Winnipeg Retail

[cheswick]

Warehouse One opening in Portage Place main floor in mid July. I would have to assume its relocating its Portage ave location.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Warehouse One opening in Portage Place main floor in mid July. I would have to assume its relocating its Portage ave location.

This would be good news so long as something is in store for the existing Warehouse One location at Portage and Carlton.

Believe it or not WO is one of the last few true mall-style retail stores left right on Portage Avenue. Really only MEC, Dollarama, the Jets store, Hakim Optical, The Bay and a couple of others will be left by my count.

[steveosnyder]

Originally Posted by esquire

This would be good news so long as something is in store for the existing Warehouse One location at Portage and Carlton.

Believe it or not WO is one of the last few true mall-style retail stores left right on Portage Avenue. Really only MEC, Dollarama, the Jets store, Hakim Optical, The Bay and a couple of others will be left by my count.

You can't forget Don's Photo!

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by esquire

This would be good news so long as something is in store for the existing Warehouse One location at Portage and Carlton.

Believe it or not WO is one of the last few true mall-style retail stores left right on Portage Avenue. Really only MEC, Dollarama, the Jets store, Hakim Optical, The Bay and a couple of others will be left by my count.

My guess is an expiring lease and a new, super cheap lease across the street.

[buzzg]

My guess is they'd go into space 133 (see link below), which would allow them outside access... It'd be awesome if they had both entrances open, maybe it'd do something to convince others to switch back. Portage now isn't as bad as it was 5-10 years ago when all the shops closed, and Warehouse One already deals with 2 entrances at their current location.

http://portageplace.mb.ca/directory/

ADD: Also, looking thru the main floor directory, while the stores aren't everyone's cup of tea and none are sure desirable or destination stores — they actually cover the whole range of categories one would expect in a mall, and vacancy is low. Main floor at PP is functioning pretty well and probably accurately represents the makeup of the nearby residents that frequent it the most.

[esquire]

^ They are indeed going into 133, but I highly doubt that they will open the Portage Ave doors given that no one else does but Staples, and even there they don't have much of a choice.

I agree in that Portage Place has a decent retail selection for the area, but as a guy I will say there is really nowhere to go for menswear... skywalk to The Bay is the only real option there.

[CoryB]

Operating two entrances where one comes from a skywalk with limited access to the store and entering near the front door or service desk is extremely different than a street side and mall side entrance at opposite ends. I have no first hand reports of this but the dual sided entrances are well setup for thefts, either by using a distraction at one end or full on sprint through the store.

A further limitation that was somehow overlooked in the initial design of Portage Place is the units fronting onto Portage Ave did not account for where the backroom storage space would be. Granted you could setup something along the interior wall but that is a significant variation for the layout almost every chain would be working to implement.

[esquire]

^ I think it's fair to say that the Portage Place street entrances were DOA. Nice on paper, but it never worked in practice and I wouldn't expect that to change now.

[laumag]

Originally Posted by vjose32

The new Kia is supposed to be just where Wheelies was, at least as far as I know. Though it would be a pretty small lot.

I just drove by the location, it is a Tool Town. There is a sign indicating that Tool Town is hiring. They used to be across from Northgate. Now they have returned to McPhillips.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Operating two entrances where one comes from a skywalk with limited access to the store and entering near the front door or service desk is extremely different than a street side and mall side entrance at opposite ends. I have no first hand reports of this but the dual sided entrances are well setup for thefts, either by using a distraction at one end or full on sprint through the store.

A further limitation that was somehow overlooked in the initial design of Portage Place is the units fronting onto Portage Ave did not account for where the backroom storage space would be. Granted you could setup something along the interior wall but that is a significant variation for the layout almost every chain would be working to implement.

All of those spaces are given storage in the nether regions of the mall with their lease.

[horrorbro123]

Also The Face Shop is Coming To Polo Park

[vjose32]

Oh look, another store at Polo Park. And another one which I have no plans to visit.

[CoryB]

Again Mastermind Toys is talking about their expansion plans for 2015 and again saying they will be in Winnipeg this year. This time they clearly indicated their location preference is outside of a mall with lots of parking, near higher incoming households with larger numbers of children and high traffic visibility. I am not an expert on the subject but that sure sounds like the Kenaston area and I noticed a vacancy or two there which you are see from route 90 as you drive past.

Sounds like their plan is one store in Winnipeg to start but their expansion plans over the next few years are fairly aggressive. I would not rule out Polo Park and Regent areas if their first store here does well.

[vjose32]

Noticed a few things today when I went out.

First thing I noticed is there is a now an Aaron's at the strip mall at Kingsbury and McPhillips, not sure how long it has been there. Also it seems that Perth's has moved from the mall to across the street next to A&W. I see that the building that will house Tool Town has undergone a paint job and that the new Toyota dealership is starting to go up. I also noticed that the Sears at Garden City has been officially branded a Sears Outlet, not sure how long that has been up either.

[cllew]

I wonder if Tool Town is opening another store in Winnipeg or moving again? I think that they have had 3 or 4 different locations in Winnipeg the last one on Wellington by the airport.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by vjose32

I also noticed that the Sears at Garden City has been officially branded a Sears Outlet, not sure how long that has been up either.

The Garden City Sears has been an "outlet" for 10-15 years now except for a brief 1-2 stint someplace in the middle. The exterior signage and all indicators in the store never said that but it was often listed as an excluded store on the flyer. Not sure what the official branding will change.

[laumag]

Originally Posted by CoryB

The Garden City Sears has been an "outlet" for 10-15 years now except for a brief 1-2 stint someplace in the middle. The exterior signage and all indicators in the store never said that but it was often listed as an excluded store on the flyer. Not sure what the official branding will change.

Sears Garden City was a Sears when it began and then the discount thing was tried before the store was remodeled. Once it was remodeled it went back to a regular Sears. The current reinvention happened very recently. The Sears Outlet signage is also very recent. I just noticed it last week and I live in the area. The store is basically a clearing house for leftover Sears catalog items.

Perth's Garden City has indeed moved across the street to the Mall. This was in the works since early this year. It is still convenient across the street.

The Tool Town location is a hub of activity and the supposed KIA dealership next door is still an empty ex-Wheelies/Liquidation World vacant building.

[esquire]

During the first attempt at making Sears GC a discount store, it still looked and felt very much like a regular Sears store except that it was mostly clearance merchandise on the shelves. This is different from the actual Sears outlet stores where it basically looks like a big Liquidation World with no frills at all, just tons of clothes and other items strewn about the place.

So have they basically moved the Garden City store to the full-on outlet store model?

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by laumag

Sears Garden City was a Sears when it began and then the discount thing was tried before the store was remodeled. Once it was remodeled it went back to a regular Sears. The current reinvention happened very recently.

Sears in Garden City was running as at outlet store more than 10 years back. I remember shopping for kids clothing there and they have graduated university now.

When the remodel was completed they did convert to a "full line" store for a time but were back running the same discount model again for more than the last five years. There could be other changes with the name change but I would be shocked if those red stickers still aren't everywhere in the store.

[esquire]

^ But what I'm saying is that there are clearance stores like the way Garden City has generally looked for the last however many years, and there are clearance stores (like the ones Sears has or had in Calgary, Halifax, Regina...maybe elsewhere) that look like glorified garage sales.