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Old Posted Dec 30, 2020, 1:49 PM
Drybrain Drybrain is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
You would need a huge turnover by a No Frills to be able to make a profit if they located on virtually any decent retail location on the peninsula these days. Rents are now simply too high for their low-margin business model. That's why they are in the low-rent locations they occupy here at present. I don't know the size of their existing stores but I would guess 30,000 to 40,000 sq ft. There just aren't many such sites available at the rents they require and a new build would likely not be viable either for that reason.
I’m not sure that’s necessarily the case. There are No Frills all over Toronto, including in neighbourhoods that likely have higher commercial rents than most of Halifax—Bloor West Village, the Junction, Leslieville, etc. But those areas aren’t right in the thick of things, where there’d be huge customer turnover. They’re mostly just neighbourhood stores in medium-density areas, as they would be here.

The only problem would be finding the right location, since the peninsula is already well-served. If you include the Sobeys at HSC and Pete’s downtown, there are seven full-sized grocery stores on the peninsula.

The most grocery-deprived area problem probably is the north end of downtown or the bottom of Gottingen. (Technically parts of the West End would be farther from a store, but those are areas where just about everyone would have car access, so it doesn't really matter.) An urban-format No Frills-type store, incorporated in a new development around the Staples there, or as part of the Cogswell redevelopment, would probably work well. Though I would imagine the Cogswell re-do would attract something more up-market.
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