Has anyone heard anything about the buildings there on the corner behind Plaza Bowl? I know the owner was on NTV a few months ago saying he had two big franchises moving in there, but there's been no sign of activity there since.

Giant Tiger
 

Giant Tiger definitely a candidate for new store in St. John's

https://www.thestar.com/business/201...tors-fade.html

I wondered that myself. I drove by recently and one of the units looked like it may have had something going in there. They look like they've been ready to go for some time but nothing has appeared.

CBC is reporting that Pipers is to close stores in Mt. pearl and on O'Leary Ave and open one in Bay Roberts.

Wanna share the link to this story? Cause I don't see anything.

Kind of find that hard to believe after all the renovations and promotion and everything they put in recently on O'Leary Avenue.

It was a tweet from Ramona Dearing, the Radio Noon host.
https://twitter.com/RamonaDearing

Confirmed on the telegram website
https://www.thetelegram.com/business...h-plan-294951/

With Giant Tiger inevitably arriving, I guess Pipers are refocusing on how and where they can still do well before that day comes.

What is Giant Tiger? Is it similar to Pipers?

I think I was only in one once but if I remember correctly Giant Tiger was sort of like a mini supermarket/large Dollarama.

If I had to make a guess Dollarama probably has had more of an impact on Pipers than Giant Tiger(which isn't even here yet)

Giant Tiger is a Canadian Chain of 250 stores....basically a mini Walmart Supercentre compressed to the size of Shoppers Drug Mart. They sell a little of everything from clothes to household goods to groceries, including meat and produce in many stores. They have stores in every province but NL and BC, but are planning to expand even more. They remind me of a bigger box, less cluttered, version of Pipers or, as goodgrowth stated above...mini supermarket/large Dollarama.

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.