General Retail News

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I was walking on Rideau Street yesterday and was impressed with how the new Forever 21 façade and its large bright display windows really improve the look and feel of the street. I hope they kick out Shoppers Drug Mart and do the same thing on the other side. Having a two storey store with an internal elevator improves the vertical circulation in the mall, too.

I hope the Rideau Centre considers moving the cramped and dingy food court elsewhere in the mall and really open up that corner of the building when it becomes the main LRT access.

Couldn't agree more.

[c_speed3108]

Awesome news Ottawa is getting two more Target stores:

Gloucester Center and SPARKS STREET!




link: http://www.obj.ca/Local/2011-09-23/a...wa-locations/1

[c_speed3108]

Spoke two soon. Apparently Gloucester Centre will become a Walmart store.

http://newswire.ca/en/releases/archi.../23/c5977.html


Over in Gat they will get one too:

920 boul. Maloney, Gatineau, QC – Les Galeries Gatineau

[waterloowarrior]

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/...on-in-orleans/

Those of us who live to shop for groceries — and who doesn’t? — will be excited to see a new, big-box Asian Superentre opening soon at a former Canadian Tire store, 1777 Tenth Line Rd. in Orléans, where the principals promise a bigger and better one-stop selection to rival its well-known competitor, T&T Supermarket that opened near the airport in October 2009.

Tentative opening date is Nov. 18, says David Feng, one of the owners.

[Cre47]

Update on the Bayshore expansion plans.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Pr...megadrop_story

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/...on-in-orleans/

Those of us who live to shop for groceries — and who doesn’t? — will be excited to see a new, big-box Asian Superentre opening soon at a former Canadian Tire store, 1777 Tenth Line Rd. in Orléans, where the principals promise a bigger and better one-stop selection to rival its well-known competitor, T&T Supermarket that opened near the airport in October 2009.

Tentative opening date is Nov. 18, says David Feng, one of the owners.

Do a lot of Asian people live in Orleans? I don't venture out that way very often but seems like an illogical spot to put such a huge 'Asian Supercenter'. Perhaps they're moving in there because the building is already constructed and is virtually move in ready. I don't think this will really be a competitor to T&T as the two stores are fairly far apart from each other. I wish them the best of luck though!

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Update on the Bayshore expansion plans.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Pr...megadrop_story

Bayshore is my favourite Ottawa mall and it seems like it is run very well simply by walking around it. With this expansion, does anyone think H&M might move in here? Or are they looking for something more central and in a sooner time frame?

[teej1984]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Bayshore is my favourite Ottawa mall and it seems like it is run very well simply by walking around it. With this expansion, does anyone think H&M might move in here? Or are they looking for something more central and in a sooner time frame?

I hope to GOD H&M doesn't move in here... we need more DT shopping! I hate that Ottawa thinks it needs to shop in malls... so BLAH!

I want to see H&M on Bank or Sparks St!!

[toaster]

Originally Posted by teej1984

I hope to GOD H&M doesn't move in here... we need more DT shopping! I hate that Ottawa thinks it needs to shop in malls... so BLAH!

I want to see H&M on Bank or Sparks St!!

Realistically, H&M should be at both types of locations. In Toronto H&Ms are downtown all over the place, but they are also in huge suburban malls as well. I'd like to see them open in Westboro on Richmond, to kind of re-enforce the idea that Westboro is Ottawa's "Queen St. West".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Do a lot of Asian people live in Orleans? I don't venture out that way very often but seems like an illogical spot to put such a huge 'Asian Supercenter'. Perhaps they're moving in there because the building is already constructed and is virtually move in ready. I don't think this will really be a competitor to T&T as the two stores are fairly far apart from each other. I wish them the best of luck though!

There is a decent-sized Asian population in Orleans, though not huge. Keep in mind that many non-Asians will also shop in Asian supermarkets. In a place like Orleans they might even make up a significant proportion of the clientele.

And "Supercenter" (or centre) is often just a marketing word - it may not actually be that super-sized.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by toaster

Realistically, H&M should be at both types of locations. In Toronto H&Ms are downtown all over the place, but they are also in huge suburban malls as well. I'd like to see them open in Westboro on Richmond, to kind of re-enforce the idea that Westboro is Ottawa's "Queen St. West".

Westboro and Queen St. West? That's a pretty good comparison. They have a similar look, a mix of independent shops and big brands, and they're both close to their respective Chinatowns.

[Cre47]

Heard on CTV that a Simon's store could be in the works for Gatineau. Now, as far as the location, I would though Les Promenades would be the place, but all large spaces seems to be occupied. Though I find it odd that Urban Planet uses a large space - the former Steinberg/Super C/Metro location just east of the bus terminal. Though maybe it would be too small for Simon's. My fear is that it will land in Le Plateau where there is still tons of space available. I think the last stores are at the corner of Des Grives or about 200-300 meteres to the west. With a new access road to le Plateau open from Highway 148, that could mean an easier access to the big boxes. I see a 50% chance that Simon's will install in Le Plateau.

[wingman]

Dunno, but I tend to think they would want to install in Gatineau proper. I am thinking they could reconfigure the Galeries de Gatineau (which will house a new Target). Only other areas that are big enough are just east of Paiement on Maloney (too far) or next to Winners just off the 50.

...unless they buy the old Costco?! Nah.

Though if you look at the new plan for Plateau des Grives there are some buildings there that would be big enough.

http://www.firstcapitalrealty.ca/ima...aps/lay201.pdf

If this comes to be it would be a pretty big deal for the Outaouais.

Originally Posted by Cre47

Heard on CTV that a Simon's store could be in the works for Gatineau. Now, as far as the location, I would though Les Promenades would be the place, but all large spaces seems to be occupied. Though I find it odd that Urban Planet uses a large space - the former Steinberg/Super C/Metro location just east of the bus terminal. Though maybe it would be too small for Simon's. My fear is that it will land in Le Plateau where there is still tons of space available. I think the last stores are at the corner of Des Grives or about 200-300 meteres to the west. With a new access road to le Plateau open from Highway 148, that could mean an easier access to the big boxes. I see a 50% chance that Simon's will install in Le Plateau.

[toaster]

I read somewhere a while ago that Costco won't be renewing their lease at Promenades, so that would be a big space. I find it odd though that they'd open in Gatineau before Ottawa. Like has been mentioned a lot around here, most people who live in Ottawa won't travel to Gatineau to shop (unless it's for beer), but people from Gatineau come to Ottawa much more often to shop.

[Cre47]

I would be really surprised if Costco would be moving out of there. It has brought a bit more life in the tedious and lifeless western end of the mall - was like that between Eaton's closure and Costco's opening. They opened a few good stores in addition in that area such as Atmosphere and Archambault. Though I'm missing the Chinese buffet restaurant in that same area - seems according the mall's site it's a sushi buffet shop or something like that.

Though I haven't heard about an opening date for Simon's if they do open one in Gatineau. So probably the one planned for St-Laurent would be before that.

Maybe with Simon's possibly setting here, maybe Les Ailes de la Mode could have a second attempt at our market here but in Gatineau instead rather then repeating the Bayshore fiasco which only lasted for 20 months or something like that.

There might a little bit of space in the SE portion of the property, to built a small expansion which could accommodate either a Simon's or Les Ailes. The other one might land in Le Plateau.

Speaking of Bayshore, my goodness their website is ugly and bland compared to a few years ago. Just looked at their site, they now have a Starbucks. That will probably kill a couple of the other coffee shops. Treats will probably hang on because of their breakfasts and muffins, etc but I'm not sure about the other ones (Timothy's on 2nd), Second Cup (1st floor), etc.

[Cre47]

Originally Posted by wingman

Dunno, but I tend to think they would want to install in Gatineau proper. I am thinking they could reconfigure the Galeries de Gatineau (which will house a new Target). Only other areas that are big enough are just east of Paiement on Maloney (too far) or next to Winners just off the 50.

...unless they buy the old Costco?! Nah.

Though if you look at the new plan for Plateau des Grives there are some buildings there that would be big enough.

http://www.firstcapitalrealty.ca/ima...aps/lay201.pdf

If this comes to be it would be a pretty big deal for the Outaouais.

That would boost even more that mall, but I still remember the years as a ghost mall back in the early 1990s. There was the IGA at one end and the Zellers and Yellow at the other end and nothing in between (except a video store). Zellers had that big ass store beside the old Costco but that failed miserably since being in the middle of nowhere despite been beside the Highway 50 and the presence of Costco as well since it sell pretty much all the stuff Zellers does. Yellow moved to the Wal-Mart area not long after and IGA also shut down pretty quick because of the abundance of grocery stores nearby (Super C and Loblaws just to the east) and Metro and Maxi to the west (though Metro was replaced by Urban Planet because of Costco's move)

[waterloowarrior]

futureshop in Barrhaven opening http://forums.redflagdeals.com/futur...-10am-1097231/

[Acajack]

Article in French re: Simons/Gatineau:
http://www.journallarevue.com/Actual...che-gatinois/1

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by toaster

I read somewhere a while ago that Costco won't be renewing their lease at Promenades, so that would be a big space.

Like Cre47 said, I would be surprised if Coscto moved out of Les Promenades, since they just moved there and their store is super-busy. I believe that the Gatineau Costco is the number one retail sales location for beer in all of Canada.

That said, the addition of the Costco has caused a lot of parking issues at Les Promenades, but I am not sure if they are getting complaints from their clients and if it is keeping customers away, and if they would move because of this. It seems to me that all Costco stores seem to have parking issues: I know the one at Innes and Cyrville is a total nightmare and probably even worse than Les Promenades.

Anyway, if Costco Gatineau moves, it would likely be somewhere close by, since the far-out location on Labrosse was not a success. They will want to stay in this part of Gatineau, which is easily accessible from all parts of the Outaouais, and also fairly close to the border and lots of beer-loving Ontarians!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Though I haven't heard about an opening date for Simon's if they do open one in Gatineau. So probably the one planned for St-Laurent would be before that.
.

Simons at St. Laurent is off the table for the time being I think. Apparently they haven't been able to come to a deal because of various complications and they aren't even talking any more.