Winnipeg Construction X

[cllew]

I overheard somebody at Tim's this morning saying the city should cut the high priced Canadian engineering company and get an offshore one to work for less

[bomberjet]

Ya that'll do it.

[bon_vivant]

Originally Posted by cllew

I overheard somebody at Tim's this morning saying the city should cut the high priced Canadian engineering company and get an offshore one to work for less

Tim Hortons. Where all the geniuses hang out.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bon_vivant

Tim Hortons. Where all the geniuses hang out.

The old guys there remind me of the two from the Muppet Show, Stadler and Waldorf. They always have something to complain about and a way to solve it.

I know tomorrow if they are there when I go, they will be complaining about the US election no matter who wins.

[bomberjet]

Anyone know (cllew, Biff lol) what the plan is for the old scrap yards land on Panet south of Nairn? The property was cleared out over the last couple years or so.

I noticed there is a big sign for some type of hearing or application posted up.

[Biff]

New Princess Auto retail store.

[cllew]

Princess Auto thru a holding company all ready owns the shopping center on the west side of Panet where Peavy Mart is located so they will have a big chunk of retail land on the west side of Panet.

[FactaNV]

Man, as an aside I love Princess Auto. Cheap as chips and their shit usually works good, if not a little heavy. My wrenches, pliers, crescents, etc all work fine from princess auto for my uses.

[cllew]

I do know that a used car dealer is going in the building located on the former Husky station lot on the S/E corner of Plinquet and Archibald. (302 Archibald)

Apparently the land was bought in December 2018 by Import City auto sales, and there have been ongoing Clean Environment Commission cost appropriation hearings and a court appeal in Oct 2023 about who was ultimately responsible for doing the final soil remediation.

Import City apparently bought the land as with knowledge that remediation had been done by Husky to acceptable standards for vacant land. The sale agreement was that more remediation may be needed depending on what ultimately was built on the lot.

Import City thought that Husky and two other previous gas companies should pay the costs for their development even though the site met Manitoba Environmental regulations when sold.

Court of appeal ruled against Import City saying Husky et all did not have to do any more work on the site as they knew they were buying a known impacted site.

[bomberjet]

Wow, nice!

I was talking to someone from work in Niagara Falls and they love Princess Auto. For me, growing up so close to it, I maybe glanced over how large a presence they have.

[Biff]

With this new Princess Auto retail building being 105,000 sq ft, might they be a new suitor for the now empty Rona building off Kenaston, next to Costco? Roughly the same size and they have no presence in the south end of the city.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Wow, nice!

I was talking to someone from work in Niagara Falls and they love Princess Auto. For me, growing up so close to it, I maybe glanced over how large a presence they have.

If you like to read buy the book they are selling in the store on the history of Princess Auto. Its quite interesting on how they started and how big they are.

I remember vaguely when they had the junkyard on the east side of Panet before they got out of the war surplus business.

Now that they are building the new store I wonder what their plans are for the existing store?

The Tallman's are EK people. The current owners went to Miles Macdonell and I think their parents or grandparents lived on Munroe and Henderson on the riverbank.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Biff

With this new Princess Auto retail building being 105,000 sq ft, might they be a new suitor for the now empty Rona building off Kenaston, next to Costco? Roughly the same size and they have no presence in the south end of the city.

Princess Auto apparently only expands using internal money, they don't borrow money to open new stores.

Their history book says they get asked all the time why is there not a store in XXX city. They tried franchising a few locations under 1 owner years ago like Canadian Tire, but that did not work out and they never tried again.

I was sort of surprised they did not take over the lease of the former Safeway in Steinbach when it closed down. That location in Hwy 12 would be around the same size as the former Safeway they are in on west Portage Avenue.

With the grain farms and hog farms in the area I thought that would have been an ideal location for a Princess Auto in Manitoba.

[cllew]

And I am just thinking, the location of the new Princess Auto on Panet was one of the locations that the City of Winnipeg was looking at for the replacement for the North Main Car Barn.

[bomberjet]

Ideally the City reserves space along the rail right of way for future transit, AT or other infrastructure.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Ideally the City reserves space along the rail right of way for future transit, AT or other infrastructure.

I am thinking the city sold land they had on the west side of Panet reserved for rapid transit to Princess Auto where the current store is.

That land may have been used by Winnipeg Hydro for storage before the new store was built as Winnipeg Hydro had a fenced compound with a tin shed on it.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Originally Posted by cllew

I am thinking the city sold land they had on the west side of Panet reserved for rapid transit to Princess Auto where the current store is.

Yep, we have had decades of visionaries sitting around our council table in Winnipeg.

Basically the same story as when Garth Steek opted to sell the old rail right of way through River Heights that would have been perfect for AT/RT for townhouses and a bigger Superstore loading dock.

[bomberjet]

The City could claw it back if so desired.. But ya ridiculous. Note the City plan to run the Transcona Trail extension along the north side of the rail right of way. But I'm not sure exactly how far west that plan extends. I would assume all the way to Grey St. to make it functional and get somewhere.

[Spocket]

I worked for Princess Auto for a few years a while ago. Generally a pretty good company. One of the better ones, anyway.

As for expansion, Princess Auto can't set up shop even a place like Steinbach. It's just too small. Yeah, people drive for hours to reach a store in Winnipeg but there simply aren't enough people in Steinbach to make it viable. The lowest they'll go is somewhere like Brandon and even then it's only viable because the next closest stores are in Winnipeg or Regina. With Steinbach, they'd just be cannibalizing their own business as Steinbach's only 40 minutes out of the city.

In terms of within Winnipeg (they're headquartered on Panet Road) the west end store does considerably less business than the flagship. Like, a lot less such that they've contemplated closing it down more than once although it's generally profitable. We're one of only a few markets in the country with more than one store.

They made an attempt at the American market with Omaha about 20 years ago but it didn't work out and, as far as I know, they haven't tried again. It's unique (especially the surplus section) but to really make a go in the States you have to more or less saturate a market and take a big hit for a few years. Hopefully you start to gain brand recognition in that time otherwise, well, pack it in. I'm sure they'll try again but I have no idea which market they'll choose. Probably somewhere in the Mid West.

[Spocket]

I worked for Princess Auto for a few years a while ago. Generally a pretty good company. One of the better ones, anyway.

As for expansion, Princess Auto can't set up shop even a place like Steinbach. It's just too small. Yeah, people drive for hours to reach a store in Winnipeg but there simply aren't enough people in Steinbach to make it viable. The lowest they'll go is somewhere like Brandon and even then it's only viable because the next closest stores are in Winnipeg or Regina. With Steinbach, they'd just be cannibalizing their own business as Steinbach's only 40 minutes out of the city.

In terms of within Winnipeg (they're headquartered on Panet Road) the west end store does considerably less business than the flagship. Like, a lot less such that they've contemplated closing it down more than once although it's generally profitable.

They made an attempt at the American market with Omaha about 20 years ago but it didn't work out and, as far as I know, they haven't tried again. It's unique (especially the surplus section) but to really make a go in the States you have to more or less saturate a market and take a big hit for a few years. Hopefully you start to gain brand recognition in that time otherwise, well, pack it in. I'm sure they'll try again but I have no idea which market they'll choose. Probably somewhere in the Mid West.