NateTheUrbanist
Active Member
City Centre Mall (Downtown Edmonton in general) needs a Rec Room.
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
David A
Senior Member
I believe they also closed their store in Ottawa, which is a similar sized city to us. So, I think their strategy at the time was to focus on larger cities only.
They really needed a larger space here, but despite the abundance of downtown space (even several years ago) they couldn't seem to pull that off, so I think the embarrassment is as much if not more for them. Some of the comments around the time indicated there were a lot of luxury brands in West Ed and that was getting to be a competitive problem for Holts. Obviously it is not good for downtown when a business leaves, but there are a variety or reasons and it doesn't always as much to do with us or downtown as one might think.
Perhaps their upcoming expansion in Calgary might be a sign of their rethinking their downsizing approach, but I don't know.
David A
Senior Member
Oddly I think lots of Edmontonians actually do get out and travel to many places that have more vibrant downtowns and they actually enjoy visiting them.
When them come back it seems like many slip back into a very suburban mentality. They see everything, yet learn nothing.
thommyjo
Senior Member
Part of this is the difference of living vs visiting. Most people love downtown Vancouver, but far fewer want to pay 2500-3500 for 400-600sqft 1bdrms.
I think that’s why a lot of people don’t like visiting Edmonton, but come to love living here eventually. It’s a great city for families and schools, active outdoors and community events. Good rec centres and affordable housing. But few of those things matter when you’re in town for a week.
Dubas
Active Member
would be great, but with Banquet nearby, not sure how it would do.
BrettB
Active Member
100%
Tbone84
New Member
Actually, there are people that like visiting Edmonton, just do a YouTube search of people's vlogs. People mostly come here for the West Edmonton mall. But I've seen a lot of vlogs about Whyte Ave, Fort Edmonton Park, the u of a botanical Garden, ice district, elk Island, the River Valley, the many festivals and the restaurants.
Edmonton has things to offer to visitors. It's the locals that sometimes shit on the city. I know a lady who came here for a visit from Toronto and she absolutely loved the city, now she lives here.
The city has challenges, but it also has a lot to offer
thommyjo
Senior Member
Oh, totally! There’s lots of examples of people enjoying visiting here. But when we zoom out to surveys, travel patterns, hotel usage, tourism numbers…it’s clear that Edmonton is not a leader for visiting. Part of that is perceptions, part of that is also reality. Our city is at a very different level of “maturity” vs the other big cities in Canada in terms of connectivity, transit, quality hotels, entertainment options, downtown beauty/attractiveness, etc.
Many of the things that matter to visitors (hotels, entertainment) are less important to residents and vice versa when it comes to schools & affordability.
Tbone84
New Member
Yeah, that makes sense.
David A
Senior Member
Its good to be more positive, but I notice City Centre or Downtown are not positive things mentioned in peoples posts.
David A
Senior Member
This is an interesting letter, not your typical complaining about scary homeless people or crime, but the bigger more relevant problem we need to eventually face - when you go downtown there is not much left to do unless you are going to a hockey game or concert. At this point, not many stores left and the pedways are sometimes locked down.
Yeah Fort Edmonton and Elk Island park is great, but when are we going to face up to reality and try fix this?
edmontonjournal.com
Yeah Fort Edmonton and Elk Island park is great, but when are we going to face up to reality and try fix this?
Tuesday's letters: Downtown outing was a bust
I had a dental appointment in town last Tuesday. It’s a bit of a trek from my place, so I thought, as I shelled out $15 for three hours of indoor parking, why not m…
edmontonjournal.com
cmd uw
Active Member
I agree with some of their comments as it pertains to the shopping experience but the fact that they couldn't find a decent latte after walking by Rosewood Foods befuddles me. And if they missed that place they had Lui-Chi's and Credo a short walk down.
That being said, I think we'll be hearing some announcements as it relates to the repositioning of ECC East/West soon.
That being said, I think we'll be hearing some announcements as it relates to the repositioning of ECC East/West soon.
Garneau2Go
Active Member
Unfortunately Edmonton had a one two punch of the 2014 oil market crash and then Covid once the recovery was underway. My understanding is that because we're not a financial or immigration hub it's going to be a lot harder to kick-start growth again and attract capital in the core, city centre mall is a reflection of that.
I do think that with more people moving here from high cost areas like Toronto they'll bring some capital with them. I also think that Edmonton is fairly well positioned to succeed as we have a diverse economy and are the major center for anything that happens in the changing climate of the Arctic. We can have the niceties that other cities have, but we have to work much harder to get them.
David A
Senior Member
I agree about the one two punch, but I think we tend to sell ourselves short on being a financial centre and on immigration. There is a Federal Chartered Bank headquartered here actually right downtown, which is uncommon in Alberta and Western Canada. There are also two relatively large provincially regulated financial institutions, although one has a suburban headquarters so that might not help downtown.
I think our immigration numbers are in line and fairly good for a city of our size, but of course the larger cities such as Toronto and Vancouver do get a lot more immigrants. I agree that given affordability issues, immigrants will probably look more towards cities other than Toronto and Vancouver, so the future has better potential. Some immigrants are wealthy, but many are not.
We can, but also should have the niceties that other cities have. It will take some work, but I am hopeful in 5 or 10 years, we will look at this situation and time as an aberration, not what is normal.
I think our immigration numbers are in line and fairly good for a city of our size, but of course the larger cities such as Toronto and Vancouver do get a lot more immigrants. I agree that given affordability issues, immigrants will probably look more towards cities other than Toronto and Vancouver, so the future has better potential. Some immigrants are wealthy, but many are not.
We can, but also should have the niceties that other cities have. It will take some work, but I am hopeful in 5 or 10 years, we will look at this situation and time as an aberration, not what is normal.
Greenspace
Senior Member
^Most of the migration to Edmonton right now is from within Alberta or International (immigration).
Edmonton's suburbs are 50% larger than they were 20 years ago. Along with all the retail that's been developed that's gonna have an effect on Downtown. Add in empty offices and slow-ish residential growth not a great mix for major retailing.
Edmonton's suburbs are 50% larger than they were 20 years ago. Along with all the retail that's been developed that's gonna have an effect on Downtown. Add in empty offices and slow-ish residential growth not a great mix for major retailing.