The Retail Thread

[Vascilli]

I wish it was, it happens to be the cheapest, too. I won't be getting any data yet, my mom pays my bill for the time being and between my sister and I it's ~$70. Now on Wind we have to stay under that, so data's out of the question.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Vascilli

That really, really annoys me. The Maple or Huawei phones would be really nice with Android, but no..

..but with only 2100 band HSPA? So it'll work in Japan on 3G but not here. That's nuts.

I'm heading down there to see if they at least have a UIUC SIM card so I can, maybe, use my unlocked Nokia E71. If I'm seeing the numbers right I'd be saving enough to swallow the cost of leaving my Rogers plan early. But not if I can't get on 3/3.5G.

[Radley77]

The core is lookin' mucho sexy! A lot more scaffolding is down, and the Body Shop has glass windows overlooking a +15 streetscape. You can see the full length of the skylight now, and it's crazy how well hidden some of the mechanical supports are. It looks sooo open.

I wonder how they will clean the glass? I think I have seen some people walking on it when it was being installed. The thought of walking on that glass makes me sick. I know the PetroCanada ground level skylight has a mechanical device that rolls over top, will the Core skylight have something similar?

[Vascilli]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

..but with only 2100 band HSPA? So it'll work in Japan on 3G but not here. That's nuts.

I'm heading down there to see if they at least have a UIUC SIM card so I can, maybe, use my unlocked Nokia E71. If I'm seeing the numbers right I'd be saving enough to swallow the cost of leaving my Rogers plan early. But not if I can't get on 3/3.5G.

Won't be happening unless you feel like roaming on Rogers at $0.25/minute. The E71 doesn't have AWS bands, and that's all Wind has. They aren't selling SIMs only yet either. (Dec 25)

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Vascilli

Won't be happening unless you feel like roaming on Rogers at $0.25/minute. The E71 doesn't have AWS bands, and that's all Wind has. They aren't selling SIMs only yet either. (Dec 25)

Yep, learned the same. Nice store though.

[wild wild west]

Originally Posted by AB Born

It looks like the Calgary Zoo store at CrossIron Mills has closed.

Speaking of CrossIron, I heard a rumour that visits to the mall have lowered drammatically since the first few weeks after opening, and that a lot of the stores are struggling (although others, Bass Pro in particular, are thriving). Anyone else heard anything similar?

[MichaelS]

All second hand rumour (dad talking to a store owner in the mall), but heard that many of the stores are in on a short term lease, to keep the mall filled for the holiday shopping rush. Curios to see how it looks come spring/early summer, when supposedly many of these leases expire.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by wild wild west

Speaking of CrossIron, I heard a rumour that visits to the mall have lowered drammatically since the first few weeks after opening, and that a lot of the stores are struggling (although others, Bass Pro in particular, are thriving). Anyone else heard anything similar?

I've had friends and co-workers tell me that the mall wasn't that busy when they were there. No doubt visits will have dropped after the opening week.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

I've had friends and co-workers tell me that the mall wasn't that busy when they were there. No doubt visits will have dropped after the opening week.

My parents were there on the weekend, they said it was definitely slower then their previous visit soon after opening but still fairly busy.

[You Need A Thneed]

I wonder how different it would be if they had just stacked stores on top of each other. It's so far to walk between store if the two stores you want to go to are on opposite ends of the mall.

[Bassic Lab]

Originally Posted by mersar

My parents were there on the weekend, they said it was definitely slower then their previous visit soon after opening but still fairly busy.

Fairly busy during the Christmas shopping rush could be a very bad sign. Other malls have been packed. Chinook Centre has been as busy as ever.

[Yume-sama]

The fact it's somewhat out of the way off of a death trap of a highway during Winter weather may explain why it only gets "fairly" busy compared to others in the city.

I certainly wouldn't risk my life for whatever is at Crossiron Mills.

[freeweed]

Calgary is still very underserved by retail compared to similarly-sized cities. I don't think they have much to worry about, once the biggest recession in 2 decades ends.

If a place like Northland can survive, when there's never ANYONE in the mall, I think CIM might just do OK.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by freeweed

If a place like Northland can survive, when there's never ANYONE in the mall, I think CIM might just do OK.

If it wasn't for Walmart, Future Shop and Best Buy, Northland would have probably been gone a long time ago now. That said, I don't find it too dead when ever I'm there.

And speaking of Northland, Shaganappi Chev has moved into their temporary tent showroom while renovations are being done, there were a couple excavators parked in front of the old showroom this morning and it appears they ripped up most of the parking lot by the piles of rubble when I went by tonight. I'm not sure the extent of the renovation, but its supposedly in the multi-million dollar range.

[Doug_Cgy]

I was at Crossiron this past weekend, and it was packed. I think it will do just fine. I honestly prefer it to Chinook...Shorter drive for me, and when the entertainment wing opens, I'll go even more.

[Wentworth]

Originally Posted by Bassic Lab

Fairly busy during the Christmas shopping rush could be a very bad sign. Other malls have been packed. Chinook Centre has been as busy as ever.

When I was at Chinook Centre on Saturday, shopping traffic was surprisingly modest for the last shopping weekend before Christmas, in my opinion.

Also, I went shopping at Westhills on Saturday night and didn't even have to contend with checkout lineups, not even at Superstore or Zellers.

[wild wild west]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Calgary is still very underserved by retail compared to similarly-sized cities. I don't think they have much to worry about, once the biggest recession in 2 decades ends.

If a place like Northland can survive, when there's never ANYONE in the mall, I think CIM might just do OK.

Well that's true. Deerfoot Mall is another one that has struggled for years and is still around for some reason. I did check out CrossIron a couple of times over the Xmas shopping season and while it was quite busy, it certainly wasn't as busy as I would expect for a big mall at X-mas shopping season. Sunridge, for example, seems busier, and Chinook is always a zoo.

Anyways, perhaps the short term is iffy but I think over the long term CrossIron will do okay. Airdrie is probably the fastest growing city in Alberta right now and new communities in Calgary like Skyview and Redstone will eventually be home to tens of thousands of people a few minutes drive away from the mall. Plus, access is excellent even though it's at the edge of the city, being practically at the intersection of HWY 2 and the ring road. Anyone living in north Calgary can probably drive to CrossIron in much less time than Chinook.

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by wild wild west

Speaking of CrossIron, I heard a rumour that visits to the mall have lowered drammatically since the first few weeks after opening, and that a lot of the stores are struggling (although others, Bass Pro in particular, are thriving). Anyone else heard anything similar?

Well that is due in part to a large drop in retail spending in Alberta over the past 12 months. Retail spending was down $450 million in October 2009 compared to 2008, or about 9% overall. More than half of that drop was in the Calgary region. The drop is likely to continue in 2010 if natural gas prices don't improve soon.

The timing of the opening of a large retail centre during a recession will make it a tough go for many stores in Crossiron for a while - that and its location relative to the population concentrations in the Calgary region at present.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Retail spending was down $450 million in October 2009 compared to 2008, or about 9% overall. More than half of that drop was in the Calgary region. The drop is likely to continue in 2010 if natural gas prices don't improve soon.

I don't think most people have realized but natural gas has rebounded already compared to earlier this year. Granted it is the middle of winter, but the current price for Henry Hub is around $5.75/mmbtu and even AECO is around $5.25/GJ currently which puts it back pretty close to some of its higher historical price points excepting that one spike where it flew way past before it crashed back a few days later. The biggest issue from this past year was the huge supply that was in storage, most of which will be expended by the time winter is over.

In terms of CIM, the one thing I keep hearing though is the roads still need improving, the 'alternate way to Calgary' they've got signed out using 144th ave to Metis is in pretty bad shape as soon as it got snow covered.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by mersar

In terms of CIM, the one thing I keep hearing though is the roads still need improving, the 'alternate way to Calgary' they've got signed out using 144th ave to Metis is in pretty bad shape as soon as it got snow covered.

It was at best a cow trail (parts, anyway) even before the snow. I couldn't imagine using it today.