So the Walmart at Cedarbrae will be closing end of January. Any thoughts on ithe sites potential?
The combination of No Frills and Canadian Tire maybe avoids another honeydale... But I'm seriously questioning this places viability going forward.
The mall has gone through 2 iterations, this being the second. The first one had a Miracle Mart, Beer Store, Simpsons (later the bay) and I believe had a restaurant at the one end.
The mall has gone down hill since I started going there in 1991. I was there a month ago and made a few interesting observations as follows:
It is heavily ethnic
The mall in its heyday was never this ethnic. Not that it is a bad thing but it really limits who will go there.
The mall had odd hours
When I went there, the mall itself opened at non-standard hours for a mall of its size. It opened later (I believe around noon) on the weekends while No Frills, Jysk, Walmart and Canadian Tire opened at regular hours as per their respective chains.
The mall had low quality merchandise
Much to my first point, the quality of the items is not that good. It is rather low and not worth a trip there. It may be suitable for the needs of the community but I would not shop there instead shopping at the STC.
The mall had no-name stores
The mall itself (excluding the anchor tenants like Walmart, Canadian Tire and No Frills) had no-name tenants. Nothing that would make me want to go there.
Summary:
The mall reminds me alot of Morningside Mall when it was about to bite the dust. Morningside Mall had gone from middle class shopping to an ethnic bazaar with primarily indian, sri lankan and other southeast asian stores.
With the departure of Wal-Mart I can see the mall start to go down hill. This would be prime territory for condos or a subdivision but the mall has outlived its usefulness. There is more reason to trek up to the STC than there is to shop at Cederbrae Mall.