name changed to Cameo. As the name suggests, the club will make a very popular, but equally brief appearance on the Waterloo nightlife scene. This change is anticipated to bring forth a spike in the venue’s popularity that will eventually fade by around Fall 2011, at which time the club will once again be renamed and rebranded. The anticipated name for the venue at that time is Club Arson.
Caesar’s
Although this venue experienced minimal damage from the fire, it has been decided that resources are best spent in upholding the club’s image as the always hot night spot in the plaza. An undisclosed amount of funds will be spent to assure that the line up to get in to the venue will continue to remain at least two hours long on Friday and Saturday nights. Doing so involves a variety of plans, including hiring stand in models and strategically placing mannequins so as to populate the line up night after night. As a result, minimal effort will go into fixing up the club itself. One of the workers assigned to repairing the interior of the venue commented, “Yeah, the inside got torn up pretty badly by the fire, but we figured it can all be patched up with a roll of duct tape and some spray paint, right?”
Sugar Mountain
A local entrepreneur has already taken the initiative of restoring the local candy shop. Just a matter of days after demolition of the plaza was completed and the barricades were removed, a man in a large trench coat was spotted parking a white panel van on the same spot formerly occupied by the candy store with ‘Free Candy’ crudely written in spray paint on the side of the vehicle. Although the area is more frequented by University students, the owner hopes to attract a ‘much more youthful crowd’ in the near future.
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