Requiem for Big Bud's...

[SteveThe Owl]

Read in the Ottawa Sun Friday that Big Bud's, the greatest discount store Ottawa has ever know, will be closing at the end of the month.

It will be missed.

[bouche]

I definately need make a few visits as the spring pulls up. Christmastime had the best assortment of cheap-ass rustic-yet-classy-lookin' boxes. You didn't even have to wrap them.

[Weirdness]

Ever talk to the big bud himself??? The guy's a fucking asshole, though the store is cool...

[SteveThe Owl]

Big Bud himself died a couple of years ago, and his sons have been running it since.

Bud could come across as a real jerk, but with him actions spoke louder without words. I have heard many stories about him helping out house-fire victims or refugees who needed some supplies to get them on their feet again. The fact I heard these stories second hand and not from some sort of self-congratulatory "community bulletin board" at the front of the store gave me a deep respect for him.

And yes, the store is -- soon to be was -- cool. I'll miss it.

[Weirdness]

Fucking assholes LOVE good press, makes them look like nice people...

Nah, I'll take it back-never disrespect the dead. I'd hate to be haunted by that nice old man for the rest of my life.

[SteveThe Owl]

He haunted us in life, he haunts us in death.

My question is, where where will I be able to get cheap pickled herring?

[ollie]

Bummer news. Record Runner, Big Bud's... Ottawa's cultural/consumer icons are taking a hit this year.

What's gonna take its place? More fucking condos?

[d_rawk]

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too, Ollie ...

Anyone ever try to buy socks at Big Bud's? I was having a sock crisis once and Big Bud's is just down the street. A very challenging, very frustrating experience

[bouche]

I'm wondering what sort of competition affected Big Bud's as the article says? There's nothing in downtown ottawa like big buds. The closest Walmart is way da-fuck out there. So what is with that reason?

It sounds like the cop-out that Henry Burger used when his UBER priced restaurant in Hull closed. He blamed it on the hit they took by the extra scrutiny the public had on Gov't spending.

[SteveThe Owl]

Off the record, bouche, I think Bud's sons are just looking for an excuse for having driven it into the ground.

I've noticed since Bud stepped out of the picture due to the poor health that ultimately killed him that the selection of cool stuff available shrunk big time. Anf I'm not being sarcastic when I say cool stuff -- Bud had buyers who found cool going-out-of-business liquidation sales that meant the store's shelves had all kinds of cool sh*t that you couldn't find anywhere else except for three times the price. What happened to them? Dunno.

Then last year they brought in Crazy Chester -- the Lonie Glieberman of discount stores. Seriously, this guy has had something like five stores on Bank Street in the past four years. And they brought him and his bargain-basement clothing in to take over half a floor -- at the expense of the tried-and-true goods that kept me coming back. Not good.

Their experiment with the second store (which lasted barely half a year) on Cyrville Road was another fumble -- apparently they didn't have enough merchandise to fill half the floor space.

And the final nail in the coffin? They shut down the tobacco counter (the real cash cow of any discount store) two months ago to make room for -- you guessed it -- Crazy Chester's racks.

Too bad. They had a good thing going.

At least we still have Giant Tiger in the Market.

[AdamH]

Was in the other day and figured closing was inevitable now that they're selling 100-packs of little green ziplocs.

They definitely had cool stuff for cheap in the donwstairs section. The low-priced milk and cheese on the main floor was creepy though.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

it was, at one point, the best place to buy picture frames, pretty lacking that dept lately though