[St. John's] Retail Thread

[Chew]

Originally Posted by Arrakis

Plaza is still the current owner of the Village though.
I agree what you said about the trend leading away from enclosed malls but this is Newfoundland where it's cold dreary weather for a good portion of the year so sometimes the old trends still work despite the national trend. Avalon Mall continues to succeed in many ways that the big box parks can't. Plaza and Village could have easily adapted when Walmart and Sears left but they didn't. They rented out the valuable retail space to offices upstairs and put in huge useless stores like Labels. Every time i walk by Labels i can count the customers on one hand. They surely cannot be making any revenue at the Village? Can only imagine what they are paying for rent per sq ft? The Village should have gotten an Old Navy in there or something that will bring in customers. Labels certainly don't. Urban Planet is not much better. And Rossey is pretty sad too. It's no better than when Hart was there. All the cloths they sell there are just substandard —.

Right you are, Plaza is still the owner. Ivanhoe Cambridge had it before that, and there was no recent third owner, which I thought there may have been.

Yeah, I don't get how Labels keeps going either. I bought a shirt there once and it (while not very expensive) was the worst quality piece of clothing I've ever owned. This was when the store was new and I was the only person in it at that time, and I haven't set foot in it since.

Originally Posted by Arrakis

I was out driving around and yes indeed, Loblaws have flipped the stylized "D" for Dominion to a stylized "L" for Loblaws on their buildings at Pearlgate and at Stavanger. As of yesterday the Blackmarsh Rd store still has it is a stylized "D". Not sure about the Memorial Stadium store. Also noticed via google that stores featuring the stylized "L" are called Loblaws and not Atlantic Superstore. The Atlantic Superstores do not use the stylized "L" on the building at all. I wonder if they are gonna do that here or leave the Dominion name on it with the stylized "L". Which would be kinda odd to do I think.

Stavanger too, eh? Interesting. I'm only out that way a couple times a year (and sometimes just go from the highway right to Costco, skipping the rest of it) so I wouldn't have realized that.

They may be doing a slow phase in of the Loblaws name, by first using the L logo with the Dominion name and then dropping it, so it's a smoother transition. Somewhat like the BASF/EMTEC switch that slowly happened on CD-Rs quite a while back...

[J_Murphy]

I would love to see an expansion of the Village Mall, that massive parking lot on the back is totally under-utilized. Enough with box-store developments, I hate them.

[Arrakis]

Yeah that could be a possible scenario for the dominion logo change. One thing is that they already have the logo on the building so all they had to do is flip it. The would have to order the loblaws logotype so that may take awhile to make its way to Newfoundland. Who knows?

Originally Posted by Chew

Right you are, Plaza is still the owner. Ivanhoe Cambridge had it before that, and there was no recent third owner, which I thought there may have been.

Yeah, I don't get how Labels keeps going either. I bought a shirt there once and it (while not very expensive) was the worst quality piece of clothing I've ever owned. This was when the store was new and I was the only person in it at that time, and I haven't set foot in it since.



Stavanger too, eh? Interesting. I'm only out that way a couple times a year (and sometimes just go from the highway right to Costco, skipping the rest of it) so I wouldn't have realized that.

They may be doing a slow phase in of the Loblaws name, by first using the L logo with the Dominion name and then dropping it, so it's a smoother transition. Somewhat like the BASF/EMTEC switch that slowly happened on CD-Rs quite a while back...

[Arrakis]

Interesting to see the CEO of Sears Canada visiting the Avalon Mall store. He claims the St. John's store is one of the most profitable in Canada. Finding that kinda hard to believe considering Sears has been closing some of the most prominent locations across the country including the Eaton Centre location and other popular mall locations. I still feel they will not survive in Canada and will disappear from our retail landscape the same way Kmart, Woolco/Woolworths and Zellers did. If they do manage to stick around, they should definitely spend some cash and update their building, inside and out at Avalon Mall. Outside has looked the same way pretty much since the mall opened way back in 1967 with that very dated rock facing. Inside, the store looks like a temporary store as if they were just waiting to move somewhere else. Geez, the decor inside is not far off from what you will see in a Pipers store.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/2014-02-14/article-3615029/Sears-CEO-visits-AvalonMall/1

[Chew]

Originally Posted by Arrakis

Interesting to see the CEO of Sears Canada visiting the Avalon Mall store. He claims the St. John's store is one of the most profitable in Canada. Finding that kinda hard to believe considering Sears has been closing some of the most prominent locations across the country including the Eaton Centre location and other popular mall locations. I still feel they will not survive in Canada and will disappear from our retail landscape the same way Kmart, Woolco/Woolworths and Zellers did. If they do manage to stick around, they should definitely spend some cash and update their building, inside and out at Avalon Mall. Outside has looked the same way pretty much since the mall opened way back in 1967 with that very dated rock facing. Inside, the store looks like a temporary store as if they were just waiting to move somewhere else. Geez, the decor inside is not far off from what you will see in a Pipers store.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/2014-02-14/article-3615029/Sears-CEO-visits-AvalonMall/1

I find it surprising that store is performing well.

I would love it if Sears moved out and The Bay or some other higher end department store took its place. Can't believe HBC, Canada's oldest retailer (I know, I know, American-owned these days) has no presence in NL any more. No Bay, no Home Outfitters, either.

I also forgot that hipster guy that was the last Sears CEO had left, he talked a big game but didn't remotely deliver.

[Arrakis]

Again, I predict that Sears will have no presence in Canada in a less than 5 years. It seems no matter what measures they take to save money it never works. They have done everything to turn customers away. Sears use to be the place to go to buy furniture and appliances. Now they hardly even stock any in their warehouses forcing customers to wait weeks for a delivery.

Originally Posted by Chew

I find it surprising that store is performing well.

I would love it if Sears moved out and The Bay or some other higher end department store took its place. Can't believe HBC, Canada's oldest retailer (I know, I know, American-owned these days) has no presence in NL any more. No Bay, no Home Outfitters, either.

I also forgot that hipster guy that was the last Sears CEO had left, he talked a big game but didn't remotely deliver.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I may be the only person here who doesn't find it surprising that the St. John's store is doing so well. They seem to have established a dedicated customer base (comprised of many older people) who keep shopping there. It always seems pretty busy there whenever I walk through. Compare that to their store in Charlottetown....pretty sure the few times I was there I was one of the only people in the store.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

I may be the only person here who doesn't find it surprising that the St. John's store is doing so well. They seem to have established a dedicated customer base (comprised of many older people) who keep shopping there. It always seems pretty busy there whenever I walk through. Compare that to their store in Charlottetown....pretty sure the few times I was there I was one of the only people in the store.

They seem to be quite busy in Fredericton as well. As for St. John's, they have an ideal spot in the Avalon Mall. I know a lot people who just walk through it because it's in the mall, and a lot of times they have half decent sales on so it's not uncommon to pick up a cheap dress shirt or tie. They do have some nice stuff in there, it's just that it looks and feels like I'm shopping in 1987. I half expect to walk outside and find my parents '86 LeBaron in the parking lot...

I knew a guy who worked in furniture sales there and said they do great because they have higher exposure for their furniture and applianes than any other store that sells that type of merchandise. Think about it, when was the last time you casually walked into Leon's or Cohen's without intending to buy something? You don't. But with Sears you might see a TV or a new mattress that you otherwise wouldn't have thought about. You go away, think about it for a couple of days, then go back to see what kind of deal you can get on it. It seems to work for them.

[Arrakis]

Also on the topic of Avalon Mall stores. This story was on Telegrams website concerning and huge increases in rent at the Avalon Mall with some tenants choosing to not renew their lease and move shop or close it altogether. I wonder how this will affect Sears with it taking up so much square footage.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/2014...Mall-local-tenants-eyeing-rising-rents/1

[statbass]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

But with Sears you might see a TV or a new mattress that you otherwise wouldn't have thought about. You go away, think about it for a couple of days, then go back to see what kind of deal you can get on it. It seems to work for them.

Too bad they never have anything in stock, and it takes 6-8 weeks to order anything in.... then you have to pick it up yourself or pay a delivery charge. I also find Sears returns policy to be very 'archaic'. I don't know, sears just frustrates me.... I really think it does so well here due to lack of competition.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Arrakis

Also on the topic of Avalon Mall stores. This story was on Telegrams website concerning and huge increases in rent at the Avalon Mall with some tenants choosing to not renew their lease and move shop or close it altogether. I wonder how this will affect Sears with it taking up so much square footage.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/2014...Mall-local-tenants-eyeing-rising-rents/1

maybe they are going to go for a more upscale sort of shopping centre, I don't know why they would do this unless they have some sort of plan for something. It would be alright if this happened and they could attract some more higher end brands and id the village took in the displaced stores. BUT who knows, this could be an opportunity for the village to break out of the darkness.

[Arrakis]

Avalon Mall has to do a lot more if they plan on going more upscale. Their building is old an dated (built in the late 1960's and it shows), and goes off in all directions with no sort of public flow or planning given any thought whatsoever. I still don't know what is at the end of that hall where Scotia Bank is. That hall is like a dead end street. It should have looped around and exited back out into the main mall. No one wants to walk down a hall and have to turn around and come back the same way.

There is not much hope for the Village Shopping Centre either. They lost their main anchor tenants and then fucked up the spaces that those anchor tenants occupied. They don't have any anchors drawing in the customers. And no, I don't count Sport Chek, Labels, and Bed Bath and Beyond. They may have the size but I don't think they have the numbers to draw in crowds. Labels is a joke. I don't know how they can afford the square footage when there are only 5 customers in that store at any given time.

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

maybe they are going to go for a more upscale sort of shopping centre, I don't know why they would do this unless they have some sort of plan for something. It would be alright if this happened and they could attract some more higher end brands and id the village took in the displaced stores. BUT who knows, this could be an opportunity for the village to break out of the darkness.

[statbass]

This question is stemming from the recent Field Power Centre discussions in the restaurant thread: Does anyone know when the new cinema will be built? They were slated for last fall but I realize Cineplex purchase of Empire probably has delayed construction. Hopefully this gets off the ground real soon... poor Harvey's is waiting for some company over on that side of the road.

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by statbass

This question is stemming from the recent Field Power Centre discussions in the restaurant thread: Does anyone know when the new cinema will be built? They were slated for last fall but I realize Cineplex purchase of Empire probably has delayed construction. Hopefully this gets off the ground real soon... poor Harvey's is waiting for some company over on that side of the road.

I think I saw in a council agenda prior to Christmas that the construction permit had been approved. I would imagine that when the snow goes they can continue with site prep and by this summer we should see significant progress. Let's hope.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by Horsell

I think I saw in a council agenda prior to Christmas that the construction permit had been approved. I would imagine that when the snow goes they can continue with site prep and by this summer we should see significant progress. Let's hope.

Let's hope so. It seems like this development is a million years old and still little progress; almost as slow as Henry-Bell.

[Arrakis]

I don't understand how things like this get approved. Mallard Cottage Restaurant in Quidi Vidi Village was approved with only two parking spaces? It's one thing to restore a historic property, but when you turn that property into a highly rated restaurant, you know people will want to go there. Did they not think of this beforehand?

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&ID=43745

[Arrakis]

Apologies, I meant to post this in the restaurant thread.

Originally Posted by Arrakis

I don't understand how things like this get approved. Mallard Cottage Restaurant in Quidi Vidi Village was approved with only two parking spaces? It's one thing to restore a historic property, but when you turn that property into a highly rated restaurant, you know people will want to go there. Did they not think of this beforehand?

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&ID=43745

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Arrakis

I was out driving around and yes indeed, Loblaws have flipped the stylized "D" for Dominion to a stylized "L" for Loblaws on their buildings at Pearlgate and at Stavanger. As of yesterday the Blackmarsh Rd store still has it is a stylized "D". Not sure about the Memorial Stadium store. Also noticed via google that stores featuring the stylized "L" are called Loblaws and not Atlantic Superstore. The Atlantic Superstores do not use the stylized "L" on the building at all. I wonder if they are gonna do that here or leave the Dominion name on it with the stylized "L". Which would be kinda odd to do I think.

Story on VOCM states that the Dominion stores will keep the name and not be changing to Loblaws.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=43763&latest=1

[Arrakis]

Oop, didnt see that you already addressed this. Doh!

Looks like Loblaws is hangin onto the Dominion brand for the time being.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=43763&latest=1

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Arrakis

Oop, didnt see that you already addressed this. Doh!

Looks like Loblaws is hangin onto the Dominion brand for the time being.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=43763&latest=1

I was in the one on Stavanger today....they are undergoing some bigtime renovations in there.