Grant Park Mall

I recently visited Grant Park Mall for the first time in a few years. I could not believe how deserted it was. I also noticed there were quite a few areas in the mall that were vacant. It was a bit depressing, as I worked at Bata/Athletes World Superstore for 18 months, starting when they began construction of McNally Robinson in June 1996.

Working at Grant Park was great, as the staff were all laid back, and liked to hang out after work, especially at Applebee's. It was usually pretty packed, especially after the bookstore opened. Sadly all that changed when Kenaston Crossing was built in 1999.
Wal-Mart relocated, and the Mall went downhill from there.

Kenaston Crossing area is an example of what I don't like about a shopping area. Big box store galore, urban sprawl, and inaccessible unless you have a car. The Big Box stores along Kenaston and McGillivary have all but killed Grant Park.

alas... you have it slightly wrong

Grant Park walmart went to polo park.

the kenaston one was a completely new one.

Deank wrote:alas... you have it slightly wrong

Grant Park walmart went to polo park.

the kenaston one was a completely new one.

I guess it happened at around the same time. You are right though. The Grant Park Wal-Mart relocated to Polo Park, around 2000?

hmm.. letsee....we were buying pampers from walliemart because they were much cheaper and were pissed that the walliemart was closing down.. BUT!!!...moved to Code street in July 2000...hmmm we still had to travel to GP for 2000...even as late as december 2000 because I remember running from walmart GP and going to Walmart Tcona or leila and demanding to know why they did not have the same sale as Wlamart GP had....($5 off and when you have twins .... $5 means quite a bit in terms of diapers ) but....hmm early/ mid 2001 sound more about the time of the move. if I wasnt so tired I could probably remember the day as we went to the grand opening ...

Grant Park Mall is my favorite mall. It has McNally-Robinson's flagship store, which I shop in regularly, and the movie theatre. I like the fact that it's not insanely crowded like Polo Park or St. Vital.

I'm not crazy about Kenaston Crossing, but it does have a Golftown that I frequent, as well as a Clay Oven that I order from. I don't care for the Indigo Books very much. I don't think I've shopped at the other stores in the Crossing. You're right, you can pretty much only get around there by car. Not a lot of people would be walking there.

Talk about chamges to the retail market over a peiod of time.
Where are:
KMart
Kresge
Woolco
Woolworth
Eaton's
Macleod's
Marshall Wells
Robinson Little
Saan Stores
Federated Co-op
And that does not count the 4 or 5 furniture stores gone.

rosencrentz wrote:Talk about chamges to the retail market over a peiod of time.
Where are:
KMart
Kresge
Woolco
Woolworth
Eaton's
Macleod's
Marshall Wells
Robinson Little
Saan Stores
Federated Co-op
And that does not count the 4 or 5 furniture stores gone.

Well you have to admit, Wal-Mart is easily better than the former department stores you have listed. Cheaper prices, better selection, etc. Eaton's was overpriced and little selection at their end. Timmothy Eaton built an empire, only to watch his children/grandchildren, with no business sense ruin the empire.

I didn't mind Saan, but it's no different than the Bargain Store or Giant Tiger. K-Mart and Woolco never had anything of interest, and were way too inferior to Wal-Mart to survive. I kind of miss the Metropolitan, which was located where the new Hydro building stands today.

It's a shame what happened to Athletes Wear. I remember it being a great place to get hockey/sporting equipment, sports clothing, athletic shoes, etc. It seems they expanded too fast for their own good. Athletes Wear was far superior to the Champs and Foot Locker chains of today.

250,000 people living in Wpg in the 1950's?- 700,000 today and fewer stores?
All the high end gone?
So much made in Winnipeg gone (20,000 sewers and now 2,000?
Made in China for 20 cents an hour.
Where do people shop ? Bargain stores , WalMart, and a few small niche stores.
Is it better shopping today? Choices are they bigger, better and cheaper? Nothing wrong with that , if that is the case.
My wife wanted some lamps for our bedroom tables last week and refused to spend $300 per lamp at Robinson Lighting! She did not see the value! She went to outfitters and came back with 3 pretty good looking lamps and I nearly freaked out at blowing $1000 of our retirement income! She spent $180 for the 3 lamps, and they look very good!

rosencrentz wrote:250,000 people living in Wpg in the 1950's?- 700,000 today and fewer stores?
All the high end gone?
So much made in Winnipeg gone (20,000 sewers and now 2,000?
Made in China for 20 cents an hour.
Where do people shop ? Bargain stores , WalMart, and a few small niche stores.

That is where Canada has to change. As an example we are lagging behind other industrialized nations in manufacturing. We need to be more competetitive, and less reliant on our natural resources. Canada has the ability to be the richest nation on earth. We need to manufacture our raw material into products ready to be shipped out to other countries for sale, instead of sending out raw materials to be produced elsewhere.

How do we compete in a manufacturing environment when the labour disparity is so high? The only sectors left that we have even a remote chance are in industries where labour is a very small component of the total manufacturing cost. Things like aerospace and to a certain degree the automotive sector. I'm sure there numerous other examples but I'm too tired to think.

Trying to compete on something like clothing is damn near impossible when they are relatively labour intensive but the cost of the finished good is so relatively low. Also, there are no technological barriers to being undercut in this market as there is in aerospace. Anyone can setup a sewing factory anywhere in the world. Setting up an aircraft assembly or maintenace facility is a whole different ballgame.

Those are the sectors we need to protect and expand. The stuff others can't easily do cheaper.

I almost forgot to point out that the goods being sold are indicative of the purchasing power of the typical consumer. I'd think that the steady decline of "high end" goods and the proliferation of bargain chain store is a good indicator of this. I know I'm really getting of track here, but I'd say that most "average" consumers can no longer afford to shop at the "high end" stores. Obviously at some point more typical Winnipeger's could afford stores like The Bay and Eatons primarily. This wouldn't have anything to do with wage stagnation would it?

How long has $10-12/hr been considered a decent wage for in Winnipeg?

"Obviously at some point more typical Winnipeger's could afford stores like The Bay and Eatons primarily. This wouldn't have anything to do with wage stagnation would it?
"

more likely to do with the fact that they "HAD" to shop at those stores because no one was offering an alternative

This is business evolving.

People today, especially kids, are better dressed and better "equipped" than ever before. Seriously man, seems every kid has every piece of electronics available AND a car and a TV in their bedroom.

Does anyone seriously believe today's consumer has LESS purchasing power?

I have a strong feeling that there is an increasing gap between those that can afford the toys and those that cannot.

btw: Warren Buffet has become heavily involved with Walmart for a reason.

grumpy old man wrote:This is business evolving.

People today, especially kids, are better dressed and better "equipped" than ever before. Seriously man, seems every kid has every piece of electronics available AND a car and a TV in their bedroom.

Does anyone seriously believe today's consumer has LESS purchasing power?

Where were practically ALL those toys made? Are any of them made in N.America? In the days when Eaton's was still a household name we still had a manufacturing presence in the electronics business.....and comparatively costs were much higher, but so were the wages paid in relation to the cost of the goods. Now you can't even find a single electronic device manufactured in Canada or the US, and the ones that say "Made in Mexico" are only assembled there using Chinese components made in China.

We can't expect people to afford to pay the "real" cost of goods manufactured in Canada when wage growth has been pretty flat for the last 2 decades.

Some decent charts here:
http://www.growinggap.ca/files/Rising%20Profit%20Shares%20Falling%20Wage%20Shares.pdf#5

The truth is most Canadians can't afford to shop at anything but the Wal-Marts and Giant Tigers. How are you supposed to have home grown manufacturing when your citizens can't afford the goods you produce because they are being undercut by offshore manufacturing and by the fact that they couldn't afford to buy the goods they would be producing even if there was no offshore competition due to wage stagnation and in some cases decline.

^


China has been keeping their currency artificially low for years. This has got to stop or we're fcuked.

Agree'd, wish more people would come to this realisation.

The only reason it hasn't hit industries like aerospace yet is because the investments required are HUGE and because it takes many decades of experience to design a decent commercial aircraft and even more to design a good military product. Unfortunately the idiots running both EADS and Boeing, the 2 800lb gorilla's in this market have been willfully transfering technology to China at an unprecedented rate in a race to slit their own throats.

Is it any wonder the new Chinese ARJ21 regional jet looks exactly like a carbon copy of a McDonnel Douglas MD-80 (which had an assembly line in China), or that Comac announced the new C919 which is a carbon copy of the A320 (2 years after Airbus started an assembly line in China)?

In a race to make next years annual earnings reports look good to shareholders both these 2 industry giants have given a giant head start to the competitors that will put them out of business in 20 or 30 years.

Sorry...way, way off tangent now.

two in a row!!

Is it any wonder that the Chineese consider everyone else to be stupid?

2 in a row...that has to be a first for me in the sandbox.

None of these trends matter to those in charge of these corporations (and their shareholders) as long as there is money to be made "now". Doesn't matter one bit that in another 20 years the middle class will all but be wiped out, or that we will all have no choice but to buy all our goods manufactured some where else because we just wont be able to afford anything else.

Even in Eastern Europe where wages are obscenely low compared to Canada, the vast majority of all goods sold are made in China. Why? Because even there the locals can't make it cheaper, and they can't afford to buy anything else.

Something needs to change. Globalization is not helping the vast majority of people, it is benefiting a very small but very powerfull minority.

Threepeat...

But what the hell do I know....I'm just a commie bastard.

grumpyrom wrote:But what the hell do I know....I'm just a commie bastard.

Don't be so hard on yourself. Somebody has to be the resident socialist, pro-union, pink-o.


Just kidding.

grumpyrom wrote:None of these trends matter to those in charge of these corporations (and their shareholders) as long as there is money to be made "now". Doesn't matter one bit that in another 20 years the middle class will all but be wiped out, or that we will all have no choice but to buy all our goods manufactured some where else because we just wont be able to afford anything else.

Even in Eastern Europe where wages are obscenely low compared to Canada, the vast majority of all goods sold are made in China. Why? Because even there the locals can't make it cheaper, and they can't afford to buy anything else.

Something needs to change. Globalization is not helping the vast majority of people, it is benefiting a very small but very powerfull minority.

That may be changing. Historically, China has a history of shooting itself in the foot, when it is about to emerge as a great economic power. I watched a documentary about the products the Chinese have been producing in the last several years.

The documentary was basically saying that China had the highest recall rate for defective merchandise in the world, and especially with children's toys. And this has only been happening in the last 5 years, since the Chinese economy really took off.

When it comes to making quality products, Germans they are not.