London's Malls

[tyeman200]

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?

Idiots, I assure you. I remember me and my dad had no choice but to take our car in there once, when one of the pipes carrying the engine coolant broke in the middle of Hamilton. It costs us $244 for them to fix one pipe (74 parts, 167 labour). Then they tried to tell us there was other things wrong with the car and that we should get it fixed, but we told them to screw off.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by tyeman200

Idiots, I assure you. I remember me and my dad had no choice but to take our car in there once, when one of the pipes carrying the engine coolant broke in the middle of Hamilton. It costs us $244 for them to fix one pipe (74 parts, 167 labour). Then they tried to tell us there was other things wrong with the car and that we should get it fixed, but we told them to screw off.

Definitely not unique to Canadian Tire. Midas is terrible for that, and their staff can be very pushy. I prefer Canadian Tire because they actually have reasonable hours that are convenient for people who work, while at least where I live, Midas has bankers' hours. Midas staff seems surprised when you tell them a 10am appointment doesn't work because you work 9-5 and your work is far away from the only Midas location in town.

Midas is the Scotiabank of the auto service industry. Okay but not stellar service, terrible hours, pushy salespeople, and limited locations.

[ericlewis91]

According to the Fbook Page, Masonville will be getting

"Sephora, Ivivva, Lush, Spencer's.. this year"

Second locations for Sephora and Ivivva (bye White Oaks?)

[captainwacky]

Not related to anything at all being discussed here, but an interesting fun fact: the current Dollarama store in White Oaks is underground because it was unused space that formerly held the Consumers Distributing warehouse. The original Consumers storefront was at the current Spring/Zumiez in the Hanging Gardens and had an entrace to the underground warehouse in the back.

[haljackey]

When I go into that dollarama I think I'm going down into a subway station. Big city feel.

What will come of the former Targets? Westmount could convert the second floor into office space, and I know Goodlife was talking about grabbing some of them. First floor could be utilized for this.

Masonville will likely convert that to smaller stores similar to what they are doing with Sears I think.

[Rosso Corsa]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Masonville will likely convert that to smaller stores similar to what they are doing with Sears I think.

Drove by yesterday and they are regrading the entire parking lot and adding a median on the east side of Target. Could be an attempt to improve traffic flow in anticipation of this?

[Stevo26]

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?

I wouldn't trust them either. I once had a 1978 Dodge Colt that needed repairs, and it was Nickel and Dime City all the way, with tons of little parts itemized on the bill - at inflated prices, of course.

I still wonder why Canadian Tire survives at all too. Is it the same kind of misplaced loyalty that explains why people are so slavishly loyal to Tim Hortons? Mind you, there was a time when Canadian Tire was actually a very well stocked and run retail enterprise with excellent service and selection, but I think that goodness disappeared sometime in the 1980s.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Stevo26

I still wonder why Canadian Tire survives at all too. Is it the same kind of misplaced loyalty that explains why people are so slavishly loyal to Tim Hortons? Mind you, there was a time when Canadian Tire was actually a very well stocked and run retail enterprise with excellent service and selection, but I think that goodness disappeared sometime in the 1980s.

I think it is the same loyalty. While they're far from the best store on the planet, I like them because they're an "everything" store that at least for me is in a convenient location.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Stevo26

I wouldn't trust them either. I once had a 1978 Dodge Colt that needed repairs, and it was Nickel and Dime City all the way, with tons of little parts itemized on the bill - at inflated prices, of course.

I still wonder why Canadian Tire survives at all too. Is it the same kind of misplaced loyalty that explains why people are so slavishly loyal to Tim Hortons? Mind you, there was a time when Canadian Tire was actually a very well stocked and run retail enterprise with excellent service and selection, but I think that goodness disappeared sometime in the 1980s.

about the same time Rim Whoreton's started declining. OK, so it is big business, I get it. But remember what the donuts used to taste like back in the early 80s? The coffee? Getting served at the counter by a friendly, matronly server? slice of pie and a great cup of coffee? purple "beverage" for the kids (ok, maybe that sucked). But the Apple Fritters were a trillion-fold better than the puffed thawed dough with a glaze of fructose-glucose-dextrose that they call a fritter today. Shittier than shitty place. And the coffee is basically lukewarm Sifton-Bog water.

[ericlewis91]

looks like construction is about to begin on the former sears space at Masonville

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Getting served at the counter by a friendly, matronly server?

That, for me, is the biggest part. I don't get coffee out often because I can't afford it (Tim Horton's does not want me as their customer- they want the people who can somehow afford to spring $2.00+ on coffee each and every day), but when I do occasionally get coffee out, it definitely won't be there. The service is terrible. They do not care to teach their staff the importance of greeting customers or feigning friendliness. Forget it.

Same problem at Crappy Tire: they used to have knowledgeable staff who could take the time to hear you out and try with you to find the solution to your problem. Now, it seems to be a lot of kids who act like, if you ask a question, you're wasting their time. They usually wind up wasting yours since they seem to know even less than I do (a real challenge) about home repair stuff.

Home Hardwares still seem to have knowledgeable employees who try to provide good service. They help me find the part I need, don't talk down to me if (when) I know less than they do, and I often learn something about the problem I'm tackling. They may be slightly more expensive than Crappy Tire, but I pay to avoid the latter's atrocious customer service.

[haljackey]

Former Sears at Masonville is being worked on

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/09/10/shutte...e-mall-undergoing-25-million-renovations

[GreatTallNorth2]

Sure hope they are spending more than $2.5 million on the project as that is a drop in the bucket compared to what they are doing at other malls across the country.

It's funny that they say the trend for larger stores is to move to big box centres because in most malls I see in Canada, they try to accommodate some of those stores (like Old Navy, chapters, etc.) into the mall as it's more convenient for shoppers to drive to one spot, especially in winter time. London is most definitely sprawlville with big box centres scattered everywhere and malls going empty.

[MolsonExport]

Mall discussions seem to have been taking place in the London photography thread.

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Westown has been Cherryhill village mall for at least 15 years. And they just announced that the LCBO in the mall is closing.

Old people central.

As for Wastemount mall, it is still there, albeit greatly truncated. The supermarket and adjoining part (a strange micro mall consisting of two stores: urban planet and Superking market) have been marooned from the rest of the mall; of which the second storey is all offices/services; with retail concentrated on the first floor. Still many vacant storefronts. Food court and adjoining movie theatre were demolished, replaced by a freestanding VIP Cineplex situated at the rear of the mall.

here is the mall layout today: http://www.westmountshoppingcentre.com/map

Argyle "mall" is completely repurposed as a big box format. Oxbury mall apparently is heading to a similar fate (better than what is there now which is basically nothing, aside from a discount supermarket).

[MolsonExport]

Oxbury mall redevelopment renders:

westdellcorp

almost all of these stores are no longer in the mall (RADIO SHACK????How long has it been?)

joycebyrne

This interior sign has been there for ages:

[MolsonExport]

Finally found some links on Buried Ox:

http://x.lnimg.com/attachments/937203B2-0341-4CFD-AA14-50971B947321.pdf
http://x.lnimg.com/attachments/2E2DDBDE-759E-48C1-B767-285960B00A6D.pdf

Oxbury mall: you can feel the excitement
It will probably turn out to be a weaker version of its neighbor, the world famous Northland Mall (which at least has a Walmart)

[ssiguy]

Oxbury Mall was always a complete nothing so in that respect it really isn't changing.

Looks like Westmount is basically a mall in name only. When malls start to shrink, they begin to shrink even faster. There is far less reason to step outside the big grocery store for the other shops so the few remaining begin to slowly die off and all that's left is a grocery store.

It seems London is contracting to just 2 major suburban malls.........White Oaks and Masonville. They have no completion with each other being on completely opposite sides of town and catering to completely to completely different demographics.

[ssiguy]

Surprisingly, and I would NEVER have said this 15 years ago, the downtown CityPlaza seems to have become quite successful. It did an excellent job of turning itself around and acknowledging the malls can be more than just stores especially downtown.

The move of the library there was actually a Canadian first and led to many other cities following suit. The movie theatres, offices, and UWO/Fanshawe campuses filled in needed space and certainly helped the vitality of the remaining stores and food court. They seem to have done a good job of turning a lemon into lemonade.

[bolognium]

Kinda makes sense that some money is being put into Oxbury Mall. Eventually there could be a couple thousand new residents at that corner assuming the London Psychiatric Hospital Lands are redeveloped.

Unfortunately that incredible RadioShack sign appears to be gone:

[HillStreetBlues]

Just noticed the comment about the LCBO in Cherry Hill Mall disappear. That is utter bull shit. Where is it going to relocate, some stupid centre on a former farm field? Cherry Hill Village Mall is a community hub in a neighbourhood chock full of members of two demographics who do not tend to drive- students and older people. And the government-run monopoly decides that it doesn't want a location there any more. I guarantee the new location will be less walkable for less people, and less transit-friendly. That's LCBO's method. I remember in Fergus, they closed the downtown store which was walkable for many people, and put it out in some new "power centre" on the outskirts of town where you 100% required a car to get it. I guess the REIT who owns the centre knows where to direct its political contributions.

Closer to home, we lost the Beer Store in Westmount Mall, accessible by transit and actually, you know, near some of its customers. And we get a beer store down south of where the city ends on Wonderland, completely car-dependent.

Fine, stores can locate where they like. But one provincial soviet is telling us all about its green plans, places to go, blah blah. And the provincial soviet which grants monopoly over sales of [evil] alcohol to foreign-owned corporations doesn't think to ask it to include transit-access as one of its criteria when choosing where to locate retail outlets.