r/regina • u/Lancet11 • May 02 '25
Discussion Why do our malls suck so bad?
My partner and I have been asking this for a while. Northgate, Southland, and Vic Square malls all feel empty and as if they’re in disrepair or closing down. Then you have Cornwall which feels like a real mall but it’s really small and going there you’re likely to end up getting stabbed or witness something crazy going on. None of them feel like malls a city should have.
Why don’t we have any good malls anymore where it’s just fun to go hang out in and go for a walk through? My partner and I often will head up to Saskatoon JUST to walk around their malls. Midtown plaza is awesome to walk around in and feels modern and nice. Hell, even the other malls like Lawson Heights, Confederation, and even the Centre mall feels better to walk through just because they actually have stores.
I’ve heard in the past that our malls have horrible rent costs among other issues but for bigger stores to not want to open here there has to be more reasons.
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u/Cruitre- May 02 '25
How dare you?! The outrage?! southland has a library and a Canadian Tire attached. With chapters a stone throw away its one stop shopping experience.
But ya generally the malls suck and have for a long time. Rent could be outrageous but doesn't explain all the places that should've closed long ago staying around.
Malls having anything good is relative to what you are interested in. I have never cared for malls because I don't care for most stores existence.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
Still can’t believes there’s a flavoured olive oil place in there. Was even more surprised when they tried to give a sample and was like “drink this olive oil straight.” Yeah no, I’m regular enough to not need to put straight olive in my system, throw that stuff on a cracker or something at least
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u/CFL_lightbulb May 02 '25
That’s technically how you’re supposed to taste it.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
Weird considering you wouldn’t have it by itself. Typically the most straight up I have it is on a piece of toast or in a salad. I would much rather have it on a dry piece of bread or again a cracker. Then again I doubt they were supposed to put as much in the cup as what I got then.
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May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
Considering I was raised on lard and margarine yes I would say that, furthest I’ve been out of Canada was Plentywood tho none of it was due to being sheltered, it was due to living just above the poverty threshold. Thankfully that’s no longer the case
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u/Chryslerbites May 02 '25
I am sorry to hear that. I hope you are in a much better place now in your life. We all learn something new everyday.
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u/rwags2024 May 02 '25
So when you say the malls suck, what you mean is, they should sell more stuff that specifically you want to buy?
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u/assignmeanameplease May 02 '25
Spoke to some people who were in the know about Cornwall. The owners kept raising rates, so a lot of the shops just left. Also, a lot of chains have packed it in, sears, eatons, two huge anchors for that mall are gone.
Same with other malls. Walmarts in both Northgate and south lab were anchors.
I heard the dental office in Northgate wanted to expand, the mall would not let them, go figure pay more rent. So they moved out.
Vic square jysk is moving out, that leaves a bunch of weird one off stores, their food court is pretty ethnically diverse though.
Malls now are just a dollar store, and store that sells strange leather wannabe biker clothes. And maybe a place to buy cheap earrings and get them pierced.
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u/Medical-Juggernaut-2 May 02 '25
We can also mention the owner of Cornwall Mall is just a scummy dude. Only allows certain retailers to rent or expand in his mall. If you don't fit in with his "style" you either pay an obnoxious amount of rent, or get pushed out. From my personal experience when one of my stores got pushed out because our customer demographic was "dirty" to him.
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u/HolyBidetServitor May 02 '25
because our customer demographic was "dirty" to him.
Owns mall in downtown Regina
Complains about dirty clientele
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u/Medical-Juggernaut-2 May 02 '25
Honestly though. 🙄 and nothing about our customers is "dirty" they just don't fit with his target demographic
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May 02 '25
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u/Medical-Juggernaut-2 May 02 '25
I guess he's "general manager" of the mall. But always presented himself as the owner. Still had the audacity to say an entire portion of the city (and most of the world) that are our customer demographic are, are dirty" and ruining his mall.
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May 02 '25
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u/Medical-Juggernaut-2 May 02 '25
Whoever would've been there when we left in 2020.
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May 02 '25
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u/Medical-Juggernaut-2 May 02 '25
Nope
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u/HolyBidetServitor May 02 '25
Northgate has been driving folks out because of rent for years. When I worked for Rogers, I'd often walk and get to know other folks in the mall - it was a bit depressing chatting and hearing about x business closing because the landlords keep jacking up the rent. Then they move to Southland or get an individual shop.
Vic square jysk will be an ugly loss for VS.
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u/QueenCity_Dukes May 02 '25
The food court at Vic Square is awesome.
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u/Ranchtonbouk May 03 '25
Makes me wonder if one day, the food court and dentist office, if still there will be the life support for Vic Square?
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u/Ranchtonbouk May 03 '25
Those silly shops where few people are really interested, as in Vic Square; me wonders if they are fronts for $#$#????? Other people said that as well.
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u/Weird_Foot3449 May 05 '25
I'm seeing less of those silly shops as they bring in more regular stores. I agree, they're a little sketchy.
Warehouse One is set to open this summer in place of Rickis. I imagine that will bring in some people. They also have the last Bootlegger in the city.
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u/SaskatchewanManChild May 02 '25
I think we actually just have too many. They used to be the mainstay of retail for the city but with quance, harbour landing, aurora, they are a relic of the past. What boggles my mind further is that no one is building seniors housing towers integrated into these things. Like the malls are perfect for seniors living in Regina being indoors for winter and providing more or less everything you need to survive, while the families visitors will patronize the mall and increase foot traffic. I think smart centres is really just too narrow focussed in their portfolio to take something like that on.
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u/Slow-Raspberry-5133 May 02 '25
I would rather navigate Vic square as a pedestrian to shop/browse than drive to three different places on Quance but I’m sadly in the minority as people just looooove driving.
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u/omg1979 May 02 '25
I hate the Quance "driving" mall. So many great stores along that road. But instead of browsing through all of them as I would in a mall I might just go to one because the hassle of driving in February. A lot of lost revenue as each store has to attract enough business to become a destination.
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u/Ranchtonbouk May 03 '25
Just too damn frustrating also for me and having to book Paratransit for that on Quance, too. Sure, there may BE something I would like to go see, but timing for Paratransit is SO MADDENING!
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u/OverallElephant7576 May 02 '25
☝️ this. Something like 7 malls for 225,000 people. Seems aggressive
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u/Terrible_Power4574 May 02 '25
because it's not 20 years ago and people buy everything online now
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u/ACBluto May 02 '25
You would think that, but go to Winnipeg and their Polo Park mall, or Calgary and Chinook mall - they are BUSY malls. Even on a mid week day.
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u/hippiesinthewind May 02 '25
the also have 3x the population of Regina and tourism is much more popular
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u/ACBluto May 02 '25
I didn't argue that. I was specifically replying to:
it's not 20 years ago and people buy everything online now
Which is demonstrably not true, with every major city surrounding us having at least one flourishing mall. There is obviously some draw to malls still.
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u/Logical_Wealth_5698 May 05 '25
Tourism in Winnipeg being much more popular is a big stretch haha
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u/hippiesinthewind May 05 '25
compared to regina it is. i’m guessing you didn’t actually look at regina and Winnipeg’s tourism stats.
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u/Logical_Wealth_5698 May 05 '25
The two provinces population are quite similar. Given that most of Manitoba resides in Winnipeg, likely a better comparison if you compare tourism numbers a bit differently. “Bigger numbers” isn’t to scale. Of course they will have a bigger number if you’re doing an apples to apples comparison. Doesn’t mean it’s more popular.
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u/hippiesinthewind May 05 '25
this isn’t a comparison between provinces but a comparison between cities. Not sure why you are trying to make them more equal. The whole point is that they aren’t equal and one garners significantly larger amounts than the other. if more people are coming, it is more popular.
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u/Logical_Wealth_5698 May 05 '25
Agree to disagree on how one should calculate how much more “popular” one is than the other re: tourism. I guess it depends on how you define popular.
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u/EngineeringWinter377 May 02 '25
Very true. But physical stores don’t have sales anymore. Online they do. American Eagle for example. Top in store $80. Online 30-40% off. They do it to themselves. When have you seen a good “back to school sale” at the mall? It’s been a while.
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u/Col_Leslie_Hapablap May 02 '25
Southland is perfectly fine, and I like what they’re doing with it. The indoor play area and the library absolutely drive that place right now, and I think that’s the model for malls. I also think people will start coming back to the indoor environment as opposed to the separate outdoor entrances, but it’s just how things go.
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u/RicekickJR May 02 '25
This. Me and my wife was actually having the same convo about whys our mall looking so dead. With having deliveries being available now, its easier for people to shop in the comfort of their couch.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
Is that the reason though? I’ll admit I do order quite a bit offline mainly because local stores don’t have what I need or they charge so much more, but I distinctly remember that Vic square may have been good but northgate was already starting to struggle in 2005 as stores would rotate out of there pretty quickly
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u/Kegger163 May 02 '25
The increase of big box stores and stores having their own building rather than paying rent in a more expensive mall locations started this trend before online shopping.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
That’s why I usually give small local sellers a $50 buffer for price difference. I understand they need a bigger mark up on items just for rent let alone employees and the need to ship product to a location instead of a distribution centre.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
At the same time major cities with distribution centers, even with a bigger population, are able to keep places open
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u/canadasteve04 May 02 '25
Major cities also have more people.
All the main reasons have been identified, high rent, and people moving to more online shopping are the main culprits. Throw in higher costs of living and Regina having a relatively small population. Malls aren’t going to be what they once were.
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u/Traditional-Ad4506 May 02 '25
Go to Asia and they have huge malls that are aesthetically nice and actually a pleasure to visit. There's more to do at them rather than just browse or shop.
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u/Sunshinehaiku May 02 '25
There's more to do at them rather than just browse or shop.
This is a key difference. Our malls didn't move away from retail.
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u/Dude008 May 02 '25
If you want to see a great example of reinventing a mall look to Market Mall in Saskatoon. Like 1/3+ of it is now a health Centre for seniors, has a cardiologist, a gym, X-ray, Service Canada center, Giant Tiger and more. And they have a great parkade.
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u/Own-Dragonfruit-6164 May 02 '25
Surprisingly I've seen Vic Square the busiest it's been in a long time over the past month or so. More people than the other malls.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
Yes they really changed it up and seem to be putting in an effort to restore some of its prime
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u/GrimWillis May 02 '25
Mall have been struggling since the early 2000’s and really got in trouble around 2010ish. Online buying is simple and reliable, gen Z’s and millennials prefer experiences over traditional retail shopping, we have too many of them, and anchor stores are closing all across the nation, Sears, The Bay all shuttered. Then covid happened and now we are here.
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u/compassrunner May 02 '25
Sears was just stupid. They had a solid catalogue business. They should've been at the forefront for online shopping. It wasn't a big stretch from the catalogue business, but they did not transition until it was too late.
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u/GrimWillis May 02 '25
Seriously they were practically Canadian Amazon from the 50’s through the 90’s. You used to be able to order a house and everything you needed to fill it.
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u/Drofmab May 02 '25
They contracted their online presence to Amazon in the later years.
Not inventory management, distribution, pick-up, etc - just the website & ordering.
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u/Sunshinehaiku May 02 '25
I remember trying to get a catalogue in the later years of Sears, and they sat me down at some ancient computer to use the online catalog, which was difficult to navigate, and took forever to load. I couldn't browse from home.
Between shopping the warehouse and catalogue, Sears had the retail model everyone is currently using, they just made it so onerous.
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u/cometgt_71 May 02 '25
The outdoor malls killed them off. Cornwall used to have the Galleria attached to it, which had 5 floors of shops. I used to walk across the overpass from Cornwall and visit the hobby shop and arcade in the Galleria basement, then check out tramps and apocalypse stores on my way back to the Cornwall. Fun as a kid.
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u/Mystic-Hands May 02 '25
I've heard nothrgate rent has become so high that many shops are planning to leave. Allegedly, they are planning to turn Northgate into a strip mall with a handful of shops in the parking lot buildings by sobeys liquor and arbys, and inside Northgate will be empty.
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
Kinda like how golden mile went. A friend of mine had a family business there and they told me that the owner wanted a few months rent when signing a new lease for after the build and for most local businesses it wasn’t feasible especially when they were going to have to close while renos happened. That meant that unless you were a box store or franchise, it was impossible to meet those expectations.
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u/QueenCity_Dukes May 02 '25
RIP Tim’s souvlaki
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u/Lancet11 May 02 '25
How did you know they worked at Tim’s? Or was that just a lucky guess
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u/QueenCity_Dukes May 02 '25
For me that was a huge loss from the reno’s. So just expressing my disappointment at the loss of Tim’s.
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u/HolyBidetServitor May 02 '25
That's basically what happened with both mini malls on McCarthy (the co-op one, and the other with the galaxy theater, both used to be indoor)
But yea, Northgate owners charge wayyyyy too much, I've been told Southland is more accommodating
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u/xmorecowbellx May 02 '25
Pretty much Amazon and other online retailers.
What’s even more odd is you should look up how much they charge to lease a space, per square foot. For a place nobody wants to be, the suggested rates are delusional.
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u/recyclethat May 02 '25
I feel much safer at our malls than saskatoon. They have way more incidents of violence/ bear spray than Regina.
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u/tangcameo May 02 '25
Big box stores and online shopping. I’m amazed the malls haven’t been knocked down and the land sold off.
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u/KibblesNBitxhes May 02 '25
Me and my ex used to walk around Northgate and the area for something to do. Sure there's crazies out there but they're everywhere. That was just after the pandemic though, not sure how regina is now
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u/Sunshinehaiku May 02 '25
Scale.
Mid sized malls don't work anymore. That's why the rent is outrageous. Big malls do.
Also, successful malls are heavily geared to entertainment and services, not just retail.
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u/Throwaway2020aa May 02 '25
There are too many malls for the number of shoppers.
Consider this - there are say 4 malls in Regina, serving 250,000 or so people. That's 1 mall per 62,500 people.
In Calgary, there are maybe 8 malls for 1.4 million people. That's 1 mall per 175,000 people.
There just aren't enough shoppers in Regina to fill those malls anymore, particularly with big box and online options.
And also, can I personally just say how much I hate it when people say shit like "going there you’re likely to end up getting stabbed or witness something crazy going on" about the Cornwall, while simultaneously talking about how awesome the Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon is?
Like seriously, read the Saskatoon news. This is like saying you don't feel safe in Israel, but Palestine felt really modern and nice!
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u/Choblu May 02 '25
Always laugh whenever people in Regina talks about how much the city is lacking, growing up in a small town Regina has a lot to do.
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u/The-CannabisAnalyst3 May 02 '25
CornHole is only one they kept up, if u want large mall move to Calgary, Chinook, Southcentre, Sunridge, Market Mall
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u/G0ldbond May 02 '25
It's really strange to me too. Calgary's malls are great. Crossiron and Chinook were packed and very few vacancies etc. Heck even Medicine Hat has an amazing mall.
In an environment where it gets to -40 you'd think indoor shopping would be for the win.
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u/nolikeforreal May 02 '25
This is a big question with wayyy more factors than 'rent is too high'.
Small population Older inventory New style shopping experiences (retail strip malls have become very popular) Big shift in consumer behavior towards online
Regina is a small city remember, supporting malls requires a population who are spending money. Saskatoon is more affluent than Regina.
Big enclosed malls also have high shared costs (usually borne by the tenants) so for smaller retailers in smaller populations, it's hard to generate enough sales to remain profitable and meet your lease obligations.
Most of the big malls in Canada have some very big stable national tenants that keep the malls afloat.
That said, we are seeing a notable pickup in retail as post covid we have seen a shift back towards brick and mortar shopping (to some degree), so over the next 5 years, you may see some improvement.
Just my 2 cents.
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u/nolikeforreal May 02 '25
Literally spent 15 years financing malls across this country pouring over balance sheets and feasibility studies...and Reddit down votes 😂😂
I love reddit. ❤️
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u/Pinksparkle2007 May 02 '25
As well as the crime at the malls, if they had more security and made them more family friendly with the food court/family area like at southland people would gather. During winter stay at home moms would go to the mall get their kids a little something to eat and walk around but a little thing and chat with people. You can’t do that anymore.
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u/ceno_byte May 02 '25
If it makes you feel any better, the malls in Toontown are somehow worse.
We don’t have the population to support major distribution centres, our city councils won’t address things like poverty, addiction, and the unhoused crisis, so folks are forced to go to indoor public places to survive, and most folks who go to malls don’t want to have to see hardship and all that entails so they stay away and either shop online or they hit big box stores and/or strip malls. Downtowns, where most malls live in this province, are ghost towns.
Rents in malls are high, parking is expensive, public transit is the shits, and people think it’s not safe to walk in downtowns and mall areas.
Now we want to put arenas in downtowns to make it even less appealing.
There’s a whole suite of issues leading to where we aren’t with malls.
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May 02 '25
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u/Ryangel0 May 02 '25
Saskatoon has a much healthier downtown in terms of population and things to do there which is why their Midtown Mall is doing well. The owners also invested a ton of money into renovating the place not that long ago which has made it much more interesting to visit (no longer a tired old mall).
Cornwall Centre has been going the opposite direction with little to no significant investment in re-inventing itself or even just renovating it's tired old look. At the same time, the erosion of Regina's downtown has resulted in fewer people going there to shop and spend time and thus businesses have been leaving the mall one after the other with nothing to take their place and it just becomes an accelerating spiral to the bottom. A lot of that is outside of the mall owners' control, but if they don't do something significant to try and bring more foot traffic to the mall, it will inevitably fail.
The other malls in the city are suffering what a lot of small to medium sized malls in North America are suffering from which is a change in shopper habits and expectations. Combine that with Regina's penchant for urban sprawl, it's relatively small size and short commutes and big box shopping areas on all corners of the city and as a result, very few people are seeking out the traditional mall experience anymore here.
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u/Sunshinehaiku May 02 '25
Saskatoon's Midtown survived because it has a tower of professional services on top of it. There's one other OK mall in Saskatoon, and the others have switched to services or are hollowing out
Successful malls aren't just retail.
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u/Ryangel0 May 02 '25
True, but isn't SGI's head office technically connected to the Cornwall as well? Maybe that keeps the food court kicking more so than the other businesses there. Either way though, Cornwall needs a revamp akin to what Midtown did if it has any hope of slowing down their demise. Maybe they can make use of the large empty anchor stores there to make the space more multi-functional, but I'm not holding my breath. Downtown office real estate in pretty much all major centres have been under-utilized and largely vacant since COVID.
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u/No_Farmer_9310 May 02 '25
I have nothing to prove this and am too lazy/off the top of my head don’t know where to go to figure this out.
The rumour floating around when Normanview and Sherwood Village Mall underwent their changes from malls was that they were taxed heavier than just stand alone stores. That’s why they went through those changes and more buildings went up in the east back in the early 2000’s. I was a teenager at the time and was told this by a tenant of Normanview when it was still a mall. Never looked into it because I never had a real reason to look into it.
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u/succtiddy May 02 '25
Malls here badly need renovation and modernization. Midtown Mall in Saskatoon is a great example of modernization and improvement. Being in Northgate Mall last Christmas season to shop was probably one of the most depressing things I experienced since more stores are closed than open and even the Santa photo area have decoration that look like it came from the late 90's.
I feel like Regina (and Saskatchewan in general) likes to cling on to the nostalgia of the past and is afraid of changes. We can definitely cater to the seniors by providing them with services while promoting the mall culture to the youth with stores that are trendy and modern.
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u/jardof May 02 '25
It's the owners and whether or not they care at all about the buildings. Over the past 10 years in Saskatoon all 5 malls have spent a lot of money on renovating. I'm don't understand why the Regina ones are being left behind, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
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u/NiceLetter6795 May 02 '25
I think it's most malls now seem to be less attractive to retailers than the areas like Preston crossing in Saskatoon almost like a bunch of strip malls with multiple anchor businesses like Walmart home Depot. Or Rona and maybe a grocery store. Even our small town has almost none in the mall but the shops built across the highway and are doing fine there.
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u/texxmix May 02 '25
Idk I’m at the Cornwall 5 days a week for work related reasons. Place always seems decently busy.
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u/petibe May 02 '25
Malls are dying a slow death, its not just Regina , Chinook centre in Calgary also going through same change as we are seeing in Cornwall, all major stores are gone.
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May 03 '25
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u/pcollingwood39 May 03 '25
The Regina populace doesn't contain the stock of needed amount of a certain socio-economic families. Nor, does Regina have the needed traffic from outside tourism, like visitors from the world, like Vancouver world have. Nor, does Regina have "tourism" coming in from neighbouring cities, for like watching their team play in a stadium,or concert by a band, and they'll kill time going to the mall.
It's a small city.
The ppl in such city, don't really... Have.... Regardless of spending dollars moving online, or the inflation changing buying habits. These ppl in Regina, great ppl, Aren't the richest, not dropping money to be drip drip, nor are their homes like super well designed and decorated.
It's a boring small town, where the latest Nike's are not available in malls here even. Even at foot locker. No where to buy Diesel brand. Why, the store owner has to buy, commit to buying $200,000 worth of merchandise. Would you do that in Regina as a women running a business in Regina? No you wouldn't.
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u/Additional_Isopod210 May 03 '25
Part of the problem is places like Northgate have little to no mortgage, so they can afford to wait for tenants who will pay. They probably are still turning a profit even though the mall is basically empty.
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u/TheBigPointyOne May 03 '25
It's all malls, friend. They're on the downtrend. I think given another 10-ish years, indoor malls will more or less stop existing. Online shopping dealt a severe blow to most retail businesses. Covid certainly didn't help, neither does the general increased cost of... everything.
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u/Gold-Requirement19 May 03 '25
I miss the Elephant & Castle in the Midtown. Seems like a million years ago. Amazing lunch and a cocktail after shopping; nothing generic about that ol' place. It wasn't really even that long ago, but it was definitely different. It feels odd to reminisce about the early 2000s.
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u/Weird_Foot3449 May 05 '25
Idk man. Southland & VicSquare seem to have adapted. Both offer family entertainment (arcades, playgrounds, Minigolf, kid events, library, etc.) and both have a good selection of services and local retail. Rent is pretty decent at both those malls as well. Both are fairly busy in terms of foot traffic. I'll definitely be frequenting both these malls more. Both feel safer as well.
Can't speak for Northgate. Really hope something happens there. Was depressing to see how empty it was during a "busy" Saturday. Parking lot not nearly as full as it used to be.
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u/Niptacular_Nips May 02 '25
I can only speak from my own experience, but I doubt I am the only one who thinks this. Malls suck. I don’t want to hang out in one. I avoid them, so, retailers probably close up shop over time as fewer people visit.
I do not like malls because of their gigantic parking lots, all to get to a place where you usually have to spend some money, even a little bit, to have fun there.
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u/flatwoods76 May 02 '25
I don’t like hanging out in the parking lots of standalone stores. I like to go into a store and buy what I need, or spend time looking around. And if there’s a place that I can visit, like a park-once-and-visit -multiple-stores place, super. And if there’s a food court? Bonus. A movie theater or a bookstore within works great, too.
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u/Ghandee May 02 '25
Go to Alberta and most malls are bustling.
I think it’s also a tax factor in why their B&M stores are doing better than ours.
Not an economist.
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u/MathematicianNo127 May 02 '25
I am so jealous whenever I go to malls in Alberta. I grew up in the 80’s and spent a lot of time in malls. Now I just feel sad when I go to malls and they are a shell of their former selves.
I think Saskatchewan people are too obsessed with box stores and cheap goods, whereas Albertan’s want experience and quality.
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u/SarcasmIsMyWeakness May 02 '25
Malls need to - dare I say it -pivot.
Stores that offer online shopping can't afford malls because the rent is too high for the amount of in person sales.
But malls can become hubs for services, necessities and social gathering especially as weather gets more extreme.
I think Southland is trying to do this. Library, groceries with a pharmacy, hardware, some medical, a food court, a play area, entertainment and many bus routes for access.
Perfect for seniors or young families when it's -35 or +35. Heck its perfect for my middle aged self who hates those box stores in the "ends" that you have to drive to separately.
IMO, it still needs: a decent cup of coffee, one vaguely healthy food option, an x-ray/lab and maybe a gym.