[Romanov]

My friends and I visited that mall last Saturday while looking for a bite to eat. The website said that some food places, like the A&W and Booster Juice, closed at 6:00 PM. When we got there at around 5:10, literally everything was already locked up. Including the food places, which the website said were open. There were some people still walking around, but there was nothing to see aside from locked rolling screens blocking all the stores and food places. Also, instead of there being a food court, it seemed like the food places were scattered around the 3ish storey mall. We had to wander for a solid 5-10 minutes just to find the Booster Juice closed. Suffice to say, I don't get how this could be a convenient place to visit for lunch or dinner. I guess some office workers might have their go-to for lunch, but given that the food venues are scattered who-knows where and the mall doesn't provide seating (there might be inside some of the fast food joints I guess?), it just seems like too much effort for the average tourist or visitor.

There is a food court and seating on the third level. I imagine they have other express food spots scattered around the mall for grab and go office types (Tim Horton's, Booster Juice). I wonder, is the signage and directories insufficient at the mall?

 

[CplKlinger]

Edmonton has one of the best sports infrastructure in the world (not just Canada!) and it is extremely underused. With the amount of Ukrainians, Russians, Latinos and Middle Easterners in Edmonton, soccer could very well become a MUCH more popular sport than it is here. Actually, I honestly believe there is space in the MLS, for example, to absorb some of the CPL teams (although I would very much prefer if we lured the Canadian teams out of the MLS and into the CPL and actually had a league of our own to play the international championships, like the CONCACAF Gold Cup).

But back to the Rogers arena and the Ice District, I think we should definitely look into pushing other sports to play in there, generate interest and maybe, just maybe, create a new following that would keep the place busier throughout the year. I get it that everyone loves hockey, but it is far from being the only sport worth watching.

I messaged the Stingers on Facebook asking them if Rogers Place has ever, or would ever be considered for hosting home or exhibition games. This was their response:

"We love the vibe of our current space Edmonton Expo. Expo is right sized and great for both fan and player. We hope to there for many years.

Never say never, but unlikely for sure."

 

[ChazYEG]

I messaged the Stingers on Facebook asking them if Rogers Place has ever, or would ever be considered for hosting home or exhibition games. This was their response:

"We love the vibe of our current space Edmonton Expo. Expo is right sized and great for both fan and player. We hope to there for many years.

Never say never, but unlikely for sure."

Reading between the lines: Rogers wants waaaay to much money for them to play there. Probably the attendance would not be enough to make it profitable for everyone.

My bet is that an NBA opponent would make it worth it, but hey, I'm dreaming way too big here, haha.

 

[CplKlinger]

There is a food court and seating on the third level. I imagine they have other express food spots scattered around the mall for grab and go office types (Tim Horton's, Booster Juice). I wonder, is the signage and directories insufficient at the mall?

Interesting, that's good to know thanks. We honestly didn't see any directories. Maybe we missed them, but I was on the lookout for a map and I didn't see any.

 

[IanO]

Mod edit: Please keep things civil folks and focus on the issue instead of the person. I've intentionally edited this post.

Ian, WEM might've dealt a big blow to downtown's retail, but at 1.5M in the mero area, I wasn't what killed it (although I dare say it is not dead just yet, rather on life-support). South Edmonton Common and the likes of it are just as responsible, if not more, than WEM, for this.

Again, while the Downtown CORE has a lower population than I would like, the central neighborhoods are, by far, the densest and most populated, (Garneau and Oliver being two of the 3 most dense neighborhoods in Alberta). Also, the notion of convenient and short drive is lost on me, when you think that for more than half of the city, the closest (and only) Ikea is probably a 20 to 30 minute drive, unless you're going on a weekend. As for groceries, I think we'll be decently served with a Safeway (Oliver), the Save On (Grandin/Downtown), Sobeys (Oliver Square's store is renovating and will likely become a Sobeys) and two Loblaws City Market (Brewery and Ice Districts), especially considering that 3 of the 5 will be served by the Valley Line West and two of them are in very dense and populated areas). I would love to see something pop up south of Jasper, around 103/104 streets, though I agree that, as of now, there's probably not going to be enough demand for it, especially with a Walmart in the works for Kingsway Mall.

Urban economics, especially on the retail market, can work the other way around, and we've seen examples of that in much poorer, smaller and more isolated cities than Edmonton. You can induce demand with the right supply incentives, but for that you need people to stop whining about stuff and actually DO something. That goes for developers, businesses, the council, the mayor... Hell, Costco @ 149 St is ALWAYS stupidly busy and the traffic is HORRIBLE to get there most of the time, coming from DT and Oliver... I bet they also take in customers from most central neighborhoods north of the river. With it eventually closing (with the Yellowhead project, that's just a matter of time...), there's no space to put one closer to Downtown (because the closest ones will be either in Granville or South Edmonton Common)? You really don't think that it would help attract people to the core, make it friendlier to families (that shop there, A LOT, much more than singles or younger couples)? You really believe that having some of the stuff we only have in the suburbs wouldn't put the developers to think that maybe, people will be more interested in living there?

Edmonton has around 2x the amount of retail per capita and given that car is king and that power centres rule it is what it is. WEM is and has been the death knell for years and has recently flaunted its bravado by going higher-end and so good by much of the Downtown destination retail for professionals... many of whom go to Calgary or Vancouver (or Vegas for that matter) to now shop.

Central Edmonton suffers from a MUCH lower HHI due to single occupant dwellings and overall income disparity vis a vis other neighbourhoods. There certainly are some higher income households Downtown, but simply not enough!

To a point, but do I think a Costco or Walmart or IKEA Downtown helps small-scale retail, mom and pops and character places that Downtown's and urban cores should have.

Absolutely not.

 

[ChazYEG]

Sorry folks, I won't put up with censorship. Expect me just lurking, liking, but not posting.

 

[thommyjo]

I'm with Ian on the Ikea stuff.

People on the Northside do not want a DT ikea to go to. The cost and size limitations of an urban ikea make it only ideal in places where its the best option. I e. Super dense downtown Toronto.
.
No one in suburban edmonton wants to drive downtown to pay to park for a smaller scale ikea. Ikea would be better off opening a Northside location as its main warehouse with a show center in the core that only does direct shipping to purchase.

My wife and I have furnished 2 houses and an apartment in the last 3 years, only 1 item, our mattress, did we buy in store. Everything else we tested at structube or west elm then ordered online to our house.

Our downtown is a lot more middle to low income people, especially with students. And its also very young in demographics. That will drive what retail can survive here vs other DTs with stronger offices, HQs, and higher costs of living/luxury.

 

[quit]

EXACTLY! You go to any downtown, ANYWHERE in the world, and I mean REALLY ANYWHERE, and you'll have at least a couple of McDonalds and Subways, maybe a BK, on street facing CRUs, usually around, or close, to tourist destinations. And it is regardless of how densely populated the place is.

And I've been through the same thing, when a friend came to visit, a few weeks ago, we went to sightsee around DT and as it got late, we either had to choose between going to somewhere a little more expensive, just to grab a pop and a quick bite, or interrupt the walk to go eat further away in Oliver Square or on that strip mall by Best Buy on 104ave/109 st, which would completely kill the rest of the day, since we were by the funicular when we decided that we wanted to stop a eat something quick.
An A&W, McDonalds, BK, KFC, Taco Bell, anything of the sorts, would have been enough. Only thing we found was a Subway, almost closing. Ended up cutting the walk short, went home to shower and then go have dinner at a restaurant. Would probably have gone to the restaurant anyways, but we could've been in DT for a while longer. She wanted to see and take pictures at Churchill Sq., AGA, RAM... none of which we ended up going to.

Once more residential goes up on 104 Street, I hope we see later hours at existing places and perhaps some national chains. That said, Cosmic Pizza and Say Uncle are open fairly late (10 pm and 1 am). I think Say Uncle was open later before but adjusted their hours during COVID. Unfortunately, a lot of places adjusted their hours for COVID and haven't ramped back up yet. Several Starbucks closed completely including the one in Rogers.

It will probably take some time before things get back to some sort of normalcy. A lot of big employers are just beginning to bring their staff back to the office. It will take time for people to readjust assuming COVID stays relatively under control.

 

[IanO]

Starbucks closures were a corporate decision and occurred across N.A.

 

[archited]

If there is someone posting mixtures of fairy-tales and facts into a generally distasteful soup, should they not be called out? That is one of the major problems with social media, people hold themselves up as experts and a certain portion of the readers on a given subject swallow their pseudo-expertise hook, line, and sinker -- spreading misinformation is the new societal bane and as it grows so goes functional society in the inverse direction.

 

[Kaizen]

Sorry folks, I won't put up with censorship. Expect me just lurking, liking, but not posting.

I'm sorry to hear that Chaz as I really value your input.
But, it is a straightforward policy to "focus on the issue instead of the person" which does need to be addressed from time to time.
It has less to do with censorship, quite the opposite actually as it functions to keep the convo flowing, on-topic rather than the usual pissing match that clutters a thread and brings everyone down a notch or two when replies are directed towards personalities rather than the topic. Just my two cents and a Fortune cookie reading - "No cannonading a poster, no matter how pitiful their transaction, rather shred their position with an on-topic reply or just ignore the issue altogether.'

 

[Edmcowboy11]

What I'd love to see in the Ice (entertainment) district would be something like the House of Blues. Essentially some sort of live music venue that could draw large crowds but nothing large enough to remotely compete with Rogers Place.

 

[David A]

Fortunately, it is a rare occurrence that it is -40C during the day time in Edmonton. And it's generally fewer than 10 days in a year where it is even -30C during the day.

View attachment 337580

But I digress.

Yeah, there is this mythology, strangely often from people that don't live here, that we have weeks of -40 weather every winter. They probably saw something on TV maybe years ago about it being close to -40 one day or two and that somehow has morphed in their mind into it being -40 here for much of the winter. While it is true, the temperature does fluctuate considerably, it seldom is that cold for long, especially with climate change. I think we seldom even see -30 or colder much any more and the last few winters it seldom got below -20.

 

[.crystalised.]

Wallmart is one of the Retail megastores partly responsible for the demise of small-scale on-the-street retail. No-one should be supporting them no matter where they are located.

Indeed, I felt dirty just binge-watching "Superstore"...
Although I almost died laughing each time Glenn's car was destroyed.

 

[.crystalised.]

Fortunately, it is a rare occurrence that it is -40C during the day time in Edmonton. And it's generally fewer than 10 days in a year where it is even -30C during the day.

Except when there's a polar vortex and temps get locked in for 1-2 weeks at a time. And like the heat waves and drought, those vortices are becoming more common.