Dead Malls of Canada - Page 25

HomeInMyShoes · #**481** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:00 PM**

^We're a throw-away society.

O-tacular · #**482** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:05 PM**

Calgary's horrible Northhill Mall. The SEARS is the worst. I think old people go there to die and are simply forgotten amid the unbought merchandise.

esquire · #**483** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:07 PM**

^ Other than the fact that the interior decor is some terrible cheesy early 90s look, that mall doesn't look half bad. Classier from the outside than most newer malls.

Acajack · #**484** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^We're a throw-away society.

I suppose, but it doesn't always make for appealling or satisfying cityscapes...

MolsonExport · #**485** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:15 PM**

Radio Shack?

I thought that The Source took over the Radio Shack's of Canada.

as a kid, I fucking hated Radio Shack. Most assholish retail employees on the planet.

MolsonExport · #**486** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

You know, it really shows that something is amiss with the way we do retail development in our cities when you have huge abandoned retail spaces in the middle of so many cities that are still prosperous and seeing population growth.

Exhibit A: London Ontario.

We have several dead/dying malls/plazas, surrounded by acres of parking, yet the city is continuing to zone vast tracts of greenfields for fresh retail development on the fringes of the city (a city that is growing rather slowly). This also in an age when retail spending is seeing some migration to the Web.

Tony · #**487** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by haljackey

Say what you want about Westmount Mall, it has been resilient fighting closure. It converted the second floor to office space, demolished the part that doesn't have underground parking below it, moved its movie theatre, and is leasing streetfront parking space for new stores.

With Target closing and Sears probably going kaput sometime soon, many malls including Westmount will be in a bad way. The absence of anchor stores will lead to their ultimate demise.
-I know Goodlife expressed some interest in converting some stores to gyms, but I don't know if this will take up the entire space.

It's been tough days for struggling malls, and they are about to get a lot tougher.

They have a large Chinese supermarket now?? Where was this when I spent a couple months in London in 2006! I couldn't find anything decent.

MolsonExport · #**488** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:34 PM**

^http://superking.ca/

• Video Link

Westmount Mall still draws the senior mall-walker crowd.

• Video Link

O-tacular · #**489** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Radio Shack?

I thought that The Source took over the Radio Shack's of Canada.

as a kid, I fucking hated Radio Shack. Most assholish retail employees on the planet.

Not sure if it became the Source recently or not. Wouldn't surprise me if a hold out Radio Shack was still in this mall though. Speaking of retail holdouts Marlborough Mall in Calgary's NE still has a San Francisco joke store. Remember those?

MolsonExport · #**490** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:48 PM**

London's Westmount mall is rapidly becoming the Decarie Square (Mall, Montreal) of London.

MolsonExport · #**491** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 4:52 PM**

Sadly, plaza cote-des-neiges (Montreal) still has Zellers on its homepage. http://www.plazacdn.com/home.php

But then as they proudly state on their webpage, Plaza CDN offers "An outstanding ambiance that cannot be found anywhere else!"

manny_santos · #**492** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 5:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

If you look closely, you can see the outline of a Simpsons-Sears logo.

manny_santos · #**493** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 5:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

They have a large Chinese supermarket now?? Where was this when I spent a couple months in London in 2006! I couldn't find anything decent.

There's been an explosion in Asian supermarkets in London since about 2010. There are three I can think of: the aforementioned one at Westmount, one on Adelaide Street near Cheapside, and one in London Mall. The London Mall store attracted some negative attention for its heavy use of TFWs and for poor housing conditions for the workers, several years before TFWs became a national controversy.

Tony · #**494** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 5:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^http://superking.ca/

• Video Link

Molson, I should reprimand you for exposing me to that video.... could they possibly show more video of their congratulatory grand opening flower / plant gifts? You'd think they have them for sale as well.... and WTF is the ad 4 freaking minutes long?!

MonkeyRonin · #**495** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 5:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

I suppose, but it doesn't always make for appealling or satisfying cityscapes...

Even successful malls rarely make for appealing cityscapes though (except for those built in urban typologies).

The other big problem, especially as it pertains to dying malls, is that they're are rather unadaptable spaces, and even in the most undesirable malls the rents tend to prohibitive to non-chains. They're built to serve a very specific purpose and can't accommodate much else.

With traditional retail, vacancies at least provide an opportunity for things like art galleries, studio spaces, nightclubs, and certain small business to flourish - or they can always be converted to other uses (zoning permitting).

MonkeyRonin · #**496** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 5:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

But then as they proudly state on their webpage, Plaza CDN offers "An outstanding ambiance that cannot be found anywhere else!"

I wouldn't have otherwise gone there, but gee, now that I know that I may have to reconsider!

haljackey · #**497** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 6:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^http://superking.ca/

• Video Link

OMGWTFBBQ this is likely the best Asian supermarket video in existence.

Thanks for sharing!

-----

Oh yeah I go here maybe every other month. Nothing has changed from that video, expect the place reeks of rotting fish.

EDIT: My parents are in this video during the 2:15 timelapse. What.

VIce · #**498** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 6:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Calgary's horrible Northhill Mall. The SEARS is the worst. I think old people go there to die and are simply forgotten amid the unbought merchandise.

Northhill isn't a dead mall, its just a shitty mall. Very few vacant units.

Tony · #**499** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 6:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by haljackey

OMGWTFBBQ this is likely the best Asian supermarket video in existence.

Thanks for sharing!

It really reminds me of those North Korean propaganda videos showing abundance in department stores and supermarkets. An instant classic.

blueandgoldguy · #**500** Posted **Mar 25, 2015, 7:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

^ In the 80s, Northgate used to be a pretty busy place as it had both K-Mart and Zellers. But then Woolco up the road became a Wal-Mart and it's been a long, slow decline for about the last 20 years. It's actually a little amazing that there is as much going on at Northgate Mall as there is, given that there is no anchor since Zellers shut down a few years ago.

Might have gone to that mall on a semi-regular basis as a kid. Will have to ask ma and pa to be sure. When you're really small all the malls look alike!

So K'Mart was the other anchor. Damn, forgot all about them. Guess that's what Cinema City Northgate was orginally.

Any idea when Northgate was built?