What downtown Windsor was and how it got to where it is now

We're airing a half-hour show focused on the future of downtown Windsor at 6p.m. Tuesday. Watch it live at cbc.ca/windsor, or on our YouTube channel.

Inside Tunnel Discount Convenience, which faces the main street of Windsor, Ont.'s downtown, it's a typical day for ownerLjubica Cajan.

There's a steady flow of people coming in to buylottery tickets or cigarettes sometimes they even pick up a drink or a snack.

Business isn't bad for a veteran shop owner like Cajan, but she says it'sdefinitely been better. Had she just been starting out, Cajan isn't so sure she'd survive.

"I remember times when they said Windsor was booming, actually," she said, describing busy streets and heavy foot traffic.

"But all the situations ... in the world,its[had an] effect little by little. Wereach now, I think, the lowest point actually."

There aretwo large cracks in her storefront windows, held together by many pieces of red tape and covered by signs, one that reads "Someone loves me very much in Canada."

Cajan says she moved to Canadain 1997 from Croatia.Though she's been at this spot for more than two decades, she says the windowsonly started getting brokenin the last few years. Now, sheused to opening up the shop and seeing new cracks. It's not something her landlord is fixing, nor is it something she can afford to change.

What her business is experiencing is symptomatic of a struggling downtown.

And she'snot the only one feeling the impact. Around nearly every corner of the downtown core, there are broken windows in both occupied and vacant storefronts, andmultiple "For Lease"signs. There arealso many residential buildings, like Westcourt Place or the Canada Building, that sit empty.

WATCH | DowntownWindsor's past and present:

Taking a walk through downtown Windsor's past and present

3 days ago

Duration 2:34

Bill Bishop has seen and captured a lot of change in downtown Windsor. He was a photographer for the Windsor Star for 42 years. And he's lived downtown for even longer. He took a walk with CBC's Meg Roberts.

Despite the lack of hustle and bustle, the many stories of downtown Windsor are clear from its alleyway graffiti to its deserted buildings and resilient business owners.

But it's also not all doom and gloom.The downtown comes to lifeduring shows at the Capitol Theatre, the Farmers' Market on Pelissier Street and large events like the Ford Fireworks or the carnival on the riverfront.

The City of Windsorhas invested ina new, seven-point plan to revitalize the downtown that was unanimously approved by council earlier this month.

As this project gets underway, in order to understand the current state of downtown, it's important to know how it got to where it is.

A bustling downtown

Starting in the 1890s, Windsor has gonethrough multiple periods of growth,according to Mary-Lou Gelissen, a city librarianwho specializes in local history.

The combination of trade happening from ferries on the Detroit River and businesses choosing to invest in the region including in the auto sector meant there was a "huge influx" of people duringthat time, says Gelissen.

"There were a number of department stores in the downtown area. There were a significant number of shopping areas," she said.

"There were a large number of jewellers, there were a very large number of places you could go and have lunch and chat, and they were affordable. You could have a nice cup of coffee or you could have a really great breakfast at the Woolworth's counter."

Because there were a variety of easily accessible shops, she says,residents could find what they needed just blocks from where they lived or worked.

After the Second World War, Gelissen says, people started to have more disposable income.Businesses were expanding and there continued to be more people. By the mid-1950s and intothe 1960s,"people were actually beginning to debate, does Windsor have enough space for this huge number of people coming in here?"

And by the 1960s, urban sprawl was picking up, meaning people and businesses were moving outside of the city's core. More people were also owning vehicles, making it easier to get outside of the downtown.

Devonshire Mall: The 'nail in the coffin'

While there were multiple decisions and societal events that contributed to the downtown Windsor of today, Gelissen believes the "nail in the coffin was the opening of Devonshire Mall."

She says when it opened in the early 1970s, it drove a lot of business, and therefore foot traffic, out of the downtown.

But Gelissen says the dramatic loss of American visitors post-9/11, the 2008 recession and, most recently, COVID-19, have all negatively impacted downtown's retail shops and restaurants.

And often, she says, what Windsorites have seen over the yearsis that properties in and around the core have been sold and their buildings torn down,with the promise of something new never coming to fruition.

"And that's really where a lot of the, I think, frustration comes from, is that these projects weren't followed up on."

Bob Cameron, executive director of the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative, says the core is in rougher shape now than it was when he first moved back to the area in 2010 and started his advocacy organization.

"Itwas actually almost looking better than what it is now, I'm afraid to say," he said, adding he specifically means that about the business sector. Cameron says it's important for residents to be able to have 80 per cent of their needs met within their neighbourhood.

Cameron says one big decision he believespushed traffic outside of the corewas moving Windsor Spitfireshockey games out of the Windsor Arena and to the new WFCU Centre in East Riverside.

The downtown resident started the community collaborativein response to the 2008 recession.

Preserving Windsor's past

When Gelissen thinks of a revitalized downtown Windsor, she sees it as one that puts its past on display.

The architecture of the buildings, the gathering places on the riverfront and, yes, even the parking garagesall tell a story of what downtown Windsor was. And to hold on to that character and carry it into the future, is essential, she says.

It's a way to inform future generations and the many newcomers, like Akim Nzofo,who are building a life here.

In March 2023, Nzofo came to Canada through Roxham Roadfrom Kinshasa, Congo.

He's a refugee and is learning English through a local program. Nzofo, who lives at a downtown hotel,told CBC News thathis first impressions of the city are that it's a "good place."

"It's quiet ... beautiful city, no trouble, everything is OK," he said.

"It's good because [there's] not too much people."

But he added he's noticed public drinking in the downtown is anissue.

What is your revitalized downtown Windsor?

What's evident in the people who live and workdowntown is they have hope things will turn around.

The city's new multimillion-dollar "Strengthen the Core" planis encouraging for those who spoke with CBC News. It promises to find ways to attract people to the area through more events and businesses.

"It's not perfect and it's not designed to be," said the collaborative's Cameron of the plan.

But it's a start, and that's all he wants.

"There's a reality to the situation and the invitation is for people to participate in it, to not gripe and complain, but begin a hopeful imagination."

His revitalized downtown is a place that's a "good place to grow up and a good place to grow old."

Inside the library's local history branch in Sandwich Town, Gelissenpassionately describes the architecture and the people of Windsor's early years. Though she's careful not to romanticize the past, she leans on it as a reminder of what Windsor can be.

"We can have a beautiful downtown and we can help people, but we could also do it by using the older buildings and making them incredible places," she said.

Back in Cajan's store, it's about 5 p.m. on a Monday. She says it isn'tthat busy, but she's thinking things willlikely pick up later in the week, once people get paid.

When asked whether she thinks change is possible, she immediately says "of course." But she admits that just like her storefront windows, her faith in the downtown sometimes breaks.

Thoughshe toocontinues to hold on.

"Nothing stays forever," she said.

"The good time didn't stay forever. [The] bad time isn't [going] to stay forever."