Let's Learn English at the Strip Mall / Shopping Plaza

Well, hello and welcome to this

English lesson that's going

to be a little bit different

than other lessons I've done.

I'm actually here at my local

mall, what we might call a strip

mall, because you walk along

the outside and the store

entrances are on the outside.

There's no inside part to this

mall, so we call it a strip mall.

And I'm going to walk by every

single store and kind

of describe the type of store it is.

So that will be today's English

lesson, a bit of a walk and talk.

So let's start right here.

This is a hardware store.

A hardware store is a store you

would go to if you need to buy

tools or what we call hardware.

Nuts and bolts, nails and screws

and those types of things.

I have to make sure I don't

get run over here by a car.

But a hardware store is a place

where you go, if you need

to buy a hammer, maybe you need

to buy some little hinges because

you need to fix a door.

But this is a hardware store.

You can see that right now

they're also selling potted plants

and chairs that you can use

to sit outside because

the weather is becoming a lot

nicer here in Ontario, Canada.

The next store we have here, it

might be a little bit of a giveaway

with the name of the store.

This store is called Foodland,

and it is what we would call

a grocery store or a supermarket.

Both words pretty much

mean the same thing.

And you might have guessed it.

You would go to this store when

you need to buy groceries, when

you need carrots or a can of

soup or maybe a loaf of bread or

some eggs and some milk, this

would be the store that you

would go to.

Now, you might be wondering, you saw

at the.

Maybe you can see way

at the end there by the hardware

store, and here there

are lots of bags for sale.

Those bags are actually bags

of dirt or soil or manure

that people can use in their flower

beds and in their gardens.

People in many parts

of the world like to grow things

in the warm season.

So you can see here

we have some topsoil.

And further down here,

I'm sure we'll have more topsoil.

We call these milk crates,

by the way, if you didn't know that.

Topsoil.

Topsoil.

Topsoil.

Wow, there's a lot of topsoil.

What do we have here?

Oh, this is actually

manure or manure

compost.

So that would work as

a bit of a fertilizer.

I'm going to spin you around here to

show you the direction we are going.

I have to keep my eye

out for vehicles.

It's not super busy here.

There's a large transport

truck that is probably

just finished doing a delivery.

A delivery is when you bring things

to a store or to a house.

And then I'll slow.

Oh, maybe we should talk

about Tim Hortons.

So there's also a cafe or restaurant

with a drive through

where you can go if you want to buy

a coffee or a donut or a treat.

Okay.

Here we have a pet store.

A pet store is a place

where you go to buy.

Maybe you go there to buy a pet,

but most often you go there to

either buy pet food, like dog

food or cat food, or maybe you

have some fish and then you might

also buy a collar or leash at the

pet store.

This is called Pharmasave.

So you might have

an idea of what this is.

This is a pharmacy or we sometimes

call it a drugstore in Canada.

I think in Britain they might

call it a chemist, but we call

it a pharmacy or a drugstore.

You would go there to get medicine.

If you went to the doctor, they

might give you a prescription

and you would go there to get

your prescription filled.

Or you might go there to just buy

over the counter medicine.

Medicine where you don't need

a doctor's note or prescription

to get it, like

Tylenol or something like that.

We also just went by a dance studio.

So if you have children who want

to learn to dance, you would sign

them up to go for dance

lessons at the dance

studio.

Now this is an interesting place.

This is a laundromat, but it's also

a place where you can buy water.

You might wonder

why would people need to buy water

in Ontario, Canada?

And why would they do laundry

here instead of at home?

Well, if you can't afford a washing

machine, you will more likely come

to a laundromat and pay some money

to pay to get your

laundry done to wash your clothes.

And we have a lot of people who live

out in the country around here.

So some people actually do buy water.

Jen and I get our water for free.

Because when you live out

in the country, you don't have

clean drinking water available. Here

we have a dollar store,

but it's actually vacant right now.

So let me talk about

both those things.

A dollar store is a place where

you can buy things for only

a dollar or $2, sometimes more.

They've kind of lost their meaning.

But that dollar store is vacant,

which means that they weren't

doing well as a business.

And eventually they decided to leave.

So Bob, from the future here

I realized that the Dollar

store is actually open.

If you look here, I said it was

vacant, that side is vacant,

but this side is actually open.

So I wonder if they just

reduced the size of the store.

It's half the size that it used

to be, but it's definitely open.

Art, craft supplies, cell phone

accessories, electronics

and hardware, kitchen stuff.

Everything that, everything that

you could want for less than,

usually less than $5.

Here we have a post office.

If you look, you can see it's

also in French on the sign.

A post office is a place where you go

to send mail or to get your mail.

Probably the most common thing you

would do at a post office is you

would go there to get your mail.

You would go to the post office

and you would have a little post

office box and a key and you

would open that to get your mail.

This is actually the post office

where my post office box is.

Then we have some services.

This is an insurance company.

So in Canada when you buy a car you

have to have insurance to drive it.

So if there's an accident

you're covered.

That's the expression we would use.

If you have a house, you need

insurance so that if there's a storm

and something gets damaged, your

insurance company will pay for it.

Next to that we have

a hearing clinic.

So if you're having trouble

with your hearing or you need

a hearing aid, would go there.

Next we have what we

would call a hair salon.

So it says hair salon and spa

and they can take walk ins.

I'm not sure if you can

see that part of the sign.

So I could walk right

in there and pay for a haircut.

I would probably have

to wait a little bit though.

But you can also get

your nails done there.

You can have a facial,

a manicure, a pedicure.

And they service.

Oh they'll take men, women,

children, they'll take everybody.

So then we have what's called

an employment help center.

So this is where you would go

if you were looking for a job.

In Ontario, Canada we have places

where if you don't have work, you

can go there every week and you

can find out if there are any new

jobs available that you can apply

for.

So that's the employment help center.

And then we have what's called a bar.

You might just call it a restaurant.

It's kind of both.

There are many restaurants / bars

in Canada where the front part

of the of the place is a restaurant,

but at the back they do have

an actual bar that you can go to.

Now, there's a large truck

here, so we can't see.

But this next place

is a chiropractic office.

Let's see if we can see

up behind there.

See the sign a little bit.

Obviously they're getting a delivery.

But a chiropractic office is

a place where you would go

like, let's say my back hurt.

I might go to a chiropractor

and they might adjust my back.

They might do things to my back

to make me feel better.

Let me see here.

Oh, and then we have.

I go back here.

We have the dental center.

More commonly, we would just

call this the dentist's office.

You go to the dentist when you

need to have your teeth cleaned

or maybe you need a filling

because you have a cavity.

You would make an appointment

at the dentist's office.

Next to that we have a yoga

and fitness studio.

A place where you can go

if you would like to do yoga.

A place where you might go...

Sorry I'm just...

I'm just watching here.

I think this person's having

a little bit of trouble

and that man is helping her drive.

So I'll just stay over

here where it's safer.

So yoga studio.

If you want to do yoga or maybe any

other class, you could go there.

And then we have...

I don't know how to describe this.

This is called Giant Tiger.

This is a store

that sells almost everything.

And it's also a store where things

are priced reasonably well.

So you can buy groceries

at Giant Tiger, you can buy a pool

noodle at Giant Tiger, you can

buy clothes at Giant Tiger.

So.

So the best way for me

to describe it would be it's almost

like a mini department store.

When you go in, you can go

to the clothing section, you can go

to the food grocery section.

You can go to the seasonal section

where you can buy little kids

pools and things like that.

Then we have another

nail and spa place.

I think this place actually focuses

more on nails and is less of a spa.

I think it's mostly a nail salon.

And then at the end here, I'm

going to cross quickly,

make sure I don't get run over.

That person was going

a little fast for me.

And then we have a pizzeria

or what you might call

a pizza shop or a pizza place.

We have a lot of pizza places

in Ontario, Canada.

Yes, hello.

I have students waving to me

from the gas station over there.

I'll talk about that in a minute.

And then here we have a sub shop

or subway where you can buy

what we just call a sub now.

I think the full name is

a submarine sandwich.

I'll put a picture on the screen

so you know what I'm talking about.

So a pizzeria or simply a pizza

restaurant or a pizza place

and then also a Subway.

And we're at the end.

I just want to show you there

is one more vacant store down here

and it is for lease.

If you were thinking of coming to

Ontario, Canada to start a business,

you could start it right there.

And then lastly, often you will have

a gas station in a place like this.

A place where you can go to buy gas.

Again, in Canada we say gas.

So either your car takes gas

or diesel and you would go there.

Oh that was loud.

I guess the truck's moved from down

there where we were earlier.

You could go there when you need

to fill up your vehicle.

So if you are running on empty,

if your car needs gas,

if your car is empty, you

could go there to buy gas.

Well hey, thanks for joining me

on this little walk and talk.

Hopefully you were able

to learn some new English words

and phrases along the way.

It was kind of daunting.

That means difficult to do

this all in one take,

but it was quite enjoyable.

I might do more of these

in the future.

Anyways, if this is your first

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Bye.