Target missed its mark at Grant Park
Store owners react to big box store leaving Grant Park Shopping Centre
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/01/2015 (4186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Store owners at Grant Park Shopping Centre are grappling with uncertainty on the heels of retail giant Target’s announcement it will be leaving Canada.
Grant Park Target was one of four highly anticipated Winnipeg locations that opened over the past two years. The U.S.-based retailer announced on Jan. 15 that it would be shuttering all its locations at the cost of 17,600 jobs nationwide and $500-$600 million.
At Noor Collections, a couple of doors down from the Target in Grant Park Shopping Centre, Abir Chehlaoui said she is wondering what will happen next.
The store manager opened the doors to the women’s and children’s fashion outlet just two months ago and hasn’t had a chance to put a sign on the storefront. She said Target’s presence in Grant Park Shopping Centre was one of the reasons she chose to lease the space.
“People are coming often to go to Target and they pass by the other stores, so the traffic will be really slow after the closing of Target,” Chehlaoui said.
Chehlaoui said she will wait and see what will happen over the next two months. She isn’t sure what she’d like to see fill the space but hopes it isn’t a big box store similar to Wal-Mart.
Sandra Hagenaars, Grant Park Shopping Centre’s general manager, said business at the mall will continue to carry on as usual, adding that the business had carried on when Zellers left the location nearly two years ago.
“People have always come here because we’re a community mall and we have those unique retailers, so I don’t think that’s really going to change much,” Hagenaars said.
Mohd Kinnarath, founder and CEO of Dream Shoez in the shopping centre, said he isn’t sad to see Target go.
“In my opinion the big box stores have always come up against the smaller, sole proprietorship stores, so it’s nice to see them go down instead of us,” Kinnarath said.
Kinnarath opened Dream Shoez in Grant Park Shopping Centre in October 2014 and said he hasn’t noticed many people dropping in on their way to or from Target.
“Traffic is probably the only concern but surprisingly, a lot of the Target customers, judging from who comes in and who goes out carrying a Target bag, it hasn’t been that high,” he said.
Representatives from Target Canada would not comment on the performance of the Grant Park location but told The Sou’wester that not one of the Targets in Canada was profitable.
And with the closure of Target imminent, another big-box store has announced its opening date.
Walmart Canada will be opening a supercentre on Jan. 29, 2015 at Grant Park Pavilions on Taylor Avenue. The supercentre will anchor the Pavilions development, slated to include retail, business, and residential amenities.