It's a suburban bank. It's not going to be epic. Throw it up in 3 hours for all I care; if there's an ATM and a tellers booth I'll be happy.

+1

Intersport!
 

The Intersport store that's opening soon in the Avalon Mall will be unlike any other. It will be strictly footwear, apparel, and accessories.... no hard goods or equipment.

It will be the best compilation of footwear in Newfoundland, if not all of Atlantic Canada. :) The clothing will range from technical running, to casual every-day cool for men, women, and kids.

I'm pretty excited, and we haven't even unpacked 1/10th of the stock yet. :D

I'll keep you updated on our official open date. See you soon!

Cool! Sounds great! I'll be sure to check it out when it opens :tup:

Thanks for the update! I'm definitely going to check it out now.... :cheers:

For whatever reason I was on the Menchie's website and noticed a new location will be opening in Glenhill plaza in Mount Pearl. I'm not sure if it's worth posting... oh well, it is development.

yeah we were there a few weeks back and over heard brad talking to some people there saying that they were indeed openingup a second location in mount pearl

I heard they were opening another location on stevanger as well. Menchies must be doing really well! I hear everybody talking about it, but I've never been there

It's amazing.

Where is Glenhill Plaza in Mount Pearl? Is that the strip mall across the street from Wendy's?

Well Harvey's Restaurant must be happy. Drove by there today to attempt to get a burger there but people were still lined up outside the door. They must be open for almost a month now and still line-ups out the door. Go figure.

Maybe they just have extremely slow staff :haha:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...29171878_n.jpg

The Target store on Stavanger Drive is quickly shaping up. I think it's going to look pretty similar to this photo in Windsor Ontario. Photo is from ctv news website.

http://windsor.ctvnews.ca/windsor-bu...-day-1.1182745

http://ow.ly/ljVjy

Golf Town opens today.

I new shop is opening up in DT called WeAreJunk. It is FINALLY the first place in St. John's to actually offer urban designer men's fashion! St. John's is being brought to the 21st century! Here is the facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Weare...92063977515561

I am excited to finally have somewhere to shop in St. John's that offers high quality men's fashion.

JUNK should be an excellent addition to the city. :)

But you're wrong if think they're the first of their kind. Designer men's clothes are nothing new for St. John's. Most of the men's clothing stores downtown have a selection.

As for which century it is... I couldn't care less. :) Whatever we call it, it's a great one to live here in.

What is the current selection as in urban apparel? Currently there is no where in Newfoundland that carries high end urban designers. I believe wearejunk is going to do well. Lots of oil money to be spent there!

Depends on what you mean by urban... inner-city African American designers? I'm sure you can get clothing from a few of those here.

If you simply mean it as some... "big city trendy" label... then basically all designer men's fashion here would fit the bill.

I mean Diesel, G-Star, J Lindeberg, True Religion, APC, etc. It is costly clothing but the money is here to suppoert it. Jeans can run $300+. A store that you may recognize is Duggers located in Halifax, they are simililar to Byron's for their upstairs, and downstairs they offer a larger selection of clothing that Junk is going to offer.

The store seems cool and all, but I wish there wasn't so many boutiques downtown. I know it's important to have some independent and non-industrialized clothing stores seeing it is downtown and all, but I really wish there was more inexpensive stores like H&M or Forever 21. The only places we really have this kind of selection is Bluenotes and Urban Planet (which might I add is trash) so virtually theres only one.

I know any city in Canada with a downtown like ours would have a store that catered to this market, why don't we have one? We've got plenty of vacant buildings that would be able to house a multiple storey one, or even that single level of shopping 351 was proposed to have!

In the meantime all I can do is wish for not having to dish out $60 for a t-shirt.

I agree, it would be nice to see H&M and Forever 21 here, however I believe they will not open a store unless there is a certain population to support it (they tend to be very large stores). With the way the economy is here though I think it would work easily.

And the expensive clothing is what some people prefer, it is nice to see the option available now.

I agree with John - we need more men's clothing options. St.John's has a pitiful selection of men's clothing. This boutique is needed downtown because the higher-end brands it will offer would never otherwise be available. Young professionals who want to move here need to have appropriate shopping. It's absolutely necessary.

I agree with ed too - we need more affordable clothing also downtown. But to be clear, boutique does not necessarily mean expensive. And commercial-chain retail does not mean affordable. American Apparel is certainly not affordable. An H&M or a Forever 21 would be great for downtown - cheap clothing that actually resonates with young people. Young people don't shop downtown because there is nowhere appropriate to do so. With that said, there remains a lack of appropriate venues for this kind of commerce. I suspect there will be space for such tenants in MIX, Mirador, 351.

H&M operates stores in both Moncton and Fredericton, so population isn't a problem for a St. John's location.

I'm glad that there's high-priced clothing available in St. John's, but balance is needed. Old Navy is the best we have in that area.

Old Navy is geared toward a younger demographic. Young professionals doubtfully would want to shop there. I am sure they wouldn't haha.

H&M has made 2 attempts at opening in St.John's, both times actually they failed because of a lack of appropriate commercial space.

I bought cheap khaki's there once when I didn't have enough good slacks for my old office job. Other than that I find their commercials very off-putting.

The Avalon Mall messed up with housing Roots in their new expansion. Roots? Is it 1996 again?

The vast majority of major retail shopping in St. John's is suburban. The big players in attracting the big retailers are power centres (Stavangar) and the Avalon Mall. Both of these locations are aimed at the broader market from outside the city. Just look at their location, Stavanger is easily accessed from the ORR and the mall from Kenmount and Thorburn which connect directly to the TCH. Developers sell the notion that getting downtown is a hassle for someone who is coming into the city for a Saturday shopping day, and the major retailers buy it. It's true as well, there is little parking and if you don't know the area you will get lost... believe me, I know.

It would be nice to see some bigger name retailers downtown, but it just isn't practical. Even for a company like H&M, they will want to be near their competitors, none of which are downtown. If they wanted St. John's for the sake of St. John's they would be there already. You have to be within the vicinity of the competition if they are already in the market. Downtown St. John's is not an attractive location because there are existing competitors in other, more widely accessible parts of the city.

And the obvious, downtown St. John's is not the city centre. It's off to the side in several respects, at the bottom of steep hills, and many would rather avoid the area altogether during the winter.

Yes I agree, the DT has potential to be very nice in regards to clothing shopping, with these new buildings there will be modern space available to retailers as well. I hope to see it go in this direction.

Voctoria Secret WILL be opening in the Avalon mall and in order to do so they are taking two stores out lol. American Apparel will be closing for a while (relocating eventually but not right away) and the store next to it.

If H&M or Fovever 21 ever do decide to open in St. John's, they certainly are not gonna choose downtown for a location. More likely at the mall or big box shopping parks. Downtown is a niche kind of place for shopping and big brand retail needs a lot more people coming in and out of their doors than what downtown can provide.

Interesting. American Apparel is a brand new reno, surprised they'd agree to close and relocate. I think the store next door is already vacant? (was Please Mum?)

I love American Apparel. The Travel Bug in the mall closed too.

Wow didn't that store just open?

That's too bad. I was just there and bought something a couple weeks ago, so much more convenient than going to the original store downtown.

Yes, like 3 YEARS ago. :)

Hmm well yes, in the past, they were looking at the Village Mall to establish themselves.

But I wouldn't say downtown is out of the question. If it is, it's because there isn't appropriate retail space to accommodate a large store like H&M or Forever 21.

They are popular enough that people would go out of the way to shop there. So it's much less about volume of business. You also need to consider the demographics. Young people more often shop at these stores. Box stores are more convenient for older people, less so for younger people. An H&M would draw people to downtown - it would be ideal. Stavanger Drive would be worst case scenario.

I think competition may be another good way of strategizing a location in the mall though compared to Downtown.

The downtown economy is largely comprised of those that work and/or live there, which is a fairly small market. Let's face it, most of our city drives and parking downtown is a nightmare. I guess in order to be viable, a downtown H&M would have to inspire a large number of young people to use public transit. I don't know if it would.

Well the downtown market is growing pretty rapidly. Lots of new condos and hotels are being built. More offices also mean more people working downtown. The market dynamics of the downtown are evolving rapidly and will look very different in a few years.

But growing up in CBS, it was quicker and easier for me to go downtown than it was to go to Stavanger Drive. And at least for my friends and people I knew, if you had an option between downtown and Stavanger Drive, you would almost always choose downtown instead.

Parking downtown isn't that bad off work-hours when people are more likely to be shopping or whatever.

Ideally i think downtown would be the best place to open a store like H&M. It's relatively in the center of the city, plus its easier to get to from outside the city than Stavanger. Its got better flexibility and store size than the Avalon and Village mall. Plopping a store down like it would raise the bar for competition, letting even more commonly known stores from the mainland to set up shop. Plus the growth of customers in the area would benefit all the other businesses as well.

I know for a fact kids my age would be able to take on a bus ride or two if it was necessary to get to a great store like that. Also, I'm sure people would be glad to go outside of the dark and dirty Avalon and Village malls to have the experience of shopping downtown for a change.

I did some research on the properties subject and most sources said that H&M uses buildings with at least 15,000 sq.ft. The H&M website itself proclaims that they only rent out properties to flex and adapt to the market. So properties like this http://is.gd/5KKZX2 would be perfect.

The only outstanding problems I see with developments like this down there would be the need for more parking and better transit, which we're all begging to be solved anyways.

I could see H&M opening up downtown, but definitely not Forever 21. They are almost always in malls (unless in a very large city).

Was listening to an interview with the CEO of American Apparel on CBC Radio yesterday morning and he kinda came off sounding like a bit of a douche.

I thought they were gonna relocate in the mall but it looks like they are closing shop now as they have an END OF LEASE sale sign posted in their window.

I would not be surprised though if American Apparel did not reopen in St. John's. I heard they are constantly in a financial bind over the last couple of years. Not sure what their current situation is though. I guess it would depend on how well that particular location was in sales.

I also noticed that the TV Showcase store that recently relocated to the Village Mall from Avalon Mall is now closed and gone. Big surprise there. Do people actually research demographics on these kind of moves before doing idiotic things like that. "Let's take a struggling store that is currently in one of the most popular retail spaces in the city and relocate in one of the least most popular retail spaces in the city". Surely they couldn't have been surprised by the outcome.

I doubt you will ever see H&M go downtown. If they ever do open a store here they will go where the customers and the crowds go. That's not downtown, at least not right now. Downtown is a cool place but a very niche market. H&M usually has larger stores so if they come here it will most likely be at the Avalon Mall or in one of the big box shopping parks.

American Apparel nearly went bankrupt a while ago I believe. I like their clothes. Their stuff is made in the US so I'd say they have issues making a big profit.

They actually moved downstairs by the stairs to goodlife.

At the Mall, the Head 1st and store next door are moving upstairs to make way for Victoria Secrets.

Eh... they will surely not go into a big-box set-up. That's not what H&M is about and surely, Stavanger Driver will not be H&M International's first big-box style outlet.

Customers and crowds will follow H&M. No big-name retail is downtown because of a lack of space, as has been the case for a couple decades. Once a couple open-up, it will catch on like wildfire (not to say that H&M would be one, but it would definitely function as a catalyst). Please, do not underestimate the influence of H&M. haha...

Does La Senza still have two stores in the mall, I can see them being hurt by Victoria Secret.

They do. I imagine all stores will do fine. Girls will have a preference for one brand over another I'm sure.

Victoria's Secret tends to have a more MILFy clientelle in my experience. I've rarely seen teenagers/20-somethings in there.

I'm guessing Victoria's Secret will also be bringing their "PINK" brand with them too, which caters toward more teens and offers clothes rather than just bra's and stuff.