Planet fitness
 

Planet Fitness is opening in St. John's. They will set up at 650 Topsail Road next to Dollarama in the old Dominion/Home Hardware building. They have not given a timeline. My guess would be spring of 2023.

Ren's Pets
 

National pet store expanding and opening first location in NL. According to article, to be located at 56 Aberdeen Avenue, former Pier 1 or Bombay stores.

https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...ets-interview/

Does metro really need another pet store chain with several pet supply stores here already?

Sorry had wrong post here. Couldn’t delete it.

The new tenant to be next to Dollarama on Ropewalk Lane is another pet store. Back in the 80's and 90's we had 2 Pet City stores roughly the size of a convenience store, now we about about 20 large pet stores in Metro.

Was listening to an interview with Pat Thompson who owns Diamond Design in Terrace In The Square. He was concerned about the parking issues in the area of Churchill Square in the CBC radio interview. He mentioned that the new apartment building under construction that replaces the old Dominion supermarket will also house Shoppers Drug Mart on its Main Street level floor which would mean it would be moving from the Terrace in The Square building. That leaves a pretty large retail space for someone else to move into. Dollarama anyone? Just my prediction.

Pet store.

Ropewalk Plaza in receivership??
How does something like this happen when pretty much the entire plaza has been leased with such big brands as Dollarama, KFC, Burger King, Plaza Bowl and many others? Would love to know the real story here.

https://vocm.com/2022/12/02/st-johns...-receivership/

I don't think any of these stores are part of this property.

Ron.

The Telegram had a story on this with Vic Lawlor, who owns the plaza. According to him he renegotiated leases with some of the smaller businesses to help them get through Covid. The businesses owe him a million dollars in rent and this has become an issue with the bank.

https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundlan...aza-100800246/

That story missed the point. He bought a bunch of properties downtown and they are much more empty. Creditors are circling everywhere.

Also, there was lots of federal government support for commercial tenant rent relief. Did he not use any of it?

Receivership and liquidation is usually the last resort for banks. It typically means losing money. If they're doing it now it's because there are other big risks at play.

Planet Fitness Open
 

Seeing posts on FB that Planet Fitness is now open.

https://www.planetfitness.ca/gyms/st...ouE7CuU66RfNWk

Just found out that Bed Bath and Beyond are closing all of their stores in Canada. Another blow to the village mall.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bed...ores-1.6745092

Sports Experts in the Avalon Mall is having a store closing sale.

Former Bed Bath And Beyond at the Village will have a new store this summer called rooms + spaces.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...858924235.html

Pipers is closing their location on Topsail Road, and will be moving into the former Labels location at the Village Mall https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundlan...CiYOlZ0_mKfZvI

That Pro Look in the Avalon Mall is closing this week. They posted on their Facebook page:

It’s with a heavy heart that we share after 27 and a half years, THAT PRO LOOK will be closing its doors later this week.

Over the past few years we have seen a huge change in the marketplace and the way people shop. The impacts of COVID cannot be underestimated either. Nor can the rising prices for everything in our daily lives that now impact buying decisions on many levels.

A big thank you to the many young men and women who worked with us over the years. A special thanks to our manager, Robyn, who has been with us since the beginning. It was a pleasure to work with you all. As well, thank you to the thousands of customers who come through our doors and supported us. Many have been regulars and have even become friends, in addition to being loyal customers. It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you over that time. We look forward to seeing some of you over the next 2 days as we offer some great discounts on our remaining inventory.

Thanks so much for all your support!

Sad. They've been there for so long.

Planet Fitness will open a second location in the Metro St. John's area early in the new year. I was told by a manager at the current location. She was not at liberty to say where at this time as details are still being worked out.

Come on, Kelsey Drive, haha

It will be the old Rona building up by Stavanager

It was in the news a couple of weeks ago. Tech NL Innovation Centre (the old Rona) up in the east end.

Rooms + Spaces will be opening Monday August 14 in the former Bed Bath & Beyond location at the Village

it's actually open now. My wife was in there yesterday.

It looks to be about 60% full right now, they are definitely waiting for more stock. So far, it’s laid out exactly the same as BB&B, with very similar products. They are however, part of the ToysRUs family, so they have the back corner (where the wedding registry stuff was) full of toys, board games, Lego and stuffies.

I was there today and was surprised by the Toys R Us section. I hadn't realized it was the same retail group starting this up.

Hopefully they can make it work.

The Pipers store has not yet opened in The Village. The Topsail Rd store has closed.

There are a lot of empty stores in that mall. Sure would be nice if they could secure new retailers. It's probably about half occupancy with the Pipers store. And almost nothing left in the food court except Tim Horton's and Kuma Bento that I noticed.

Saw a picture on Facebook of the former Walmart on Topsail Road (by the Village) getting repainted. Any word on what's going in there?

Anyone know what is going in the new building in Churchill Square? I've heard rumour that Shoppers is moving over, but haven't heard anything official on that. I think there are a few other retail spaces there.

The building is supposed to be open in the fall.

Red panels are being installed on the bottom floor. Shoppers colours I can assume?

The shoppers drug mart sign is up on the space now.

Yes, I noticed just last night. It must have went up yesterday or day before.

This means that the current Shoppers space in the square will open up. Hoping to see a good restaurant or even a small supermarket open up in that space.

Pipers open in The Village
 

Pipers is now open in The Village Mall. Former covid vaccaine spot. Has access inside and outside the mall

New Shoppers in Churchill Square is opening tomorrow morning.

Avalon Mall
 

Looks like Pandora will be coming to the Avalon Mall.
(https://www.crombie.ca/wp-content/up...09-20-2023.pdf)

Marks has closed 2 stores. The Mount Pearl store is closed while it moves to the soon to be opened Galway location. The Stavanger Drive location is permanently closed and for lease. The Mount Pearl spot is already leased to Mark's sister brand Party City to open in 2024. The Kelsey Drive location will remain and is the only one open in the meantime.

Had no idea the Stavanger location had closed. Interesting considering there’s no other Marks nearby.

To mainlanders everything is nearby in St. John’s. So the fact you have to drive 5-10 mins to get to another Marks doesn’t matter to them.

I remember when Marks was in the Avalon Mall then moved to Freshwater Rd. It was the only one we had. Then we ended up with 3!

I believe it started in the lower level of the Village, near where Payless Shoes used to be.

Mark's have been everywhere over the years.
Mark's once had a location at Sobey's Square.
They also had a location in front of the Avalon Mall. The building they were in originally housed a small supermarket called Lo Food. The last thing to occupy the building was Kenmount Bingo before it was demolished. McDonald's now sits on the site.

In several mainland cities I've seen Marks stores either adjacent to or as part of Canadian Tire stores. Not surprising since Canadian Tire purchased them 20 years ago.
With no coverage on that end of the city now it wouldn't be out of the question for them to do that at the Hebron Way Canadian Tire. Haven't heard any rumours - just musing.:shrug:

I was thinking the same thing.

I noticed several North Atlantic stations in and around St. John's are in the process of being converted to Petro Canada.

It was in May of 2003, that Petro Canada announced it was pulling out of Newfoundland and selling it's operations to North Atlantic. Full circle 20 years later.

Anybody have any insight to what else may be going in Churchill Square? The retail space next to the new Shoppers is being developed but there is no indication to what it will be.

I thought it was going to be a Starbucks

just what we needs another coffee shop

Looks like Hakim Optical in the Village Mall has been taken over by Vogue Optical, they have a banner up covering the old sign

Avalon Mall location as well. I dont think tge sign is covered but Vogue bags all over the store.

Charm Diamond in the Village Mall is moving downstairs into the former Telus/Things Engraved location. Looks like they've combined the 2 spots to make one big one for Charm

New store is now open in this space, and it's................another PetValu!

Oh good! It’ll be nice to have another pet store option in the city seeing there are so few! :rolleyes:

Rooms + Spaces
 

I passed by Rooms + Spaces yesterday. The windows are all covered in brown paper and there's a sign on the door..."This store is permanently closed"

That was short lived.