If you build it, they will come!

[detrius]

Except maybe not.

The developer of a nearly empty new mall just north of Calgary says he’s confident it will become the bustling Asian-style bazaar it is meant to be despite having to delay its late-October grand opening until sometime next year.
Only nine of 517 retail spaces in the New Horizon Mall have opened for business since owners were allowed to take possession in May, said Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group of Toronto.

“I love the mall. I think the mall will be fine,” he said in an interview. “I wish it was faster, of course, but every time I go there I’m awed by its size and potential and I think we’ll get there.

He said he expects there to be 20 stores open by the end of September but wouldn’t commit to a grand opening date, saying it will be set when a “critical mass” of 80 to 100 stores are open, possibly by year-end but more likely next spring.
The optimistic outlook stands in contrast to the eerily empty glass cubicles and “For Lease” signs in the freshly painted mall located south of the always-crowded CrossIron Mills outlet shopping centre that opened in 2009.
“It’s surreal. It’s not normal — we’re in the Matrix,” said shopper Pat Williams, who wandered the mall’s echoing hallways taking pictures on Thursday.

[...]

Calgary’s eerily empty New Horizon Mall postpones grand opening

Someone needs to go to prison for this shit.

Seriously, a condo mall? Must be one of the stupidest ideas I ever heard of.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Nine of 517 spaces sold? Those 9 places need to sue if they did not get a discount or something .... part of having space in a mall is other tenants, which will attract crowds to all of your stores.

 

[detrius]

Maybe they can fill it with the toxic waste produced by mining tar sands.

 

[Robert Jung]

Many established malls are having trouble keeping stores; since more shopping is done on the net. This is not a good time to be building new malls.

 

[danielravennest]

If you build it, they will come...

especially if what you build is sex toys.

 

[Soen Eber]

That is one UGLY mall!

 

[detrius]

That is one UGLY mall!

One of the commenters on YouTube compared it to those glass-walled prisons for supervillains.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Seems like the new trend is Forums, where all the walking is outdoors, and it seems like some also have apartments over the shops; like a live-work-play area.

 

[Noodles]

That mall design is indeed pretty awful. All those samey glass boxes.

 

[detrius]

Seems like the new trend is Forums, where all the walking is outdoors, and it seems like some also have apartments over the shops; like a live-work-play area.

I think that concept is called "typical medieval town".

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Seems like the new trend is Forums, where all the walking is outdoors, and it seems like some also have apartments over the shops; like a live-work-play area.

Yeah, we have had a trend here for a number of years. The developers raze outdated/underperforming malls and build little almost villages with condos/apt buildings flanking small little groups of shops. None of them are connected as a mall would be. They appear to be trying to recreate the feeling of a small village/main street atmosphere.

It seems to be working for the most part.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Seems like the new trend is Forums, where all the walking is outdoors, and it seems like some also have apartments over the shops; like a live-work-play area.

They built one of those not far from where I lived before I moved from Ohio. It was skeptical about it, but at that time at least it seemed to do decent enough business - although less and less once the novelty wore off. The idea that people actually want to trudge through ice and snow in the winter enough to favor that over an indoor mall is nuts, which makes me think that there's some other reason malls failed than "people didn't like going to them".

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

That is one UGLY mall!

I was just thinking the same thing. It's atrocious! A mall, or any shopping center, should be warm and inviting. That place is cold, sterile, and industrial. I couldn't see myself ever shopping in a place like that.

 

[EmpressOfCommunism]

There are malls in this city, which is my city that have:

Theme park rides
Hidden court yards
Maze like connections to every apartment in the area
Built in train stations
Actual Asian style architecture
Pools
Hidden passages
Libraries
Museum exhibits
Giant chess boards
Public pianos
A massive indoor jungle with waterfalls, birds, and playgrounds which also happens to be the food court and an indigenous art museum.

This mall isn't dead on opening just because "people don't like malls",
It's dead because this guy made the typical hyper capitalistic mistake of doing everything as cheap as possible, as ugly as possible, and with the fools idea that malls are only about buying things. This far north, with this bad of a climate, malls in Calgary are like public parks but indoors. He should have designed this entire project with that mindset. He could have maybe even gotten partial city funding, like most of the other successful malls here. Ugh.

 

[detrius]

This mall isn't dead on opening just because "people don't like malls",
It's dead because this guy made the typical hyper capitalistic mistake of doing everything as cheap as possible, as ugly as possible, and with the fools idea that malls are only about buying things. This far north, with this bad of a climate, malls in Calgary are like public parks but indoors. He should have designed this entire project with that mindset. He could have maybe even gotten partial city funding, like most of the other successful malls here. Ugh.

Makes me wonder if Trump was involved in the construction of this place.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Many established malls are having trouble keeping stores; since more shopping is done on the net. This is not a good time to be building new malls.

Yeah, hard to believe anyone thinks it is a good idea in the 21st century unless you are doing it as a tax dodge. Not sure how laws work in canada though. If you were trying to get customers though nobody has thought new malls were a good idea since the 90s.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Yeah, we have had a trend here for a number of years. The developers raze outdated/underperforming malls and build little almost villages with condos/apt buildings flanking small little groups of shops. None of them are connected as a mall would be. They appear to be trying to recreate the feeling of a small village/main street atmosphere.

It seems to be working for the most part.

Disney Springs follows that model (sans living space but I would not be surprised at a hotel there) and it does mad business. Then again, it is hard to fail with pretty much anything at walt disney world (although some things have).

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I think that concept is called "typical medieval town".

Man, now I'm homesick again. Er don't have stuff like that here, the closest is like parts of Disney, and even that's not the same.

They built one of those not far from where I lived before I moved from Ohio. It was skeptical about it, but at that time at least it seemed to do decent enough business - although less and less once the novelty wore off. The idea that people actually want to trudge through ice and snow in the winter enough to favor that over an indoor mall is nuts, which makes me think that there's some other reason malls failed than "people didn't like going to them".

Yeah, got to wonder why anyone thinks it'd do well somewhere with horribly hot summers like Atlanta, but it does well enough that it can be hard to get to the food places.

 

[detrius]

Man, now I'm homesick again. Er don't have stuff like that here, the closest is like parts of Disney, and even that's not the same.

I think it's quite obvious that these malls are basically attempts to recreate European-style pedestrian zones, so it really shouldn't come in as much of a surprise that Disney is doing well in that regard.

Yeah, got to wonder why anyone thinks it'd do well somewhere with horribly hot summers like Atlanta, but it does well enough that it can be hard to get to the food places.

Just build the passages narrow enough and you'll always have some shade. Throw in a few strategically placed fountains plus greenery and you get a pleasant micro-climate.

People have been using tricks like this to build cities in areas with much harsher climates for thousands of years.

 

[Knutz Scorpio]

Everything about this looks cheap and quick from conception to final build. All stores appear to be uniform cubicles and even the food court tables and chairs are set in uniform rows. Nothing but straight lines and square corners.