Quote:
Originally Posted by OUIR@random
For the past year I've read articles and reports about malls across North America. One thing that was recurrent was that some if not many malls are dying while some are thriving, the thriving ones they said will be the upscale and luxury malls, mid-scale and regional malls would be the ones in trouble. I think we are seeing exactly that here at Champlain. At the same time the Halifax Shopping Centre is reinventing itself as the true destination and luxury mall of Atlantic Canada; the mini Yorkdale of the Maritimes. I think they will need some boost at Champlain Place sooner rather than later or else the worst is yet to come...
Note: The middle class is struggling and that can be seen in many malls and the retail sector in general. When you read the news you see growth with Nordstrom and Dollarama which couldn't be further apart, meanwhile mid-level retailers are closing left and right, thus many regional malls without those top market retailers are struggling. It says alot about our society and how it has changed from the 1980's until today. The rich are richer and the poor are poorer and what's going on with retailers is reflective of that.
After consideration what we would need at Champlain instead of Sears would be a Saks Off Fifth or Nordstrom Rack, it would really put us THERE, however I don't know if we have a large enough population... maybe just maybe. I would not be surprised if Halifax would get one soon...
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I agree with everything you have said.
Champlain Place is a bit of a "tweener" mall; a bit more than a typical regional mall but not quite a high end fashion mall. The only true high end fashion mall in the region will be the redeveloped Halifax Shopping Centre. Not even MicMac Mall will be able to ultimately compete with it.
The saving grace for Champlain Place is that it is Cadillac Fairview who owns it. This gives Champlain access to a stable of mid-to-high-end retailers that might not normally set up shop in a city our size. There are a few of those at the mall like Victoria's Secret, Fossil and Swarovski.
I find that the tipping point for when a retail chain starts to think about Moncton is when their chain expands to about 50 stores or so nationwide. The latest example of this is
Saje Natural Wellness, which just announced a store for Champlain to open next year. They announced their Champlain Place location in a press release indicating they were completing their national expansion to 50 stores, before starting to look for future opportunities in the USA and in Europe. Saje already has two locations in Halifax (HSC & SGR).
Regarding
Saks Off Fifth &
Nordstrom Rack, originally when I heard that both chains were planning 40-50 stores nationwide, I was optimistic that at least one of them might consider Moncton in their expansion, but both chains have been focussing on suburban locations in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary & Vancouver. The more this happens, the less likely I think it is that they will consider opening here.
I think the higher end national chains have decided there are about 6-10 champion cities in the country they should focus on, with the rest of the nation being consigned to "Walmart country". This is sad and unfair, but probably realistic. I do think that Saks Off Fifth & Nordstrom Rack might end up in Dartmouth Crossing, but I think the prospects of them showing up in Moncton are growing dimmer by the day as they continue to focus store opening in far flung suburban regions of Toronto.
I
do think that IKEA might still open one of their pick-up and order store in Moncton, and I still think that Champlain Place might have something up their sleeve for next year (like F21 Red), so all is not lost. Moncton however will have to learn to temper it's expectations somewhat.........
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sure we don't have new to market stores opening on the daily but to me that's more of a national issue at the moment, retail is changing and chains are playing it safer, sticking to big markets.
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