[Moncton] Retail Thread
 

In the spirit of Mike K, the website manager, it is probably time to start subdividing the Moncton thread into seperate sections. I have decided to start this process with a Moncton region retail thread. In the future, perhaps we should put all postings regarding Moncton retail news in this thread.

I will start out by reposting this item I just added to the Moncton general projects thread:

Further to the above, this is a previous posting by mmmatt which includes an image of the site plan for the Mapleton Power Centre which shows where the building housing PetSmart will be built.

One last thing, I noticed the other day that they were starting to lay down the foundation for the large building at the extreme eastern part of this development. No idea who the retailer will be, but a previous post quoting the T&T stated that it would be an "outlet" of some form:

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2537/mapleton.jpg

I noticed yesterday, as MonctonRad stated, there is significant work being done on the area to the far right of the plan, machinery has been working in that area and now it's clears and a new base stone level has been laid down.

JL

:previous:

So are those the only 2 buildings currently under construction for this development? Is Cleves open yet?

Nope, Cleves is not open yet but the building that they will share with Golf Town is largely complete.

With regards to the remainder of your question, one of the strips backing on the Wheeler Blvd offramp has been completed (but empty) for some time. The large building at the east end of the development is now at the foundation stage. With the job listing for PetSmart, it would seem that the other building that will house them, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond must be nearing construction.

In other words, the majority of this development now appears to be on track.

BB & B has a "Coming Soon" sign up at the Cobett Centre in Freddy for about 6 weeks now and are now hiring (see here https://prod.fadvhms.com/AllBedBathB...C66A7928EEDD23). Part of the centre expansion that will take place this spring to include BB & B, The Gap Outlet, Oshkosh/Carters and Bouclair. St Huberts is also building at the Corbett Centre. Expansion expected to open late summer/fall.

Further to the above, these pictures taken by porchmouse a few weeks ago might help:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7063/6...1c19c0eed9.jpg
This is the Cleves/Golf Town building backing on Mapleton. It is nearing completion.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6...2bc27d949e.jpg
This is the original strip backing on the Wheeler offramp that was built before the original iteration of this development tanked during the recession. Presumably there are now some tenants lined up.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6...ba011f7f92.jpg
This is the land at the extreme east end of the development that required rezoning late last year. Grading is now complete and a foundation is now in place.

:previous:

Noticed as I drove by yesterday, they are starting to set "footings" in place for whatever structure is going in on the East end of the plan...moving right along.

Notice that the lights are on in the Cleve's building and that the facades on Cleve's/Golf Town are almost done.

It was in the T&T today that the new PlazaCorp strip mall in front of NBCC on Mountain Road will soon be under construction.

The building will have three units and although official details about tenants have not been released, apparently the building has already been fully leased.

It has been rumoured on the Moncton general thread that one of the tenants will be Aaron's furniture store, relocating from the adjacent Northwest Centre, possibly freeing up space to allow for an expanded footprint for the planned Target store in the Northwest Centre.

If I'm not mistaken someone mentioned that Plaza Corp now also owns the land on the other side of the small old section of Ryan street (old Irving). Seeing as the Zellers section is only about half of the average size of a Target, perhaps the plan is to remove the "dead road", and expand the buidling in that direction and replace lost parking?

Always hoped they'd reconnect that road some day...think it would take a LOT of congestion off of Hildegarde.

If they ever did reconnect Ryan, it would also alleviate a lot of congestion on Mountain Rd at the Wheeler interchange as well. I'm a big fan of doing this too. :tup:

BTW, you are correct C_Boy, PlazaCorp does also own the old Irving location next to the Northwest Centre as well.

retail
 

I thought that the brick was coming? Anyone know about the greek restaurant that use to be called OPA in Halifax still coming? I heard that MEC was coming too?

I really hope that more mature clothing stores for men and women will come like Banana republic etc.

- The Brick was supposed to be part of the original iteration of the Mapleton Power Centre before it tanked during the recession. I don't know what the current status of the Brick is.
- Opa (Ela) Greek Taverna has expressed strong interest in the Moncton market and there are a couple of available restaurant pads at the Mapleton Centre. No official announcements have been made.
- MEC has more or less stated that they are not interested in Moncton. The new Cleves store however will be a combo "Source for Sports" and "Source for Adventure". Source for Adventure franchises do carry a lot of the same things as MEC would.
- I have never stated that Banana Republic is definitely coming to Moncton. I have just commented on the fact that Champlain Place is working on filling the mall exclusively with upscale national retailers and that I felt that Banana Republic would be a "natural fit".

General Stuff

- Bouclair has ads all over town...they have their sign lit up...all they need to do now is open up the doors!

- Morton pub has been renovated into Golden Sushi & Thai

- There is a new store opening up next to Red Satay Grille on St George st. What it is escapes me now...Ill update later.

Mall Stuff

- Sephoria cosmetics will open their first NB location in Champlain Place...the floor plan confirms they will be next to Smart Set which is currently renovating.

- Yves Rocher will move to the former "spa" place across from The Childrens Place and Reitmans...not sure if this is a temporary move so they can renovate and move back (a la Smart Set) or a permanent move.

That will never happen now. The only way to reconnect Ryan was to go under Wheeler. That can no longer be done.

Last summer, they dug a huge massive hole between the Mt-Rd/Wheeler on-ramp and Ryan Rd. This massive size pit appears to be some sort of drainage infrastructure. You can't miss it when leaving Mt-Rd jumping on Wheeler...look down to the right.

Warning: Keep your eyes on the road because it's a long way down into this pit.

:haha: true...I'm hoping they landscape this thing well because it looks pretty neat so far (in the winter).

Interesting news that Sephora is definitely coming to Champlain Place. I was down in Halifax last weekend and saw the Sephora at HSC. The footprint of the space next to Smart Set looks about right.

The rumour a couple of months ago concerned both Sephora and Fossil. There is a Fossil opening at MicMac in Dartmouth, so perhaps this is an indication that the Fossil rumour may be true as well.

Also coming to Champlain (a return really) is Pseudio. They have an ad in Kijiji.

And one last bit of retail news for Champlain Place for the night. :)

Pandora jewelers is definitely coming to Champlain Place. There is a job listing for a store manager in wowjobs.ca. Pandora has also recently opened a new store at MicMac as well.

So it seems that many of the new higher end stores that have recently opened (or announced) in Halifax are coming to Moncton as well. Major exceptions being Hollister and Apple Store.

This is a picture I snapped today of the new Bouclair store at Wheeler Park. It will be opening shortly.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...2/65c6afc3.jpg

And yes, if you are wondering, I have the week off and have nothing better to do with my time. :)

Hey Moncton Rad,

I don't know in witch Thread to post this but I have a question:

When I look at all the new Moncton subforums, I don't see any "downtown" Moncton thread?...In witch Thread should I go if it is not retail (event center, urban development, downtown parking issues...)??

I haven't created a downtown thread (yet), as I didn't have a decent placeholder for it, but you are not the first one to bring it up. If you have a downtown issue you would like to discuss, just put it in the main Moncton thread for now. If I think it is significant enough, I will use it to create a downtown thread.

Well, another indication that the gentrification of Champlain Place is continuing unabated. No wonder that Cadillac Fairview is kicking all the local retailers out! (not really kicking them out, but offering them lease arrangements which are not tenable for most of them)

I was at the mall today and noted that the former Northern Reflections location is now boarded up and undergoing hurried renovations. I asked a salesperson at a nearby location what was going on and she said Coach was going to be moving in there.

http://www.coach.com/wps/wcm/myconne...pg?MOD=AJPERES

Coach is a high end purveyor of leather goods, principally purses and some accessories like watches. The only existing Atlantic Canadian store is at the Halifax Shopping Centre.

Again, it seems that many of the new high end stores at either HSC or MicMac are going to end up at Champlain as well.

The list includes:
Sephora
Pandora
Coach
Pseudio
and maybe Fossil.

As I've said before...I just hope that all or most of those being 'booted' from the mall open a store front downtown.

JL

Some of those "booted" stores have indicated that they were going to make this move. Has there been any sign of movement on this?

:previous:

The only one that I know of for sure is Colpitt's, which is moving into the National Bank Building next to Timothy's coffee shop.

Coach is a pretty big catch for Champlain. They've got some nice merchandise.

Looks like Moncton is by far the smallest market in Canada to land this brand, the closest are Victoria and Halifax. A big vote of confidence in the retail market from Coach. Champlain is "movin' on up"!

Sephora has been confirmed. Pseudio is rather lackluster IMHO; the brands they sell are already selling in Champlain; (Pantorama, DTox, Boathouse, among others) I don't understand this move, they have Pseudios in Miramichi & Bathurst... so it is not newsworthy to me and rather disappointing... They have discounted Hurley, Billabong and Guess apparel at Winners anyway. I was thinking Banana Republic, JCrew or Zara. As for Coach, my wife is a Coach fan and the average price for a purse can be around $300-1000US$, can the Moncton market take that? What is the source for the Coach rumor? Mall employees are rather unreliable sources since they usually have wishful thinking rather than concrete facts, understandably CF is secretive with their lease negotiations and employees are usually the last to know. Time will tell, but I must agree; if Coach comes to Champlain it is quite a catch since it's a high profile tenant. Jack & Jones is that place closed yet? There is nobody there, ever! What were they thinking, nobody knows that place or brand; it's not True Religion or Lucky Brand...

Welcome to the boards OUIR@random!

I don't really get this either. Seems counter to what CF is trying to accomplish with Champlain, maybe the rumored list of "several national retailers" alluded to in this thread that are waiting to get into Champlain isn't that long after all.

Banana Republic I can see, Zara is a long shot and I don't think there will be a JCrew in NB anytime soon. They are a newcomer to the Canadian market and are still expanding in major centres, MTL doesn't even have one yet.


True, it is just a rumor, who knows :shrug:


They are actually expanding to Saint John, someone's buy stuff there :haha:

Thank you NBNYer! :)

JCrew and Zara is only wishful thinking! I was not expecting them to come. LOL
Remember that some international retailers especially american ones are slow to come to the province of Quebec, we had American Eagle in NB many years before them and they don't have any Hollister, Aero, A&F, not even in Montreal yet, but we do here... A&F is coming to HSC.
Like everyone else here I like to buy local, but sometimes outlet shopping in Maine, Massachusetts and Tax free New Hampshire just "can't be beat" on selection & price. ;)

Being an Apple fan, Apple at Champlain would be cool!

Not me or anyone I know, their stuff looks ok, but I much prefer Lucky or True Religion, not same price point however, TR jeans are around 200-400$ a pair. Don't get me wrong I wish any retailer good luck, it's just that everytime I go at Champlain, J&J is empty, always...

I did not know about J&J Saint John, that's another thing, we should have stores found nowhere else in NB, and should go upscale like HSC... Having the same stuff as SJ and Freddy won't make Moncton a destination... we have already lost ground to those two... We have to match Halifax and Bangor, not Freddy and SJ.

Again regarding Coach... remember when everyone was saying Victoria Secret was coming to Champlain... it was a new La Senza in the end.

:previous:

Greetings OUIR@random and welcome to the forum! :)

re: Pseudio - I agree completely, not really a "high end" tenant, but is an essentially confirmed tenant, since there was a job posting for a manager for this store on kijiji.

re: Sephora - apparently confirmed from several sources.

re: Pandora - also confirmed via an internet job posting.

re: Coach - less certain. As you have stated, this is hearsay from a mall employee, but she seemed quite adamant about this information and since a Coach store recently opened in Halifax, there may be some credence to this.

re: Fossil - no concrete information, but an online retail blog did state that the chain was interested in both the Moncton and Halifax markets. A fossil store is definitely opening in Halifax.

re: Banana Republic - not even a whisper about this but they certainly fit the profile of tenants that Champlain wants to attract to the mall. BR is part of the GAP empire, so the chain should be familiar with the mall. I could see them coming.

re Jack & Jones - I agree that the store is not crawling with patrons all the time, but they are also opening in SJ, which presumably indicates some confidence in the market. My middle son has bought a number of things at the store. I think they're doing OK.

If I was wondering about any store at the mall, it would be MEXX/MEXX Kids. Those stores seem empty all the time, yet have been open for a couple of years....

Well matching Halifax might also be a bit of "wishful thinking" :rolleyes:

This is another effect of Southern NB's spread out population, which results in doubling (ant tripling) of retailers, services, entertainment, airport service etc etc etc and contributes to a lack of variety. Moncton loosing ground is not a good thing overall. Having no clear front runner in retail in NB and a collection of smaller cities may make NB as a whole less appealing to international retailers.

Thanks MonctonRad!
Good observation regarding Mexx, that place is always empty and the brand is not very sought-after, I wonder how they are still open...

Unique stores that Champlain HAD that I missed is Kernels and Disney. Kernels is now at HSC and Disney is returning at MicMac (rumor). Disney closed many stores a couple of years ago because there was too many, but I guess they are doing better now? Dunno? Future Shop is missed too, but that is whole other animal... Speaking of which, Linen Chest is no Pottery Barn, I went there a few times with my wife (yawn) and there was no one in the store. IMHO, Future Shop attracted more shoppers than Urban Planet & Linen Chest, male shoppers like me anyway. LOL, but I do understand that Future Shop wanted out of Champlain (rent) and wanted their own big box building anyway.

Can't wait for Best Buy at Trinity!

Coach is opening in Champlain Place , it's not a rumor. They confirmed it on Facebook this week. As far as Coach in Halifax, I believe it opened in 2008 but don't quote me on that.

:previous:

Well there you have it!

Thanks icetea93. :tup:

I think that it is official. The "big three" malls in the Maritimes are HSC, MicMac and Champlain.

The only indication that A&F will open in HSC is a YellowPages listing they have at 7001 Mumford Road (HSC). Though, this is a big indicator. I've contacted business reporters from the Chronicle Hearld and they basically said that they are opening but probably aren't read to reveal that publicly yet. They may be waiting for a space to be available at 6000- 8000sq.ft. May happen after Apple and Victoria's Secret are nearing completion/opened. Do you have any more info on A&F in Halifax?

My bad regarding A&F, it is just a rumor at this point. Hollister Co. is a subsidiary of A&F; as is abercrombie (childrenswear), and Gilly Hicks (women). Maybe that is why they have an address at HSC...? :shrug:

Great news regarding Coach, such a catch for Champlain! :worship: My wife was not able to find the link, so if you have it... thanks!
There is an online NB newspaper ;) stating that Coach and Sephora is coming, however they also state that they will be the only Maritime location... ?!

Here's a limk to their Facebook page where the announcement was made (just scroll down a bit)

https://www.facebook.com/#!/ChamplainPlace

Regarding A&F, the phone number listed on their YellowPages listing (http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Nova-S...&where=Halifax, NS&cli=1,5&le=164a4) is different than Hollister's phone number in HSC. I've tried calling the number there is never an answer.:shrug:

:previous:

Thanks icetea93, I'll have to start paying attention to the Champlain Place page on Facebook. I must admit that I usually ignore Facebook.

------------------------------------------------------

It is good to see these higher end stores coming to Champlain Place. As has been previously pointed out though, Moncton is a pretty small city for many of these chains (in Canada). I presume that they are justifying this move based on the regional catchment area of the mall (as well as traffic counts and sales per square foot).

The upscaling of Champlain may provide an opportunity elsewhere in the city to accomodate displaced retailers, or mid-range retailers that the mall can not (will not) provide space for.

The revived Mapleton Power Centre will likely see some benefit from this. It appears that the empty strip backing on the Wheeler offramp is seeing some work. With stores like Cleves and Golf Town soon ready to open and PetSmart announced, Mapleton will soon take off. Things will really begin to happen once the (anticipated) Best Buy and Bed, Bath & Beyond are finally announced.

Downtown will likely also experience a revival, especially if developers take note of this opportunity to service the slightly-less-than-top-drawer retail market. Of course, the fact that the location of the downtown events centre has not yet been announced is conversely having the effect of delaying downtown development in the short term. No one likes uncertainty. Everyone wants to make sure that their property investments are properly located in order to maximize return. It's time for the city to get off the pot and finally fess up the location of the events centre. Without this information, developers will only keep on sitting on their hands rather than investing in the core. Without this information, downtown retail will suffer.

Come on City Hall, tell us what we need to know in order to remove uncertainty from the downtown. Right now we have development paralysis. This needs to end - now!

Bouclair is now open at Wheeler Park. :)

Sephora was confirmed today on the Champlain Place Facebook page (same link as above)

For those of you who can read french, here's an article on capacadie about the coming mapleton power center:

http://m.capacadie.com/economie/2012...medium=twitter

It states that Cleve's is plan to open in May, and some more either in fall 2012 or spring 2013 depending of construction. There should be confirmation soon of retailers coming. The plan is about 30 new stores. And most available spaces have reserved tenants. It also talk about 4 buildings being ready for this fall, so I assume 2 additional than those already almost complete.

Disney had licensed stores (which was owned by the chain "the children's place") and through some sales or a buy back and restructuring or something like that decided to take back full control of disney stores so they shut all the licensed stores down and have been reopening corporate disney stores

30 new stores is huge and will give Moncton back it's edge in retail in NB. :yes: Wonder what other retailers are on deck.

Glad to hear that most of the 30 odd spaces have secured tenants.... :tup:

If they plan to have 4 buildings ready by the fall, I presume they would be:
- the existing strip backing on the Wheeler off ramp
- the Cleves/Golf Town building (almost ready)
- the mystery building at the east end of the development (the one requiring the rezoning)
- the building on the opposite side of the parking lot with PetSmart and the rumoured Best Buy and Bed, Bath & Beyond

The new high end retailers at Champlain (Sephora, Pandora, Coach and maybe Fossil) will also help give us our mojo back. Now, if only we can find a new location for the Bay....

Another tidbit of info regarding Kernels Popcorn and other food outlets at Champlain. Kernels was doing very well at Champlain, however CF doesn't want food outlet kiosks in the mall for various reasons unless they are coffee shops. Kernels was offered several spots inside Champlain, a spot next to Pretzelmaker was one of them, the one in front of Sobeys, but because of traffic and other factors, they did not come to an agreement. Remember, when Treats was in the kiosk alley? What about the Sweetfactory... This is a CF nationwide requirement and it is the same everywhere in the CF portfolio, look at Regent, food kiosks, gone...