What Makes Winnipeg Great?

A lot of focus has been on the negative aspects of Winnipeg both in mainstream media and social media. Sometimes that results in very public announcements of people leaving or commenting about how happy they are since they left. Every now and again, there is someone who says just how much they love about this city or how glad they moved here.

Geographically, Winnipeg at the center of the country has been an important aspect of its attractiveness for business, cultural gatherings and shelter. The rivers were the key aspect of that growth but it was when the railways came that the city's development took off. It sometimes comes as a shock when people learn that Winnipeg was once the third largest city in Canada until the Panama Canal was built in 1913.

Ports by the sea or with access to the sea have always been attractive places for commerce as well as places to live. Steamboats travelled all the way from Winnipeg to St. Paul Minnesota and back again. However, the rivers were shallow, winding and frozen part of the year. After 50 years, railways changed all that. And all rails led to and ran from Winnipeg.

The dynamic of trade changed as well from north to south. The Canadian Pacific meant east to west travel exploded and those railways lines continued to help the city prosper although cargo, rather than passengers were the big economic driver. Air and road service became the other important developments. The first international flight in North America was from Minneapolis to Winnipeg.

Early boosterism in Winnipeg and Manitoba in general was about land. The flat plains of the Red River Valley and the rivers that met at The Forks were ideal for commerce and travel. It is what made the city great. The trails that grew from settlements that expanded from the forts became the next great thing for the city's growth. While the first fort was built near the Red and Assiniboine, the first business independent of the Hudson Bay Company decided to open at the corner of the Portage and Main oxcart paths in 1862. The province had not even been formed yet.

Nothing really except for the land and the resources gave indication of how great Winnipeg would be. It was a harsh climate at any time of the year. Literally everything had to be brought in by boat or trail because the land was was not providing in abundance for a rapidly increasing population. And even the indigenous population was one that followed game north to sound across the seasons.

The permanent settlements were one of hardship due to extreme temperatures, flooding, insects and disease. The fifty years of transport by water or trail was slow going in terms of development. Funnily enough, the first locomotive arrived in Winnipeg via steamboat. It began the longest era of greatness with explosive growth from 1879 through to 1913. Thereafter, growth was still propelled by railway but not as the boom levels once seen. The building of the Panama Canal meant that traffic could bypass the railway and arrive by ship in Vancouver. Everything didn't have to pass through Winnipeg anymore.

Given the traffic back and forth to Pembina, North Dakota and beyond via steamboat and then rail, it is only the the coming of the Canadian Pacific Rail that re-arranged the dynamic of east to west than south to north. This took place in 1881 when the railway and bridge over the Red River brought huge amounts of people to the city. At least Winnipeg was incorporated by 1874 and had street planning and a nascent business community ready to go. Still, the growth was beyond crazy. Literally thousands of people poured into the city and then out to the country and to the new territories to the west.

All this made Winnipeg great because the economy and fortunes were on an upward trajectory. Still, the Panama Canal in 1913 and World War I a year later in 1914 cut Winnipeg off from capital and immigration as the war ground on year after year. Add to this the Spanish Influenza and the Great Depression and you had a few generations dead to disease and war. And to cap it off World War II took another generation of young people in terms of death and injury.

One effect of the war was a level of industrialization and new population growth that lasted from 1945 to 1970. Many of the largest present-day companies like Manitoba Hydro, Canada Life (Great-West Life) and New Flyer and others grew out of this post-war industrialization. Many family run businesses grew and prospered. Even through the 1970s, Winnipeg was larger than Calgary and Edmonton but oil would soon change that.

Oil crashes in 1973 and 1979 along with inflation and a stagnant economy slowed growth, By 1980, Winnipeg was going through massive layoffs.  Even during this painful time economically, Winnipeg benefitted from a diverse workforce, tree-lined streets, good schools and a cultural vitality. Even during tough times new festivals were created, new school programs were introduced, new professional leagues of sports started and so on. This is an important thing to point out to those who might think that nothing was going on in the city. 

The diversity of the Winnipeg economy and stability of  it made it a fairly good place to raise a family. It was too easy to take for granted our universities and colleges that churned out graduates that became leading Canadian citizens in a multitude of fields. And many of the family businesses grew each decade to become national and international players. 

Winnipeg is still a leading destination for immigration. The province with its provincial nominee program has gone out and found people to come here and has jobs for them. Each decade has added to the depth of the population as well as the rich tapestry of shops, restaurants and businesses.

Winnipeg has had a long time reputation has been a tough city. Crime has long been listed as a problem. Still, anyone who knows the city is aware it isn't the entire city rife with violence. Crime has been coming down the last two years according to reports but it probably doesn't feel like it for those watching crimes take place in stores, buses and the like.

What makes the city great has been the citizen driven initiatives to help on addictions, housing and poverty. There have been shelters built, rehab centres, lower income housing and foundational support for programming and education. It has pushed governments to act as well. United Way Winnipeg punches above its weight in fundraising. The Winnipeg Foundation and other endowments donate as much as the United Way. But it has been a hard year for many charities that still have not recovered from the pandemic just as demand as increased so much.

Still, the thing that makes Winnipeg great is that the city continues to adapt and grow. It has had good times and bad times but not end times. There communities all over Canada with declining populations as people move elsewhere. Winnipeg is not one of them although the fastest growing areas in the suburbs and metropolitan area. This spreading of population is not sustainable economically. It is why attempts to do infill such as Seasons of Tuxedo are transforming former industrial land.

It is great to see parts of Winnipeg have a second coming. The East Yards, Fort Rouge Yards and Tuxedo Yards have all been converted to commercial and residential uses. The density in the city as well as most of the country has dropped as suburban and exurban residential growth has exploded. The fact industrial and parking space is being repurposed is very good. True North Square was built atop a parking lot. Portage Place is being converted to Pan Am Clinic and residential units.

The year 2026 is to be determined but a lot of projects started earlier will be completed or near completion in the new year. A lot of initiatives on addiction, housing and poverty will also be well underway. The trick this time is not to take breaks as we have in the past because things like homelessness and rising rent is in part a capacity and programming failure. Winnipeg went years without adding any rental units or put roadblocks so long that it took years to get anything built. 

Winnipeg in a fit of urban pride once had a campaign called One Great City which its own citizens mocked in song and commentary. However, on a all too frequent basis we do things that are great and make the city great. We can't rest on our laurels though but it is important to see the greatness from time to time. 

A New Core Area Initiative

 

Considering how important the Core Area Initiative was from 1981 to 1991, it is odd to think it has faded from many memory. The big thing is that for all public money from the city, the province and the federal government, it attracted a ton of private money as well. The territory it covered was expansive over downtown and into Osborne Village. The $196 million was spent on such a variety of things that had impacts in so many areas that helped Winnipeg for decades to come. Certainly without the program, we might not have see The Forks develop nor Portage Place.

And while Portage Place is derided as a failure, it got the parkade built that has been the funder for The Forks for decades. No lie. Money from that parkade kept The Forks afloat. It is also the most attractive feature for the Chipman/Thomson bid. The $3 million or so revenue from the parkade will help pay for their purchase and support the True North Arena.

The connectivity of all the different areas of development and renewal has to be understood to assess it's success. The example above with the Portage Place parkade. Quite simply without it, there would not be the money needed to keep The Forks going through the roach patches. Portage Place investment helped other private interests such as Air Canada, Investors Group and Relax/Holiday Inn from setting up shop on north Portage.

So was Portage Place a failure? The apartments, commercial building all around it say no. As a mall, it has faded. But on the bones of that development, residential and medical towers will go up. The problem with Winnipeg's downtown, as has been described many times before, is that it is fairly spread out which means there are large gaps where there is open space usually of parking lots. A city like Toronto, for example, has much closer distances between city and provincial government offices, central hospitals, universities and shopping. Winnipeg seems to be blocks away from everything.

The plan for the Core Area Initiative redux has various interest groups thinking it mostly will go to this or that. Bike interest groups believe it should go to bike lanes down every street. Business Improvement Zones believe it should go into street beautification programs. This ignores how widespread and how much leverage the old CAI had in getting millions upon millions from the private sector for work small and large. It wasn't supposed to go to one group to gorge themselves on. What is the point of bike paths on every street if there are houses on it?

The 1981 to 1991 CAI triggered so much downtown development but it also renovated tons of housing improvements from Osborne to Centennial. Unlike the 1960s urban developments the feds did across Canada that cleared land for major developments or concentrated a big low income housing project, money was allocated over a longer time to a larger variety of projects and social services and to a greater size area. There could have been a risk of diluting everything but the key always was to leverage other investments in the area in terms of people and money.

As mentioned before in this blog, 1980 was a horrible year for Winnipeg. The deep recession hit here early and hard. We lost the Tribune, Swift's and Canada Packers plant and thousands of jobs all within a few months. It was a deep recession and a long one. It hit all of North America but places like Winnipeg lost their place in Canada. Edmonton and Calgary with resources to pull themselves out of the slump, surpassed us in population and we saw head offices migrate there over the 1980s from the city.

The north part of Portage was always the poor sister of the south of Portage. The Eaton's and the Bay and stores on the south side were still a going concern. Movie theatres were still well attended downtown. However, the north side was often video and pinball halls and adult theatre. There were a few areas of strength like Kennedy Street which had Stagewest Dinner Theatre, Benjamins nightclub and a few other businesses but the northside was losing buildings to fire and there was a worry of steady decline extending to the south side.

This wasn't an idle concern. St. Vital Mall and Kildonan Place were very recent additions to suburban malls and population in the suburbs was booming. That is not to say there were no malls going up downtown. Winnipeg Square and Eaton Place went up just as the 1980s were starting. To a certain extent those malls achieved what they hoped for those areas of town. Winnipeg Square was a fine business mall with a very large parkade and Eaton Place gave Eaton's a new lease of life and additional parking while preserving the catalogue building.  However, neither mall was going to be able to forestall the difficulties elsewhere in the downtown.

Despite a very diverse economy, Winnipeg was in for a a much slower growth rate than our western neighbours. Population was leaving in steady numbers for the oil economy of Alberta. And for retirement, Winnipeg couldn't beat Vancouver's temperate climate. Still, as many will attest to Winnipeg was a good place to live in but in need of a plan.

At the time, Lloyd Aworthy made the jump from provincial politics to federal politics and became a powerful cabinet minister in the west. Some of that came as a result as being one of the only Liberals in the west. As an urban studies academic, he was well aware of what most cities were facing across Canada. Winnipeg became  a petri dish to see what would happen over a ten year period.

So what did happen? The Forks was probably the most successful outcome. Extensive consultations, funding for river paths, a national park and the clearing of rails but not the buildings for a long term plan. And The Forks continues to add piece by piece. Still, without Portage Place's parkade providing money every year, The Forks would have failed economically. It is where it is now because of that money. 

Portage Place is considered a failure. However, that can only be considered true if only the mall is looked at in isolation. The Prairie Theatre Exchange is a successful long term tenant. The mall had the first IMAX Theatre for the city. The three movie theatres were gorgeous. The parkade was the best. Axworthy had wanted an arena but local merchants were more keen on a mall. By the time Portage Place went up Winnipeg was over-malled. Polo Park went through a doubling up with a second floor which only added to the problems of downtown malls.

Portage Place was not the first mall to falter in Winnipeg. That honour went to Unicity Mall. Other malls like Garden City suffered as well. The end of Portage Place as a mall is likely in 2025 when the east side becomes the Pam Clinic tower and the west side becomes a residential tower. It is the in between part that will be interesting.

Lloyd Axworthy has identified in 2024 what might make the federal government interested. He has indicated it could be the relocation of the CP rail yards or the Little Forks National Park proposal. Both have transformative implications. One is where the Seine River meets the Red near Higgins while the other is an enormous tract running east-west that separates the downtown from the North End. The size of it should intimidate. The Forks was an enormous reach for Winnipeg but once the rails had moved it opened up huge opportunities.

A new Core Area Initiative could have a broad geographic area. The 1981 certainly did. Not all the money has to be dumped into one area. Nor does a project have to be completed within the timeframe outlined. The Forks started very late into CAI. And it continues to this day. The first Core Area Initiative had a lot of components to it and helped a lot of areas leverage investments in other projects for years to come. In recent years there seems to be a rush to spend in one area lest the money disappears and the planning is awful and the execution worse. A lot of planning went into The Forks and that has contributed to it's success.

The Core Area Initiative of 1981 to 1991 was followed up by the Winnipeg Development Agreement/Partnership of 1994 to 2001 and the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative of 2001 to 2012. The fall off of any plan up till 2024 is probably one of many reasons we seem to be ill prepared for what comes next in the city. Taking a dozen years off has left sustainability off the table. One of the things that CAI did was not just invest in infrastructure but in people as well. Nothing works though if you don't do both. Later development plans invested in people but not enough in infrastructure to support/leverage other investments in the area.

It is a tricky business building sustainability into an initiative. A program should have a beginning, middle and end. In other words, it isn't solely an entitlement programs like old age security or an income support system. The program should be set up to help in such ways like renovate a home, help someone buy a home, seed money for some street renewal, plans for a park, consultations on larger projects, fund a security system, establish patrol offices and so on and so on. The first CAI was very much like this. While it did try to be leaders in some projects, there was an effort to repopulate central areas of the city and create more reasons to come to the central areas. And that was usually done as a secretariat or clearing house in partnerships with many other groups and levels of government.

A new CAI would probably be a good thing. Unlike past decades though there seems to be groups looking to gorge themselves on money directed to them alone. This will cripple the program if one neighbourhood wants $200 million of work or one lobby group wants that type of work only used for them. Quite simply, one neighbourhood getting $200 million for housing will only beggar other central areas or $200 million of bike paths won't revitalize the larger community. The success of this program will be covering a lot of areas with a revitalization and re-population goal. And if there is a very large project such as rail relocation or the Little Forks proposal, know that it the initial outlay of money should large come from other sources. But for the consultation stage or smaller projects that help launch the project, it can be the start of something great as it was with The Forks.

What is needed is vision. The big question is whether the province or Feds will be turned off by other requests for billions for suburban roads that look like highways. It sends the wrong message if the city keeps supporting sprawl it can't pay for later.

Boeing Aircraft in Winnipeg

We often get questions from elsewhere such as: What do you do in Winnipeg? It isn't innocent question. It is a loaded one that generally suggests that the person can't figure out how anyone lives in Winnipeg. In other words, what jobs exist there?

Well, the answer is that Winnipeg has a diversified economy. We have needed it to protect us from the vagaries of commodity prices, booms and busts in different business enterprises, a more difficult climate and geographic isolation.

In other words, we sell insurance to the point that a number of our companies are the nation's biggest. Over the decades we have come to dominate bus manufacturing. We have strong positions in ag manufacturing, services, trading. The e-commerce side has taken off. We punch above our weight in TV, film and production. Medical research is quite prominent.

We also build and repair aircraft. We have done it a long time. We're good at it. So much so that one of the biggest and most successful aircraft manufacturers Boeing has one of the biggest plants in North America here in Winnipeg. Not Montreal, not Toronto, not Calgary or Vancouver. Winnipeg.

Boeing is going through a patch right now but rest assured, Winnipeg will be part of its recovery. And they will always have the company of several other big players in the air business here.

So when someone asks what we do in Winnipeg, tell them we do everything here. And that's just the business side. You should ask about our weekends.

Sportsnet to End Stanley Cup Coverage If Leafs Lose

It is rumoured that Stanley Cup coverage on the main networks in Ontario is contingent on the Toronto Maple Leafs advancing in the play-offs. Network execs at the highest level met late night in a hotel following the Leafs loss to the Winnipeg Jets March 31st. The game's ratings tumbled as the Leaf's struggled alarming the network's advertisers.

Hockey Night in Canada's main coverage is dependent on the Toronto Maple Leafs doing well. The hosts and game coverage are geared to create the feeling that they are Canada's team even as they play other Canadian teams.

"You can't fault them," said an insider in the network said. "They paid a lot of money to make sure the Toronto Maple Leafs coverage gets the big ratings." At what point in the game senior executives from the network were on the phone arguing with Leaf's management about trying to get penalties and suspension for Winnipeg Jet's star Mark Schiefele over a collision with the Leaf's netminder.

The NHL is also worried about Maple Leaf's performance but have their own set of problems in that a perfect ratings scenario is Las Angeles Kings versus New York Rangers for the NBC network. However, NBC would settle for a Las Vegas Golden Knights western victor as it is a narrative they can sell. Toronto sports teams are always a major drag on American ratings as no one in the U.S. cares about Canadian teams.

The battle between Sportnet and NBC over which teams advance spells bad news for other markets. The NHL has done its resolute best to satisfy Sportsnet where the the bulk of the ratings are and NBC where the future is. NBC coverage also pushes up expansion fees which for Seattle are now $21 million per team.

If the Maple Leafs fail to advance, Stanley Cup broadcasts will drop in Ontario in favour of Toronto Blue Jays baseball which just had their home opener. Sportsnet executives says it is the only thing to do to stop a backlash against the network if Leafs are out. "There is no way we can show Winnipeg Jets games in Ontario," said an insider. "They are many in the network who feel the city should never have gotten a team in the first place. We have covering them. They are a downer for all our staff and fans, The Maple Leafs are Canada's teams. The only reason we cover the Vancouver Canucks is extend the broadcast late Saturday and talk about the Leaks more."

The situation for NBC is more dire. The loss of a few major market teams for the Stanley Cup play-offs means the network will switch to April's coverage of the Waiter and Bartender Games coming in April in Los Angeles. The games hosted by Kim Kardasian are expected to be a big ratings winner but the network is stymied on more coverage as they are obligated on hockey contracts. The only loophole is major market teams failing to qualify.

A final featuring the Winnipeg Jets would likely be pushed to a steaming service on NBC's lower tier or sold off to regional sports networks such as Buffalo and Hartford. In Canada, Sportsnet would a Jets final to Sportsnet 360 which has the lowest cable coverage in the country. "We simply have to have the Toronto Maple Leaf's in the final for the good of the country," said a network official speaking confidentially.

Polo Park Number 14 Mall in Canada 2017

In 2017, CF Polo Park continued to be one of the top malls in Canada based on sale poor square footage. As expected, Toronto took the top spot along with a few Vancouver malls rounding out the top 3. However, Winnipeg's largest mall came in at number 14 in the listings.

In other categories such as total square footage and most pedestrian traffic, none of Winnipeg's malls ranked in the top 10. Surprisingly, Garden City Shopping Centre had higher sales per square footage than St. Vital Centre. On the face of it, St. Vital has more retailers but obviously more does not equal higher sales.

There were no figures for the Outlet Collection Mall as it just opened this year.

The top four Winnipeg malls will all be dealing with the closure of Sears much like much of Canada. For malls like Polo Park, it represents an opportunity to land Nordstrom's or Simon's. The fully leasing of Polo Park's off campus building in the former Target takes that property off their books. HomeSense/Winners, 24-7 InTouch Call Centre and Cineplex's Odeon's Rec Centre moving in.

It will be interesting to see how replacing Sears in the top malls will affect sales. For some malls who saw Sears leave early on in their woes a few years ago, the sales jumped considerably.

The Retail Council of Canada which conducted the study indicates the Winnipeg has less retail than Alberta but more than Greater Vancouver. It will be interesting to see where the latest building of retails puts the city on the listing next year.

It is believed that Polo Park is looking at a major upgrade being announced soon with the redevelopment of Sears. Sometimes it is lost in the haze of the redevelopment of the old Zellers on the second floor that the mall has had the same decor for some time. It is going to be quite a whirl because four city malls will be in a race to fill their empty Sear space this year.

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.

Polo Park 13th Most Productive Mall in Canada

The old Polo Park sign and sundial

Polo Park is the hands down biggest and most popular mall in Winnipeg. None compares in size in the province. But how does it stack up nation-wide?

Well, according to latest figures quite high.

1) Pacific Centre, Vancouver, BC: $1,498
2) Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto, ON: $1,420
3) Oakridge Shopping Centre, Vancouver, BC: $1,395
4) Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, ON: $1,356
5) Southgate Shopping Centre, Edmonton, AB: $1,157
6) Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB: $1,125
7) Rideau Centre, Ottawa, ON: $1,008
8) Holt Renfrew Centre, Toronto, ON: "over $1,000" says landlord.
9) Market Mall, Calgary, AB: $942
10) Sherway Gardens, Toronto, ON: $935
11) Square One, Mississauga, ON: $910
12) Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby, BC: $886
13) Polo Park, Winnipeg, MB: $873
14) Peter Pond Mall, Ft. McMurray, AB: $870
15) Le Carrefour Laval, Laval, QC: $865
16) Fairview Mall, Toronto, ON: $843
17) Richmond Centre, Richmond, BC: $833
18) Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto ON: $820
19) Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto, ON: $818
20) Bayview Village, Toronto, ON: $810

Most of the above malls have done multimillion renovations to enhance sales per square footage including Polo Park that is still putting the finishing touches on the second floor improvements within the old Zellers location.

Old Polo Park

 The exclusive stores for certain malls really helps the bottom line. For example, Polo Park having the only Apple store is enormous. Many Apple stores in Canada rack up $50 million is sales with only 5000 square feet!

Sears continues to drag down sales in many malls across Canada including Polo Park. Can the big retailer turn things around? Hard to say. However, it is very likely if they don't there are many who would gladly take over the space or at least part of it.

It would be interesting to see where St. Vital Mall stands in all of this. I suspect that it has too many stores with far lower sales volumes to ever challenge Polo Park. It has also has less room for growth unless they ever take possession of the Sears store or a few other parts of the building. One has to wonder if 20 plus stores in the Sears space would be better for that mall.

What is next for Polo Park? Well, fill the last spaces and shuffling a few more retailers around and come the next months perhaps the biggest sales in the mall's history now that renovations are nearly done. The only big question? Is Sears going to be part of those plans?

Tourism in Winnipeg

Tourism is always hit and miss in this province. Travel Manitoba came up with a little buzzworthy four TV ads that emphasized the three things they thought were important. Those things were: Churchill, northern tours, fishing (especially with use of a guide) and Winnipeg.

These ads were set up to present Manitoba to others but they were also shown on TV within the province to present the province to itself. In other words, the biggest tourists are people in the province visiting one another. Show someone in Winnipeg what Churchill is like and they will be the number 1 source of tourists generally.

There is a limited budget each year and past efforts have been mediocre. The government realizes the importance and sets out to support key industries such as fly-in fishing and tours of Churchill. Winnipeg has always been more difficult to capture because cultural images show a world mosaic. It is hard to show the Winnipeg ID, the character of the city, who we are. The television ad shows dragon boat racing on the Red River. Don't know how that says: Winnipeg.

Tourism Winnipeg is obviously focused more on Winnipeg which you'd expect. The City  of Winnipeg tour book is as good as it gets. Top notch all the way. The request page though needed a correction. It said "chok full" rather than "chock full" and I hope it is corrected soon.

There is no doubt the city is trying to position itself a lot better with limited resources. Quite a bit of research is being done. And yet the city has suffered tourism-wise because in the grand scheme of things there has to be compelling attractions for people to want to visit the city.

The Canadian Tourism Commission turned its eyes to Manitoba and brought a hundred plus travel writers to the province for about $300,000. The first articles from that visit are starting to appear in newspapers like the Toronto Star.

Some journalists think travel writing is fluffy or dishonest. Perhaps that's because payment is often involved from the party being reviewed.

Given the cuts to newspaper and magazine budgets, few seem willing to send their reporters off each week to far flung destinations. Yet every major metropolitan newspaper has a travel section. Very willing to accept travel ads, not willing to assign hard news reporters?

I guess the same could be said of home and auto sections of the newspapers. Lots of ads but is there any hard news reporting in there? Is all we see softball in terms of reporting?

That is a debate for another time. Let's just say for now that travel writing is popular and if we can believe the tourism departments, it works.

In the aftermath of the tour of travel writers, we will have see if the articles that result from it see an uptick in the number of visitors.

The Journey Churchill at Winnipeg Zoo, the Human Rights Museum and swimming with belugas in Churchill are new to the province. Manitobans will visit them first in big numbers but their long term future depends on visitors from all over to survive.

Most of Winnipeg's greatest tourism attractions are cultural. The mountains and the ocean don't exist in a river valley. While the natural attraction Winnipeg does have can be emphasized, they don't hold a candle to the city's people and culture. That is hard to capture in pictures compared to Vancouver by the mountains and sea or Toronto by the lake.

Ultimately what becomes a national and international tourist attractions in Winnipeg are things the people in the city have done for themselves. The examples abound from Folklorama, the Folk Festival, Rainbow Stage and The Forks. As good as those are, it is hard to capture iconic pictures of it to sell the masses beyond Manitoba's borders.

The travel writers who recently visited our city now have the iconic pictures of people inside a tube watching polar bears above them. They have the distinctive Human Rights Museum that looks different from most buildings on the planet and further afield, they have pictures of people swimming with belugas.

They say a picture says a thousand words...those pictures from this past trip of travel writers are probably worth at least $300,000.

Let's see if those pictures result in millions more being in Winnipeg and beyond.

American Girl Coming to Winnipeg?

Tomorrow, two stores of the wildly popular American Girl stores open in Canada in Chapters and Indigo stores in Toronto and Vancouver.

Chapters has indicated that they will open 15 stores before the end of next year. The rumour is that Chapters Polo Park and Indigo Kenaston Common are being considered for late this year or early next. Only one is to be picked.

American Girl will occupy about 1,800 square feet in any Chapters bookstore they locate in. This will be smaller that the average U.S. store where the size can sore to over 50,000 square feet.

Many American retailers are taking a slower approach after Target's hammering in Canada the year it opened. It has been extremely costly for the big retailer and has given pause to others coming into the market. It is likely the reason American Girl decided to partner with the big Canadian bookstore.

So what is American Girl? Well, it is a 25 year old retailer owned by Mattel that sells pre-teen dolls in historical times. Most guys are not likely to get it but these dolls sell for over a hundred dollars in many cases. There is also lots of purchases a customer can make after their purchase such as hairstyling  and ear piercing.

If this sounds like a retail operation that should give its head a shake, consider this: Chapters could see a rise of between $20 and $30 million in revenue just having the stores take space in low volume areas of the floor space.

Expect to hear an announcement soon about when Winnipeg gets a store.

H&M Polo Park Cladding Up

On the Main Floor Polo Park

The cladding has gone up and all the rumours about a two floor H&M have been false. The new store slated to open in fall of this year will be 25,000 square feet making the third largest in Canada. Only Toronto's Eaton Centre and Vancouver's Pacific Centre will be larger.

The question of what is going up in the nearly 100,000 square foot Zellers on the second floor is a mystery. Suffice to say though that several stores have been displaced to make way for H&M. Mexx, Dyamite, Garage and Fairweather all closed and relocating somewhere.

In the competition to attract shoppers, malls are always looking to re-fresh things. St. Vital Mall went through and extensive re-modelling on the inside the brighten their look. Grant Park Mall is almost complete in its mission to keep Target happy in their new home with a full mall upgrade.

There will be further announcements to be sure in regards to Polo Park and what goes up in the old Zellers.

Lastly, Sears still hangs on my their fingers. This could be the last year for the store in Polo Park if they can't turn things around.

Save on Foods Coming to Winnipeg?

Save on Foods in B.C and Alberta

The rumour mill has been going strong ever since the Sobey's announcement of taking over Safeway.

The story goes that the Harper government through the Competion Bureau is going to order Sobey's to sell off some Safeway locations before the government approves the sale. This is likely to include warehouses and manufacturing sites.

The government will not take kindly to a massive amount of people being laid off. Safeway and Sobey's practically square off across the street from one another and barring the Competition Bureau intervention, numerous duplicate locations would be shut down. Not only does such a shut down hurt employees but property owners can be left with large holes to fill. Left to its own ends, Sobey's might pay property taxes or rent on a closed store for some time after just to prevent a competitor from moving into the old spot.

The Empire Group which owns Sobey's knows full well how the Competition Bureau operates. Empire sold their movie theatres in part to fund their purchase of Safeway. The government expressed concern about some of the Ontario movie theatres going to Cineplex so Sobey's sought out a second buyer.

And so it goes. Competition is good so it seems unlikely that the closure of so many stores, warehouses and manufacturers is going to stand. And so this is where the rumours start.

As mentioned in this blog, Whole Foods has been sniffing around Winnipeg for locations. Even before the Sobey's purchase of Safeway, the American grocer had a strategy to spread out across Canada. The big problem for Whole Foods is logistics. At present, they use their established store locations to help supply new stores. To move into Winnipeg would create a very long supply chain. To mitigate this problem, the creation of two or three stores would go a long way to bring the costs down. You had better believe that Whole Foods has their eye on the prize which is grab some Safeway locations should they come available.

Sobey's would probably be comfortable selling some locations to Whole Foods and the organic seller caters to a slight different dynamic. However, there is no way Whole Foods will buy all the locations Sobey's will likely have to sell.

This means the likely buyers are Quebec-based Metro and B.C.-based Save on Foods.

Metro is a dominant force in the east but it is still digesting the large purchase of stores in Ontario that include Dominion and A&P. Could they make a play for stores in the west that Sobey's is forced to give up? Most certainly. Will they? It is possible as they will not get this chance again to grab choice locations all across western Canada.

In the case of Save On Foods, there is very little doubt they were moving eastward and the rumour has been for some time that Manitoba and Saskatchewan are on their radar. Just this week Save on Foods moves into the Calgary market for the first time in force. Four stores are planned over the next dozen months. The company already has stores across Alberta.

Save on Foods is owned by one of Canada's richest men Jimmy Pattison of Vancouver. In 1968, he took over the Overwaitea supermarket, a grocer for B.C. since 1915. In 1990, the Save On Foods concept was spun off from the namesake Overwaitea group. Since then, it has been the primary store concept of the company.

The availability of stores, distributions centres and possibly some manufacturing being put on the market by Sobey's would be hard for Save on Foods to ignore. In one fell swoop, they could get great locations and scare Metro out of the market and possibly get the share of consumers that doesn't care for Sobey's as much as they did for Safeway.

It would not be the first time that Jimmy Pattison has rode in to Manitoba to pick up assets in the last while. He has picked up some car dealerships and radio stations in the last year. In some cases, the Competition Bureau has ordered large mergers of radio stations to sell some of their assets and Pattison has been there to scoop them up.

It is likely that the decision on Sobey's takeover of Safeway comes in the next months, possibly the new year.

It could be very possible that Winnipeg sees a few Save on Foods in the 2014 year.

Sears in Winnipeg to Close?

Sears Winnipeg in 2003 after $16 million Renovation

The rumours have been flying so much in the last weeks but there may be something to it. Sears many be looking to sell off the lease on their Polo Park location.

Sears department stores have been in free fall for a few years now. They had an absolutely terrible Christmas and Target is opening stores across Canada in only a couple of more months.

Manitoba doesn't figure too large in the grand scheme of things for Sears. There are only four department stores in the province all within Winnipeg. The company also runs Sears Home and Sears Hometown stores and have numerous catalogue pick up locations.

It is a pretty light covering of Manitoba compared to rivals such as Walmart and now Target.

By all accounts Sears Polo Park is a flagship store. It has done very well for Sears over the years. I have not see store breakdowns from this December but I suspect it has been a challenge this year compared to the glory years of past. However, this store was only just renovated in 2003 for $16 million. Can it still be successful in years to come?

Sears has already closed locations in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa to allow for the opening of Canada's first Nordstrom stores. These lease buy backs netted Sears $170 million.

The head office of Sears has indicated they are prepared to close even more stores, particularly under performing ones. But what about ones that perform well?

There have been whispers about Nordstrom's coming to Winnipeg. One store's downfall can be another's opportunity. Look at Woolco's sale to Walmart for that in 1994 and Zellers closing to make way for Target in 2012 and 2013. Could Sears be next?

To be frank, the only Sears location in a mall Nortstrom's might be interested in would be Polo Park. The store there is between 250,000 and 300,000 feet and anchors the largest and most profitable mall in Manitoba

Sears has already indicated they are struggling with apparel and home decor but do well with "hero" categories of appliances, mattresses and baby goods. Is this enough for them to hang on to such a large location in Polo Park? Probably not.

A better strategy might be to retreat from the mall and use the money to build on the Sears Home brand in Manitoba. The company already has a location close to Polo Park. They could stand to have more in the city and the province.

Polo Park owner already has a 97,000 square feet of space to fill with Zellers closing. The mall is already in a knock down drag out battle for U.S. retailers with St. Vital Centre and Cadillac Fairview, owner of Polo Park, might be looking to grab Sears space as well.

The retail landscape is changing quickly and Sears is struggling badly. They still have some options compared to Zellers laying down and dying. The time to execute those option is quickly coming.

Perhaps we really will hear that the rumours of Sears at Polo Park is closing are true.

Two Story Target Polo Park

2 Story Target in Minneapolis

2 story Target in East Liberty, Pittsburgh

It seemed obvious that the 97,000 square feet on second floor occupied by Zellers in Polo Park was a poor choice for a Target store. The site was too small and poor for carts laden with groceries and goods to move about on a snow packed and crowded upper parking deck.

As much as Polo Park might have loved to have them to be in the mall, owners Cadillac Fairfiew probably saw the problems it might pose for for the store and for them. With that in mind, Cadillac Fairview partnered with Shindico for Plan B.

This plan entailed offering to buy the Canad Inns Stadium following the end of this season, demolishing it and trying to entice Target to build a Super Target on the site. A purchase offer was agreed upon and a initial plans were drawn up but no firm commitment was made until now.

Target has now confirmed they are the anchor tenant on the old Winnipeg Stadium site. However, since the initial design was introduced, Target has now changed things up and adopted a style that has been used for more urban locations.

Back in June, I said Target had abandoned Polo Park for the stadium site and in August, I mentioned how Target was developing an urban design. In many cases, the new stores were re-developments of older buildings for a particular type of shopper that needed certain things. The stores were smaller, often a few stories and geared to take Target to markets it had not been in before.

What I wasn't aware of was that Target had created another little pilot project in retailing that was suitable for northern climates and melded some of the ideas it was using in its urban stores.

In 2011, Target created a new concept store in Pittsburgh's East Liberty district. Since the 1960s, city planners and local business developers failed in a plan to support the area with catastrophic choices that destroyed a million square feet of local businesses, re-routed roads, turned many one way and then to added unattractive and low income housing complexes rising 20 stories high.

The largely black neighbourhood of East Liberty was a logistical nightmare of roads that were difficult to navigate, devoid of businesses needed in the community and with housing complexes that were both ugly and dangerous. The area was blighted.

It is not surprising that the Pittsburgh neighbourhood welcomed a new concept Target that the retailer proposed for the area. Local officials first had to offer subsidies, building loans and revert one way roads back to two way.

And what Target built in East Liberty was a two story building with parking tucked under its footprint and something that their suburban stores didn't have: windows on all four sides. They also made a commitment that the store would have fresh produce, a welcome addition for those making the store one of their primary grocers. At 144,000 square feet and around 250 jobs, the store was large enough to serve the needs of the community as a whole.

Now, let's be clear: Polo Park is no East Liberty. For the last 50 years Polo Park has a going concern and the most successful retail area in Manitoba. The location at one point may have been considered a suburb but now it sits sort of at the halfway point between the downtown and city limits. It is close to two major roads: Portage Avenue and Kenaston Route 90. The mall is also surrounded on three sides by residential development and occupies the southern tip of an airport industrial area.

As most will attest, the roads that generally support the airport industrial area are narrower as befitting a business park. The commercialization of St. James as a retail centre has accelerated in recent years and the traffic has gotten to be a headache. The old Winnipeg Arena is gones as is the old CKY building. Both have been swallowed up by Polo Park extending its reach to Maroons Road. The area is now being developed as a mix of retailing and offices.

The Canad Inn Stadium is not long for this world. Two more games remain of the Blue Bomber season and the play-offs this year is not in the cards. As soon as everything is packed up in the dressing rooms, the site will be demolished to make way for the the sale of the site for Target and two other stores. The $30 million dollar price tag will pay for $20 million of road upgrades. Other money will be allocated to the Active Living Centre at the University of Manitoba.

So what will this Target look like? Well, it won't look like any of the other thus far planned in Canada. The retailer has decided that Polo Park is an "urban" location and as such in need of a more urban design. Although East Liberty, Pittsburgh and Polo Park, Winnipeg are far removed in many circumstances, they share the fact that they are in established neighbourhoods, in northern climate and with only so much space to work. The above pictures of East Liberty's Target are what we will see in Winnipeg.

There will be some differences. The store will use red brick in construction and feature a Target logo on the roof which will be easy to spot for air traffic. However, the design will be essentially the same: 145,000 square feet, windows on all sides and parking tucked under the footprint of the store.

SuperTargets are generally around 175,000 square feet. However, regular Targets are around 126,000 feet. This will be a different animal and probably be one of the first of this new breed of stores for Canada in established neighbourhoods.

In terms of size comparison to other future Target sites like Grant Park mall, the size of the Zellers there is 116,000 square feet.

There are a number of hurdles to cross yet not the least of which is what to do with the roads. The road in front of Canad Inn Stadium now is a rutted mess. Empress and Milt Steagall Drive and good candidates for making one way streets. However, making one ways all over the place will create its own problems of accessing businesses and the like.

There will be many who complain about are car-centric country. It is hard to disagree with what is being said. However, change does not happen in a vacuum. Try to force people what to do and they will vote with their feet. Vancouver prevented Wal-Mart from locating in the the city and residents there simply went to suburbs and beyond.

The best thing to do is to keep working to improve areas a bit at a time. Mass transit connections, bike paths, density, mixed use buildings and trying to use a smaller footprint. Cars are not going to disappear because we want them to but because they have become too expensive or less convenient.

The new Target at Polo Park addresses a few things in design and footprint that might make it a lot better retailing experience. To be sure, it will be welcomed by consumers in this city who have long not been overly impressed with Zellers over the years.

The city has to do its part on infrastructure and roads and to push more strongly for design improvements and service roads inside a major development. All in all, a good development this far. And let's not forget, the space in Polo Park that Zellers vacates might be ideal for H&M to finally come to the city.

Qdoba Mexican Grill Coming to Manitoba

Qdoba Mexican Grill

Once again Brandon, Manitoba beats Winnipeg to the punch just as they did with Five Guys Burgers. Qdoba Mexican Grill is opening their first franchise in Canada in Brandon in an old Rogers location.

Qdoba is a huge 700 location Denver-based operation. Its main competition is Chipotle Mexican Grill which started in Denver as well. Chipotle just opened its first location in Toronto and will open another in Vancouver next year.

The battle between these giants is huge. Canada represents a potential 100 more locations to whoever gets their first.

Qdoba Mexican Grill serves San Francisco-style burritos and other Mexican dishes.

The rumour is they are eyeing Winnipeg next and are in talks with franchisors.

The complete and enormous success of Famous Dave's since it opened in Winnipeg is not lost on any of the chains out there.

Bloomingdale's Coming to Winnipeg?

Bloomingdale's Coming to Winnipeg?

The Globe and Mail reported this week that luxury retailer Blomingdale's is in the final stage of talks with The Bay to come to Canada. There is no doubt that The Bay is trying to position itself well before other major retailers like Nordstrom's arrives.

There are three Bays in Winnipeg in Polo Park, St. Vital and downtown. It is the downtown stores that The Bay are trying to shore up first. To that end, it is Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver stores that get some form of Bay and Bloomingdale's combo.

After that, the concept is supposed to be rolled out across the country in boutique style. How much space this takes up in a store or how many stores is anyone's guess.

There is empty space in the downtown Bay so could we be looking at Bloomingdale's there?

Toronto

The Condos Changing the Toronto Skyline

Just got back from Toronto after a weekend convention.

I always tell people who travel to think carefully when contrasting their hometown to places they go to for business and pleasure. While it can be fun to take note of differences, it should also be viewed through the prism that we don't live in the city and don't see it through the daily lives of those who live there.

Having said that, it is not hard to see that Toronto may very well lead North America in how many construction cranes are in operation. That is not an idle statement. The boom in condo construction reminds me of what I saw in Florida over the years. In that sense, it alarms me as it was unsustainable growth in the U.S.

I can't say for certain that what is happening in Toronto could go bust but one thing is certain, it is transforming the skyline.

I didn't see as much in terms of pure office buildings going up. The last reports I saw indicated that the city was still absorbing a bit of stock from two years back when three tower went up.

However, this isn't about the financials underpinning Toronto today but an observation of where they are now.

What we see in Toronto today is a downtown filled with people. Some of this was organic growth, some of this was planned and a lot of this was fueled by 40 years of sustained immigration. In some respects there are two Torontos. The first being the urban one with offices, neighbourhoods and the like packed tightly together in higher density settings. The second is the suburban Toronto with subdivisions and regional offices and shopping. Throw into the mix service, industrial and manufacturing all over the city to keep people employed.

This is didn't all happen overnight. In my case, I stayed at the Harbourfront which got its kick start back in 1972 when the Trudeau government set up a plan to start changing the port of Toronto lands into something resembling Vancouver's Granville Island.

It is a work in progress to be sure. Many people come to the area for entertainment or work but the Gardiner Expressway, an elevated road creates quite a lot noise and blocks easier access. Transportation is via streetcar and the ferry can shuttle people off to Toronto Island.

The other noise in the immediate area is the Toronto Island airport. While obviously a huge convenience for those not wanting to use the ridiculously far and expensive Pearson International, the Porter Airlines aircraft take off at high angles and quite often.

It is obvious the city of Toronto has its hands filled trying to figure out how to make the area successful while still maintaining a functioning metro. Hence, the comment about the two Torontos.

Still, it is hard not to be impressed with with has been slowly achieved over the years. The downtown is filled with people and several districts have emerged and continue to thrive. It will interesting to see where it goes.

****

Now, the inevitable comparison to Winnipeg. We lack people in the central area of the city. With the exception of The Forks (which is Winnipeg's grand initiative on par with Habourfront), we have few places where people pour out onto the streets.

All of our grand downtown gestures save one did not think to include housing as a major component. The Winnipeg Convention Centre had a major component of apartment housing next door with the Holiday Towers. Sadly, the site was orphaned and left surrounded by parking lots.

In the last five years, Winnipeg has caught up with many cities in terms of building new condos in the downtown. Waterfront Drive has taken off and now we are seeing phase two being developed. Tens of millions are being spent. However, unlike the 26 floors of Holiday Towers North and South, we are seeing new construction of only several floors at a time.

So far, developers are only taking a tentative step forward in this regard. And why put themselves out? Twice now, two towers in the Broadway area and even further afield in the suburbs have met with resistance. Even smaller condo projects in River Heights and Linden Woods have run into trouble.

Maybe it is that way all over Canada and beyond. However, we seem to torpedo apartment and condo projects that are completely private investment driven.

After this next phase of condo and apartment building in downtown Winnipeg, are we likely to see some construction cranes and the buildings of high rises? One can hope.

We need more people living downtown to create dynamism. City Hall cannot continue as an impediment to this.

The Sports and Entertainment District

There has been good coverage of CentreVenture's continued push on the sports and entertainment district surrounding the MTS Centre in the newspapers and blogs.

Too few projects in the downtown are devoid of any public financial help. This, of course, is the bane of not just Winnipeg but a lot of cities. A larger debate about how to get the private sector to be the the driving force and take complete financial responsibility would be a worthwhile one. However, it would appear to be that after years of neglect of our downtown and private sector alike, a public agency has to pick its targets and draw increased private investment.

The idea of a sports and entertainment district is a sound one. It is easy to see that CentreVenture has eyed what has happened in Toronto and other cities carefully. Around the Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment built Maple Leaf Square. Ultimately, it was a huge project that cost upwards of $500 million and had everything from hotels, to condos, a sports bar and daycare.

The Real Sports bar as in short order since it opened last year and ESPN has named it best sports bar in North America. Best place for women to pick up men in Toronto and wear heels and not step on peanut shells. In short, sporty but classy.

The MTS Centre has already attracted a big sports bar in 4Play Sports. At 19,000 square feet, it is not exactly small. By comparison, the Toronto sports bar is 27,000 square feet. The big question that has to be asked is whether the True North people, owners of the MTS Centre and the Manitoba Moose, want to own and operate their own sports bar. On the face of it, it could be a winning idea. It is possible for a city to have more than on sports bar. In addition to the Real Sports bar in Toronto, there is Wayne Gretky's and Wendall Clark's sports bars.

So back to the public plaza idea. Aside from the Maple Leaf Square mentioned above, there is the L.A. Live in Los Angeles and the Victory Park plaza in Dallas as examples. Both projects cost a few billion dollars.

CentreVenture figures the cost of their project will be around $40 million and mentions a boutique hotel, offices and plaza as part of the mix. What is missing is housing. This was a major component of Maple Leaf Square and it should be part of what happens in the immediate area around the MTS Centre. If between $40 and $50 million in condos and apartments go up with the project, the total would be about $100 million in investment for the area, mostly private. That is about 1/5 of the total of Toronto's square which makes sense given the population of Winnipeg.

What the city doesn't need is windswept plaza with few people using it. A population that lives nearby will be more likely to find a use for the space especially if it is safe and has things that make it vital and useful. Note to CentreVenture: Maple Leaf Square has a daycare. Want to build a community, gathering space and general fun place to be? Make sure people live nearby, make it safe, make it useful, make it exciting.

This isn't brain surgery. Winnipeg does get things right a number of times. The Forks has been mostly done right. It is a gathering spot, it is safe, it is useful and it is exciting. Instinctively though, Winnipeggers know that people should not live there lest it make the area less inclusive of all residents. This is not the case for the area around the MTS Centre. People living there would be most welcome. In fact, it will be necessary for the area to survive and support a host of businesses that don't hang up the "closed" sign art 5 pm.

The Avenue residential units down Portage Avenue shows with effort and some public seed money that housing can be built where it has historically not existed. However, we need a condo alley such as Toronto's to give the district greater vitality. Rental apartments are needed as well but actual home ownership along Portage Avenue could and should help transform the street from simply being a commercial and office strip.

Winnipeg needs businesses who build downtown to think in terms of a residential component to any project. Imagine if Manitoba Hydro had done what Telus is doing for Vancouver this week. They are not only building their 22 story office building. They are building 44 story condo as part of a $750 million investment in Vancouver.

There are a number of prepared pads awaiting office towers that have never come. Perhaps developers needs to create Winnipeg's own condo alley such as we have seen in Toronto. It certainly might help create the downtown population base that could make use of variety of public spaces already available in the area. By the way, those pads that could use a condo are both ends of Portage Place and the Trizec building atop Winnipeg Square.

In the end, let's keep the ideas coming but remember it would help to have a population living in one of these developments.