[Moncton] Retail Thread - Page 66

MonctonRad · #**1301** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 3:13 AM**

I agree, very ambitious josh!!

There has been speculation here on SSP many times about physically joining Crystal Palace and Champlain Place. It would make sense. Both complexes are on the same property and both are managed by CF. They have a synergistic relationship. If you put them together, you would have a West Edmonton Mall East.

I think that ship has sailed however with the extensive renovations (reconstruction really) to the Empire Theatres at Crystal Palace. The new main entrance to the theatre faces the mall and really removes any possibility of developing a physical connection between the two structures.

Having said that, there are still opportunities to expand Champlain Place in the future.

I particularly like your ideas about the Sobeys in Champlain Place. We have heard various rumours about the future of this store over the last few years, most recently that Sobeys is planning to refurbish and expand the store. But does a grocery store really belong in a "fashion" mall, especially when there is a second location literally across the street on Regis St.

My preference would be for Sobeys to decamp the mall and have the space refurbished for another department store, possibly the Hudson's Bay Company. Just think what this would mean for the mall, especially if the Sears were converted into a Macy's. The mall would have two powerful anchor tenants (three if you include WalMart).

I like your idea of tearing down the strip mall to the south and replacing it with three restaurant pads. This reminds me of the restaurant cluster at Dartmouth Crossing. I like your idea of adding Jack Astor's to Swiss Chalet and Rossano's.

I see that you added an IMAX to the Empire (Cineplex) Theatre at Crystal Palace. There is still room enough for them to do so. With the change in ownership of the theatre chain, I wonder if this could mean that the chances of more IMAX theatres in the east becomes more likely?

josh_cat_eyes · #**1302** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 3:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by icetea93

Very ambitious

I would imagine Victoria's Secret is considering Moncton, but there's no chance of landing the other mentioned tenants in the near future

I kinda figured it could be a very ambitious 10 year plan

Hollister and Apple are in Halifax already, so they can't be THAT far way from coming to Moncton too. Hot Topic is expanding in Canada.

And I figured with the new ownership of the theatre, they still will have to rebrand it anyway. I thought of moving the mall towards the road and connecting it to crystal palace via the entrance between the hotel and theatre. I feel that 10-15 years down the road it is still plausible. Especially my phase 1, replacing the strip mall with pad sites and adding the Imax.

icetea93 · #**1303** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 1:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I kinda figured it could be a very ambitious 10 year plan

Hollister and Apple are in Halifax already, so they can't be THAT far way from coming to Moncton too. Hot Topic is expanding in Canada.

And I figured with the new ownership of the theatre, they still will have to rebrand it anyway. I thought of moving the mall towards the road and connecting it to crystal palace via the entrance between the hotel and theatre. I feel that 10-15 years down the road it is still plausible. Especially my phase 1, replacing the strip mall with pad sites and adding the Imax.

Not all stores that open in Halifax will open in Moncton. Hollister/Abercrombie appear to have stopped their Canadian expansion. I believe the next Canadian Abercrombie stores will open where the existing Hollister stores are performing very well.

Apple will not be coming to Moncton, that is why Jump+ opened in Champlain Place recently. It is too small, and the Halifax store was intended as the maritime/Atlantic Canadian "flagship".

Zara isn't even in Winnipeg or Halifax yet so I think it'll be quite a while if/when they come to Moncton.

Hot Topic may come to Moncton soon, depending on how aggressive their expansion is.

josh_cat_eyes · #**1304** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 4:58 PM**

Oh wow. I checked out a couple of the CF malls and there was Zara in quite a few. I well in 10 years Moncton will be a 1/4 million people so maybe by then we will get some stores like those.

I'll take a look at my "proposal" and see if I can tinker it a little bit.

MonctonRad · #**1305** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 5:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Oh well in 10 years Moncton will be a 1/4 million people so maybe by then we will get some stores like those.

Whoa Josh, the Moncton CMA is only about 145k now. In 10 years time it will likely be 160k. It will be a very long time before we hit a quarter million.....

josh_cat_eyes · #**1306** Posted **Aug 26, 2013, 9:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Whoa Josh, the Moncton CMA is only about 145k now. In 10 years time it will likely be 160k. It will be a very long time before we hit a quarter million.....

OH I was thinking it was bigger then that now. Like closer to 200,000. I figured 5,000 people over 10 years isn't a stretch.

swish · #**1307** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 3:27 AM**

Growth is definitely good but growth should be managed carefully something sadly moncton has not always done very well, but we can hope for improvements.

Norshorer · #**1308** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 3:11 PM**

Not that I really give a rodent's posterior about it, I figured I'd mention that Mode Choc at Mapleton Centre is slated to open Sept 15 according to the electronic billboard which is on the hill near Costco (across street from Moxies).

They also now have store signage up on the store front/sides. I really wish that something else would have ended up going there. When Tag was announced, I wasn't impressed. The fact that a nearly identical concept (A Quebec-based store which nobody knows about & sells a weird combo of clothing/accent furniture/decor) is STILL going there just further annoys me as I find it's a massive waste of space which could have been put to better use (Keep thinking Best Buy, but we know that dream is dead).

A MEC could have also been a good choice, but given as how there's already an outfitter style store on-site and given MEC's refusal to setup shop in Moncton, I can see why that didn't materialize either.

I'm telling ya... Mapleton Centre hasn't exactly been shaping up to be the shopping destination it was first cracked up to be when it was first announced. Recession be damned, they could have at least tried to lure better quality tenants than what we've got now. The only Mapleton Centre store I bother going to is Bed Bath & Beyond... that's it.

Josh73 · #**1309** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 3:31 PM**

I go to Cleve's, but other than that, there's not much.

josh_cat_eyes · #**1310** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 5:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by swish

Growth is definitely good but growth should be managed carefully something sadly moncton has not always done very well, but we can hope for improvements.

To the cities credit, they did every thing they could to prevent the province from building the new Moncton high. If it was me I would have built it on Crowly Farm Road or on Morton. I'm sure that UdeM doesn't need ALL of the land they own on the north side of Morton. Plus it's already zoned properly too.

My girlfriend was telling me there is a La Senza outlet store in the city, anyone know where that would be? I can't think of what she's talking about.

MonctonRad · #**1311** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 6:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

My girlfriend was telling me there is a La Senza outlet store in the city, anyone know where that would be? I can't think of what she's talking about.

Wheeler Park

cbujold · #**1312** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 7:30 PM**

Kinda disagreeing with you boys regarding Mode Choc. They need traffic down there and this store which sell cheaper clothes and stuff may just be what brings shoppers down in that area. I was at the Bowring store last week and the staff were telling me it had been dead all summer. Very little traffic and they hope it picks up pretty soon. The more stores the busier it will be for everybody. Mode Choc is new so people will check it out. Quebec companies are known for their fashion flair so who knows it may do well in Moncton. Money is tight right now and people are looking for bargains.

josh_cat_eyes · #**1313** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 10:31 PM**

Yeah the Mapleton cente doesn't really have an anchor that brings in a lot of traffic.

bigrivernb · #**1314** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 10:48 PM**

DQ in under renovations in the mall to accommodate the Orange Julius as one unit...so that leads to the question....anyone have Ideals on what will open where Orange Julius is now?? I have speculation that it will be Thai express...thoughts??

Hogie75 · #**1315** Posted **Aug 27, 2013, 10:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigrivernb

DQ in under renovations in the mall to accommodate the Orange Julius as one unit...so that leads to the question....anyone have Ideals on what will open where Orange Julius is now?? I have speculation that it will be Thai express...thoughts??

I am seriously thinking that Tim Hortons should move over there, they are always so busy in the mall it is probably faster to go out to the parking lot Tim Hortons to get a coffee.

lukepaa · #**1316** Posted **Aug 28, 2013, 2:35 AM**

Noticed the other day that there is branding up for Starbucks in the window at the new Target location. I believe this is a licensed concept store similar to the chapters location. Currently there are 2 corporate stores (mountain road, Champlain place) with the Main Street location set to open on Thursday September 5th. Who would have thought we'd see the day of 5 locations in GMA. There is also a rumour of a location near the university.

NBNYer · #**1317** Posted **Aug 28, 2013, 10:24 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukepaa

There is also a rumour of a location near the university.

That proposed development at the corner of McLaughlin and Morton would be a good spot. Could that be the rumor?

There's also the rumored Shediac Starbucks.

stephan.richard · #**1318** Posted **Aug 28, 2013, 12:57 PM**

I was on Bangor Maine from Sunday though Tuesday and I was still shocked to see the amount of license plates from vehicles from NB, NS and PIE there. I find IF the prices and we would have the same retail options in Moncton IE Kohls, Macy's, Hollister, Express and Abercrombie to name a few Moncton would become the retail destination of the maritimes with the proper expansion of the Mapleton area with adding more shops and outlets there and making that the Gateway to the city of Moncton.

This is just a afterthought would Moncton fair well with another enclosed type mall since Champlain place is at capacity?

OliverD · #**1319** Posted **Aug 28, 2013, 1:08 PM**

I don't understand why people go to Bangor, the shopping there isn't great. I'd just drive a couple hours further to Freeport/Portland/Kittery.

MonctonRad · #**1320** Posted **Aug 28, 2013, 1:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OliverD

I don't understand why people go to Bangor, the shopping there isn't great. I'd just drive a couple hours further to Freeport/Portland/Kittery.

Agreed. Freeport/Portland is a little less than two hours further down the road and from anywhere in southern NB is easily doable in a Friday evening drive after work (if you are planning to stay the weekend). The choice is much better than in Bangor.

From NS and PEI though, Bangor is about as far as you can go before midnight on a Friday (ie less than a six hour drive).