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Originally Posted by pspeid
^^I wonder what this would do to the downtown Bay store? Perhaps some of the retail that currently occupies Portage Place (and still wants a downtown presence) would take up some floor space in The Bay?
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Hudson Bay made a public statement targeted towards investors that a large round of store closing is likely to happen soon. No specific stores were named but that they called out that no store was "too sacred" to be spared essentially calls on the Portage and Memorial location by name.
Physical retail as a whole as a dying game. Everything is moving online beyond the quick purchase convenience items. It is partly why dollar stores have been showing up seemingly on every street corner. Relatively speaking for the size Winnipeg is we are still over retailed to current standards. It is why the opening on the outlet mall hit Kennaston Common fairly hard. If Portage Place closed all its retail minimal of it would actually reopen even if suitable space was available. It is part of why downtown retail eroded in the first place. It isn't just a Winnipeg issue but rather a larger issue with retail in "American" markets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
The social issues around Portage Place have been well documented, and there seems to be no role for a huge mall to play in the current revitalization of downtown.
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The challenge is sanitizing Portage Place to "address the social issues" does nothing to actually solve those same social issues. It rather just sweeps them away to someplace else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
Is Prairie Theatre Exchange still located on the third floor? If that moves to south Portage Ave., it would certainly reinforce the development of the SHED district.
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Perhaps Prairie Theatre Exchange and the RWB could partner on a new shared performing arts venue in the SHED, perhaps as part of the cathedral redevelopment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinus
However, the decline of our city centre retail is still occuring. It doesn't take a genius to realize as we approach a state of critical mass, there will be increasing demand for downtown retail shopping once again.
Currently we have two significant areas of mass retail; Portage Place Shopping Centre and CityPlace. The bones are there for significant retail development. But are both needed to accommodate the eventual demand for shopping in the city centre? Is only one of these locations needed? If so, which one should we keep? We cannot afford to lose two significant commercial retail shopping centre structures. The Bay would eventually rebound, but it's a question of how long are they willing to wait around for.
We are so bloody close to that tipping point. It's very frustrating to think about what we have and what we could lose to eventually meet the demand for what is developing.
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Brick and mortar retail is
never coming back to downtown Winnipeg. The population in the downtown core could go up 100x and it will still not have the needed critical mass for what people on this forum keep wishing would happen. Reality is retailers can do far more cheaper and hyper focused retailing with a good website, some online marketing and a single giant warehouse. It is a trend that is much larger than just downtown Winnipeg too. It is why social media influencers are a thing now.
As for the Bay downtown it is a done deal. The only reason it is even still operating as a "going concern" is for the losses it can generate and what that means for tax purposes.
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Originally Posted by lilwayne
At the same time that would be lots of businesses shutting down killing lot of jobs.. i imagine theyll relocate or maybe the new owner will keep it a mall but add residences over top of it and than renovate the rest of it
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Brick and mortar retail shutting down = job loss is a myth. For the most part the same number of people remain employed in "retail" however the jobs are shifting from store based to warehouse/fulfillment based.
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Originally Posted by LilZebra
It was by about '91-92 that the "vibe" at the mall changed.
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When Portage Place first opened it was managed by Cadillac Fairview until their bankruptcy restructuring in 1994 when they shed some properties. The store that made the rounds at the time was they pressured retailers wanting space in Polo Park to also operate a store out of Portage Place. And if you were new to Winnipeg you needed to be in Portage Place before you could get into Polo Park.
I sort of wish I could date when HMV actually opened in Portage Place as I know it wasn't one of the lead tenants. Best I can come up with is after 91 but that is just from memory. If I had to guess it was 93.
Article dating the Cadillac Fairview bankruptcy