Dead Malls of Canada

[le calmar]

Place Cartier in Gatineau has to be one of the worst malls I have seen. For some reason, the Walmart there built a wall to separate it from the rest of the mall, and it is obvious there used to be an opnening there before. The section of the mall just across that wall is completely dead and empty. The other side of the mall still has some shops and a IGA, but it is awful. The people there, the feel of the place... A place I don't want to go to ever again.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Place Cartier in Gatineau has to be one of the worst malls I have seen. For some reason, the Walmart there built a wall to separate it from the rest of the mall, and it is obvious there used to be an opnening there before. The section of the mall just across that wall is completely dead and empty.

Walmart did that with every mall space they took over in Canada that I've ever come across... they generally try their best to separate themselves from the mall by blocking mall entrances and in some cases reluctantly allow a small corridor to be built connecting the mall to the main entrance (like at Winnipeg's St. Vital Centre).

I'm assuming it's mainly security driven? (i.e., only having to control one access point)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Place Cartier in Gatineau has to be one of the worst malls I have seen. For some reason, the Walmart there built a wall to separate it from the rest of the mall, and it is obvious there used to be an opnening there before. The section of the mall just across that wall is completely dead and empty. The other side of the mall still has some shops and a IGA, but it is awful. The people there, the feel of the place... A place I don't want to go to ever again.

I have to go to Place Cartier every once in a while. No choice. It's very depressing.

Though there are plans to revamp it:

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/econ...ce-cartier.php

[casper]

Originally Posted by esquire

Walmart did that with every mall space they took over in Canada that I've ever come across... they generally try their best to separate themselves from the mall by blocking mall entrances and in some cases reluctantly allow a small corridor to be built connecting the mall to the main entrance (like at Winnipeg's St. Vital Centre).

I'm assuming it's mainly security driven? (i.e., only having to control one access point)

I think it has more to do with capturing and retaining customers in Walmart and making it harder for them to go visit the competition.

In places where Walmart is in a major shopping center that has a lot of foot traffic on its own it keeps the entrance open. For example, Lowgheed in Barnaby.

[Taeolas]

Yeah, the WalMart in the Regent Mall in Fredericton closed off the mall entrance a long long time ago (10+ years I think). They built a corridor across the front of the store so you can get from the mall to the store without going outside, but otherwise they are separate.

Regent Mall itself has survived regardless and is doing quite well all in all. The end by Walmart is a bit sparse, especially in recent years, but the Mall recently moved/cleared the 3 slots closest to the Walmart entrance and Lawton's Drug is going to open up in there.

[Pinion]

The Walmart near me is completely open to the attached mall on two sides (Capilano mall). It was a dying mall until Walmart arrived, boosted by the fact that nearby Vancouver proper wouldn't allow Walmarts to open for about a decade.

[ssiguy]

I think most malls are doing relatively well in greater Vancouver.

I think this is for two main reasons" First, they were never that many malls to begin with. The area has always had a lot of stripe malls/plazas but relatively few malls probably due to the weather. Second, Asians tend to like their malls and shopping in them.

[mcmcclassic]

I would say that the Milton Mall is pretty much dead. Since it lost Target and Sportchek, it's been a sad state of affairs. They built some newer stores in the parking lot of the mall (Winners, Dollarama, etc.) but I can't see the original Milton Mall lasting much longer.

Being fairly new to living in Milton I would guess it was the work of the soul-sucking "power plazas" built near the 401 that killed it... I would bet that most of the malls discussed on this thread have been in some way killed off by these big box plazas being built on the fringes of our cities/towns.

[MolsonExport]

the soul-sucking "power plazas"...

...are a cancer upon the urban and suburban (and increasingly, exurban) landscapes. Do we even know how much destruction they have wrought upon our cities?


callowayreit

[le calmar]

^ The quantity or parking is just ridiculous. How often are they at full capacity? They are hardly full even during the Christmas rush. By chance they are not building them this way anymore, trees and grass strips are usually required for any new parkings nowadays.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by le calmar

^ The quantity or parking is just ridiculous. How often are they at full capacity? They are hardly full even during the Christmas rush. By chance they are not building them this way anymore, trees and grass strips are usually required for any new parkings nowadays.

I don't think that I have EVER seen a power centre's parking lot filled to capacity. Although I wonder if they simply build them to such absurd extremes as a form of land banking for future use?

Malls yes, they do on occasion fill their lots right up... usually the last Saturday before Christmas, and for malls with more limited parking (St. Vital Centre around here), the few Saturdays before that. But that's about it. Power centres? Never. (How did they get that dumb name in the first place? "POWER CENTRE"... good grief)

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by le calmar

^ The quantity or parking is just ridiculous. How often are they at full capacity? They are hardly full even during the Christmas rush. By chance they are not building them this way anymore, trees and grass strips are usually required for any new parkings nowadays.

We have quite a bit of snow on the ground right now in Ottawa and most shopping mall plazas are at least 25%-40% filled with giant piles of snow based on last weeks huge storm.....no real parking capacity problems as far as I can see. Most parking requirements are based on the Saturday afternoons preceding christmas.

Maybe if we just reverted to single location department stores offering unique one of a kind products without any need for brand dilution and everybody made a trip to the department store as an event (via public transit) we wouldn't have the parking lots that have been built.

[MolsonExport]

I heard that the next big category killer will be giant 180,000 sq. feet shops filled with every type of artisanal olive oil ever made. With a gourmet cupcake counter.


giphy

• Video Link

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

c/o O-tacular

The Bower Mall entrance. in Beautiful downtown Red Deer.

Apparently it is far from dead, but that photo could have fooled me. It looks like there could be a pack of Zombies inside.

This looks like the standard small-town mall design I've seen across Canada.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Yikes, when your mall is reduced to pizza pizza knock-offs, it's time to say the last rites and bring in the wrecking crews.

That joint reminds me of the urban US equivalent, the "other" KFC:



Source:flickr

Ooooo...you've got to see what they've got in China.

KFC is like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Coca-Cola all rolled into one. It's everywhere. I mean they literally have them side by side.

Anyway, due to its popularity there's this noodle place called SFC. I think it's noodles anyway. Same logo but instead of "the Colonel" it's some Chinese guy. And if you get thirsty you can buy some Hello C. I shit you not. Somebody in China figured they'd copy some popular American drink and misunderstood that the "Hi" in Hi C didn't mean hello but rather "high".

I mean, okay, everybody knows this is the land of knock offs but it's just so blatant it's cringeworthy.

Anyway, this being a thread about dead malls, I wish I could show you what happens to buildings in China that outlive their usefulness. I'll only tell you that in China they don't renovate, they simply tear down and build new. 20 or 30 story buildings that are maybe 20 years old and they're abandoned with missing windows and that war-torn look we all know and love.

Okay, sorry for the derailment.

[haljackey]

Abandoned Targets of Canada

http://abandonedtargetsofcanada.tumblr.com/

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by mcmcclassic

I would say that the Milton Mall is pretty much dead. Since it lost Target and Sportchek, it's been a sad state of affairs. They built some newer stores in the parking lot of the mall (Winners, Dollarama, etc.) but I can't see the original Milton Mall lasting much longer.

Being fairly new to living in Milton I would guess it was the work of the soul-sucking "power plazas" built near the 401 that killed it... I would bet that most of the malls discussed on this thread have been in some way killed off by these big box plazas being built on the fringes of our cities/towns.

Something dying in Milton?!?!?! I'm betting it just needs to change a bit then will do well. I looked at the Milton Mall's website and it does have quite a few of big name businesses. But it does seems kind of boring and is comparable to a smaller city mall. I'm guessing it was built when Milton only had about 20,000-40,000 people. I think Milton now has around 100,000 people if not more...

[MolsonExport]

Ironically for the Milton Mall, its fate is tied up in the Miltonization of Canada. Some prototypical examples.


callowayreit


cushwakeretail


manorcore

[vid]

The parking lot at Thunder Bay's Superstore is often completely full, I've had to park at a nearby A&W to get groceries on a few occasions now. They have significantly lower prices than the other grocery stores (everyone but Safeway is stocked out of Toronto warehouses, and it costs more to transport goods from Toronto than from Winnipeg but Metro doesn't have a western presence and Walmart's western warehouse is in Calgary) and guaranteed all lanes open on weekends. The place is a zoo.

And our main shopping mall has a much smaller parking lot than a mall it's side should have, so during Christmas shopping season the parking lot is at approximately 100% capacity and overflows onto parking lots across the street from the mall.

Thunder Bay's main Canadian Tire. Parking is so bad, I park at the strip malls across the street instead. Not that it lacks spaces, it has a lot of parking spaces. They're just being used up by storage trailers, because—haha, oops!—the building's warehouse is too small. And when they expanded the mall to the west (as indicated by the lighter roof on the left there), they didn't add any warehouse space at all. They just made the retail space bigger.



Our main shopping mall on a Saturday in April last year; the empty spot is, obviously, the former Target:



As you can see, the parking lot is nearly full. The back of the mall (near the rail line) doesn't have any actual entrances into the mall, either. Those are store employee parking spaces.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

TBay had some real doozies when I was there - Keskus Mall and Victoriaville were...whoa, man...