Winnipeg Retail

[CoryB]

I came across an article today on retail chains closing in Canada at the start of the year. I cross referenced it to both Polo Park and St Vital for the lists below. Ones marked with a question mark are not confirmed but are chains doing large scale closures in Canada currently or with good sources saying it is happening.

Also EB Games is obviously on death watch at the moment with closures confirmed for USA, Australia and Europe already. Cohort GAME also has closures in the UK where EB Games/GameStop does not operate.

I have also heard unconfirmed reports from local people working in retail about changes that would typically indicate store closings to follow at chains that are not named.

Finally on the speculation this could be doom and gloom for the bigger malls here, keep in mind they are a class below the largest class of malls which there are none of locally. This will likely just mean other retailers move into the local market. That said Forever 21 could be a tougher one to fill long term. Also Holt's closed their downtown Edmonton store and has cancelled publicly announced plans for a second Vancouver store so they aren't coming here.

The list...

St Vital
Bench
La Senza ?
Things Engraved
Bentley ?
Wow Mobile ?
Victoria's Secret ?

Polo Park
Bench
Carlton Cards
La Senza ?
Gap ?
Bentley ?
Wow Mobile ?
Victoria's Secret ?

Also not listed but Wireless Wave is owned by Bell similar to its 50% stake in Wow Mobile and its 100% ownership of The Source. It would not be surprising to see them disappear in 2020. For perspective when MTS had a store and kisok and Bell took them over, Bell owned 50% or more of six different locations selling their wireless products in Polo Park alone! That is just not sustainable long term.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by CoryB

I came across an article today on retail chains closing in Canada at the start of the year. I cross referenced it to both Polo Park and St Vital for the lists below. Ones marked with a question mark are not confirmed but are chains doing large scale closures in Canada currently or with good sources saying it is happening.

Finally on the speculation this could be doom and gloom for the bigger malls here, keep in mind they are a class below the largest class of malls which there are none of locally. This will likely just mean other retailers move into the local market. That said Forever 21 could be a tougher one to fill long term.

I'm just curious, couldn't it be transformed into a T&T Market, Safeway or something? After all, it did spend decades as a Safeway... and even just as a T&T lite, it would be more than enough to fill the space.

[CoryB]

^^ Keep in mind T&T is a a Loblaws brand and part of the same company as Superstore and No Frills. Since taking over T&T the strategy has been more on targeted product line expansions in existing stores under other brands instead of opening new T&T stores. It is extremely likely Winnipeg never sees a T&T branded store open here. It is much more likely if there is demand for products that cannot easily be stocked in stores due to space that a distribution centre will be picked up with order to store/home for those products. It is also a remote possibility that a T&T branded ghost store opens in Winnipeg pushing out products through the existing Superstore online ordering system.

[pegcity]

Does anyone have any information on 24-7 In touch taking up space in the former Sears location at Polo Park. If it’s true, that’s disappointing in terms retail in Winnipeg and for Polo Park shopping centre.

[Biff]

Yes, that will be happening. My understanding is that is will only be a portion of the Sears space. If you look at the bright side, PP will inherit a load of captive new customers.

[trebor204]

Victoria's Secret (and Pink) at the St Vital Mall is now closed.

[CoryB]

^^ Definitely odd to learn 24-7 In Touch is opening in the Sears space of Polo Park rather than just expanding into the roughly 1/3 of the empty Target space that still does not have a tenant.

[drew]

Originally Posted by CoryB

^^ Definitely odd to learn 24-7 In Touch is opening in the Sears space of Polo Park rather than just expanding into the roughly 1/3 of the empty Target space that still does not have a tenant.

^"I am gonna make him an offer he cannot refuse"

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by pegcity

Does anyone have any information on 24-7 In touch taking up space in the former Sears location at Polo Park. If it’s true, that’s disappointing in terms retail in Winnipeg and for Polo Park shopping centre.

2nd floor only, and wants windows added, lots of them, so exterior walls will be replaced with windows. I know the contractor working on it. although, loss of retail space, that's more feet in the mall visiting the food court and shopping.

being done in 2 phases, phase one is to get it partially open so bodies can start working there, phase 2 is the major re-construction of adding windows.

[CoryB]

For clarity, In Touch 24/7 is a decent fit for the Sears space in Polo Park. As noted in adds foot traffic and gets lease revenue coming in. It is just odd that they have a large space already in the area that could be easily expanded.

[esquire]

^ I was thinking the same thing re: former Target.

[CoryB]

^^ The other odd piece is CF is the landlord at both the Sears and Target sites. Considering there was substantial renovations put into the Target space for them it would seem odd for them to walk away at this point just to move to Polo Park. Also to take on a sizable space at a second site in the Polo area suggests they are either relocating another Winnipeg location (do they have one?), or they are bringing in a new contract.

That said, I have seen the boom/bust cycle of call centres in Winnipeg go around a few times now. Reality is at other places is the jobs pay about minimum wage and aren't a great place to build a long term career. That is turn leads to a high level of turnover. Eventually the contract runs out and moves somewhere else and the downsizing starts. Shaw is a recent example but there have been many before.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Walk away from Target? no one is saying that, they are expanding to Sears! they are a major player in the call center world, hiring lots of immigrants and others. huge international contracts, they have technology others don't offer. for example, all General Mills comes to Winnipeg, phone calls, email, online chat.

[CoryB]

Call centers tend to run boom and bust cycles. To keep costs low they intentionally keep the majority of their staff capped at part time hours just short of full time and pay minimum wages. They also have a history of trying to match staffing levels with predicted call volumes so when a promotion or similar is on there are more hours. When it ends everyone's hours get slashed and some people are laid off. This leads to a high churn. Eventually it gets difficult to find new workers and the contract moves to a different city.

Once the dust settles down someone new moves in, opens up their call center and the cycle begins all over again.

One call center used to have multiple floors in the tower over Winnipeg Square before their own bust time set it. They had multiple different contracts for internationally known brands too. Brands that still operate today...

[buzzg]

24-7 In Touch has several locations in the city. They have a big call centre on Taylor, and another one on Waverley (took over old Stantec office and did a big reno). Their corporate office is on Kennedy and is beautiful, just did some reno's and has a nice gym. IIRC the complete gut of 414 Graham is being done for 24-7 as well.

I wonder if maybe they will be relocating out of Target and into Sears – maybe closing the Taylor location as well. Perhaps CF has a plan for the rest of old Target.

I hate that Rec Room is at Seasons, seems like a big missed opportunity that CF wasn't able to get them to Polo Park. Target would have likely been a good fit. Especially with their premiere theatre in the city being at Polo.

[CoryB]

Rec Room has stated publicly they find going into their own purpose built spaces (Sterling Lyon) works best for them and that they have no plans to try to retrofit other spaces (read St James Target).

Reality is there was a deal to be had here and CF failed to close it. I think market demographics played into things. The Polo area definitely has lower household income than where Rec Room located.

[esquire]

^ Polo Park serves a pretty large hunk of the city including some pretty well-off areas so that can't be the only reason... for instance, there aren't that many amusement places in the Seasons area relative to population so that had to factor into it. Rec Room is basically the first one in as far as that area is concerned.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Polo Park serves a pretty large hunk of the city including some pretty well-off areas so that can't be the only reason... for instance, there aren't that many amusement places in the Seasons area relative to population so that had to factor into it. Rec Room is basically the first one in as far as that area is concerned.

Seriously, don’t any of the multiple cinemas in the area have arcades, all the entertainment options are basically in that end of the city already, most of the escape rooms, the golf dome, indoor trampoline parks, VR and laser tag places... they’re all within a short drive of seasons. The rec room should have gone downtown.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Seriously, don’t any of the multiple cinemas in the area have arcades, all the entertainment options are basically in that end of the city already, most of the escape rooms, the golf dome, indoor trampoline parks, VR and laser tag places... they’re all within a short drive of seasons. The rec room should have gone downtown.

Maybe they were afraid of the poor masses & the drug addicts? Calgarys Rec Room is in the middle of nowhere too. Car access only. NE Calgary, far from most of the population, but still near where the money is (if you look west towards Country Hills). Winnipegs? Also middle of nowhere, car access only, with shit transit options. Also next to where the money is.

Feels like discrimination against the poor (for both Calgary/Winnipeg), and maybe in Winnipegs case, even racist, for them to put down a Rec Room in a suburban area thats basically all full of affluent white people... i guess the rest of us non-bourgeoise folk, should just stick to playing goldfish in the Windsor? Or maybe we could all race cardboard sleds down the shore, near Assiniboine Park...

Cineplex doesn't seem to care for those that aren't rich up the ass, lately. Their VIP cinemas, new alcohol bars, and Rec Room/gentrified arcade with adult entertaiment (the booze, not the strippers) is an abomination against the non-upper classes, and anyone that can't blow $300 in a single night, trying to get a stuffie out with the claw... its bullshit. At least at Reset on Pembina, the drinks and food might've been expensive (and quite frankly, horrible food), but at least I could slap some quarters/loonies in & have tons of fun, for hours on end. Cineplex games might be all modern and flashy, but it costs too much for games. Maybe thats why they're subliminally telling the poor to stay away, along with the $20 meals and the "EXCUSE ME SIIIIIR" elitist attitude & alarm, at a family trying to stretch out a 20, for their kids to go play at the arcade while they wait for yet another shit-tier movie out of Hollywood... What a bunch of pricks.

[DancingDuck]

I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not