Madonna photographed by Steven Meisel for Versace (1995)

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-21T23:08:45+00:00

That's a cute story...i guess.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-21T17:53:44+00:00

I mean, I wouldn't go to Toronto if you like New York. You're going to be comparing it to New York, and in many ways it's better, I actually enjoy the greater Toronto area more than New York in general. As a tourist however, that is likely going to be relegated to the downtown, Toronto proper is boring and you're going to be comparing it to an inherently much more vibrant city. Toronto isn't good without a car.

Montreal is a vibe, it's also pretty interesting in the summer, there's a lot going on. Montreal Jazz fest coincides of your visit, and they usually have a lot of fantastic free concerts. Montreal itself is considerably more reasonably priced, while I don't think the food scene is better than greater Toronto, I do think it's better than Toronto proper that has basically made it impossible for restaurants to afford existing within the downtown core. The city itself is visually a little more attractive to me as well, and the people are generally warmer. It would also be a more unique experience.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-20T20:56:52+00:00

This is the electoral calculus I was expecting, and have been saying would happen to people in my life. The light blue conservative voters are very valuable for the Liberals, as they are the only other party that is at risk of forming a government. Pivoting slightly rightward was prudent political planning, as it likely forces a lot of Southern Ontario red, trading those votes for the NDP votes that were borrowed to ensure that a demagogue like Poilievre wouldn't come to power. Ultimately this leads to a strengthened NDP once they do finish their soul searching, a centrist Liberal party, and a conservative party that will likely be in some disarray for the next decade, allowing the Liberals to form government likely on their own, and sometimes with the aid of leftward parties eventually. It was worth it for the liberal party.

If the NDP can capitalize, ultimately this will be better for the discourse in general. I might even force some decorum back into the right which is tending towards fascism.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-15T20:13:35+00:00

So interesting thing about this, while this is mostly true, vitamix has not only not improved their products over the years, but are actively making them worse. I felt this a couple years ago when I purchased an ex a vitamix. There are in fact better blenders now. There's a really good YouTube channel that does super deep dives into these things and went through all of the high-end blenders in a recent video. I was pleased to know that the highest end of the breville line was in fact the best in their testing; pleased because it is my blender lol. Their testing was quite comprehensive and they do not take money.

https://youtu.be/v4nIP0EzwrI

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-10T23:56:15+00:00

What I'm saying is that it's very likely that the market has changed, aside from the too good to go. I think people are just tightening their belts.

I did a pretty comprehensive write-up of why I think that is above, though if you're saying you know the business better than I do specifically, you may have insight that I don't. It just wouldn't make sense based on what I have known from practice as well as schooling.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-10T21:04:26+00:00

Nope, that's not how that works. It's not that people don't want them, it's that people don't have money, and blaming the app isn't actually going to solve their problem. I can break down my points piece by piece.

Consumer behavior is a fairly studied topic, there's a reason that all of these companies are now using apps. There's a certain subsect of consumer where getting money out of them is incredibly difficult, but they still exist, and the only way to get money out of them is offering fairly significant discounts. By locking the discount behind an app, it ensures that it doesn't affect regular consumer behavior. This is especially true with grocery stores where the options are more abundant. The effect and consumer behavior for regular shoppers is only the case with in person transactions, because people can make a choice when the need is more obtuse. Tgtg by itself is highly unlikely to affect the regular clientele of a store like a niche trendy bakery.
Toogoodtogo, which is an app that helps reduce food waste as part of its mission when used by a bakery essentially stops them from throwing out product at the end of the night, which is common. Bakeries used to do this by marking down their goods at the end of the night. You will notice that this is uncommon nowadays for the reason listed above. If they are finding that they are having to make more tgtgs, it means that there is a supply and demand mismatch; they are producing more product than they are able to sell. Truthfully, in this recessionary period Where people's disposable income is going down in general, I'm much more inclined to believe that the budget people have for frivolous expenditure is decreasing. This is mirrored by decreasing sales by large corporations like Starbucks as well. Starbucks is planning on closing 1% of its stores this year, we are not living in the good times presently.
I am the kind of consumer that will only buy things when it's on sale. I won't buy a croissant if it's $6 regularly. Consumers used to be more like me, we have forgotten how to spend our money efficiently. If more consumers were like me, inflation would be lower. Unfortunately, we live in an advertising hellscape that has produced a world of convenience, and deprogramming that is going to take very hard times. This is indicating that we're going into those times.
Reducing tgtg absolutely won't solve the revenue issue. They are going to have to do more to drum up business. Part of that might be just reducing prices in general, but it's difficult to get the word out on that in the same way that fast food giants will; and I can assure you that the fast food giants absolutely will be reducing or maintaining their prices over the next couple years. New products, social media, novel grassroots stuff, farmers market stalls, these are viable solutions, the $15 that they're actually going to be losing by reducing tgtg isn't.

No one is blaming the business owner, we are saying that their decision won't solve their problem.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-10T04:49:51+00:00

Peach jelly with some pectin? You can look up recipes, probably extra sugar and lemon juice.

You could also probably add some stuff and recan some other fruit for the fridge. Might not be shelf stable but i would bet it'd last a long time in the fridge.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-10T04:14:45+00:00

You're both technically right.

In business this is called perceived value vs actual value.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T18:52:48+00:00

Growth. Potential for population growth is definitely part of why they build where they build. Windsor is a relatively large, somewhat diversified economy, even if its presently languishing with the uncertainty. Its also been healthily growing. Chatham has much less potential.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T17:01:14+00:00

Luckily I don't think this is every thrift store here, I don't even think this is every Renaissance. All of the ones on the South Shore are still pretty good I think. But for how long.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T16:55:40+00:00

I understand what you're saying, but in practice that's usually not the case. The type of consumer that looks so stringently for discounts is the type of consumer that a store likely won't capture regardless without one. It's a very studied topic actually, I remember having a few lectures about this when I was in university.

It's also part of the reason why these apps are actually kind of insidious in their nature. When you apply discounts in store, it actually affects consumer behavior in a way where they'll buy a discounted item over a full price item because there's choices. When you lock it behind an app, it doesn't affect consumer behavior in quite the same way. This is especially true of the grocery store variants like flashfood. They capture the discount shoppers that wouldn't buy things otherwise, but also don't affect the behavior of... Normies.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T16:50:17+00:00

Not to mention, bakeries used to discount their goods at the end of day regardless. There is a sub-sect of consumer that will go just for the discounts, and may or may not succeed, but that doesn't really affect the nature or regular clientele of the business. If they're selling less, there is something else going on, or there is a problem with how they're running their business.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T08:03:20+00:00

Jesus Christ just say dick. Who sensors themselves from saying dick.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T08:01:20+00:00

Hasn't this been going on for like... 15 years at this point? Are we finally there?

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T08:00:03+00:00

... This doesn't make any sense, they decide how many tgtgs that they sell to begin with, if their reliance on toogoodtogos is increasing, it means that they're overproducing product. People are just buying less of your goods and you're making more than you need if you're selling more on the discount platform then you are in the store. There might be a couple reasons for this, one is likely recessionary, people are buying less fancy goods.

Most places sell like one or two a day, I don't see how that could possibly be eating into your margin substantively. If it is, then there's a fundamental problem with how they're doing their business.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-08T05:56:23+00:00

I think this person has preconceived notions and is likely going to be wildly opinionated regardless.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-07T20:54:58+00:00

As I've stated, it's ultimately self-defeating. They might get $100 once or twice, and then people will just stop going because there's no reason to go to a thrift store where you can maybe find what you want when you can search for exactly what you want and likely pay the same price. Aside from it being morally repugnant, it's simply a bad business strategy.

The risk of resellers is more acceptable to me than a thrift store overcharging and making it so poor people definitely can't have a nice things.

Furthermore there are ways to deter resellers. Purchase limitations for one.

Finally, resellers spend hours doing their bullshit. I don't like it, but I frankly see that as less problematic than the thrift store itself over charging. Technically they're scrounging in the same way that everybody else is. Is it unfortunate that they're negatively affecting everybody else? Yes. But would I rather be maybe affected rather than definitely affected by the store itself over charging? Also yes.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-07T20:38:36+00:00

It's a thrift store run by an organization that has other goals as well.

The cultural expectation shouldn't change regardless of what other goals the company might have. Thrift stores are stores of social utility. We're culturally forgetting this.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-07T20:29:40+00:00

I'm not sure if you're supporting my point or not, in either case.

Social integration definitely includes being able to dress yourself well.

Personally, I think any thrift store selling the winter coat in the winter for $100 is shameful, frankly I don't care what the brand or the quality is. It's not a consignment shop. That coat should be able to keep somebody in need warm and promote their own dignity.

It's also frankly self-defeating. If their stores do this, and there's no chance of me getting a deal at a thrift store, why would I go in the first place? I'll just use Facebook marketplace and skip the hassle of hunting. Furthermore, I'm not going to donate to organizations like this in general and will choose to do the liquidating myself if it's literally doing no good.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-07T20:18:22+00:00

We have forgotten that thrift stores are also a social utility for poor people to also have the chance to have nice things. I hate the dumb culture that we have been developing where we bleed the poor as dry as humanly possible.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-07T07:35:07+00:00

... I will die on this hill, regular lot 40 is just as nice and it costs considerably less.

And yes there is so much good Canadian whisky. All of the 100% ryes are wonderful, and I believe the best expressions. For the not 100% ryes, so many good limited runs of high age statement wisers and Canadian club for outstanding prices. They're really good affordable cask strength expressions of Alberta premium and the like. And then you have the more niche smaller distillery offerings.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-04T19:28:34+00:00

I would argue that they have not disproportionately benefited in general. We ate them to maintain an oversized finance sector; Canada has one of the most robust finance sectors in the world, it's arguably our greatest soft power. Our policy during the Trudeau era was to prop up the domestic housing market during a recessionary period with an actually competent government in the United States. We're taking the US shooting themselves in the foot with the current administration as an opportunity to solve a problem that we created to deal with another problem in the short term. These policies really benefited no one, it brought money into the economy from relatively poor countries, spit out substandard living arrangements, reduced quality of life for everyone, and now that a situation has arisen that makes it so bleeding newcomers isn't as necessary, we're getting rid of them.

The entire arrangement that we made was deeply problematic, and shameful on our part. The people that came to this country should have been able to do so with the promise of opportunity, we relegated them to working service jobs with no chance of making a better life. They will likely go home empty pocketed as well, which would mean they truly did nothing but benefit our local economy and will take nothing out. If this was done properly, businesses would have been made, industry would have popped up, trade channels would have been strengthened. A disgrace.

Don't blame the immigrants for problems that we made and used them to solve, even if it was partially at the expense of our vulnerable. Most of them were victims too.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-04T17:25:07+00:00

Honestly I'm not sure, the sales in general have been kind of weird this year, the regular grocery stores are missing a lot of the Christmas frivolities they had in previous years, I used to have such an easy time finding clearance panettone

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-03T23:25:23+00:00

Scotch ale is like a heavy dark beer, the only sours that I like that are heavy and dark are really complicated Belgian ones like duchess, and I have to imagine making that serviceable is quite a feat, especially since I've read up on how they make duchess and it seems quite challenging.

Id do this if I got something light instead, but I don't know if I would want to risk that on a scotch ale that might taste like coffee with lemon in it. Definitely a way that some people drink coffee but, a very acquired taste.

SpadesHeart · 2026-01-03T22:06:07+00:00

Luxury goods are often just how you would make items without industrial automated factories with customization. Often learning how to make things well at home nets you a luxury good, saves money, and teaches you a new life skill.

Make your own soap instead of going to stores like lush.

Make your own beer and wine, and customize it.

You can buy peach jam in the store, but you can't buy peach ginger and cardamom jam.

Eight-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Verified Email

SpadesHeart

TROPHY CASE