ByMeredith MacLeod
Eastgate Square is aiming to reposition itself as a midmarket fashion and family-focused mall following a just-finished $17-million renovation after the departure of Walmart.
The American giant left the mall to take up a new post in an under-construction power centre at Centennial Parkway and the QEW. The mall took the 100,000-square-foot space once occupied by Walmart to form a new large mall entrance and add Winners, SportChek, Urban Planet and a future Kitchen Stuff Plus, Sunset Grill and Dollarama.
"We feel like we have a really well-rounded mix," said Don Burton, executive vice-president of the retail group at Triovest Realty Advisors. He said the company is "really encouraged" by initial traffic numbers since stores started opening in June.
"Winners is a search experience and they roll their merchandise all the time, which brings people back to the mall. SportChek is very family oriented."
Burton said shoppers' surveys told them there was demand for a sports retailer in the mall. A Dollarama will take up shop in the fall in a 15,000-square-foot space in the basement, the location of a former Walmart warehouse. The wide central arcade entrance features walls of windows at the raised roof.
Burton said Triovest is "bullish on Hamilton" and that population growth and changing demographics in the region called for changes to Eastgate.
"These are liquid assets that constantly need to be changed. It's a competitive world out there and a lot of different formats in retail."
Retail consultant Ed Strapagiel says the departure of Walmart would have been a more serious blow to Eastgate if it didn't have another department store anchor in Sears, which will likely benefit by the discount retailer's move.
Strapagiel says Winners and SportChek are good choices as replacement tenants because they each have a strong customer base and can help make up the loss of Walmart. The Arkansas-based retailer usually takes its value-conscious following with it when it moves, he says.
That could be a blow because Walmart generates a lot of traffic to a mall but there are mixed opinions about whether that translates into shoppers there.
Burton says Eastgate's Walmart did not generate as much spillover into mall traffic as expected or hoped.
Walmart has left many malls to set up bigger stores in power centres, usually a short distance away, says Strapagiel.
"They now have more superstores than regular-sized stores because they want to be in the food business."
Eastgate Square Holdings Inc. purchased the mall in January 2003 and it is leased and managed by Triovest Realty, which manages more than 54 million square feet of office, retail, commercial properties worth more than $10 billion for individual and institutional investors.
At the time, Eastgate was in "medium shape," said Burton, and required lots of work. Over the years, the owner has improved transit and vehicular access to the mall, upgraded the exterior and food court, added Fortinos, Sears, Shoppers Drug Mart and Jack Astors and built free-standing Beer Store and LCBO outlets.
Malls are generally undergoing facelifts every four to five years, says Strapagiel.
"Otherwise, it looks like nothing is happening. In retail, you always need the razzle dazzle."
Eastgate Square will celebrate its redevelopment and its 40th anniversary with a grand opening in August.
mmacleod@thespec.com
905-526-3408 | @meredithmacleod
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/39...-post-walmart/
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