[SSLL]

I guess in Québec it's discounted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but in Ontario, I know only Tuesdays are discounted (at AMC and others).

More Mills malls, I wonder where in Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary they'll be?
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Caisse set to be a force in mega-malls
By ELIZABETH CHURCH
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Updated at 8:30 PM EDT
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec plans to invest up to $1-billion to roll out three more mega-malls in major Canadian cities in the next four to six years with its U.S. partner Mills Corp.

The move follows the success of the joint venture's first project, Vaughan Mills, a huge 1.2-million-square-foot shopping, discount and entertainment complex north of Toronto and would include sites in Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.

Paul Gleeson, vice-president for development of the pension fund's retail landlord Ivanhoe Cambridge, said in an interview Tuesday that the new projects would be similar in size and feel to Vaughan Mills and would likely include many of the same major retailers. He said he hopes construction on at least one site will begin next year, with an opening expected in the fall of 2007. While planning work is being done in all three cities, he said the Calgary location is the most advanced at this time.

“Hopefully we will have these three under way in the next four to six years at least,” he said.

Mr. Gleeson estimated costs for each project would run between $300-million and $350-million, based on his experience at the Toronto site.

Since opening its doors last fall, Vaughan Mills has attracted more than 6.5 million shoppers. More than half of those visitors travelled more than 16 kilometres to come, Mr. Gleeson said, confirming that the mall is attracting customers from much farther afield than a traditional regional mall. “We are drawing from an extremely wide trade area,” he said. “We are quite pleased with how it has performed.”

The new mall, which is anchored by U.S. merchant Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, also attracted 510 tour buses in its first seven months of operation.

Mr. Gleeson, who is speaking today at a meeting in Montreal of the International Council of Shopping Centers, said he also will announce the opening of a new retailer at Vaughan Mills. He would not provide further details, but industry insiders expect that U.S. clothing discounter Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. has finally decided that it will move into the mall.

Burlington was supposed to have been among the first major anchors when the mall opened.

But it never set up shop, pulling out at the last minute until it could confirm some other nearby Canadian locations at an acceptable price to the company, sources said.

While Vaughan Mills took eight years to get off the ground, Mr. Gleeson said he is optimistic that the next three malls will go up more quickly. Once land and municipal approvals are complete and leases signed, he said a new mall will take about 18 months to construct.

He said Vaughan Mills represented a new concept for Canada that combines entertainment and retail facilities, but its success should make the latest projects easier to sell.

“The retail community understands the product now,” he said. “We want to roll the project out and capitalize on the momentum that we have from Vaughan Mills.”

Toronto-based retail consultant John Winter says that is a wise move, given the way consumers have reacted to the Toronto site.

“I think the performance in Toronto will make it easier to rent up the other sites,” he said.

Mr. Winter said Vaughan Mills' success shows how tired shoppers are of the same old power centre concept, ruled by large parking lots and big-box outlets. “There is a real appetite for good, new centres.”

Still, that appetite may only be so big. Mr. Gleeson said the exclusive agreement Ivanhoe Cambridge has with Mills Corp., an Arlington, Va.-based developer, is only for four sites. He said there may be room for a plan B that involves malls in other locations, but he said to work, they would have be supported by a population of at least one million within its catchment area and be far away from the joint venture's other malls.

“Right now we want to focus on the highly populated areas,” he said.