Uniqlo, JD Sports and Lululemon to Open in St. Vital Centre

The closure of The Bay at Polo Park and St. Vital Centre has not stopped the two top malls in Winnipeg from frantically trying to upgrade. In a previous post, I indicated that Long Drugs and other stores are under construction in Polo Park. St. Vital Centre is also upgrading with some stores ready to open by September 26. It race to Christmas with only three months to go. Some stores will make it, others won't.

People in Winnipeg have a few stores on their wish list. Some they will get, others they won't. The malls have moved other retailers already in place to get choice tenants. Polo Park has done that with London Drugs coming. In some cases, the stores moved elsewhere in the mall. In other cases, they closed altogether.

For St. Vital, there has always been an awkward spot just off the doors to the food court. The mall moved some shops around and Mark's Warehouse took a very large 16,455 square foot space. It effectively created an anchor for that area and the store is less than a year in the new spot. Stores like Garage and Dynamite are opposite.

With so many hits to mall department store anchors both Polo Park and St. Vital have have had to respond to the closures. However, so much has been happening that it has been difficult to keep up with. The good news is that retail sales are up in Canada and retailers are expanding their businesses. And while the big departments are closing, other smaller are doing better.

Truth be told, the make-up of stores in malls has always been changing. The one consistent thing had been the anchors. Now the anchors are changing. Some say Amazon and Wayfair are killing the malls or big box stores or Walmart and Real Canadian Superstore but malls still are gathering places for people. In a lot of cases, stores like Walmart want to be part of or attached to malls.

Malls are evolving and are now places to go a spa, get your nails done, go to a gym or go to food halls. Something that can't come in a delivery van. The fitness centres at malls has developed nicely in Winnipeg. We can expect to see more sport and recreation related investment to attract people which supports the mall. It will be interesting to see what they do with the old Bay. That won't be a task till at least next year.

Perhaps the biggest entry into malls lately has been nail and spa shops. The Venetian has been so successful at St. Vital Centre that they are moving to larger quarters. Men's hair shops have been finding success in the malls too. Polo Park has always had some men's barbers but now they can be seen in many malls. Tommy Gun's has become a Canadian success around the world.

Venetian might be an example for other malls across the country of of spas in malls.

At St. Vital Centre, mall owners have been always wanted some good original stores that no one else has but they also look at Polo Park with envy and hope to grab their own version of popular stores in the largest mall. And so it is that two popular stores will be coming in the next days and weeks to St. Vital. Over time, malls like St. Vital have filled spaces such as the departure of Sears.

The first to open September 26 is Lululemon is opening their third location in the city after Polo Park and Outlet Collection. This is a huge win for St. Vital. Lululemon has a very loyal costumer base that makes their way to wherever the store is. Now for people in this area of town, they have a store right where they live.

Another huge win is the soon to arrive JD Sports. The UK-based store has only one location in Manitoba so far at Polo Park. The St. Vital location will make two. The stylish sports store is pricier than a SportChek but has collections that shopper look for.

To bring these storm in, some doors have moved and others have closed altogether. Sunrise Records has moved to a different corridor.

The big get the St. Vital hasn't announced is Uniqlo. To get this store, the mall is moving a bunch for stores or seeing some close.

Uniqlo has 33 stores in Canada and many have just opened in 2025. St. Vital will get the first one in Manitoba. You can bet that Polo Park will be envious. The Japanese-based store has been on some shopper's list in the province for some time.

Another add on to come is HolyShakes which is a Canadian company the specialized in gourmet shakes. They are to open soon but their doors open to the exterior of the mall near SportChek.

Without doubt the large amount of building are the malls adjusting to the renewed demand for in person retailing. It could be indicating a slow recovery post Covid.