[Moncton] Retail Thread

[new kid in town]

I agree that Granite Centre needs to step up their games but considering how busy our Costco gets (assuming the info it's the busiest in Canada over the Christmas holidays is true), I think it can singlehandedly keep that road relevant for now.

I can't think of what it really needs though. I've wanted to try the Wings place but it took forever to open, and now my interest has faded. I don't use any other shops there except Starbucks or McDonald's if I need coffee before loading up gas on Costco. We tried and liked Boustan when they opened but the sheer number of new restaurants in the city means we don't need to regularly come back to Boustan.

[Feneant]

The thing with Granite is I can't imagine how busy it would be if it did get popular stores that brought in "non-Costco" shoppers. The traffic can already back up nearly to Sobeys depending on time of year and if other stores were as popular I could see it going all the way to Mill Rd during the holiday period.

It feels like it was poorly planned with that single road through the development and no back access. Dartmouth Crossing has multiple roads which helps reduce traffic significantly, and on the other hand we avoid Bayer's Lake like the plague as like Granite it appears to only have a single insanely busy road.

Maybe this is just how my mind works, but what I see happening for example is people who go to Costco may not want to stop at places like the Trail Shop as they can't pull back into the road turning left to get to Costco. Then when they have done their shopping at Costco they see there is a lot less traffic through to McLaughlin so they go out in that direction. The same happens the other way, the Subway on Granite is 33% closer to our house, yet we go to Morton because it's so much easier to get in/out of.

[jnaygull]

I find that street that the Granite Centre has been built on VERY narrow and not very heavy traffic friendly. I feel that the design of the area was very rushed and cheaply constructed.

As far as any other store or restaurant in that immediate area, being a local Costco shopper, I have only stopped once since that area popped up to eat at Boustan (because we were curious). When it comes to Costco, I am in, and then I'm out of that area. At least when they were at Trinity, we would stop at Superstore to get groceries, or Kent for something around the house.

Overall, I am not a fan of the area but I am thankful that it is easily connected to the highway so I can get in and out quickly.

[MaritimerJAB]

I wonder what the tenant line up will be 10 years out? Some tenants there just done seem busy. The outdoor trail store, Wing N It, Boustan don't seem busy when I drive by. If Granite upgrades it's road network on the other side of costco to meet with new ramps, will that area become the more prominent pads? The area has a lot of growth and change yet I suspect.

[MonctonRad]

Something needs to be done.

The Trail Shop/Take it Outside are stuck in a plaza with fast food shops and a Cannabis NB store. There is no opportunity for synergy with neighbouring retailers. Imagine if instead they had located in the Mapleton Centre close to MEC. I'm sure they would be better off. I would not be surprised if they decamp once their lease is complete (unless things change).

At least some of the fast food places are also hurting. I hear Subway is very quiet, as is Harvest, Clean Eats. Wing 'n It is also probably losing money. These places need to be supported by additional nearby retail. A sit down restaurant on the vacant restaurant pad would really help in drawing passing traffic off of the TCH.

And, in general, 2-3 additional big box anchors are required to help draw in customers.

[Sandbagger]

The traffic on Elmwood would be improved massively with an interchange at McLaughlin. Even just an off ramp heading east and an on ramp heading west would suffice. incoming traffic from the east would still use the Elmwood exit.

I've seen many days where the east bound off ramp at Elmwood is backed up ONTO THE HIGHWAY from about 4-6pm, and weekends as well. Talk about dangerous. Not sure why they can't put a double left turn there. It also doesn't help that the 2 overpasses at Elmwood are also a bottleneck. They probably should have been widened, but I don't even think they need to be if there was some sort of interchange at McLaughlin.

The entrance itself to Granite at Elmwood might have been better served as a double lane roundabout, but here we are.

[MonctonRad]

The interchange at McLaughlin is coming. I have it from a reliable source there was a recent land purchase.

[Sunnybrae]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The interchange at McLaughlin is coming. I have it from a reliable source there was a recent land purchase.

As a side note, a future main road (McLaughlin) into the city unfortunately has a 30km speed zone for the new school (Mascaret) even though children are offloaded from the buses way in the back of the school. Same with Sunny Brae. Hillcrest on St. George never had a 30km zone. I understand the reasons but still, it kinda doesn't make sense. I have seen many who don't slow down to the 30km.