Quote:
Originally Posted by joshlemer
I think if the Bay can't find an economic use here it is much more to do with how we are failing to get people downtown than anything intrinsically wrong or outdated with the building. I don't buy at all that large department stores are unworkable today. Go to the outlet mall where the stores are almost department-store-sized, or to the Bay Polo Park and see both locations so full of shoppers it's hard to walk around. The issue is that Winnipeg isn't doing a great job of supporting retail downtown.
So I don't think we should tear down the Bay, or even gut it and turn it into a donut. Slowly, as more people move downtown, there will be plenty of use for that building.
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Bang on. As more and more people move downtown, and Portage Place gets redeveloped (likely with less retail and more residential), the building and business will become more and more viable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EspionNoir
Third & Bird urban market took place earlier in the Bay downtown and the response was phenomenal. The waiting line was so long that people had to wait outside the building.
Here's an shot from Third & Bird's official IG account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5QXUP9g...=1pesmaxe0we8n
So it seems that the building isn't the problem, but what's going on inside the building is the problem. I agree with what joshlemer said, more needs to be done about downtown retail. But the Third & Bird urban market indicates that successful things are currently being done. Hudson Bay also had sale in the Bay downtown not long ago, and many people were going there, too.
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And the day after Third + Bird moved out,
Lights of the North moved in. They'll be in there for 8 weeks total, with the event running Dec 5 – Jan 5.
Quote:
Originally Posted by headhorse
^ I think it's more so that the Bay doesn't want to pay the costs to maintain and fix the building, so they just don't do anything with it... but the media will tell us some other funny story. they're bad community members so I don't why people are obsessed with saving them.
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The Bay is paying a fortune to maintain the building actually. It's just not generating enough money at the current time investing in major
upgrades to their existing space. But that's not to say upgrades are ut of the question....