Winnipeg Retail

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by rtotheitz0

My buddy's company has the contract for work in the old Sears. I've seen the renders, it's Seafood City!

Well this guy called it. Interesting to see how the development plays out. I went to the mall recently and it was surprisingly busy despite what from my perspective was nothing of particular interest in terms of the retail offerings.

[Biff]

Work will be starting in the fall on the PP Sears space.

[BigG]

Uncertain if it was mentioned in previous posts. Will it be an extension of the mall, like what was done to Zellers or broken up into smaller stores?

[CoryB]

Unless I missed something nothing has been said publicly on what CF Polo Park is doing with the former Sears space.

It is interesting though CF is essentially letting a major anchor sit dark for the better part of two holiday shopping seasons. Clearly they are prepared to wait for the right tenant for the space.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Biff

Work will be starting in the fall on the PP Sears space.

Do they have tenants lined up or just gutting the space?

[cheswick]

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Unless I missed something nothing has been said publicly on what CF Polo Park is doing with the former Sears space.

It is interesting though CF is essentially letting a major anchor sit dark for the better part of two holiday shopping seasons. Clearly they are prepared to wait for the right tenant for the space.

I'd imagine they think it's much smarter (and cheaper) to leave it empty and try to fill it as-is, than doing a giant, costly renovation to subdivide – especially with several empty stores already, and a major chain seemingly folding monthly.

Bench went into receivership, sold off the Canadian assets and shut all it's other stores down. Canada is the only place now where there's physical Bench stores.

[rtotheitz0]

Originally Posted by cheswick

Well this guy called it. Interesting to see how the development plays out. I went to the mall recently and it was surprisingly busy despite what from my perspective was nothing of particular interest in terms of the retail offerings.

Just happy we have a new place to shop/eat/enjoy!

Now can someone sniff out any Indoor Waterpark rumors? 😉

[vjose32]

Just noticed on the Cushman site that Oshkosh is coming to Northgate, next to Dollarama and some Korean Restaurant next to the theatre

[Glenn99]

Originally Posted by esquire

It kind of looks like a repurposed supermarket building... any chance it was a Loblaws at one point?

It was an Economart back in the '80's after that became The Keg.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Glenn99

It was an Economart back in the '80's after that became The Keg.

I forgot about that location rebranding to an Economart after being a Loblaws.

[buzzg]

^It'd be so nice if we still built chain neighbourhood grocery stores of that size. I don't always want or need to go to a giant mega mart.

[CoryB]

^^ The challenge with smaller neighbourhood style grocery stores is they lack the volume to offer the breadth of selection of the mega mart style locations. Also with groceries having such thin margins it becomes all about the volume of sales.

--

Over the weekend learned the Tommy Guns (Barber Shop) is opening in Unicity.

[Geebrr]

Keep scraping those oceans clean.

[esquire]

For what it's worth 2 of the 3 new Save On stores are fairly compact (not quite small, but not huge either) and still manage to cover a full range of products.

Personally I try to mix it up with frequent visits to smaller supermarkets (Safeway/Sobeys/Co-op) and the occasional visit to a huge store (Walmart) to load up on the less frequently purchased items that are less expensive there.

[SpongeG]

In Europe, Asia, Australia etc most large grocery chains have a smaller urban store with less selection but still enough of everything that you can do all your shopping, instead of a huge big bix size they are like shoppers drug mart size. Some Canadian chains should start doing smaller versions in more urban spots. When I was in Australia some of the grocery stores were full size but spread over 2 or 3 smaller levels in the city or beside train stations.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by buzzg

^It'd be so nice if we still built chain neighbourhood grocery stores of that size. I don't always want or need to go to a giant mega mart.

Don’t know why Aldi or Lidl sized grocery stores can’t work, with Aldi’s emergence in the US with European sized stores it won’t be long before they come here!

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Some Canadian chains should start doing smaller versions in more urban spots.

Sobey's actually tried the smaller format stores in Canada, just not Manitoba, and found them to be unprofitable and shuttered most of them. That wasn't too long ago either.

[buzzg]

I'd kill for Trader Joe's, it's damn awesome. Very Loblaw-like with how their private label TJ brand is awesome. And cheap.

Side note, funny we were just talking about how the Rexall rebrand was never really carried out here... They just switched over all the signage at cityplace to the new look. Seems like the new owners are actually gonna put some effort into the stores that remain open.

[laumag]

[QUOTE=buzzg;8296129]I'd kill for Trader Joe's, it's damn awesome. Very Loblaw-like with how their private label TJ brand is awesome. And cheap.

I too would "kill for Trader Joe's". Well, maybe not kill, but I would certainly like to be able to shop in one closer than Minneapolis.

I would not mind a Whole Foods as well.

Ah ... to dream.