Dead Malls of Canada

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

White Oaks Mall in London still has it's former-Woolco Walmart as well. They recently expanded to a Supercentre, although I don't think it's as big as the purpose-built Supercentre up in Hyde Park, as they didn't actually increase the footprint. They basically got rid of the auto centre and turned that space into store space (I don't think I've set foot inside it since, so I don't know if they put the groceries in that area or not).

Ironically, over the last 15 years, this Walmart was always rumoured to be closing and moving to its own property in south London. I remember talking to the former mall manager of White Oaks back then, and mentioned if Walmart was leaving. He said "I hope so, I can't wait, we can't do anything with this mall with that clientele here. The sooner they go, the better, we have big plans for that space". Walmart is still there, and he isn't lol.

Over on the east side, the former Woolco at Argyle Mall rebuilt a new Walmart at the other end of the property about 5 years after Walmart took over, and the rest of the mall has been totally rebuilt into store fronts and parking lot pads instead of an interior mall. Ironically, the only original structure is the old Woolco, which was gutted and now has a Staples, Sport Check, Fit 4 Less, Marks, Dollar Store, and a No Frills in the space. I recall hearing that particular Woolco was one of, if not the largest Woolco store in Canada.

I’m surprised Walmart has never expanded beyond the three stores they had in London when they took over Woolco, even though London’s population has increased by over 20% since then. The store at Oakridge Mall moved to Hyde Park in 2003, but to this day there is no Walmart in London’s southwest.

[MolsonExport]

Northland mall also has a Walmart. There are four Walmarts in London city limits (Argyle, Northland, Hyde Park, White Oaks)..plus another two in nearby Strathroy and St. Thomas. Whoopie!

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Northland mall also has a Walmart. There are four Walmarts in London city limits (Argyle, Northland, Hyde Park, White Oaks)..plus another two in nearby Strathroy and St. Thomas. Whoopie!

The demise of retail as a day long activity it seems. Did London undertake the fundamental error in allowing residential in its downtown areas.

[ssiguy]

Why would residential development be a fundamental error?

As for your question about London, the downtown population has been soaring in the last 2 decades and that continues with several large condo projects currently under construction.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Northland mall also has a Walmart. There are four Walmarts in London city limits (Argyle, Northland, Hyde Park, White Oaks)..plus another two in nearby Strathroy and St. Thomas. Whoopie!

Forgot about that one - think that was a takeover of a Target. I haven’t been to that part of London since I last lived here a decade ago.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

The demise of retail as a day long activity it seems. Did London undertake the fundamental error in allowing residential in its downtown areas.

Thus benefiting the artisanal Olive oil shoppes but pushing out the nightclubs. Why haven't we learned from Bari's shopping mall crisis?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Thus benefiting the artisanal Olive oil shoppes but pushing out the nightclubs. Why haven't we learned from Bari's shopping mall crisis?

miketoronto!

[MolsonExport]

I actually miss that guy's posts. hope he may one day return to SSP.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Forgot about that one - think that was a takeover of a Target. I haven’t been to that part of London since I last lived here a decade ago.

It was a Zellers (my mom actually managed The Skillet, or whatever the restaurant was called back in 1976 or so). Then Zellers opened a store down at Oxbury Mall in the early 90's and the Kmart that used to be on the southeast corner moved across to the old Northland Zellers. Then Kmart went tits up and Zellers gave up on Oxbury and moved back to Northland. It wasn't one of the locations chosen by Target, and Walmart took it over.

As for the southwest of the city, when the White Oaks Walmart was planning to move, the southeast corner of Wonderland and Exeter was the prime spot they were planning to go. There was also talk of the west side of Wonderland just to the north of Wharncliffe. The city wouldn't approve enough retail space for that area for Walmart to go. I'm not sure if Walmart cooled on the area after Target announced they were going to Westmount but maybe they wish now that they did go over there. And by the time Target left, White Oaks was under new owners and probably made it worth Walmarts while to stay and expand.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Thus benefiting the artisanal Olive oil shoppes but pushing out the nightclubs. Why haven't we learned from Bari's shopping mall crisis?

Here’s something for you MolsonExport. Toronto has not one, but two olive oil emporiums! We are fighting off the a repeat of the Bari Mall crisis valiantly!

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

It was a Zellers (my mom actually managed The Skillet, or whatever the restaurant was called back in 1976 or so). Then Zellers opened a store down at Oxbury Mall in the early 90's and the Kmart that used to be on the southeast corner moved across to the old Northland Zellers. Then Kmart went tits up and Zellers gave up on Oxbury and moved back to Northland. It wasn't one of the locations chosen by Target, and Walmart took it over

Thanks for the history - I had assumed Target was there but I guess not.

One of my childhood regrets was never going to a Zellers restaurant, I’ve heard those were amazing diners. Well, I almost went to one once, at Westmount Mall when I was about 8. I took one look inside and saw filthy dishes everywhere, and I refused to eat there. I even used that restaurant experience in training new employees at a restaurant I worked at during university, to demonstrate why keeping the house clean and tidy is so important.

[MolsonExport]

^back in June 2005, a few days after moving to London from Montral, I had a plate of lukewarm fries with some brown noxious substance that they might have called gravy, at the Westmount Zellers (or was it the Sears? Did Sears have some lousy restaurant?).

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^back in June 2005, a few days after moving to London from Montral, I had a plate of lukewarm fries with some brown noxious substance that they might have called gravy, at the Westmount Zellers (or was it the Sears? Did Sears have some lousy restaurant?).

What a welcome to London(ium)

A friend of mine, a vegetarian from birth due to family cultural practices, moved to the UK at age 13 and went to boarding school. It was meat and two veg etc day after day and he decided he would have to have meat for the first time (no parents around). His first meat was cafeteria liver Surprisingly, he is now one of life's biggest carnivores.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

miketoronto!

Bingo.....he was ahead of the curve when it came to the world of artisinal olive oil emporiums and their relevance in the retail hierarchy.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

Bingo.....he was ahead of the curve when it came to the world of artisinal olive oil emporiums and their relevance in the retail hierarchy.

Old Videos of the legend himself
• Video Link• Video Link

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I’m surprised Walmart has never expanded beyond the three stores they had in London when they took over Woolco, even though London’s population has increased by over 20% since then. The store at Oakridge Mall moved to Hyde Park in 2003, but to this day there is no Walmart in London’s southwest.

I remember the three locations back in the 1990s. (Argyle, Oakridge and White Oaks) They were all previous Woolco locations. I worked at the White Oaks location for awhile during the three years I lived in London. I also worked at the Timmins location for a few years prior to that. The store manager I had in Timmins got transferred to the Oakridge location while I was there. He would often visit the White Oaks store and tell me about the future plans the company had. They had looked at South of the 401 near the Costco (Price Club back then) to move the White Oaks location.

I rarely shop at Walmart today. I liked it better when it was in our mall. Today, it is on its own and the items it carries are nothing exciting.

I will say that shopping mall companies would have been smart to have given Walmart better deals for leasing and expansion.

[ssiguy]

I am not surprised that malls didn't offer Walmart a better deal and I bet it was the other shops in the mall that would have fought against it.

Remember that Walmarts are a very different beast from the departments stores of yesteryear. Your Simpsons/Eatons/Zeller/Woolco/K-Mart/Sears were very much just a place where you would go to get things for the house or clothes and that is pretty much it. Walmart on the other hand has everything from clothes to gardens to pharmacy to household to food to bakery to insurance to appliances to fast food to furniture......it would have been too big a strain on all the other stores in the mall.

95% of all a person's basic daily needs can pretty much be gotten at Walmart and this was very much not the case with traditional department stores.

[Spocket]

Never mind all that...I can't believe there are stores dedicated just to olive oil. I can't tell the difference from one brand to another. I didn't think there was a difference.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

95% of all a person's basic daily needs can pretty much be gotten at Walmart and this was very much not the case with traditional department stores.

Anybody doing groceries at Walmart is unlikely to be very healthy. They have the bare basics of fresh grocery. And everything else is prepackaged shit. I can't believe it counts as a grocery store. I can fully see Walmart suffering as more and more young people turn to healthier options. And Pre-Covid they were in a tough fight with Amazon and Target (which also sells the same prepackaged crap) in the US. I think Loblaws competes decently in Canada.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Anybody doing groceries at Walmart is unlikely to be very healthy. They have the bare basics of fresh grocery. And everything else is prepackaged shit. I can't believe it counts as a grocery store. I can fully see Walmart suffering as more and more young people turn to healthier options. And Pre-Covid they were in a tough fight with Amazon and Target (which also sells the same prepackaged crap) in the US. I think Loblaws competes decently in Canada.

I’ve shopped in the grocery departments at Walmarts in both the US and Canada, and I find the Canadian stores put less emphasis on groceries than the US stores - though the Canadian ones are catching up. I’ve found the US ones to have larger produce departments and a greater amount of selection among other groceries than the Canadian stores.

US and Mexican Walmart stores also devote a decent amount of their stores to beer and liquor.