No, it's to the right of RBC stripmall and at the back of the big parking lot shared with that building ( beer store, New Moon rest, New World Fitness etc) across from Tims/Ches's/Jungle Jim's. Basically at the corner of Burgeo St and Topsail Rd.

Ah, right! For some reason I read "Topsail" as "Torbay" and was thinking about the old Dominion across from McDonald's on NL Dr. Thanks for the clarification.

Noticed today at lunch that Martek were putting a sign up by the old Newfoundland Dr Dominion, stating lease opportunities for 20,000 sg ft. Also said on the sign about 70,000 sg ft at Ropewalk Lane, so I guess the old buildings are on the market now. Be nice to finally see something done with these old buildings.

Haha... speak of the devil!

Here are some photos of things that are going on in the Avalon Mall.
The bathrooms and hall near where the old watch shop and security office was, has been completely renovated and modernized signs etc. I have a feeling that they will eventually renovate inside the mall.

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...e3&oe=549472BD

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...86&oe=548F8F0F

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...11a1ed63d9bc61

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...6e4bfb3c1f30f5

Here are a couple of the new stores under construction:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...da0eb1d3b3283a

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...2daba6d52d8b86

Starbucks is almost done:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...728a68812ba36f

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...fe23c74f9c278d

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...a5&oe=549151AC

Another national chain has gone under and is closing its shops across the country. There's no real surprise though that XS Cargo is closing. It's the dumpiest and most up useless store I've ever been in. Here's the news announcement link.

http://business.financialpost.com/20...?__federated=1

Interesting. We drove by there last week and noticed the sign. I was wondering if it was a for real closing sale, or if it was kind of like what Fairweather does in the mall, where they've been "closing" for about 7 years now :haha:

LOL. I noticed that about Fairweather too.

Actually it's not so much the attitude of the folks or location of the folks, but rather it comes down to $$$$. There simply is not enough disposable income here in the area that could sustain even a watered down version of WEM (not yet anyways).

Personally what I think needs to happen with the Avalon Mall is:
A). Ownership Chage
B). Shopping options that reflect what people want or wear.

I liked XS Cargo. For students moving to the city they had some great cheap furniture. To this day I still have a bookshelf, TV stand, coffee and end tables, and a desk from there plus a bunch of other cheap household stuff like hangers and whatnot. It was one of the places I frequently went just to see what they had.

I think stores like this and Hart/Bargain Giant made one critical mistake: trying to compete in primary markets. There's a ton of competition in major cities like St. John's and Halifax, but if they had gone into secondary or tertiary cities and towns, with their prices, they would have done better. The market is smaller but you can capture all of it with less competition. Hart/Bargain Giant went under specifically because they failed to make money on a huge expansion into primary shopping markets like St. John's and stopped focussing on 2nd-3rd tier markets like Grand Falls or Port-aux-Basques where they were #1 or 2 in town.

XS Cargo was in competition with the likes of Winners, Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, Dollarama, Dominion, Staples, Canadian Tire, etc... and you're not going to win that battle.

I remember going to St. John's for a trip before I even moved out there for undergrad and they had their store closing sign up. So your 7 could be spot on. haha

The cash per capita is actually quite high. I really don't know what your talking about.

There's a lot more disposable income in St. John's then a lot of other cities in Canada. Our small population is a bigger issue.

Seems like they have started laying footings for the KMK office/retail complex at Hebron Way. Was down that way yesterday and there's activity at the site. Should be a nice addition to the area.

Now if only Cineplex would get started. Beginning to think this project might be dead after the sale of Empire Cinemas this past year to Cineplex. Anyone hear anything regarding a start date?

The new Canadian Tire store on Hebron Way is now opened. I think that was one of the quickest big box construction projects that I've ever seen from the point of construction to opening.

Went to the new Canadian Tire on Hebron Way last night. Big store and it was blocked, no surprise there.

I also noticed that Milestones was open, that was also packed - also no surprise there.

Is that the construction next to Starbucks?

It will be pretty pathetic for St. John's if the new cinema doesn't go ahead. Going to a movie at the Avalon Mall is by far the worst experience of any cinema I have been to (in terms of wait times for tickets and concessions and prices), and I've been to movies in seven provinces and a dozen US states.

I did a quick search on cities in Canada with somewhat similar sizes and the number of theatres they have and St. John's is failing big time

Saskatoon
5

Regina
5

Sherbrook
4

Kelowna
5

Kingston
5

I agree with you here. There appears to be a big need for another theatre, the Avalon Mall location is not enough and Mount Pearl Square (i.e. Eastern Health facility) is pretty much out of the discussion. But Cineplex buying Empire Theatres has thrown everything into question. There's speculation the theatre is not going ahead but official yet, as far as I know. Hopefully we will hear something official soon. That's the problem around here, there always seems to be a 'black box' method to development - very frustrating at times!

Yes, the building under construction behind Starbucks and Milestones is the new KMK Real Estate building which will be offices and retail on the first floor.

Haven't been in and around Paradise since late summer. Noticed that the new Sobeys store is all constructed. Found it kinda odd though that it's positioned back on to McNamara Drive. Looks really weird. Anyone know why they did this?

Would love to see one downtown, it'd really add that extra dimension to our nightlife.

Yeah, you know that's not gonna happen.

They now have the cinemas in the Avalon Mall rebranded as "The Scotiabank Theatres by Cineplex Entertainment".

Reitman's has announced it will shut down its Smart Set chain of stores.
http://t.thestar.com/#/article/busin...et_banner.html

Also heard but not confirmed that Eddie Bauer is closing its Avalon Mall store.

Nothing surprising about Smart Set, the writing was on the wall for them.

As for Eddie Bauer, if this is indeed true I wonder if Avalon Mall store is closing due to lagging sales or this is one of many on the chopping block? I would tend to think the latter but I guess that remains to be seen. Eddie Bauer is a big store, that'll be a lot of space to fill.... speculation anyone????

I'm sure avalon mall won't have any trouble leasing space when other stores close.

Sorry, my last post was poorly written. What I meant by 'speculation' was who do people think a new possible tenant could be? I have no doubt the space will be filled.

No worries man.

I would say they will probably fill it with yet another lingerie store, LOL.

Smart Set's space is already going to some store called La vie en rose, which is a ....*drumroll* lingerie store.

Bogarts has moved into their new store, leaving their old location vacant.

Bootlegger will be moving into that space, taking both GoGames / Calander Club and the vacant lot.

Sephora will be taking the Bootlegger and Ricki's space. Ricki's is closing for good, I believe.

Big Deals, similar to XS Cargo (possibly mixed with Biway) is moving into the old Spirit Halloween location. Should be interesting to see if that store can make a go of it, as shipping to NL is very expensive now.

Small format IKEA in St John's???
 

Interesting article. IKEA is considering small format stores to better support e-commerce business in smaller Canadian markets.

They've got the major markets covered well & need a way to penetrate markets like St John's, Halifax, Moncton, London, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna & Victoria (my guess for their Top 10).



http://www.biv.com/article/2014/12/i...across-canada/

I hope that happens. The good deals you can get there are almost always killed by the shipping costs. There's actually a guy, known as the 'Ikea guy' who has made a business of shipping Ikea items to people here in NL. I think he drives trucks that are usually returning empty to NL otherwise.

Eddie Bauer
 

It's official Eddie Bauer is closing - signs in the window now. While it is disappointing to see it close, I believe it is a direct result of their outrageous prices. You can't get a dress shirt under $90 - really? Be interesting to see who will go into that space - for sure the mall has some plan!

Probably another friggin lingerie store. LOL.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

They're going to rename that part of the mall "sexy lane"

Pets Unlimited has closed their location off of Aberdeen and opened a new store, Pet Culture, on Hebron Way next to Wing n' It. The new store is about half the size of the former, if it's even that big.

Burrito Jax is opening a location in St. John's. No word on location yet, but for anybody who has had the pleasure of visiting this spot in Hfx, it's great news. Maybe something to finally fill the void Mustang Sally's left?

https://www.facebook.com/burritojax

I loved Mustang Sally's.

From VOCM:

We can have big box stores in the suburbs, but not one customer at a time visiting a house on Elizabeth Avenue. It makes me wonder why council bothered paying for Envision St. John's. Surely, the Allandale Place Condominium Corporation could install gates with electronic access if its members were seriously inconvenienced by soccer moms or future customers.

Found a map of Galway Big Box Retail Centre on City of St. John's site.

http://www.stjohns.ca/sites/default/...rvoir%20Rd.pdf

From looking at those specs I think it is safe to say the "rumor" of a second Costco has been shot down.

Wonder what restaurants are going in there?

Why would you say that?

Looking at the drawings, I'm surprised the buildings are being proposed to be built over the water transmission mains....those are some pretty big water pipes.

just an assumption from looking at the size of the buildings thats all. i would expect COSTCO to be over 125000 sq ft.

According to the Costco website, stores range in size from 73,000 to 205,000 sq ft with the average being 143,700 sq ft. Interestingly, I was told by an employee awhile back that the Stavanger Drive store was around 125,000 sq ft.

Any guesses on what the Galway stores will be? We can omit Walmart, Dominion, Sobeys, Kent and Canadian Tire as they are already near by. As well, Mr. Williams said in a news release in 2014 that several stores will be unique to Newfoundland. I'm hoping one of these first-timers will be an IKEA myself. As for the restaurants/fast food establishments seen on the map, I'm guessing more of the same things we already have, including ones that are already in nearby Mount Pearl such as Tim Horton's and McDonald's. I'm sure Cara Operations will have an offering or two in the restaurant segment as they seem to be a success everywhere they open one of their many brands.

I just did a calculation of the size based on measurments taken from the google maps image and I got it to be around 140,000 sq.ft. Also, don't know if the drawing is an actual layout plan or really just a concept drawing.

If a Costco does go there, and is the 2nd one in the city, I suspect it wouldn't need to be any bigger than the current one.

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that a Hudson's Bay store may open. There are 2 in Nova Scotia so I'm sure we could support one. Maybe another Bed, Bath and Beyond. An outdoor store would be nice, maybe a MEC or Coast Mountain Sports. Cabelas or a Bass Pro Shop is another possibility.

With all the new homes in that area, I would think more hardware/appliance stores such as Lowe's and HomeHardware. The smaller-format IKEA would also fit in there.

Not likely to be a Target.

Maybe a new RONA to replace the old one on Topsail Road in Paradise. That one is pretty old and small and there isn't much parking.