SportChek Unicity Closed

In the last two months SportChek Unicity has closed. No specific reason was given but parent company Canadians Tire was in the mall as well as sister company Mark's. Canadian Tire carries both company's stock on their shelves. That is a lot of one company exposure in one mall. It will not be easy to fill that spot unless sub-divided.

The big one question is whether the Unicity Shopping Centre is due a makeover. The Walmart in St. James is truly the one with the greatest need. It is the worst Walmart in the city for size, width of the aisles and for what it doesn't carry. The new Coscto by Assiniboia Downs is going to kill it.

Some time back Walmart closed its Unicity Lube and Tire service so there is potential room to expand back there. But the store is in desperate room of expansion and can unlikely expand further east into where Dollar Tree sits. It can't really go further north as it is near as far in that direction as they can go. It can't expand west as it is into residential area. It is possible it could push further south but will they do that?

And what of SportsChek? Was their closure and indication of a move to the mall where Costco in going? Could it be that Walmart has not announced a makeover for their store because they are moving to the Costco site as well? Impossible? Well, it certainly looks like there are plans for a grocery with a garden centre there. It just doesn't seem big enough for Walmart though. 

We saw a lot of movement along Kenaston once the Outlet Collection was in place and this could be the same sort of thing happening now. When the new retail pops up there, it could be shops setting up at a new location.

Some discussion of why SportChek closed was that it always looked empty. They had a bad problem with shoplifting. It was poorly stocked. The only thing we are sure is that it is closed. 

Unicity has always been a mall with challenges. The Walmart is very busy but left no room for major expansion. The Sobeys, Canadian Tire and other stories seem to do well but the area lacks charm. Even their bud terminus looks tired. The restaurants at the front all appear to be doing well. It will be interesting if in fact there is an upgrade to this mall once construction of the Costco happens.

It is never too late for an upgrade as McPhillips mall showed. Wait too long though and you start losing stores before that happens.