Did another wander through Regent with my ice cream (from Laura Secord this time.
) on the weekend.
* Urban Planet is open and really fills in that corner of hte mall well. Though I wonder if their name signage might be too simple (it tends to blend into the background IMO)
* Pretzelmaker/Mrs Fields is still closed and shows no signs of opening that I can see. Or maybe they are open and just closing early; but it doesn't look like they are open.
* Telus is renovating their corner spot, so they have a kiosk open in the meantime.
* D&S Hairstylists near Walmart is closed, but a new hairdresser is supposedly moving in. (So I won't really count it as an empty spot)
Looking at the
mall directory, it looks like there is an empty spot between Soft Moc and East Side Board Supply; but I don't remember an empty spot there. I think Soft Moc expanded into 2 slots and the map didn't combine them together. (The Rogers store is similar, there's an empty spot next to it where Rogers expanded into it)
Actual Empty spots include:
* Alia/TanJay
* Justice
* David's Tea
* the 2 corner slots of the food court (one of which is now overflow food court seating).
All in all, Regent seems to be doing very well, though it would be nice if they could at least get all the retailers back on mall hours. Despite the mall being open until 7, many stores are closing at 5 or 6.
I saw down in SJ, MacAllistar place has extended the hours on Thursdays and Fridays; I wonder if Regent will follow suite any time soon?
Finally, just a random thought. September is almost here, which means Christmas is coming up fast. Barring a Christmas miracle, visits with Santa will not be happening, which makes me wonder how malls will decorate.
Will they set up their "Santas Workshop" displays with a sign saying Santa won't be taking visitors directly due to COVID? Or will they leave the throne in storage and decorate around it?
I'm sure the malls would love their Santas Arrival events to kick off the season, but the risk of having too many people might make it too dangerous.
Considering how important the next 4 months are for retail, it's going to be interesting to see how things roll out.