Winnipeg Retail - Page 608

borkborkbork · #**12141** Posted **Dec 15, 2025, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winnipeg Grump

I mean, Rodd & Gunn opened up a full store up on the second floor right by the escalators. That's a premium brand just for men.

Eddie Bauer, I think, is just a brand that is facing their 'style' not being in demand anymore. As others have noted, there's a certain demo that look appeals to and it's shrinking.

Eddie Bauer has missed so many opportunities. In the last few years, we've seen young men leaning into gorpcore, vintage techwear, workwear, denim and flannel, and 90s mallcore (quarter zips etc). If they couldn't move product at a time where their entire style and archive became super desirable, they really shouldn't be in business

drew · #**12142** Posted **Dec 15, 2025, 5:29 PM**

Eddie Bauer was an original since the 80's reno of Polo Park I think.

I wonder how many other stores are still there from that point in time. Not many.

trueviking · #**12143** Posted **Dec 15, 2025, 6:46 PM**

Is Randy River still around?

neutroniks · #**12144** Posted **Dec 15, 2025, 7:20 PM**

Whoa, you just unlocked some teenage memories. What about Mexx?

cllew · #**12145** Posted **Dec 15, 2025, 7:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

Is Randy River still around?

Long gone. They apparently were part of the Footlocker retail group and some of the stores were converted to Footlocker stores.

BAKGUY · #**12146** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 12:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

Eddie Bauer was an original since the 80's reno of Polo Park I think.

I wonder how many other stores are still there from that point in time. Not many.

I recall the one @ EATON PLACE

cllew · #**12147** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 2:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

I recall the one @ EATON PLACE

For those wondering it was where the CIBC moved into when the branch in the Eaton Place annex was demolished.

AccordTR · #**12148** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 2:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

Did I just read someone say Polo Park has dead mall vibes?

lol yep. Not sure how anyone could say polo park is a dead mall. lol

waffler_ · #**12149** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 4:11 AM**

Polo Park is just doing what Polo Park does, which is bring in new tenants which is a good sign for a mall. Theyre just gotta shuffle tenants around and hopefully create more space for more big names.

Jeff · #**12150** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 4:39 AM**

polo park a dead mall? LOL wow. anyway, it seems like the somewhat unpopular decision to boot out anthropologie and urban outfitters to lock in ardene and london drugs into huge swaths of sqft. is a major long game play by the polo leadership and shows it knows what it's doing with its major property holding. other than the obvious glaring hole of the former HBC chunk, the mall seems well over 90% full especially if uniqlo is set to move in by the food court.

BAKGUY · #**12151** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 7:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cllew

For those wondering it was where the CIBC moved into when the branch in the Eaton Place annex was demolished.

No. It was In the section that still stands.Former Catalogue Building... CIBC unit #107 stayed in the new annex all the time. CIBC then moved into the Main Building after that and Eddie Bauer closed. They did not last more than a very few years. I'm not being contrary but worked @ EATONS so I was there each & everyday & after EATONS closed, I worked downtown for many years after that.

BAKGUY · #**12152** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 7:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cllew

For those wondering it was where the CIBC moved into when the branch in the Eaton Place annex was demolished.

No. It was In the section that still stands.Former Catalogue Building... CIBC unit #107 stayed in the new annex all the time. Then when demolished, it moved to the main Catalogue building which closed a few months ago. E B Which was in The Catalogue building was gone by the time CIBC moved across where E B was.
I was working @ EATONS so I am not being contrary, and I worked downtown for many years after.

neutroniks · #**12153** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 2:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

Did I just read someone say Polo Park has dead mall vibes?

They must not be shopping at peak hours. If you go to any mall at 10AM, it'll give dead mall vibes

optimusREIM · #**12154** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 3:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biff

In my conversations with leasing agents around town, retail is doing surprisingly good in this city. Brands come and go. I have heard from the main mall management in town and they all say they have higher demand now than in recent years. It had been a difficult time for malls with the closure of the department stores in North America. That has been more of an indicator that department stores for the most part are a dying business model. Bricks and mortar retail has been very resilient and is actually doing quite well.

Polo Park has "dead mall vibes" is borderline insane talk.

"Dead mall vibes" is pretty far out for sure. I was there over the weekend and there were more people at that mall than I have ever seen before. Same for the outlet mall, same for St Vital Centre. I know that we are in peak holiday season, but I have observed an increase in the numbers of people who go out to the stores in the past couple of years generally. It feels like even more than pre-covid.

Mr Tall Forehead · #**12155** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 4:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by neutroniks

They must not be shopping at peak hours. If you go to any mall at 10AM, it'll give dead mall vibes

Even at 10AM Polo is busy with the mall walkers (both seniors and strollers) and the folks lined up at the lotto counters. 'Dead mall vibes' is crazy talk.

TC_Guy · #**12156** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 4:55 PM**

CF Polo Park also seems to perform well in terms of sales per square foot (according to this article on Cadillac Fairview’s website)

https://www.cadillacfairview.com/new...pping-centres/

cllew · #**12157** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 7:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

No. It was In the section that still stands.Former Catalogue Building... CIBC unit #107 stayed in the new annex all the time. CIBC then moved into the Main Building after that and Eddie Bauer closed. They did not last more than a very few years. I'm not being contrary but worked @ EATONS so I was there each & everyday & after EATONS closed, I worked downtown for many years after that.

That is what I thought I said, the CIBC moved into the former Eddie Bauer location in the mail order building. I was working out of Eaton Place/City Place office tower from Oct 1980 thru April 2023.

laumag · #**12158** Posted **Dec 16, 2025, 10:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by borkborkbork

Eddie Bauer has missed so many opportunities. In the last few years, we've seen young men leaning into gorpcore, vintage techwear, workwear, denim and flannel, and 90s mallcore (quarter zips etc). If they couldn't move product at a time where their entire style and archive became super desirable, they really shouldn't be in business

The Eddie Bauer brand is owned by ABG.

https://corporate.authentic.com/brand-portfolio

The portfolio seems adaptive to change.

CoryB · #**12159** Posted **Dec 17, 2025, 5:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by laumag

The Eddie Bauer brand is owned by ABG.

https://corporate.authentic.com/brand-portfolio

The portfolio seems adaptive to change.

That portfolio is full of dead mall vibes. Some of the large mall operators in the USA facing the reality of the 2008 economic recession noticed countless retailers going bankrupt and scaring their properties with vacant and effectively unleasable spaces. What they then started doing was buying up store brands out of bankruptcy and operating them as these sort of ghost stores. They have inventory, they sell stuff, but their main purpose to to be a liminal place until something better needs the space.

That Eddie Baurer is closing in the dead mall wing of Polo Park is itself somewhat ironic. It also has not operated continuously in Polo having previously closed after either the 2003 or 2009 bankruptcy.

Filling your mall spaces with Calendar Club, Eddie Baurer, Aeropostale, Nine West, Lucky Brand, etc. doesn't fool anyone that matters to retail leasing. The desperation is clear and everyone knows what is going on. That Polo has all the high value tenants clustered on the south side of center court and mostly ghost retailers on the north side of the mall is definitely no accident.

Biff · #**12160** Posted **Dec 17, 2025, 5:23 PM**

Interesting...I didn't know that Guess, Fossil, Coach, Le Creuset, Champs, American Eagle, Lego, Harry Rosen, Foot Locker, Apple, Vans, H&M, Soft Moc and Shoppers Drug Mart were "ghost retailers". They are all north of centre court. Apple is relocating to centre court as we speak so I guess they could be considered on the non-ghost retailer side of the mall. Foot Locker is investing in the dead side of the mall and poor Nike is looking at putting a flagship in the "dead" part of the mall.