The Historical Curve of St. Paul Street

Modern-day St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines.
By Municipal Affairs and Housing - CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Driving through downtown St. Catharines offers a much different perspective than the straight, rigid grids found in most other Ontario cities. St. Paul Street remains a rare exception, following a winding path that has shaped the city's identity for generations.

VIDEO: Canadian shoppers ditching made-in-USA goods as tariff threat looms

With the looming threat of American tariffs on Canadian goods, some shoppers are swearing off U.S.-made products. CTV's Kimberley Johnson reports.

St. Catharines - Not so Ratty After All

Hmmm... for some reason, we thought St. Catharines was one of the rattiest cities in Ontario.

Perhaps it stemmed back from an old 2016 article we read about a former GM property on Ontario Street in St. Catharines that was infested with rats (see more near end of post!)... and then later, our own experience with them outside an old townhouse we used to live in.

So needless to say, we were quite surprised when Orkin came out with their Top 25 'Rattiest' Cities in Ontario and discovered St. Catharines barely made the list. Yay for St. Catharines!

Image: Orkin

According to their website, Orkin ranked the cities by the number of rodents (rat & mice) treatments the company performed from August 1, 2020 through July 31, 2021. The ranking included both residential and commercial treatments.

'SMART CART'. Coming to a Store Near You... (VIDEOS)

2026 Update: Where Are the Smart Carts Now?

Looking back from 2026, it is fascinating to see how the grocery tech landscape has shifted since this post was originally written. Sobeys launched their initial AI-powered Smart Cart pilot using Caper technology at select Ontario stores, functioning as a complete self-checkout lane on wheels. While the tech was impressive, wide-scale rollout ultimately hit a massive financial wall due to three brutal realities:

• High Fleet Costs: A standard metal shopping cart costs roughly $100, while a single AI cart ranges from $5,000 to $10,000 due to complex touchscreens and scales.
• Razor-Thin Industry Margins: Supermarkets operate on brutal 1.5% to 2% profit margins, making fleet purchases an immense risk for local operators.
• The Nightmare of Maintenance: The cost to repair fragile electronics, cracked screens, or scratched camera lenses left out in wet parking lots and freezing Canadian winters drained store resources too quickly.

Because of these heavy hardware expenses, major Canadian chains quietly shifted away from physical carts to prioritize software-driven mobile scanning apps and advanced checkout conveyor belts.

Below is our original 2021 article coverage from when this smart grocery tech first hit the store aisles:

VIDEO: Safety at Niagara Parks

Good to know...

We have implemented additional measures across Niagara Parks to ensure the health and safety of our guests and our employees.