Anchor store expected to help largely vacant mall attract merchants, shoppers
CALGARY — Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week.
That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place — at last — this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group.
The Calgary anchor tenant is The Best Shop, which operates a store described as a “Chinese Walmart” in Toronto’s Pacific Mall, a similar shopping centre opened by The Torgan Group about 20 years ago.
Negotiations are nearing completion for an unnamed second anchor store, which Swirsky said is in food merchandising but not a restaurant or grocery store.
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According to the mall, the store’s products will include mahjong tables and an extremely small washing machine that sells for around $100, plus brands such as Haier and Midea that are popular in China but relatively unknown in Canada. It will be the second outlet in Canada.
Best Shop is getting about eight months of free rent and financial help with improvements on its 15,000-square-foot space, Swirsky said, adding the mall is also offering to help unit owners cover the costs of bringing in tenants to occupy spaces they own.
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“It’s based on an Asian model that’s not necessarily applicable in Calgary … The challenge is it’s not in the middle of an Asian community,” she said.
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