Four Safeways to be Converted to Freshcos

The Safeway at McGillivary and Pembina last Thursday on one of my last walks. It will be the site of one of the four new Freshcos.

Some time ago I reported that Safeway/Sobeys was going to be converting stores into Freshcos. So far Winnipeg has two which are operated as franchises at Regent and Lagiomediere and at Jefferson and McPhillips.

Aside from the Pembina location, the other three Freshcos will be Safeways at Niakwa Village and on Sargent that will be converted to Freshcos and a former location at Bronx and Henderson that has stood empty since 2015 will be renovated and also be a Freshco but not till 2021.

All Freshcos will have pharmacies and be locally owned. The re-opening of the Bronx and Henderson location will create 100 new jobs while 100 jobs will be retained with the other stores.

There were far too many Safeway/Sobeys when the merger took place. Even when the combined company was forced to sell four stores by the federal government they still have stores across the street from one another operating under the same flyer and the same corporate policy. It made the overall company vulnerable to new competitors.

The benefits of local ownership have been demonstrated often by having Food Fare, No Frills and others here. They choose to sponsor different things, give chance to other products and more keyed in to local needs.

Obviously some union people will be affected. They will lose their jobs with the corporation and I'm assuming will be re-hired by the franchise owner. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on wage or working conditions. It will depend on the person. However, in the end there will be more jobs to be had that what existed before.

In all, some great news and for Winnipeg consumers, it could mean better prices overall for groceries.

Addition Elle, Thyme and Walmart Tire and Lube Express to Close

The retail collapse that existed before the pandemic continues even as stores slowly re-open across Canada. Reitman's which owns Addition Elle and Thyme Maternity stores will be closing on of them coast to coast before end of summer.

In Winnipeg that will be affect Addition Elle's Kenastton Smart park location and the location across from Polo Park on Empress. Thyme Maternity has a location in St. Vital Centre.

Walmart is closing its Tie and Lube Lube Express. across Canada. The only one that appears open in Winnipeg is at the St. Vital Walmart. Others at St. Vital Centre and Portage Avenue West appear to have already closed. And some Walmart seem to have never had them in the first place,.

There is little doubt Walmart will be able to re-purpose the space but this should as an example that even the mighty merchandiser has a tough time competing in this market.

Total number of jobs lost is unknown. However, it is the spaces left that might be hard to fill with the closure of Reitman properties. The power centre at Kenaston has been hot over and over recently. Could they be the one that starts converting to residential first in Winnipeg?

Perkins Madison Polo Park Location Closes

Can anyone be surprised? Another Perkins has closed suddenly on Madison. Last year it was Kenaston and Fermor locations closing. This year it is Henderson and now Madison locations. Three more Perkins remain on Portage, Regent and McPhillips. Can they be the next to go?

Is one IHOP location and a few Pancake Houses crushing Perkins? Is it Skip the Dishes? By the way, Perkins works with Skip but are people just ordering everywhere and not going out?

The parent company Perkins and Marie Callender is in bankruptcy again. They are closing stores. However, keep in mind the last time they had problems, the last Winnipeg owner of Perkins kept things going. She seemed to have the pulse of the city despite whatever woes happened in the U.S.

The new owner is Calgary-based and used to be president of Smitty's. I'm assuming the former Winnipeg owner of all the Perkins in the city much be gobsmacked that the locations here are in such trouble considering that Smitty's continues to be doing okay.

The restaurant business is as tough as they come. For every place that goes on for decades, there are a many who don't make the year. My defunct restaurants of Winnipeg post is the top post this blog has seen with hundreds a week looking it up.

Guess everyone will be keeping an eye out on the remaining locations. Never want to write a place off because we have seen some comebacks in both retail and restaurants. However, losing a prominent location like Polo Park is huge.

New Stores for Garden City Shopping Centre

The construction at Garden City Mall continues so everyone should be careful. A pedestrian fatality took place this past week near where work was done and is still being investigated.

As reported in this blog long ago, Seafood City is coming to Winnipeg and is being constructed within the footprint of the old Sears. The Filipino grocer will be complete this summer. It will be accompanied by Bulk Barn and a Michaels store leaving only three other spots left in the old Sears area left to leased.

Garden City is anchored on the other side of the mall by Canadian Tire and Winners. There are a few other vacancies within the mall left but suffice to say it is the biggest investment in the mall in decades and it is the first former Sears to have something built on the market.

After the Northgate Mall upgrade and addition of Save on Foods, Garden City could not afford to be complacent.

The closure of numerous national stores across North America has had landlords scrambling. Garden City and Grant Park malls have added Goodlife Fitness locations to attack crowds earlier and later into their shopping area. At 45 years old. Garden City was in need of an upgrade and looks to make continued improvements in 2019. Bulk Barn and Michaels are to open in the fall of this year.

South Landing Business Park Lands The Rink

This is a good new story and a bad news story.

The good news is that The Rink presently located just off Kenaston in a leased building is moving to McGillivary and Loudon down the road from Costco. The land they are moving to will be owned by them.

What will be coming is a privately funded $20 million 95,000 square facility with three rinks and offices and lecture rooms for up to 60 staff. The NHL-sized rink will have room for 700 people to watch. The principals of the Rink are retired NHL player Mike Keane with Brad Rice, Tyler Rice and Tina Jones. They started the company in 2009 and by 2012 expanded it to be the training academy for Pembina Trails School Division and Shaftesbury High School.

There will be retail related to hockey inside, a gym, a track, a specialized training rink and a goalie rink, The present location already attracts people from all over Manitoba and beyond. The new facility which is unlike any other could attract students from even greater distances.

This is very good news except for one fact. The facility is just outside Winnipeg's boundary. I don't blame the The Rink for their decision. They get a purpose built facility that they own close to where they are now and they don't don't pay Winnipeg business taxes.

The Rural Municipality of MacDonald has allowed the South Landing Business Park to set up as an ex-urban development primarily to service Winnipeg and to add to their own tax base. The Rink won't be alone at South Landing. They will join De Luca's International that outgrew their 12,000 square foot facility on McPhillips and their 10,000 square foot coffee processing site in Teulon. The new facility is 38,000 square feet for production and distribution and has a 8,000 square foot retail store. The original sprawling store and school on Portage Avenue remains where it has been since 1968. There are 17 employees working for De Luca at South Landing

Good news and bad news. The good being expanding businesses. The bad news just outside Winnipeg but adding to traffic on a business McGillivary with a future traffic light just to make it even more attractive to development.

I have no doubt that the old Rink location and De Luca's will find new businesses to take over them but the city sprawl continues apace. There is no green belt around the city. No natural boundary line such as a ocean or mountains to limit things.

No denying these businesses do a lot for all of us but they are not inside the city proper anymore. The costs of South Landing doing well is likely traffic at McGillvary and Kenaston rising. We've had pedestrian die there last year.

Good news and bad news.

The De-Malling of the Northgate Mall Winnipeg

The Northgate Shipping Centre on McPhillips owned by a family outside of Manitoba seemed to be content for many years to slowly decline. The closure of the Zellers years earlier left a 120,000 square foot hole. Target snubbed it as a location and there it stood a testimony that the mall had seen better days.

It is difficult to say whether the take-over of the Zellers by Save-On-Foods was the impetus for rehabilitating the mall or whether the owners decided to make a change. Whatever the reason, $20 million has been allocated to de-mall Northgate Mall.

The first step was to find a replacement for the Zellers and that came in the form of the largest Save-On-Foods in Winnipeg. At 65,000 square feet and the added title of International to its names, it carries more products that any of the other stores of that company built thus far.

But that wasn't all.

The next step was to get tenants already on the mall to buy in to the full upgrade and attract new original stores. One of the notable add on will be Jollibee's, a Philippines-based fast food franchise that opens next week in two locations including Northgate. They will be Canada's first.

A new Tim Horton's will also be up to accommodate the coffee lovers of the area.

The enclosed part of the the L-shaped mall comes to an end. In its place will be the first location of Fit 4 Less by Goodlife, the discount arm of Goodlife Fitness. At first it was thought that Winnipeg first location for this division would be the Grant Park Mall but plans have since changed. Grant Park will get a large Goodlife Fitness and the Fit 4 less will occupy 25,000 square feet of Northgate Mall.

The city's only discount theatre Cinema City will continue to be an anchor in the mall and several longtime loyal tenants will get upgrades. Royal Bank, Reider Insurance and Medicine Shoppe pharmacy all factor into the re-furbished mall.

The northeast quadrant of the city has many people living it, lots of traffic down McPhillips but largely absent landlords in the last numbers years. Not a lot of love in terms of investing in the property in compared to Grant Park Mall, Charleswood Mall and along Pembina Highway.

It would seen that Northgate's investment has spurred Garden City Mall to action after years of neglect. Still, it would take quite a bit to beat the millions being spent at Northgate.

It is true that commuters will travel some distance to places like Polo Park but the need of good local grocers, pharmacists and coffee shops is always there. The danger for Northgate was that if they didn't invest, more and more stores and services would have left. Now, they might have the right mix and the un-mall style to rejuvenate retailing in the region. In fact, they have stores now that people will make a special trip for.

Save on Foods Open Saturday November 19

The Vancouver-based grocer announced three locations on McPhllips, St. James and Bridgwater Forest.  Along the way, the old Zellers at McPhllips was re-purposed and the old Future Shop was done over. Bridgwater Forest was a new building. Around 1000 people have been hired from the nearly 15,000 who applied.

The popular grocer from the west is likely to trigger a price war in Winnipeg when they open. The biggest target will be Sobey's/Safeway who have struggled since Sobey's purchased the company. Sobey's would probably like to close a few more stores close to each other but they risk Co-Op or Save On Foods just grabbing the space up.

The McPhillips location of Save on Food is adding the work International after its name. It will be the largest location and carry the greatest diversity of products including many ethnic brands. There will also be many local brands at all three stores.

There has probably never been a more competitive time in Manitoba for large grocers going toe to toe than there is now.

Save on Foods also appears ready to announce as many as two downtown stores to capture the increasing population there. If I was to hazard a guess, I would say it the Skycity tower where one store will go.

It is possible the St. James store may sneak open on Friday.

All in all it is terrific news for Winnipeg and another great choice which should help keep prices very competitive.

Jollibee and Save-On Foods Revitalize Northgate Shopping Center McPhillips

A drive along McPhillips will quickly reveal some opportunities that have come up as a result of grocery store and department store closures. The Northgate Shopping Centre in 2010 had a 98% occupancy rate but the shut down of Zellers a few years back had the place looking a little forlorn.

The 230,000 square foot mall was constructed in 1962 and renovated in 1998 and 2004. In 2010 it was put up for sale for $20 million. It has the last discount movie theatre in Winnipeg with Cinema City.

The arrival of Target initiated the ending of Zellers at Northgate and the big American retailer looked at the site and simply said no. And there it sat empty for the longest time until Jimmy Pattison in Vancouver saw an opportunity to bring his B.C. based grocery business Save-On Foods to Manitoba.

The Save-On Foods sign in now up even while the grocery is still being spruced up with the green colouring of the company. When Pattison announced the store was coming, the neighbourhood turned up in droves and triumphant. While not a grocery desert, recent closures of a Safeway as well as the Zellers hurt competitiveness on the street.

The new construction in front of the Save On Foods will be the home to Winnipeg's second Jollibee's location. The first will be on Ellice north of Polo Park.

The combination of a Save on Foods and Jollibee's at Northgate vaults the down at its heels mall to top attraction on McPhillips. No word on when the grocer opens but it is a good bet sometime in the next several weeks. As for Jollibee's, probably mid-summer.

Save On Foods Coming to Northgate Mall

Former Zellers at Northgate Mall

I have gotten reports from several people telling me of a flyer advertising for a Save On Foods coming to the Northgate Mall on McPhillips. This is not unexpected as the company said they would be moving into Winnipeg earlier this year.

Save on Foods is a division of Overwaitea in Vancouver owned by billionaire Jimmy Pattison. The Sobey's takeover of Safeway was an opening for Save on Foods to expand ever further. The federal government forced the sale of some of those location for greater competition. It is interesting to note that even before that Save on Foods was expanding; most notably in Alberta.

The sale of Zellers to Target and the subsequent closure of Target has represented another opportunity for Save on Foods to move into the Manitoba market. Sobey's continues to consolidate its holdings and warehouses and more stores will close. In some cases there remains a Sobey's right across the street from a Safeway even in Winnipeg.

The only reason Sobey's has likely held off closing stores even faster is the threat of Co-Op and Save on Foods grabbing the abandoned locations.

The Northgate Mall on McPhillips is a odd duck. It is home to a few retailers and the last discount move theatre in the city. Zellers was never solely a grocer but it did have groceries. I suspect a Save on Foods at that location will be a very welcome addition to the neighbourhood.

It won't be the only Save on Foods for Winnipeg most certainly. Welcome to the city.

Winnipeg Internet Pundits

I guested on the brilliant program Winnipeg Internet Pundits on Wednesday at 5 on UMFM.

Tessa Vanderhart hosts smart bloggers Christian Cassidy from West End Dumplings, James Howard, Slurpees and Murder and Winnipeg Cat, Graham Hnatiuk, Progressive Winnipeg , Robert Galston, Rise and Sprawl and Walter Krawec, One Man Committee on a roundtable discussion of Winnipeg and the blogosphere.

Tessa had provided a very detailed program plan which I apologize for going rambling past. Listening to the program, I think my stuttering is cringeworthy. Thanks to Christian, James and Walter tried keep thing on course and I thank them for that. Note to self: Bring something in writing yourself so you can not just talk off the top of your head.

The topics covered included the future development of Polo Park and surrounding area. I expressed confusion as to how the Asian food grocery was lost and how Western Financial suddenly became part of a mixed use mall.

We talked about retailer we might like or expect to see. First off, I should say I have no problem with local retailers and will seek them out whenever possible but I will say right up front that Polo Park and St. Vital Shopping Centre are poor prospects for a purely local retailer.

The better areas are most certainly along Henderson, Nairn, Main, McPhillips, Portage Avenue, Academy Road, Osborne and Corydon.

We talked about the little music area on Portage near Advance Electronics. I don't know that anyone has ever mentioned how many local music stores call that area home. There is Yamaha and Encore along with a few others.

The Free Press has written about how many wedding dress shops are along Portage near The Bay. What hasn't been mentioned is how many optical places are there too.

Touching upon The Bay downtown, there was a discussion of how the restaurant Oliver and Bonacini was going to be a destination location.

Downtown will only draw people with something exclusive like Mountain Equipment Co-Op or Birks. The old Bay restaurant certainly wasn't going to draw pre-Jets games crowds. Oliver and Bonacini will.

As far as the old stadium site, I expressed doubts about Lowe's locating there but thought Kohl's might be the right store. Truth of the matter though, nothing will be set in stone until the stadium is knocked down.

And many big retailers might be looking at the Seasons of Tuxedo to see how things shake out there before committing to an undefined stadium site.

I criticized the province about squatting on parking lots when they could have out the space on offer as both a parkade and office or residential and help create more energy and density around the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

I hope I didn't sound too negative about things because generally speaking I see positive things happening.

We are still finding our way on things but discussions of where we live, work, shop and play have to be in the forefront of any discussion we have on the city.

Thanks to all on the show who help try identify the city's strengths and where there needs to be improvements. And I will try not to ramble on as I did if I am ever back. I was nervous.

Terra Commons Condos

Terra Commons Condos

A year ago, the B and M Land Company and Gem Equities had so many legal and regulatory difficulties that it was hard to see if they would emerge from it.

But over the past year, numerous businesses and government agencies have filed more than 30 lawsuits and actions through the courts against his companies or Marquess personally. Creditors have also claimed millions of dollars in unpaid bills and damages, according to documents obtained by CBC News.

In January, McDiarmid Lumber won a judgment against Marquess for more than $1 million.

And Manitoba’s Residential Tenancies Branch hit B and M Land with more than two-dozen orders last summer because the company hadn't been paying its electricity and gas bills.

Tenants at a B and M highrise on Cumberland Avenue showed CBC News orders from January 2010 instructing them to pay their rent directly to the tenancies branch.

The justification is to cover unpaid Manitoba Hydro bills from the company.

Over the last year, B and M owner Andrew Marquess sold some assets to Timbercreek of Ontario including former Sheraton/York Hotel which has since been converted to apartments again.

One of the properties to lie fallow was the 34 apartment units in the 19 building McPhillips Common. Some controversy was afoot as the buildings stood waiting since 2007 vulnerable to vandalism and fire. Now the project has the go ahead.

The buildings were to be the largest geo-thermal project in Manitoba. It will continue to be that but no longer will project be apartments, it will be two and three bedroom condos.

The home ownership market continues to be strong and for many developers, rental units are just not appealing.

The $25 million dollar conversion should be filled sometime next year.