To tell you the truth, I'm surprised it's taken this long for Giant Tiger to set up in the province. Not trying to take anything away from Pipers - like it or hate it, it's a good store that fills a niche. However, as always, it becomes difficult to compete with a national chain. I think it's a strategy that may bode well for Pipers. Likewise, I'm surprised it's taken Pipers to expand outside of the St. John's area.

Here you go 😁

http://vocm.com/news/pipers-closing-...her-expansion/

You are right. They worked for months at O'Leary. They say the building is sold, but I thought they were the ones who bought it at the time???? Also, when they first opened, it was branded as their warehouse store. Then it was eventually re-branded to a home decor store. I'm guessing business wasn't that great there. I personally thought it was a great move for Piper's at the time setting up by the mall. The new parking garage wasn't there at the time either. I'm sure Piper's didn't anticipate a 30Ft concrete wall just feet from their new store.

Just reading in the agenda listings on Stjohns.ca that Robins Donuts has applied to occupy 43 Cashin ave which is that strip mall address.

Anybody know when the Rec Room is supposed to open??

Opening May 2019.

The Rec Room Opening
 

HRM getting Atlantic Canada's first Cineplex Playdium which is similiar to Rec Room format with different food offerings. Mentioned in article St. John's Rec Room to open "next month".

https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-ne...tmouth-1333425

my friends a manager there and i know the family/friends event is on the 13th and 14th weekend of april so either late april or early may

How does the Playdium compare to the Rec Room? Is it a scaled back version, a bumped up version, or just different? I notice that both the St. John's and Halifax locations are the same size, 30,000 sqft.

From what I can tell from reading the Cinneplex release when they announced the Playdium brand, both the Playdium and Rec Room are very similar. It looks like that the Playdium will lean to target teens and families, versus the Rec Room being targeted towards adults.

Rec Room Facebook page announced they are opening April 18th.

So the Avalon Mall has made a page just for their redevelopment, and with it released alot of new pictures and some new information within them.
https://www.avalonmallredevelopment.com/

Summary of info from the following pictures:
- Lindor Chocolate store where the barber shop currently is next to Winners
- The hallway/entrance of Starbucks & CIBC will be removed
- 32 new retail spots!

https://i.imgur.com/p2zreV4.png

https://i.imgur.com/7Fzlbsj.png

https://i.imgur.com/WxGyCz7.png

https://i.imgur.com/cEPsLUV.png

https://i.imgur.com/jKEb0An.png

https://i.imgur.com/p2zreV4.png

Good stuff! I'd like to know some of the new tenants - Avalon Mall must have some already leased. 32 new spots is a lot!

Nice Find!

Nice! I predicted Starbucks would be moving to be closer to one of the new entrances. Be interesting to see who else is lined up.

One of the photos shows what looks to be:

Steve Madden; Levis; Indigo (Coles upgrade?); Tommy Hilfiger. Sneak peak of future openings??

From floor layout it could be view looking from new Lindt location, with new mall entrance on right. According to Indigo website, large format stores average over 20,000 square feet.

The website for a new archery lounge just launched: https://narrowsarchery.ca will be opening upstairs from Jack Axes on Water Street. I had no idea this was even coming but it's something I'd definitely be interested in checking out.

Is there any timeline for this to be completed?

Yeah, not sure if the pictures are generic or not. To me, at least, they must have some of the spaces leased. That's a lot of empty space. Winner's will be set up in a ghost town.

I don't see Starbucks on the layout, do we know exactly where it's going? As well, I haven't heard any time lines.

If Indigo is opening in there I wonder what will happen with the space on Kenmount.. they won't keep that open with a new large store in the Mall.


Ron.

Coles is also owned by the same company. If Indigo does open in the mall I could see that store closing for sure. The Chapters might stay open - not sure if its a Best Buy/Futureshop situation.

Hey guys,
I would suggest you take any concept pics of what the Avalon Mall concept drawings with the stores in place with a grain of salt. These are just concept drawings to suggest what could be. Nothing is set in stone. Believe me, if Indigo were moving to the mall, I am sure they would announce it big time. All of the names on the concepts drawings are just suggestions. Nothing more.

You never know though. Perhaps Crombie Reit will offer to purchase the Chapters building and then offer to move them into the mall. Crombie already owns most of the surrounding real estate right up to the Chapters building anyway.

Looks like The Rec Room is opening tommorow:
https://www.thetelegram.com/business...-johns-302628/

Yes, these are just concept drawings. Obviously, they must have some bigger tenants lined up to do such an expansion. As for the timeline, Winners/Homesense is opening August 1st, along with the new mall entrance next to it. This entrance will be needed as the rest other 2 entrances in the inner parking lot will be closed to make way for the expansion. Some of the steel is going up now. The entire project, last time I heard, will completed in late 2020, with the new tenants in place.

Is there any news on Costco in galway

A lot of Coles Stores in BC and Alberta have been renovated and rebranded as Indigo Spirit. Thats what could be happening as its been rolling out the last few years.

June was the last I heard...

I asked at the Costco Optical counter last weekend.

They are told June 27 as new opening day.

I was enquiring about the optical area. She said the new location will have a much larger optical area with more selection.

Ed

Looks like the Shoppers Drug Mart on Freshwater/Empire is finally ready to be demolished soon. They have a fence around the building and a temporary medical clinic set up on site.

Sobeys Mt Pearl
 

The Sobey's store in Mt Pearl, across from Galway is currently under renovation. Dairy aisle is covered in large tarp

They are only replacing the coolers. Apparently, all the open air type coolers are being replaced with glass door type coolers. Kelsey Drive was just done. Things like butter, eggs, cheese, yogurt, etc will now be behind doors.

I noticed the change at Kelsey Drive, but I hadn't seen it actually take place - thought something was different alright.:koko:

The glass door coolers are more energy efficient presumably?

300 Kenmount Road
 

Looks to be some renovations happening on space previously occupied by Madison Mackensie (adjacent to Kelsey's restaurant). Anyone know whats moving into the space?

This property, managed by Redwood group of companies, looks to be close to fully leased.

I heard Proactive Physiotherapy along with a medical suite

I'm hearing that Dollarama in the new Paradise Plaza is open.

This is Fantastic News !
It is so hard finding a Dollar store these days.
#Sarcasm

And speaking of more dollar stores, the Great Canadian Dollar Store has taken over Piper's old space in Mount Pearl. They're starting to change the colours and signage and there's a "coming soon" sign.

I am SOOOOOO Pumped !!!
This has made me forget about all the crappy weather this week.
My life is now officially Complete.
The Great Canadian Dollar Store.........YESSSSSS ! Life could not be any better at this point.

Was always wondered why Sobeys was not investing any time with the upkeep of its Ropewalk Lane Store. It’s quite a run down dump of a store right now. I guess this is probably why...

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/bu...e-deal-316568/

Drove past the the old Freshwater Road/Empire Ave. Shoppers Drug Mart and they now have the entire old building demolished to the ground.

Some Costco opening specials posted here...
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/costc...924/#p31074286

Ron.

I posted this on the Galway Thread as well....

What is confirmed or being built in Galway besides Costco is Marshall's, Homesense, PetSmart, Michael's, Dollarama, Starbucks, Scotiabank, plus 5 other smaller places such as First Choice, a shoe store and a dance school.

Also, I just found out that Princess Auto will be opening up in Galway.
Unfortunately, they won't be going the route of Marshall's and PetSmart and making a duplicate store.....they will be going the route of Costco and uprooting from Stavanger.

Hmmm, hypothetically speaking here... say many stores on Stavanger decide to uproot and follow Costco to Galway. I see this as a prime opportunity for Stavanger Dr. to bring in some new retail and re-morph itself as a premier retail area.

I said this before; however I preface this by saying I have no "inside information", but I think Stavanger is in a transition period and it will see overall positive changes. Stavanger in 10 years or so will probably be very different than today, but's that not a bad thing.

A cool idea but probably not feasible here would be for some company to buy Costco and Target and join them together and make an enclosed outlet mall.

I did here a long while ago that U-Haul has purchased the Costco building to create a rental/storage superstore.

I recently heard that the new Winners,in the Avalon Mall,is going to open August 6. Nothing official,I heard it from a relative who is a big Winners shopper.

I heard this as well. August 6th for Winners & Homesense at the Avalon Mall and August 27 for Marshall's & Homesense at Galway.

Winners does indeed open August 6th (one of my friends was hired for the new store) and it's supposedly the biggest Winners in Canada.

Has anyone heard about a new Orangetheory Fitness location opening up? I saw that their Facebook page is now titled Orangetheory St. John’s East. I also saw a tweet from Terry Hart at VOCM mentioning an expansion. I know that Brad Gushue and Mark Nichols just opened one in the Halifax area. It made me think that they may be looking to open a second one here, preferably in the Kenmount Road area! But I would assume if there is a new one that it would probably be near Galway. Any info out there?

Mountain Warehouse advertising for a store manager for a new store in St. John's. I would assume it'll be in the mall but not sure. Galway hasn't announced them for up there although I guess Stavanger would be an option as well. They are also opening a store in New Brunswick. For anyone not familiar its an outdoor store with some great prices. I have a few things I picked up at one of their stores in the Toronto area. They seem to open in malls and outlet centres.

I'm a big fan of Mountain Warehouse. I visit them when I'm in the Toronto area. They are a British based store who have barely cracked the North America market. To describe them I would have to say Mark's clothing with Old Navy's prices. They would be a good fit for Galway or the Avalon Mall but I'd bet my money on the Avalon Mall. Time will tell.