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Walmart Supercentre stores in Victoria and on southern Vancouver Island


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#381 Nparker

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 10:28 AM

You might even say it stinks.



#382 aastra

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 10:28 AM

 

Walmart coming to Hillside may be logical from the perspective of the mall and some residents, de Vries noted, but following the same model won’t put Greater Victoria on a path to meet climate goals or to get away from a dependence on vehicles.

 

One of the oldest post-1945 department store spaces in Victoria, and it's in the CoV itself. Victoria's two urban Wal-marts would surely compare very well to Wal-marts around the country re: access by people who aren't coming in cars.



#383 Nparker

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 10:34 AM

There used to be a bus stop directly outside the north side entrance to Sears*. No other form of transportation could get you any closer than this.

 

* I believe the stop has been moved to the "Marshall's" entrance.



#384 shoeflack

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 10:41 AM

* I believe the stop has been moved to the "Marshall's" entrance.

 

Right between the old Sears east entrance and the Marshall's entrance. Great transit location for Walmart should they retain the two exterior entrances.



#385 Mike K.

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 02:44 PM

Nparker has officially been stripped of his giant stamp.

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#386 Nparker

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 02:46 PM

Oh really?

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#387 Mike K.

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 02:47 PM

Yup. The Department of Off Topic Discussions has revoked your pass.

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#388 G-Man

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 03:02 PM

I would say that the region has more mom and pop shops than it did when Walmart first opened. They are more of a concern in small towns. In a growing city you can have both with no issues.

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#389 shoeflack

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 03:10 PM

The interesting thing is that in the online shopping era, large chains have arguably suffered more than mom and pop shops. People have attachments to and like shopping at their local whatever for that particular niche good. But when it comes to groceries or household goods or a new blender...it's whatever the heck is the best deal. So sure, mom and pop grocers or department stores maybe suffer, but I still see places like Robinsons Outdoor Store flourishing.



#390 Mike K.

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 03:16 PM

They’re flourishing, or just scraping as much income together each month to limit their operational losses to avoid being on the hook for two years of an outstanding lease obligation. You and I won’t see what’s really going on by looking through a shop window.

Downtown merchants are hurting, many of them. It has less to do with Walmart than the high cost of doing business in downtown Victoria, but often we do hear politicians blame the big corporate stores instead of recognizing just how high taxes are and how many days of the month are required to just pay that obligation for a commercial space.
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#391 Love the rock

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 03:58 PM

They’re flourishing, or just scraping as much income together each month to limit their operational losses to avoid being on the hook for two years of an outstanding lease obligation. You and I won’t see what’s really going on by looking through a shop window.

Downtown merchants are hurting, many of them. It has less to do with Walmart than the high cost of doing business in downtown Victoria, but often we do hear politicians blame the big corporate stores instead of recognizing just how high taxes are and how many days of the month are required to just pay that obligation for a commercial space.

High taxes along with less shoppers willing to go  into  town and deal with the ghetto it’s becoming. Extra money  has to be spent by merchants  keeping a  store  safe . Gone are the days with the bay on one side of town   Eatons  on the other and loads of interesting shops in between .  You could spend a whole day in town Very little now to draw me into town now .Mostly  I feel on edge, sad  and  a little depressed when I’m in town for pleasure. This has nothing to do with Walmart for me .



#392 Mike K.

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 04:02 PM

I would not be surprised if Eddie Bauer pulls up the stakes next, now that Gap has nixed downtown one block to the north.

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#393 G-Man

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Posted 18 January 2020 - 06:36 PM

I dunno i see new stores opening all the time downtown. Seems pretty healthy to me.

Crappy places go out of business but good stores seem to be able to thrive.
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#394 Spy Black

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 06:56 AM

I dunno i see new stores opening all the time downtown.

 

I think a lot of that might just be the sheer availability of the type of physical space a small business owner requires or wants.

Street frontage and relatively smallish square footage being the two main ones.

As well, the one thing downtown still has going for it is "access" in that most every bus route in the CRD either starts or ends downtown. Small businesses downtown used to enjoy relatively easy parking as well, sadly not any more.

 

Most Victoria malls are either completely occupied, offer only very large square footage spaces, or are ridiculously expensive with very tight rules regarding how you can operate your business.

It can be a lot easier for a small business to rent in an older downtown building, from a private owner who has few (or no) rules related to how you're obliged to run your business.



#395 Mike K.

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 07:02 AM

95% of new businesses in downtown Victoria are alcohol related. That can’t be good over the long term.

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#396 Cats4Hire

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 07:37 AM

I think a lot of that might just be the sheer availability of the type of physical space a small business owner requires or wants.

Street frontage and relatively smallish square footage being the two main ones.

As well, the one thing downtown still has going for it is "access" in that most every bus route in the CRD either starts or ends downtown. Small businesses downtown used to enjoy relatively easy parking as well, sadly not any more.

 

Most Victoria malls are either completely occupied, offer only very large square footage spaces, or are ridiculously expensive with very tight rules regarding how you can operate your business.

It can be a lot easier for a small business to rent in an older downtown building, from a private owner who has few (or no) rules related to how you're obliged to run your business.

Uptown still has quite a few smaller areas open. The only major routes I can think of without direct access to Uptown that do have it to downtown are 4, 6, 7/21, 14, 15 22 and 27/28. You also add 26 (and 16 when UVic is running) which has a pretty easy transfer point for all of those except maybe 4. 



#397 Nparker

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 08:39 AM

95% of new businesses in downtown Victoria are alcohol related. That can’t be good over the long term.

Someone had to take over the vacant cannabis retail spaces.



#398 Nparker

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 08:40 AM

Uptown still has quite a few smaller areas open...

As does Hillside, which hopefully will be mitigated with the presence of Walmart. And just like that we're back on topic.



#399 G-Man

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 12:13 PM

Anyone that has lived in Victoria for a long time can see that the downtown retail sector is immeasurably better than 20 years ago. I mean clothing, housing wares, design stores. It is not even close. People want downtown to be doing badly but the truth is it is succeeding despite the challenges and i would that is mostly due to the much larger downtown population.

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#400 Mike K.

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Posted 19 January 2020 - 12:21 PM

Are we sure?

 

From a men's clothing perspective, the Levi's store closed; Nyren's closed; W&J Wilson shrunk; Moore's closed; Sitka shrunk; The GAP closed, etc. There's hardly a reason to go downtown now for men's clothing unless you want to look like you're a forest ranger about to take a hike.


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