Halifax Retail

[dtown]

Read things on Facebook about this today. Apparently there was a staff meeting at the one in Bedford informing employees this is happening.

[q12]

Future Shop Stores Close Across Canada

London, Ontario, Canada / (CFPL AM) AM 980
March 28, 2015 09:20 am
Future Shop Stores Close Across Canada

All Future Shop stores in Canada have closed, effective immediately.

The news was delivered simultaneously to employees across the country early Saturday morning as they were showing up for their shifts.

A select few outlets will be converted into Best Buy stores, but the rest will remain closed for good.

As of mid-Saturday morning, Future Shop’s website was unavailable, but a message on the company’s app informs users “Future Shop and Best Buy are consolidating under the Best Buy brand. That means, the products, services, and features you have come to expect from FutureShop.ca can be found at BestBuy.ca.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many jobs would be lost as a result of Saturday’s store closures.

Future Shop was founded in 1982, and was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 for $580-million.

Until now, Best Buy continued to operate Future Shop as a separate division

http://www.am980.ca/2015/03/28/futur...across-canada/

[visualman57]

reports today that Pete's is closing their Wolfville location in May, due to a lack of customers. They will focus on Halifax and Bedford operations.

[ScovaNotian]

Future Shop, Target, The Brick, Rona, ... Bayers Lake is thinning out quite a bit.

[jslath]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

Future Shop, Target, The Brick, Rona, ... Bayers Lake is thinning out quite a bit.

Has the expansion in Bayers Lake begun yet? If not, I wonder if this will put the breaks on the expansion plans?

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

requoted from the [Moncton] Retail thread:



I presume that this means that the Future Shops in Dartmouth Crossing and Bayers Lake will close as there are nearby Best Buys in both locations.

That's what I've heard. Apparently this was inevitable and was the plan back when Best Buy first bought out Futureshop. I was always amazed at the redundancy between the two stores when I knew they had the same owner. Can't find it in Futureshop? Then maybe Best Buy would have the same product across the street for the same price...

[q12]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

Future Shop, Target, The Brick, Rona, ... Bayers Lake is thinning out quite a bit.

Actually I think the Future Shop and Target locations will be highly sought over as it is hard to find large retail space for lease in good locations in Bayers Lake (The old Rona is not close to other retail and the Brick spot needs stairs or an elevator to get to it).

As an example Value Village decamped to the Ashley Furniture store so Marshalls could take that spot. Also Moxie's Bar & Grill is opening a second location in Bayers Lake.

I would think Canadian Tire would be interested in the Target spot, DSW (Designer Show Warehouse) might go in one of the future shop spots in Bayers Lake or DC. Superstore could expand into Future Shop Bayers Lake or even Homesense could move in next to Winners there to make a Winners/Homesense combo store like Mic Mac Mall. Lots of possibilities when you think about it.

And it sounds like IKEA wants to build a big store in Halifax, so it's likely going to happen in the Bayers Lake expansion lands or Dartmouth Crossing.

[Aya_Akai]

I had the last couple days off from work so I didn't actually find out till I went back in today. But there's an expansion happening at my workplace- the Sobeys on Baker Drive.

Not exactly an expansion of the actual store per se, but they're adding on a Dollarama to the side of the store closest to the highway 111. I guess we only had the news dropped on us on Tuesday morning when everyone showed up to work and that section of parking lot was barricaded off for the surveyors and snow removal crews to begin work for site prep which will be starting fairly soon.

IMO- not exactly the right sort of store to be going in that particular retail centre.

[coolmillion]

Urban Outfitters has installed a sign, sticking out on the second level so it's quite prominent. It's basically an arrow pointing to the store. It looks pretty spiffy.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by coolmillion

Urban Outfitters has installed a sign, sticking out on the second level so it's quite prominent. It's basically an arrow pointing to the store. It looks pretty spiffy.

I've also heard the rumour, as previously speculated, that Anthropologie will be opening up downtown, possibly on Barrington, in 2016.

I wonder if they would go into the new Roy?

[someone123]

Here's a picture of the sign:


Source

[coolmillion]

Originally Posted by someone123

I've also heard the rumour, as previously speculated, that Anthropologie will be opening up downtown, possibly on Barrington, in 2016.

I wonder if they would go into the new Roy?

Thanks for finding this photo. I had my phone but didn't get a chance to take a pic.

There is still more space in Barrington Espace for another major retail tenant so Anthropologie could be looking at a few options. I heard from a property owner that there is interest from other retailers but some are waiting to see how UO does before committing to leases. I guess Frank and Oak have had the opportunity to test the market before deciding if they want to have a permanent store. I heard they had a great first few months but I think this winter has been hard on all downtown businesses.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by coolmillion

There is still more space in Barrington Espace for another major retail tenant so Anthropologie could be looking at a few options. I heard from a property owner that there is interest from other retailers but some are waiting to see how UO does before committing to leases.

There is a ton of new construction happening but I bet it will take at least another 2-4 years before the impact is seen in terms of increased foot traffic and more customers for retail.

It's tricky because of all the factors at play. It's good to have a critical mass of retailers, for example, but it's not good to overcommit and open more retailers than the market can support. And it's hard to know what the market can support; vacancies don't really tell the full story. Hopefully the openings will be staged well. It might help to have a big landlord like Starfish that can plan out the street somewhat strategically, assuming they know how to manage tenants well.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by coolmillion

Thanks for finding this photo. I had my phone but didn't get a chance to take a pic.

There is still more space in Barrington Espace for another major retail tenant so Anthropologie could be looking at a few options. I heard from a property owner that there is interest from other retailers but some are waiting to see how UO does before committing to leases. I guess Frank and Oak have had the opportunity to test the market before deciding if they want to have a permanent store. I heard they had a great first few months but I think this winter has been hard on all downtown businesses.

I was in Frank and Oak today and the woman at the till said the only permanent stores are still Toronto and Montreal--the have four more around the country, so whether they'll establish a more permanent location here is still uncertain. I really hope they do because I like the products, but also because it's the kind of thing Barrington can really use. I hope they didn't choose a bad year to enter the market, since while the construction may slow business now, the end result of it will be MORE customers in, as Someone123 says, a couple of years.

[OldDartmouthMark]

I think that no matter who decides to stay or leave, as this section of Barrington is built up it will become a desirable place for upscale/non-standard retail. It will eventually fulfill its potential all on its own (build it and they will come).

It's really just a matter of time now.

[haligonia]

The sign looks great! I agree that Barrington is a natural fit for larger retailers to fit in downtown. Spring Garden has been the go-to for a while, but the architecture and large old storefronts on Barrington are unparalleled.

[Jonovision]

I love the new sign. The full banner has also gone up.
I was able to get a peek into the door the other day and it is looking very nice. It will be at least 2 floors as well as there was a large open set of stairs in the back.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's a picture of the sign:

Another pic of it at night on the Halifax ReTales website:

http://halifax.retales.ca/

[icetea93]

Here's an updated exterior shot. It looks great! More pictures (including interior shots) can be found on A-Pak Drywall & Acoustical's Facebook page. The store is two floors with the upper floor being quite a bit larger than the bottom floor.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Pak...990727?fref=ts

[Keith P.]

They are a clothing store? Men and women?