London's Malls

[bolognium]

The west end of the city is almost a mystery to me. I occasionally bike out there just to bike out there, but I have no actual reason to visit. I've never stepped foot inside Westmount Mall.

The retail situation in London is completely depressing. Seeing our strong malls begin to stagnate and hollow out (especially White Oaks) is awful. I can't believe we're still approving retail on the fringes. How high do vacancies need to soar before we get the message?

Oh well. I live in my little downtown bubble and only leave once or twice a month, so I guess none of this really affects me anyway.

[jaradthescot]

Originally Posted by bolognium

The west end of the city is almost a mystery to me. I occasionally bike out there just to bike out there, but I have no actual reason to visit. I've never stepped foot inside Westmount Mall.

The retail situation in London is completely depressing. Seeing our strong malls begin to stagnate and hollow out (especially White Oaks) is awful. I can't believe we're still approving retail on the fringes. How high do vacancies need to soar before we get the message?

Oh well. I live in my little downtown bubble and only leave once or twice a month, so I guess none of this really affects me anyway.

On a positive note, maybe as the fringes get pushed further and further back, downtown shopping will seem more and more accessible. Not a likely outcome from the hordes of car worshippers in this city who need giant free parking lots, but worth a hope. Personally, I hate malls almost as much as big box stores, so whichever 'wins' is irrelevant to me; the city still loses.

[haljackey]

I was surprised that the Masonville Sears closed. Westmount scraped by by the skin of their teeth.

The Westmount Target is considerably less busy than the Masonville one.
-I agree that there will be a time that at least one of the anchors will leave.

When I parked underground, I noticed that a gate has been installed at the P2 entrance (I parked on P1). Right now it's called 'overflow parking' and is likely only open on weekends. Maybe long term they plan to shut P2 to save on maintenance costs.
-Way back, there used to be a car wash on P2.

[MolsonExport]

^there is now a car wash on the lower level (P2) of Covent Market subterranean parking.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Closing the masonville Sears was a strategic decision by Cadillac Fairview. Sears is not a draw for upper end malls and because Masonville is one of the higher performing malls in Canada, it made sense to allow Sears out of their lease so that space could be used to attract retailers who really want to be in that mall (H&M, Sephora, etc.) I'm surprised that we've heard nothing from Masonville yet and it's been about a years since they closed.

On another topic, I think there is a decent chance that London might get an IKEA. Ikea is building up to 10 small format stores across Canada. The stores will be 1/10 the size of a normal ikea. The developement at Wellington/401 might make sense for one of these stores (not that I support that sprawl mess).

http://www.insightdiy.co.uk/news/ikea-to-open-ten-small-format-stores-in-canada/3602.htm

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I don't see why they wouldn't try to integrate residential towers into that property and make it mixed use. There are apartments all over Westmount area so why not here?

Has such a mixed use development ever been tried in London, outside of the core?

The only thing remotely close to that I can think of in suburban London is one of the apartment buildings on Proudfoot, which has a Mac's on the first floor open to the public. It's set back far enough from the street I only knew it existed because a friend of mine lived there when he was at UWO.

We have a very nice mixed use apartment building on the northwestern outskirts of Kingston, near some big box stores, which includes a Shoppers Drug Mart, and several locally owned stores. There's another such building soon to begin construction west of downtown.

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I don't see why they wouldn't try to integrate residential towers into that property and make it mixed use. There are apartments all over Westmount area so why not here?

I bet if that mall just keeps going downhill, they will close it down, demolish it and then probably put up residential towers in it's place anyways.

[manny_santos]

Target's announced closure is going to be a blow to Westmount Shopping Centre. I suspect that mall is going to be up for yet another "transformation".

It's been interesting watching all the retail changes over the years there. I remember when Eaton's closed and then Sears moved in.

As for Masonville...that mall could benefit from more parking, and I can't see Cadillac Fairview wanting to deal with filling a second large empty space in addition to the former Sears.

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

If Sears goes (which is almost certain, as the parent firm is on life support), and if Target goes (Target Canada is in big trouble so I reckon a cull of less profitable stores, thus a 50/50 chance of shuttering; greater still if Sears goes), the mall will completely die.

Well, looks like Target was the first to go:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-t...an-stores-gets-ccaa-protection-1.2901618

[haljackey]

The Bay will be the only anchor tenant in Masonville if no store takes over Sears / Target.

In Westmount, Sears is still around but not sure for how much longer. Not sure if the Superking grocery store is considered an anchor these days as it is physically detached from the rest of the mall (to prevent it from smelling like rotten fish).

I never cared much for Target. To me, it's a stale place.

[MolsonExport]

Or to prevent the Superking mini mall from smelling like elderly people, the final redoubt of the Westmount Mall.

[ericlewis91]

Well the sears space is being worked on .. as the leasing site says

Cadillac Fairview is committed to making Masonville Place even better and is redeveloping the former Sears' location. This redevelopment will be attracting a lot of exciting new retailers and is targeted to open in August 1, 2016.

http://www.cfretail.com/EN/PropertySearch/Pages/MasonvillePlace.aspx

[GreatTallNorth2]

[QUOTE=manny_santos;6875770As for Masonville...that mall could benefit from more parking, and I can't see Cadillac Fairview wanting to deal with filling a second large empty space in addition to the former Sears.[/QUOTE]

It was Cadillac Fairview that chose to buy out the Sear's lease. It is a strategic move on their part as Masonville has high sales/square foot and they want to have a lot more stores that would be attractive to the higher income area of North London and also the boatloads of students that live in the area. Masonville will be absolutley fine. I do hope they can attract another department store as London's Premier Mall should have more anchors.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Target's announced closure is going to be a blow to Westmount Shopping Centre. I suspect that mall is going to be up for yet another "transformation".

It's been interesting watching all the retail changes over the years there. I remember when Eaton's closed and then Sears moved in.

As for Masonville...that mall could benefit from more parking, and I can't see Cadillac Fairview wanting to deal with filling a second large empty space in addition to the former Sears.

On a completely different note, I think that maybe Citi Plaza/Galleria will be the comeback kid over the next few years. Now that I work downtown, I see there is a decent amount of foot traffic at the mall and will all these new towers going up, I can see more stores going in. Obviously it will never be the Galleria of old, but it is bound to get better. Jackson Square in Hammertown has gone through a similar resurgance over the past few years as well.

[MolsonExport]

I hope so. Galleria is still a very nice space; way too nice for the bead stores and buck-or-two emporiums.

[MolsonExport]

I wish somebody could explain the mystery of Canadian Tire's success. Their stores are a retailing disaster, their prices are totally hit-or-miss (mostly miss), the merchandise is mostly Chinese-made garbage, and the place has the most surly employees on either side of the 49th parallel. And who the hell would ever trust these shylocks to repair their car?

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I wish somebody could explain the mystery of Canadian Tire's success. Their stores are a retailing disaster, their prices are totally hit-or-miss (mostly miss), the merchandise is mostly Chinese-made garbage, and the place has the most surly employees on either side of the 49th parallel. And who the hell would ever trust these shylocks to repair their car?

The same people who would drink piss poor Tim Hortons coffee.

[bolognium]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

On a completely different note, I think that maybe Citi Plaza/Galleria will be the comeback kid over the next few years. Now that I work downtown, I see there is a decent amount of foot traffic at the mall and will all these new towers going up, I can see more stores going in. Obviously it will never be the Galleria of old, but it is bound to get better. Jackson Square in Hammertown has gone through a similar resurgance over the past few years as well.

Yeah, it'll never be a destination mall, but it services the downtown residents/workers pretty well. If a grocery store ever locates downtown, I'd absolutely love to see it move into the Galleria. I think that would be the best thing to happen to the place since the library. The Bulk Barrel and Bargain Shop are already part of my grocery routine, but it'd be nice to have another stop to help round things out more. The Bargain Shop's also nice for stuff like socks, towels, sheets, etc.

Between the stores mentioned above, Rainbow Cinemas, The Source, food court and my barber I find my self there a lot.

[manny_santos]

http://london.ctvnews.ca/target-s-london-departure-is-a-tale-of-two-malls-1.2192881

No surprises in this report, but I dispute what the guy at CBRE is saying about London being over-retailed. He seems to be oblivious to why Westmount has had problems in the first place, the big box retail south of Southdale and Wonderland sucked the life out of Westmount.

[MolsonExport]

He's a R/E broker, hardly a neutral researcher. He is nothing more than a blunt tool to peddle under performing and over saturated retail space.