[UrbanWarrior]

That first one is a beeeaut! You, sir, are a gem.

 

[simster3]

Does anyone know what the modular infill is at 26th ave and 36th st SW? It got put in on Wednesday and it doesn't really look like a home. Could be a daycare or some other institutional type of building. Cool building process though.

 

[Silence&Motion]

Looks depressing.

Once the stores go in, it should look at lot like Pacific Mall in Markham:

This image and more taken from this blog: http://rungloriarun.blogspot.ca/2015/01/pacific-mall.html

As a fan of Pacific Mall, I'm excited. The appeal of the mall will be in getting lost within the giant grid of tiny shops. Hopefully there's no problem getting them all filled in.

 

[The Familia]

New Horizon mall is everything that is wrong with retail. I guarantee that half of the stores will be selling cell phone covers, cheap Chinese trinkets and gadgets, and all kinds of disposable garbage and poorly made crap. Other than restaurants/groceries and maybe some decent foreign products, I think the majority of stores will suck.

 

[MichaelS]

Does anyone know what the modular infill is at 26th ave and 36th st SW? It got put in on Wednesday and it doesn't really look like a home. Could be a daycare or some other institutional type of building. Cool building process though.

I think it is a daycare. Based on the permits listed on "My Property", the uses all seem related to child care service.

 

[Silence&Motion]

New Horizon mall is everything that is wrong with retail. I guarantee that half of the stores will be selling cell phone covers, cheap Chinese trinkets and gadgets, and all kinds of disposable garbage and poorly made crap. Other than restaurants/groceries and maybe some decent foreign products, I think the majority of stores will suck.

Considering that there are few malls like this in North American, and none in Calgary, I find it hard to understand your claim that this mall "is everything that is wrong with retail." If you're looking to make some broad criticism of retail and consumerism in our society, you might start with Walmart and Amazon before you go after a relatively obscure mall that supports a minority ethnic economy.

 

[gsunnyg]

Im not too happy with the mall either. I hate how they claim its a multicultural mall but is actually just oriental. It would have been something amazing if it had a diverse range of ethnic stores run by people originating from areas of Latin America, Egypt, Persia, India, Eastern Europe, African countries, East Asia etc. I think it's a complete waste of a project that could have been something great. Most people I know, particularly ethnic minorities, don't even have a clue about the mall being built. In addition there are already so many Chinese exclusive shopping areas in Calgary, this was just overkill. I can see this mall doing good business for a couple of years due to initial curiosity and then facing the same rundown fate as pacific mall in the NE. Hopefully thats not the case.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

On a semi-related side note, why hasn't Balzac opened itself up to urban development yet? Are there any plans?

 

[Silence&Motion]

H'oh boy. Here come the "Asian invasion" alarmists to complain about the "orientals" who are building too many shops in our city. I heard the exact same complaints in Markham back in the 1990s. Of course that was over 20 years ago. I would have hoped that we've overcome those fears by now.

The reason you rarely see a pan-ethnic mall that spans multiple continents are pretty simple. Business networks tend to operate within ethnic/linguistic/regional groups. A Chinese developer who knows Chinese consumers and businesses well is unlikely to go out of their way to recruit Latin American businesses (and vice versa). Cadillac Fairview doesn't do this, so why should we expect it of minority ethnic developers?

There's over 200,000 people in Calgary who are East or Southeast Asian in origin. To put it in comparison, that's tens of thousands more Asians than live in Markham. And yet Calgary has a fraction of the Asian retail available in Markham. Certainly the developers of this mall think that there is an untapped demand for Asian-focused retail in this city. We will find out if they are correct over the next couple years.

 

[darwink]

Well the developers are mostly done due to the condo structure. If it is really successful they’ll be able to sell the permission they have to build a hotel on site too.

 

[gsunnyg]

H'oh boy. Here come the "Asian invasion" alarmists to complain about the "orientals" who are building too many shops in our city. I heard the exact same complaints in Markham back in the 1990s. Of course that was over 20 years ago. I would have hoped that we've overcome those fears by now.

The reason you rarely see a pan-ethnic mall that spans multiple continents are pretty simple. Business networks tend to operate within ethnic/linguistic/regional groups. A Chinese developer who knows Chinese consumers and businesses well is unlikely to go out of their way to recruit Latin American businesses (and vice versa). Cadillac Fairview doesn't do this, so why should we expect it of minority ethnic developers?

There's over 200,000 people in Calgary who are East or Southeast Asian in origin. To put it in comparison, that's tens of thousands more Asians than live in Markham. And yet Calgary has a fraction of the Asian retail available in Markham. Certainly the developers of this mall think that there is an untapped demand for Asian-focused retail in this city. We will find out if they are correct over the next couple years.

No one's intending "asian invasion." My point wasn't that oriental people are opening up too many shops, my point was that the place claims to be multicultural but it really isn't. Instead of 1 minority group dominating the place, it would have been something more defining had it become a place for shops of all ethnic groups. They've just segregated such a large mall.

 

[darwink]

Who is they? And until we see the result who knows. With likely no central coordination, turnover will be swift. People will search for advantage. If renting out to a specialty shop and not just another cell phone repair place makes more money, there are 500+ opportunities to prove it true.

 

[Meikkhaell]

I'd tend to agree. Yes it's all fine and dandy, and representative of our demographics, to have an Asian mall. But on my recent trip to Mexico we walked through some big markets, lots of vendors selling a variety of goods, and that was excellent.
I'd love to have oriental shops AND a bunch of other cultures too though. It's supposedly a very big mall ... (2nd biggest in Canada ... though I don't see how, it doesn't look all that big) ... I'm sure some other cultures will manage to squeak in.
If not, hopefully the publicity and initial success of this mall will motivate some other cultures to join in.

Is it going to be in traditional shopping fashion, where prices are set? Or can you barter? I'd be much more enticed if it were the latter. That'd also give it more of a market feel.

 

[UrbanRED]

I'd tend to agree. Yes it's all fine and dandy, and representative of our demographics, to have an Asian mall. But on my recent trip to Mexico we walked through some big markets, lots of vendors selling a variety of goods, and that was excellent.
I'd love to have oriental shops AND a bunch of other cultures too though. It's supposedly a very big mall ... (2nd biggest in Canada ... though I don't see how, it doesn't look all that big) ... I'm sure some other cultures will manage to squeak in.
If not, hopefully the publicity and initial success of this mall will motivate some other cultures to join in.

Is it going to be in traditional shopping fashion, where prices are set? Or can you barter? I'd be much more enticed if it were the latter. That'd also give it more of a market feel.

Second biggest in # of shops, not size. The average store in New Horizon is much smaller than other malls.

 

[Alex_YYC]

The mall should do pretty well, On an average day at Crossiron, Asian shoppers make up at least a third of the shoppers...Same for Market Mall. Another third of the shoppers at Crossiron are Indian/middle eastern, and a fair number of this people will also shop at the new mall.

H'oh boy. Here come the "Asian invasion" alarmists to complain about the "orientals" who are building too many shops in our city. I heard the exact same complaints in Markham back in the 1990s. Of course that was over 20 years ago. I would have hoped that we've overcome those fears by now.

The reason you rarely see a pan-ethnic mall that spans multiple continents are pretty simple. Business networks tend to operate within ethnic/linguistic/regional groups. A Chinese developer who knows Chinese consumers and businesses well is unlikely to go out of their way to recruit Latin American businesses (and vice versa). Cadillac Fairview doesn't do this, so why should we expect it of minority ethnic developers?

There's over 200,000 people in Calgary who are East or Southeast Asian in origin. To put it in comparison, that's tens of thousands more Asians than live in Markham. And yet Calgary has a fraction of the Asian retail available in Markham. Certainly the developers of this mall think that there is an untapped demand for Asian-focused retail in this city. We will find out if they are correct over the next couple years.