Quote:
Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian
Hahahaha, Winsby's.
There is no reason why SGR doesn't have a Lacoste store, an H&M, and other mid-level fashion... oh, right, not many suitable developments to house them in because of the naysayers.
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Yeah, I was being a bit sarcastic (mocking news stories pronouncing the end of SGR due to Winsby going), but agree. But then, it's not just the naysayers, I think SGR has a problem with dumb, lazy, cheap, and greedy landlords. Landlords that charge unreasonably high rents but then not spending a dime on renovations or upgrades.
The old HMV space is a great example. HMV got turfed out of there because of a major rent hike. So then we had, as usual in Halifax, a prime piece of street level retail space empty for over a year, with, as far as I could see, absolutely no evidence or inkling of internal or external renovations to attract a new tenant. Lazy, dumb, cheap, greedy, landlords.
To cite another example, I'm really happy Crombie-Reit is selling Park Lane. They've done absolutely nothing for that mall lately; letting it die a slow glum death.
All Park Lane needs for a turnaround, is an owner who actually is willing to invest a little toward its success. If Park Lane received the same treatment the Halifax Shopping Center did 5 years ago, I think it would be a different story. It needs some serious internal renovations to brighten it up a bit, as well as some more management savvy-- that is, an aggressive campaign to land some of those high end tenants that are looking elsewhere. I mean, when people heard Apple was opening in Halifax, everyone assumed it would end up at the HMV downtown. Instead, it's at the Halifax Shopping Center, probably after a hard campaign to land the tech co.
Park Lane needs a few big name retail anchor tenants, and things will turn around. But to land those anchor tenants, you need to invest now, and show you're willing to do so down the line.
There should be H&M', Lacoste, Urban Outfitters, Chapters, etc, all along there.
Now that the Bookmark is being sold, maybe now some of the dumb and irrational opposition to Chapters opening downtown will end. Yes, Haligonians, retailers that are not local are not necessarily bad or inherently evil.