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General Retail News
Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.
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(06-26-2017, 01:39 PM)timc Wrote: Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

   

Coke
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I could have sworn we had a Toronto Premium Outlets thread in the outside of Waterloo Region section, so I apologize that this is not related Waterloo Region retail, but also didn't think it warranted a thread of its own.

It sickens me, and frustrates me, every time we come past Trafalgar Rd @ 401 and see the sea of parking and the line of vehicles backed up to the 407 all trying to get to the Toronto Premium Outlets, but now they are building a parking garage:
   

I seriously wonder how much this particular mall has cost society in lost productivity from traffic congestion and excess pollution.

I suspect that as the novelty of this overhyped, marketing experiment will wear off in short order as the frustration about traffic issues mount, people will stop going. Much look the big box/power centre retailing of the last 20 years is now having to re-invent itself I wonder what will happen to the property when it does fall out of fashion as there are not a lot of repurposing possibilities.

Probably not a surprise, but I have not been, and have no interest in going, but from what I have heard and read it is really just an outdoor mall with "premium" brands and no "outlet" prices. I really do not understand the appeal of this particular set-up: driving long distances, queuing to get in the parking lot, circling the lot endlessly looking for a parking spot, walking a long distance, queuing up to get in to a store, fighting a crowd to maybe finding a semi-decent deal, etc., but congratulate the marketing team for a job well done in generating such intense hype. Even if one is looking for a shopping "experience" this does not sound appealing to me; how little people must value their time to put themselves through all that.

Sorry for the rant.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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If I want a premium mall I'll go to Square One or Yorkdale.
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(07-09-2017, 10:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I could have sworn we had a Toronto Premium Outlets thread in the outside of Waterloo Region section, so I apologize that this is not related Waterloo Region retail, but also didn't think it warranted a thread of its own.

It sickens me, and frustrates me, every time we come past Trafalgar Rd @ 401 and see the sea of parking and the line of vehicles backed up to the 407 all trying to get to the Toronto Premium Outlets, but now they are building a parking garage:


I seriously wonder how much this particular mall has cost society in lost productivity from traffic congestion and excess pollution.

I suspect that as the novelty of this overhyped, marketing experiment will wear off in short order as the frustration about traffic issues mount, people will stop going. Much look the big box/power centre retailing of the last 20 years is now having to re-invent itself I wonder what will happen to the property when it does fall out of fashion as there are not a lot of repurposing possibilities.

Probably not a surprise, but I have not been, and have no interest in going, but from what I have heard and read it is really just an outdoor mall with "premium" brands and no "outlet" prices. I really do not understand the appeal of this particular set-up: driving long distances, queuing to get in the parking lot, circling the lot endlessly looking for a parking spot, walking a long distance, queuing up to get in to a store, fighting a crowd to maybe finding a semi-decent deal, etc., but congratulate the marketing team for a job well done in generating such intense hype. Even if one is looking for a shopping "experience" this does not sound appealing to me; how little people must value their time to put themselves through all that.

Sorry for the rant.

Look for new stores (oh sorry, new Outlets) to be built out toward the 401 where there is now parking after the parking garage is completed and open.
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Is all that congestion really due to the premium outlets though? Trafalgar is still very heavily used outside of the hours you'd expect an outlet mall to be drawing people in.
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The congestion at Trafalgar is indeed much, much worse than before the outlet mall opened.
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(07-09-2017, 10:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I could have sworn we had a Toronto Premium Outlets thread in the outside of Waterloo Region section, so I apologize that this is not related Waterloo Region retail, but also didn't think it warranted a thread of its own.

It sickens me, and frustrates me, every time we come past Trafalgar Rd @ 401 and see the sea of parking and the line of vehicles backed up to the 407 all trying to get to the Toronto Premium Outlets, but now they are building a parking garage:


I seriously wonder how much this particular mall has cost society in lost productivity from traffic congestion and excess pollution.

I suspect that as the novelty of this overhyped, marketing experiment will wear off in short order as the frustration about traffic issues mount, people will stop going. Much look the big box/power centre retailing of the last 20 years is now having to re-invent itself I wonder what will happen to the property when it does fall out of fashion as there are not a lot of repurposing possibilities.

Probably not a surprise, but I have not been, and have no interest in going, but from what I have heard and read it is really just an outdoor mall with "premium" brands and no "outlet" prices. I really do not understand the appeal of this particular set-up: driving long distances, queuing to get in the parking lot, circling the lot endlessly looking for a parking spot, walking a long distance, queuing up to get in to a store, fighting a crowd to maybe finding a semi-decent deal, etc., but congratulate the marketing team for a job well done in generating such intense hype. Even if one is looking for a shopping "experience" this does not sound appealing to me; how little people must value their time to put themselves through all that.

Sorry for the rant.

Yeah, there wasn't a thread dedicated to it, but I did complain about it. I'm pretty impervious to marketing, but I was looking for a specific thing (Icebreaker merino wool shirts) so I ended up there and I was surprised that people would go for this.
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Milton has also been growing at an unbelievable rate in the same time period, though. I'm not sure you can separate the two factors.
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I would also agree that there was a distinct change in the volume of traffic in the Trafalger-407 section after the mall opened.
More notably, there would be traffic tieups at entirely new times of the day, like Saturday afternoons.
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Even Sunday afternoons, there might be hundreds of cars lined up on the WB 401 waiting to exit at Trafalgar.

Milton has grown a lot, as has Georgetown, but Trafalgar is really not the primary exit for Milton. The growth will make some difference, but not nearly as much as the mall customer traffic.
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It's confirmed - the Rona on Ottawa South will become a Lowe's by the end of the year. http://www.570news.com/2017/07/24/kitche...owes-2017/
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It begins.
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Sad Another Canadian chain getting eaten up by an American one. Hate that.
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The Rona brand will continue to exist - in Quebec only.
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