[Moncton] Retail Thread

[MonctonRad]

It was mentioned in the Fredericton thread that Taco Boyz would be beginning construction on a Moncton location in the springtime. No mention yet of where it might be going.

[MonctonRad]

Source for Sports is rebranding it's image:

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...GddsXgEpua6tLdSne9ltcliWYZPUSrpAq5Y1SnDs


Antigonish store, source - Retail Insider

The changes will be rolled out chain wide in 2022. Expect to see this new livery on their store in the Mapleton Centre soon.

The rebranding includes a complete reinvention of the brand identity:

- New logo: A new SFS logo featuring a stylized S, comprising two parts to symbolize customer and staff coming together to find a perfect fit. The logo is designed to be bold, consistent, and recognizable in all uses, from social media icons to store signage;
- New tagline: The new tagline, “We Fit Your Game”, emphasizes the personalized service and product knowledge athletes get when they shop at SFS. It is a customer-centric update of “We Know Our Stuff”, the brand tagline for more than 20 years; and
- New Source Exclusive Collection: To reinforce the new identity, SFS is launching a branded collection of high-quality hockey accessories, including base-layer garments, hockey bags and skate guards.

[MonctonRad]

Tomavo has now completely chucked in the towel. Their Mountain Road location is closing effective almost immediately. Bankruptcy is complete.


T&T photo

[MonctonRad]

Labels at CF Champlain is permanently closed. Odd that they chose to close even before Christmas.......
Rogers at CF Champlain have returned back to their renovated former location.

[MonctonRad]

The leasing map for CF Champlain shows a new business (Artisan Spa) located in the former Regis Salon space next to Game Spot

[Colouratura]

I was at CF Champlain Tuesday and the unit for the Marvis men's hairdresser where Mastercuts used to be appeared empty. It shows as vacant too on the rental page for the mall. I don't think I saw it mentioned elsewhere in here. Did things fall through for them?

A lonely little spot with that unit and Maritime Travel empty too.

[L'homard]

I tried to get a haircut there several times in the fall right up until Christmas.
They were never open any time I went.
I'm not certain if they ever opened. I never ever saw the lights on in the shop.

[MonctonRad]

Marvis was a stillbirth for sure. I believe it opened briefly, but was almost immediately shut down by inspectors because the owners (from NS) didn't realize their stylists had to have NB licensure. It reopened again (briefly) after they complied, but closed again within a week or two. It was a 🞵🞵🞵🞵 show all the way around - too bad.

[L'homard]

I felt bad for their miscue over the licences and wanted to throw a little business their way. Plus my go-to haircutters at Cuts2000 had decamped the mall so I wanted to audition Marvis as my new scalpers.
Oh well. Haircuts are over rated anyway.

[stephan.richard]

Originally Posted by L'homard

I felt bad for their miscue over the licences and wanted to throw a little business their way. Plus my go-to haircutters at Cuts2000 had decamped the mall so I wanted to audition Marvis as my new scalpers.
Oh well. Haircuts are over rated anyway.

I used to use cuts2000 at the mall plus two of their hairdressers have opened their own spot on Dieppe close to Mathieu Martin High school and their place is called Onyx. I would highly recommend that anybody tries them cause they are awesome plus the location is 100x better than the mall and more private.

[MonctonRad]

And we have an early start to the post-holiday retail store closures and bankruptcies.........

Two store at CF Champlain are apparently biting the dust - Foot Locker and Sirens.

I wonder how many more are yet to come. The pandemic has certainly exacerbated an already grim situation (high rents, online shopping, supply issues, etc etc).

[MonctonRad]

.

[MonctonRad]

And on a more interesting note, I received an intriguing message from a trusted source that big things may be afoot for CF Champlain:

The closures of Labels, Foot Locker and Sirens may not be a coincidence, and may also not be (directly) related to a poor Christmas season.

This wing of the mall has been relatively quiet since the Sears departure, and it's replacement with the TD Bank corporate offices. Cadillac Fairview has been looking for a new anchor for this wing, and there were rumours to this effect prior to the COVID pandemic. The main rumour concerned Old Navy either opening a second location in greater Moncton, or relocating their Wheeler Park store to CF Champlain.

Apparently (according to my source), there is new movement on this file.



The block of five stores listed above may be consolidated to a single CRU to accommodate a singe "big box" tenant, possibly Old Navy.

Of these five stores, Calendar Club and Just Cozy are just seasonal tenants anyway. There is a solid rumour out there that both Foot Locker and Marie Claire have been asked to move. There was no acceptable space elsewhere in the mall for Foot Locker, so they elected to close. The status of RW & Co. is less certain.

With Labels and Sirens closing, this provides spaces for Marie Claire and RW & Co. to relocate into.

This all makes a lot of sense and seems very logical. This would also be a significant upgrade for the mall, and should help boost the confidence of the remaining retailers at the mall. Coming out of a pandemic, this would also improve the appeal of CF Champlain to potential new retailers as well.

This rumour sounds very plausible to me..........

[stephan.richard]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

And we have an early start to the post-holiday retail store closures and bankruptcies.........

Two store at CF Champlain are apparently biting the dust - Foot Locker and Sirens.

I wonder how many more are yet to come. The pandemic has certainly exacerbated an already grim situation (high rents, online shopping, supply issues, etc etc).

For me Foot Locker has always been a disappointment compared to some that I have been in the past. And their selection used to be great and now it’s blah. But I am curious what will set up shop there could it be Old Navy, perhaps Decathlon time will tell.

[josh_cat_eyes]

An interesting bit of history about Foot Looker and how it is actually tied to the FW Woolworth Company if anyone cares. I think it’s kinda cool.

The F.W. Woolworth Company was founded in 1879 in Utica, New York by Frank Winfield Woolworth. By the 1960s they were looking to diversify their portfolio and in 1963, the F. W. Woolworth Company purchased the Kinney Shoe Corporation and operated it as a subsidiary. In the 1960s, Kinney branched into specialty shoe stores, including Stylco in 1967, Susie Casuals in 1968, and Foot Locker on September 12, 1974.
In 1988, the F.W. Woolworth Company incorporated a separate company called the Woolworth Corporation in the state of New York. The Woolworth Corporation was responsible for the operations of the Foot Locker stores, among the other specialty chains operated by Woolworth's.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the F.W. Woolworth Company's flagship department store chain fell into decline, ultimately culminating in the closure of the last stores operating under the name of Woolworth's in the United States in 1997.
However The Woolworth Corporation remained the parent company of Foot Locker, and in 1998 it changed its name to Venator Group, Inc. As the "Foot Locker" brand had become the Woolworth/Venator company's top performing line, on November 2, 2001 Venator changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc. They are in essence the successor company to both FW Woolworth’s and Kinneys Shoes, both of which were founded in the late 1800’s.

[MonctonRad]

So, what do we actually know is going on at CF Champlain?

- Foot Locker and Marie Claire have been asked to vacate (this is first hand verified).
- Marie Claire is relocating in the mall; apparently to the CRU currently housing Sirens (this is first hand verified).
- Foot Locker is apparently going to close, at least for the time being (this is first hand verified).
- The two CRUs adjacent to Foot Locker and Marie Claire are currently occupied by temporary seasonal outlets (Calendar Club and Just Cozy) that can vacate on a moments notice (Calendar Club is in fact leaving with the next 7-14 days).
- These four adjacent CRUs are apparently being consolidated for a "big box" retailer (a strong rumour). These four units alone total 13,273 sq ft.
- The status of another adjacent retailer (RW & Co) is uncertain. They may or may not be involved in the consolidation. If so, the total square footage would increase to 18,547.
- There is a rumour predating the COVID crisis that Old Navy is planning a mall location in CF Champlain.
- Strong corroborating evidence is that Old Navy has moved into Regent Mall in Fredericton.
- The average size of an Old Navy store is 15,000 sq ft, not far off the 13,273 sq ft available by consolidating these four CRUs.

I don't necessarily believe RW & Co is involved in the consolidation. 18,547 sq ft is probably more than Old Navy needs.

If Old Navy opens a store at CF Champlain, what would happen to their current store at Wheeler Park?

There are three possibilities:
1) - they would keep both stores open
2) - they would keep both stores open, but convert Wheeler Park to an Old Navy Outlet
3) - they would close the Wheeler Park location.

I have a hunch option #2 is what they would consider.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

I am curious what will set up shop there could it be Old Navy, perhaps Decathlon time will tell.

Decathlon is a true big box retailer. Their store at Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth is 36,000 sq ft, double the size of the consolidated space at CF Champlain (even if RW & Co) is included. Some of their stores are even bigger (50,000 sq ft or so). It won't be Decathlon.

Decathlon however is expanding in Canada, and, as a French retailer, might have a natural affinity to setting up in Moncton. Many of their Canadian stores are in Quebec (or Ottawa). Moncton is a logical choice for future expansion, and, there are rumours out there that they might be interested.

There are only two places in the metro area where Decathlon could logically set up shop - at Wheeler Park or in the Granite Centre. Choice REIT (the owners of Wheeler Park) seem very uninspired in their management style, and do not seem to have any vision. The Granite Centre however seems quite hungry to bolster their portfolio, and there is land available for a big box the size of Decathlon. If I was to bet, this is where I could see them opening up shop.

As for alternatives to Old Navy in CF Champlain, I can think of three - Marshalls (or Homesense) or possibly LL Bean, although I think this unlikely since they have already chosen Dartmouth Crossing for their Atlantic Canada store.

[OUIR@random]

Some observations and extreme predictions for Champlain to start off the new year! LOL

1. Yes for Old Navy at Champlain!

2. I hope a Marshalls or Winners will open at Champlain, they are greatly in need of a hit! These TJX stores brings in the crowds & traffic, period. For the past 3-4 years it's been bad news after another at Champlain, the TD call center fiasco never took off, what a waste, then came the pandemic. My gawd. I'm not sure why CF is keeping this property and why it did not unload it during the pandemic, probably because it's really worth much less than it was 5 or 10 years ago if it was sold today (Real Estate-Market Value wise not Property Tax wise), so they (CF) are holding, just like a stock, but will it ever go back up? Here's hoping!

3. There's been much more investments & interest at Halifax 2 large malls in the past few years...

4. The Marshalls and Winners in Saint John are larger, newer and nicer than both locations in Moncton, we need a another TJX in greater Moncton and at Champlain it should be. Said it before and will say it again.

5. Maybe someday Amazon will offer a big fat check to buy the whole property for a distribution center!!! The once (considered) largest mall in the world Randall Park Mall is now a huge Amazon Distribution Center. Now there's the future!

[L'homard]

What's going on at the TD centre that you would call it a fiasco? I thought all was well there.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by L'homard

What's going on at the TD centre that you would call it a fiasco? I thought all was well there.

Pretty much everyone is working from home because of the pandemic. It will be interesting to see how many return after the pandemic is over.