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A new bargain shopping business is coming to downtown London as a Toronto-area entrepreneur converts the former Metropolitan department store along Dundas Place into a liquidation shop.
Almost Free, the new store inside the iconic building at 140 Dundas St., across from Market Lane, will carry products ranging from clothing to refrigerators, cosmetics and household goods, all at low prices, said owner David Nava.
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“(Customers) can expect a lot of bargains. We’ll have a variety that no one does,” said Nava, who is renovating the site for a planned opening at the end of October.
Located on the north side of Dundas Place, the building’s ground floor was most recently used as a thrift store and last spring housed an exhibition of work by street artist Banksy. The building once was home to the Metropolitan department store.
Nava owns Toronto-based Canada Food Equipment. When he first saw the building, he said it was run down, with pigeons living inside, windows broken and the roof falling apart.
Still, he said he loved the 1,800-square -metre (20,000-sq.-ft.) building, which he bought, realizing its potential to become something London could be “proud of” once renovated. Workers have been overhauling the ground floor for its conversion to the new store, the new sign is already up and Nava plans to use other space in the building for storage.
“I realized I could really redo this building. It’d been neglected for more than 15 years,” Nava said. “To me, it’s a piece of cake to it to take over and to do something with.
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“I’m not going to put an expensive store here. I can see the people that come around here. They’re not very rich and would all be happy to have something half the price they normally pay.”
Although the downtown already has discount retailers, Nava is promising a wide range of products – TVs, laptops, freezers, microwaves, stereos, even potato chips and canned food – at prices less than half that charged at traditional department stores.
He said he can be aggressive on pricing because the products he will carry will be bought from surplus big-box store stock. Depending on how the downtown store goes, he said, he might expand in London.
“People will be surprised,” he said. “If it goes well, we may open some more around here.”
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