Quote:
Originally Posted by casper
Quote:
Originally Posted by officedweller
It always seemed to me that Metropolis was struggling to fill all of its space with good tenants -
i.e. I always thought the large retail units in the former Zellers and Sears wings were due to the mall's inability to find a lot of smaller tenants - so it consolidated space into extra-large units.
... and the preponderance of hairdressing salons is also a giveaway.
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I think it had more to do with the fact the mall has a lot of weird dead-end areas. The entire bottom floor was originally setup with Woodwards food floor at one end and the Sears clearance store at the other end. Well the food floor is now T&T markets and the Sears discount store is now Toys 'r Us. The entire bottom level gets very little traffic.
I remember in the pre-shopping centre days Sears had its own building and there was a weird walkway and the building in the back that housed the clearance centre. The clearance centre building was ripped down and for the most part the mall built on its site. The Sears store is in the original 1950s building and the mall was just built around it.
That shopping center has gone through every major anchor you could think of: Woodwards, Eatons, Target, and Bretton's. I think part of the problem is Canada just does not have enough department store brands to anchor the end of each hall in Metrotown. |
That's exactly how I see it. There are a bunch of dead-end areas that will never see much unless they are combined into corner-units from the main "walking route". When I was in high school, our marketing class had a field trip to Metrotown and the person who worked there (I forget his position) explained to us that when the food court was relocated, the intention was for patrons to make their way from the Skytrain station/bus loop towards the food court, along both levels. So basically the "main walking route" is the route between Zara and the food court.
So when I say the mall is essentially full, I mean that all the spaces between Zara and the food court are considered "prime", and are spoken for. Most space off of that route is considered far less desirable. The mall has gradually made room for more larger retailers by consolidating the dead-end spaces with corner units in prime areas.
But, no matter what, the major retailers are going to be hesitant to secure space outside of these areas, likely even if the mall renovates. Guildford had renovated pretty much the whole mall, but even then it took a brand new wing to entice retailers to the mall. I think Metrotown needs to build new if they want to remain competitive and attract more new retailers.
Aritzia is moving into a space next to Boys' Co. My guess is that this is to make room for a large new retailer looking to secure a big space (Uniqlo?). And that the current Aritzia space will be combined with the former La Vie en Rose space and potentially the Shoppers space as well. But look how long it takes (years), just to make room for one retailer!
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