Or they buy them at the 100 other places that sell greeting cards. You can get cards at wal-mart or dollarama for much less than at other stores.

Very true.

Cards feeling like a rip off probably also doesn't help...

Pier One is closing half its stores in North America and is reportedly close to declaring bankruptcy.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/pier...ores-1.4755419

Not surprised to hear this at all. They’ve been going downhill for some time now. Seems like all the home decor chains are hurting or closing up shop. Bouclair Home recently filed for bankruptcy too and was purchased by a new owner. Home Outfitters which is owned by Hudson’s Bay closed all of its stores, Bombay Co., Bowring closed all of its stores too not too long ago. Online shopping?

Not surprised either. I would say online shopping combined with places like IKEA and Winners/Marshalls/Homesense. I find Pier One pricey when I can get similar items for cheaper elsewhere.

As per their facebook page - Broken Books is closing on Feb 19 after a 6 year run

What even is Broken Books? Never heard of it.

Downtown bookstore. They used to be over by Model Citizens and moved into the Afterwards space on Duckworth after they closed.

Another mall chain has bitten the dust it seems.
I noticed that Things Engraved had a “store closed” notice posted in their door yesterday at the mall. Now it seems they have shuttered all stores across Canada without hardly any notice to employees.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/thin...nada-1.4762355

Well I guess St. John's won't be getting one of these...

IKEA Canada closing pick-up and order locations effective Jan. 29
https://globalnews.ca/news/6405784/i...0BFOy3jnk5IGJs

Ron.

Breaking News....the vacant space between Harvey's and Tommy Gunn's on Merchant Drive is, wait for it.....H&R Block. So disappointing.

Harbinger of things to come maybe, with that area caught between Galway & Kelsey.

:shrug:

wife saw a job posting for Torrid for st johns avalon mall

https://www.dropbox.com/s/24br05jhxp...hrome.jpg?dl=0

While out for a walk today, noticed that the spot Yellowbelly had on Prescott Street now has a sign for Volcanic Bakery hung.

Good. That yellowbelly sign was up for about 10 years and I don't think it ever materialized.

Its apparently going to be a second location for them.

Not sure if it’s been announced yet or not, but the brick is going in woodgate plaza, late fall opening.

Where did you here this?

I think NL is only province without a Brick store. Leon’s owns The Brick so they are kinda already here I suppose.

Directly from crombie. Tender is out right now for the land lord work,(tear off the dooleys side of the building, new roofing, etc.)

Interesting! I thought that, eventually, the building would be torn down with Toys R Us being relocated. It's been pretty much a vacant building for quite some time. I guess Crombie has some longer term plans for it. If so, hopefully a face lift as that building is definitely due for some renovations.

Pretty sure Crombie had plans to renovate Woodgate Plaza and the office building next to it because I read about it on here at some point a while ago.

Not sure if they are still planning on doing it but the render is still on the website:
https://www.crombie.ca/property/woodgate-plaza

Ah yes, I remember seeing this render before. Thanks for jogging my memory! Definitely a well needed refresh to what's currently there. That building has looked old and run down for years now.

I understood that Crombie wood be renovating woodgate plaza during the last phase of the Avalon Mall renovation, once that was completed. I think they going to put storefronts all around it. But plans can easily change.

Pier One closing all stores in Canada.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/pier...r&_gsc=40uFAkT

Pier One (amongst other retailers in this speciality sector) have been struggling for quite some time. It seems boutique and specialty stores cannot survive in this retail environment. It tough when facing competition against online giants like Amazon, Wish, Wayfair, etc. that sell basically everything. Call me old fashion but I do have a soft spot for the brick and mortar buildings. Just the evolution of retail I guess.

Another famous brand is struggling and starting to close stores. Victoria's Secret closing a store in a large Calgary mall. I wonder how long the one in Avalon Mall will last?

https://www.retail-insider.com/retai...bdd6-113844953

I couldn’t find anything on the Crombie website but I texted directly to The Brick and they just texted me back saying they will be opening here in 2020.

Seems to me like the Mall is saturated with this type if store...La Vie en Rose, another I'm gapping on and Torrid opening soon. How many stores specializing in drawers do we need? I haven't bought underwear since Sears closed.

New batch of stores annouced by the mall:
- Sport Chek
- Tommy Hillfiger
- SKECHERS
- Michael Hill
- Bikini Village
- The Brick

So another shoe store, a relocated sports store, more jewelry and bikinis...

So the Sport Check is moving out of the Village?

Torrid isn't just underwear it's plus size clothing in general

Its the plus size sister brand of Hot Topic, lots of goths used to shop there years ago but its gotten more mainstream now.


...

Retail insider story on the mall
https://www.retail-insider.com/retai...-redevelopment

Stokes in both malls have shop closing sales on, already gone in Grand Falls and Corner Brook

https://www.bargainmoose.ca/news/sto...closing-263976

List of store closings not given...

According to the Telegram, yes.

https://www.thetelegram.com/business...ce=parsely-api

Drove up Kenmount today and noticed there is demo work happening on woodgate plaza. Not sure if tearing down or just stripping the exterior at this point.

At one point the ghost of Consumers Distributing was making an appearance there.

https://twitter.com/Blarcade/status/...908673/photo/1

They are tearing down about a third of the building.

Anyone know what the deal is with Bouclair? The local store has been closed since the pandemic began, of course, and was listed on the site as temporarily closed. We wanted to buy an item and the shipping was insane so we kept checking the site to see if they were doing curbside here but now it comes up as permanently closed. I can't find any closure announcement anywhere though...

Been noticing for several weeks that Sol Studio (not sure if I got that right) by Shoppers on Merchant Dr has been looking empty. Read a notice on the door today which indicated that it was abandoned by the tenant. Yet another victim of the pandemic.

I also noticed while out today that the final phase of the Avalon Mall expansion is pretty much closed in and nearly finished on the exterior.

HAH. You reminded me I took pics 2 weeks ago and forgot to post. duh

https://i.imgur.com/IYnlDsC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/B08VEWt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BJWVxSv.jpg

St. John’s Proposes Pedestrian-Only Mall to Boost Downtown Business
 

An interesting concept to help boost struggling businesses in DT. We need every ounce of creativity and innovation at this point. It'd be interesting to see where this goes.

VOCM News
June 4, 2020

https://vocm.com/2020/06/03/downtown-pedestrian-mall/

Definitely cool but are we going to drop some of the social distancing rules and "nannyism" to let it work?

Also DT needs a bus hub...

I would argue that this helps DT business more easily follow social distancing rules while benefiting the most from the poor situation. Without the extra outdoor space I would imagine most restaurants would need to cut the number of tables in their dining rooms in half to reduce crowding. Now you have a large swath of land right outside your front door to space out those extra tables.

Sure as long as they are allowed to build ample sized patios (beyond the sidewalk and out onto the street) and there are no capacity restrictions with regards to patios.

That could work on Harbour Drive.

Anything that involves drinking is going to be limited to the sidewalk. NLC won't allow alcohol consumption in the street.

This.