Anyone know if this thing will ever go away? It is the one thing that bugs me about this entire area and really detracts from this part of Whyte Ave being fully engaging. Coming in from Calgary and hitting Whyte Ave to see this feels terrible.
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Hearing rumours that Chapters on Whyte may be closing, and that Winners is interested in the space. Unsubstantiated.
Actually, not really true. There are various 'discount brands' such as Winners and Dollarama that are actually producing decent sales numbers.Prediction: Winners won't last long -- I give it 2 years -- the retail trends are entirely against them.
As someone that does a lot of change management - people hate change, more so large/swift changes, and this is one of those things. It doesn't even have to be something that people are terribly attached to. Often, people have attached themselves to or developed a routine with something that makes adjustment difficult.I have to say I'm really confused by 1) all the people lamenting the loss of Chapters, which when it originally opened on Whyte we lamented what it would (and did) do to independent bookstores in the area, and 2) all of the people actually disappointed that a big box store is replacing another big box store in the same location.
It is not any different than the previous situation. That said, people are upset about their favourite place to meet up for lattes being gone, instead of the larger issues at hand that you are pointing out - mostly due to ignorance, I don't think most are willfully ignorant in this case.@westcoastjos I agree, I'm kind of baffled by the reactions to this. Part of that may be me being old enough to remember when Chapters opened and swept out all of the independent bookstores in the area. Not sure how this is any worse, or what people expected.
Confirmed:
A Whyte Avenue Icon is Closing Down - Edmonton Commercial Real Estate
After 21 years on the corner of Whyte Avenue and 105 Street, Chapters will be shutting down in January. This high profile location won’t be vacant for long though; Winners will be moving in right after its renovated. We bought countless books at that store over the years, so it will be sad to...www.edmontoncommercial.com
To construct Interior and exterior and new addition (51.93m2), to an existing retail space for a new tenant - Plaza 82 - Winners on Whyte |