White Oaks Mall Redevelopment

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Don't give up on a Consumers Distributing store.

[GreatTallNorth2]

This is what was submitted to the city on April 6. I wonder what stores will be added.

Commercial Building - Shopping Centre - Alteration - Interior - Phase 2 of Alteration of existing base building ( Hudson Bay Space in White oaks Mall ) to multiple commercial units and mall hallways.

[Djeffery]

No doubt a main floor Dollarama for those who don't like the basement Dollarama lol.

[Djeffery]

"Prepare to be Amazed" is today's tease

[GreatTallNorth2]

It's a smaller format IKEA store, 43,000 square feet in the former Bay store. I assume there will be other stores as well as The Bay footprint was 82,000. This is a big win for White Oaks Mall. IKEA is obviously a store that attracts a lot of people and will make the mall more attractive for other stores.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/ikea-is-coming-to-london-heres-when/

[jammer139]

More coverage of the small IKEA store for the former Bay space. At 43,000 sq ft its about 25% larger then the new Food Basics store up at Fanshawe and Highbury.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ik...-for-everyday-convenience-837956563.html

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

"Prepare to be Amazed" is today's tease

Remember Wastemount Mall's slogan: "Watch Us Transform!" Well, it transferred from being a dying mall with Senior Citizen Mall Walkers to a dead mall without Senior Citizen Mall Walkers.

Heck of a transformation. What a disaster.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Remember Wastemount Mall's slogan: "Watch Us Transform!" Well, it transferred from being a dying mall with Senior Citizen Mall Walkers to a dead mall without Senior Citizen Mall Walkers.

Heck of a transformation. What a disaster.

lol, true. London is not big enough to have 3-4 large shopping malls. We are big enough for 2, Masonville and White Oaks. I remember when we had Galleria, Westmount, White Oaks and Masonville. Then the BIG BOX tsunami came and emptied the malls. At least with White Oaks there will be a major attraction of IKEA that will attract a lot of other retailers, plus the BRT being built won't hurt and neither will the plans for all the apartment towers that are proposed.

[MolsonExport]

yeah, I think White Oaks will make it (and good catch with the mini-IKEA), but it still feels like a poor-man's Masonville (whereas they were once almost matched). Wastemount Mall was nice when I first moved here in 2005, but within a year, at least a third of it became vacant.

Watch us Transform!!

Sadly, it is WAY worse than it was 9 years ago when this videographer bestowed "Dead Mall" status upon it.

• Video Link

[Snark]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Heck of a transformation. What a disaster.

Not sure if it's a disaster, but moving from one location to another in the city certainly doesn't bring much new to the table. It likely will help the mall out to a degree, but the limited scope of these new, smaller retail outlets selling more meatballs and soap dispensers isn't a game changer. The PR spin doctors with Ikea try to put lipstick on the pig by calling it "strengthen(ing) the omnichannel experience, and give customers more ways to shop with Ikea", when in reality it's just another Structube or Urban Barn with a cash and carry element.

Similar to Costco up the road moving a few hundred metres to a new somewhat larger building - leaving their former building vacant for years. Finally it is announced that Enbridge will convert the vacant building into their regional facility, but in doing so will abandon their existing facility - leaving it vacant. In all cases, it's just shuffling the deck chairs around the deck: no significant new value being introduced into the community or local economy in spite of all the moving about.

[MolsonExport]

Yes, I agree with all that, and I am rather critical of development policies that favour the donut-ization of retail (and office space), where zoning on the fringes encourages new builds that are far away from the bulk of the population, but like vampires, suck the vitality away from existing retail. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Snark

Not sure if it's a disaster, but moving from one location to another in the city certainly doesn't bring much new to the table. It likely will help the mall out to a degree, but the limited scope of these new, smaller retail outlets selling more meatballs and soap dispensers isn't a game changer. The PR spin doctors with Ikea try to put lipstick on the pig by calling it "strengthen(ing) the omnichannel experience, and give customers more ways to shop with Ikea", when in reality it's just another Structube or Urban Barn with a cash and carry element.

I have been to the smaller format store in downtown Toronto. The difference between that store and the current "Design" store that London currently has is like chalk and cheese. They stock a lot of items. Having said that, it might not be your cup of tea but it gets a bigger store in the city (in a huge "The Bay" store) and will draw a lot of people. And perhaps there will be a possibility to expand to a full size store over time. Once again you might not care much about IKEA's widget vs. Structube's but a lot of people do care.

[GreatTallNorth2]

I was just on Westdell's website and this is their description of White Oaks Mall (see below). It states the mall is getting a "high end hotel" amongst other things.

https://www.westdellcorp.com/white-oaks-mall/

White Oaks Mall is London’s largest regional shopping destination, offering a vibrant retail experience with more than 140 stores and services. Ongoing redevelopment plans include the addition of a high-end hotel, sports and entertainment facilities, full service restaurants, and national retailers and services.

[Djeffery]

Wonder if the region could support another Rec Room type place.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Wonder if the region could support another Rec Room type place.

I am sure it could support something like Rec Room, there are lots of families that live near White Oaks. I think that Westdell has been great for the mall. They obviously have vision with entertainment, more stores, a hotel and residential towers plus being right off the 401 does not hurt. It would not surprise me to see more retailers consider White Oaks over Masonville. For the out of town travellers to shop in London it is another 30-45 minutes off the 401 to get to Masonville.

[GreatTallNorth2]

White Oaks is announcing something "big" this week. It appears to be a retail store that is new to Canada and some are speculating that it is a "Jumbo" store. No, not Jumbo Video but a large chain out of Greece that has announced it's plans to open across Canada. It started as a toy store but has evolved to be a discount chain of toys, games, seasonal items, housewares, etc.

[GreatTallNorth2]

It now appears it is some sort of "Play" place, there have been rumours of an indoor soccer place.

[MolsonExport]

Everytime I have gone to one of those "play places" (Rec Room, that whole development at Kellogg Lane), these places have been sparsely populated by patrons. Particularly that huge development at Kellogg Lane ("The Clubhouse")

[DireRaven]

Originally Posted by jammer139

More coverage of the small IKEA store for the former Bay space. At 43,000 sq ft its about 25% larger then the new Food Basics store up at Fanshawe and Highbury.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ik...-for-everyday-convenience-837956563.html

Thats really small. Each floor of the bay store was bigger than that. I was excited thinking it was taking up all of the bay area but that takes the wind out of my sails.

[jammer139]

Yupe this mini IKEA is only about a 5th the size of a normal IKEA store.