We open at 188 Locke St. in Hamilton, Ontario later this spring. But first a little history.

Locke Street is located in Hamilton’s southwest corner, at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment. Most of the homes and buildings in this area were built in the first ten or twenty years of the last century. More recently the street has evolved into a vibrant and eclectic destination for locals and out-of-towners to meet for coffee, shopping, lunch or dinner, get a hair-cut, attend church, or just to hang out.

Below is what 188 Locke Street looked like when we first knew it would “soon” be the home of Citizen Kid.
The building itself was not in very good shape. The “Collector’s Store” had some great stuff in there but it was time for this corner to get freshened up.
A casual conversation with the owner of “Antiques on Locke” included an interesting bit of information about the building. You can see where an old painted sign on the exterior wall was left uncovered when the building was plastered some years ago. The sign reads “Jeffery’s Shoe Store”. I was told that Mr. Jeffery was a very successful distance runner and, with the prize money from his victory at the New York Marathon, he opened his own shoe store here in Hamilton.
Below is a picture of what the building looks like now.

I think I was able to catch the last moments of the “Jeffery’s Shoe Store” sign with these shots. Some needed improvements are being made. This includes windows. Four on the street level and five on the upper level.


Later this week the entire wall facing Locke street will be coming down. It has some structural faults. I will certainly try to get some photos of that operation!
Below is an architect’s rendition of what things will look like upon completion. I found out today that there will be some major cosmetic differences from this picture in the end. You will have to stay tuned to see how it turns out.

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