[Only The Lonely..]

This is an article that ran in today's Winnipeg Free Press.

I'd be curious to know what the rest of you think about the future of big box shopping in Canada?

[Only The Lonely..]

Saturday SpecialThinking outside the big boxThey dominate today's retail scene, but are they here to stay?

Bartley Kives | Winnipeg Free Press - March 14, 2009


FIVE years ago, writer and artist Julia Christensen looked around her hometown of Bardstown, Ky. and noticed two big empty build­ings where Wal-Marts used to stand.

The first wound up being bulldozed. The second remains empty. And a third, larger Wal-Mart stands on the edge of town.

Inspired by the comings and goings of the world's best-known big-box chain, Christensen travelled to 50 U.S. cities and towns to find out what happens when massive retailers pack up and leave their big-box shells behind.

"These buildings always last longer than the businesses they were built for. It is inevitable they will be abandoned," said the author of Big Box Reuse, which chronicles how 14 communities converted their empty Wal-Mart and Kmart superstores into the likes of schools, churches and seniors' centres.

In the case of Bardstown, business at Wal-Mart was booming and the chain outgrew its downtown space. But other North American big-box retailers are reeling from the combined effects of the worldwide recession and changing consumer tastes.

Linens 'n Things filed for bankruptcy last October and Circuit City followed suit in January. As many as 14,000 U.S. retail stores may close in 2009, CNN has reported, compounding big-box vacancies at shopping malls and retail power centres.

Even in relatively recession-proof Canada, home-improvement chains are scaling back big-box expansions and planning to open smaller stores to cater to younger consumers who want to spend less time wandering around retail aisles, the Toronto Star reported last week.

The future of the big box, which has ruled the retail roost for nearly two decades in North America, is beginning to come into question, even as developers plan to build thousands more of the massive stores.

In Winnipeg, a joint venture between developer Fairweather Properties and European furniture giant IKEA could place up to 10 new big-box stores -- including a 350,000-square-foot IKEA anchor tenant -- on 197 acres of industrial land at Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway.

The $400-million Tuxedo Yards Redevelopment, which faces a public hearing at city hall on Wednesday, has politicians excited about the potential addition of $6 million a year in new property, business and education taxes, once the entire development is built out in 2018.

The city and province are prepared to spend $22 million on infrastructure improvements to make the IKEA project happen. But critics say politicians should demand something more than mere development in return.

"I think IKEA is a great idea. The issue is what happens around the IKEA store," said Doug Corbett, an award-winning architect at Winnipeg firm Smith Carter, who began his career designing shopping malls before specializing in sustainable building projects.

Instead of placing big-box stores in the middle of a sea of asphalt, the city should demand more landscaping, less homogenous buildings and a site design that encourages consumers to walk, instead of drive, from store to store, Corbett said.

Developers stopped building indoor shopping malls when they realized it was cheaper to develop big-box pads, which can be built out in stages and don't require as much maintenance or security.

But just as shopping malls have fallen in and out of vogue -- Winnipeg's Unicity Mall was razed, for example -- the time will come when shoppers begin to think outside the big box, Corbett added.

"They'll be in trouble in a few years, just like the malls. It will be based on consumer habits. People will realize they simply don't need so much stuff," he said.

In the U.S., where big-box vacancy is a genuine problem, communities and non-profit organizations struggle to find new uses for massive buildings abandoned by retail chains, said author Christensen.

As a result, communities should demand more concessions from big-box developers from the outset, she said. Multiple facades will allow big boxes to be reused more often, while landscaping and berms can allow the structures to better fit in with the future urban landscape, she suggested.

But right now, major players in the retail industry are not convinced the end of big-box retailing is nigh, especially north of the 49th parallel.

"I think it's the only game in town at the moment," said John Winter, president of Toronto retail-analysis firm John Winter & Associates, who believes tougher planning regulations in Canada have prevented big-box stores from oversaturating the retail market the way they have in the United States.

During a recession, consumers seek out the savings offered at big-box stores, Winter said. And he rejects the idea consumers are becoming more interested in independent retailers or pedestrian-friendly shopping environments.

"There is this mythology of going back the good old days," he said. "That isn't real. Consumers like choice."

In Winnipeg, pedestrian-friendly developments simply don't perform as well as vehicle-friendly power centres, added Sandy Shindleman, president of Shindico, one of the city's largest and most successful developers.

He cautioned against comparing Winnipeg to denser North American cities such as Vancouver, where some big-box stores are stacked above each other and even IKEA shoppers take public transit to the furniture store and have their purchases delivered.

"In a winter climate, people want more ready access to the stores. Half the year, you can't meander outside," said Shindleman, who does not believe his industry should face more regulation in favour of pedestrian access or other design concessions.

"If we don't have the opportunity to accommodate large retailers, we'll get left behind," he said. "The choice isn't whether people will go to Tuxedo Yards or across the street. It'll be whether they go to Winnipeg, or Minneapolis or Milwaukee."

But even proponents of big-box stores acknowledge the detrimental effects of the developments on the environment. While Wal-Mart has taken big strides toward energy savings, there is no question about the effects of massive parking lots and the greenhouse gases required to get vehicles to fill them.

"You're putting up a few acres of asphalt on moose pasture," joked retail analyst Winter.

Critics such as architect Corbett were even more scathing. "I think it's horrendous: A lot of big, open parking lots between buildings. No landscaping at all," he said, surmising there could have been a way to convince IKEA to set up downtown.

Author Christensen, meanwhile, believes cities should eventually find the gumption to say no to more big boxes.

"We have to stop building these buildings. They're environmentally unfriendly and they're not friendly to pedestrians or communities," she said.

But that isn't likely to happen as long as demand remains high and taxes continue to flow from big boxes.

"In general, the public likes them," said Shindico president Shindleman. "For all the efforts of planners, everywhere in North America, the projects that are successful financially are the ones that are successful for the taxation authorities and the lenders."

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca



Building a bigger box
Facts about the IKEA project, officially known as the Tuxedo Yards Redevelopment, which faces a public hearing at city hall on Wednesday:

Location: 197 acres of land at on either side of Sterling Lyon Parkway, west of Kenaston Boulevard.

Owner: Kenaston Intermodal and a numbered company owned by Kenaston Intermodal's owners, Wayne and Garth Nemy.

Developers: Fairweather Properties and IKEA Canada, who plan to buy the land and subdivide it into 31 lots.

Proposed development: 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, including a 350,000-square-foot IKEA store, a 200,000-square-foot big-box store, two big boxes larger than 140,000 square feet and several smaller stores.

Possible development in addition to commercial space: A 16-screen movie theatre, a 100-room hotel, a 500-unit condo building and a 150,000-square-foot office park.

Development schedule: 2010-2018, pending approval.

Assessed value of the existing land: $5 million.

Taxes paid last year: $213,000.

Proposed value of land, once the project is built out: $139.5 million.

Possible taxes, once the project is built out: $6 million.

Road improvements required for project: $26.5 million worth of street widenings, new turning lanes and new signals on Sterling Lyon Parkway, Kenaston Boulevard and Shaftesbury Boulevard.

City and provincial portion of roadwork: $22 million ($14 million from city, $8 million from the province).

Parking stalls: 7,517 over entire development.

Bike and pedestrian access: 3.5-metre-wide asphalt paths.

Winnipeg Transit access: Crosstown West route, initially.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/3351631976_92890cd239_b.jpg




Comments Posted by:Ham-Jabam

March 14, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Re: In Winnipeg, pedestrian-friendly developments simply don't perform as well as vehicle-friendly power centres, added Sandy Shindleman, president of Shindico." -- I wish Bart had asked him which came first - the creation of cheap power centres or demand for vehicle-frindly power centres. If a power centre is the only place we have to go to visit a specialty store . . . As for climate playing a role in people choosing power centres: Wouldn't malls be more popular? And how did downtown Winnipeg seem so busy when it was "the" place to shop in Winnipeg? I think developers create the demand for power centres because these parcels of land are the only places they can make huge coin without huge investment.

[SpongeG]

there was a big rona store here that opened very close to home depot and it couldn't compete so shut down after a couple of years - it stood vacant for a while but it has become a call centre and storage place

I think big boxes will always have a place in our cities - they do detract from downtowns but they don't really fit there either, vancouver has a few big stores in its downtown or close to it that are more "urban" but they are still big and boxy and work pretty well

[mylesmalley]

That's probably the most ridiculous single-store proposal I've ever seen! Unless they plan on having daily Who concerts, what do they need that much road widening for?

[1ajs]

its a prity big site here u can see it in comparison to the other big box going in around it
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3549/siteplan.jpg

[mylesmalley]

Ahh, my mistake. That's still pretty ridiculous though.

[1ajs]

Ahh, my mistake. That's still pretty ridiculous though.
that site image was not the hole site though theres more that was cut off
anyhow the red is the whole site in relation to the rest of the city its rather masive
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3706/sitek.png

[Xelebes]

Imagining the converting of those buildings into concert venues... :slob:

[1ajs]

Imagining the converting of those buildings into concert venues... :slob:
comeing to a city near u underground abandoned big box store parties