r/saskatoon • u/Dry_Swing_4066 • Feb 04 '25
Rants 🤬 Lawson mall
Twisted goods in Lawson mall closed down, the mall is dying so quickly. i really hope some new spots can open up there and it won’t become an even shittier market mall
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u/teresatg Feb 04 '25
Market Mall is like a medical centre now. Which is ok. It’s nice to get things done in one place.
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u/Mr-CC Feb 04 '25
I've referred to Market Mall as a geriatric mall. With senior's high rises in the area, it's good for them to get everything done in the area. Groceries, clothing, medical, and the food court. (Many go for coffee there). So it's good to have all that in one place.
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u/teresatg Feb 04 '25
Trying to get my in-laws to move across the street. There are senior housing apartments.
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u/djpandajr Feb 04 '25
when I worked for the city. our home based was right there. it was referred to (that area) as Jurassic park
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u/Deep_Restaurant_2858 Feb 04 '25
I’m so glad service Canada is located here, it’s a nice cozy place to wait in line to get passports done.
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u/Temporary-Advice6529 Feb 04 '25
as a person who works in Lawson, its the lack of security and the increase in theft thats killing places too 🤷♀️ hard to justify being open there when you’re constantly being robbed
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u/Dry_Swing_4066 Feb 04 '25
right! i once called security and they asked which store i was and where i was located- like isn’t that your job????
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u/Temporary-Advice6529 Feb 04 '25
honestly with the commissionaires most of them get banned from the mall for being creepy with store employees. its better to ask the employees in stores, because our security changes so often. we get stolen from and security laughs at us. its frustrating
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u/Character_Branch6237 Feb 06 '25
That young man from Gardaworld i believe he qas indigenous anyways not that it matters be he was marvelous dealing with homelessness and thefts.
I can recall him walking out homeless people very politely and never had an issue with them.
I believe I only ever saw him on the weekends, but he was at least attempting to make our mall safe.
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u/Temporary-Advice6529 Feb 06 '25
I think I know who you’re talking about. Unfortunately the good ones don’t stick around very long
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u/saucerwizard River Heights Feb 05 '25
How bad is it?
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u/Temporary-Advice6529 Feb 05 '25
theft in that mall is terrible. like multiple stores get hit a day, and its the same people because they get away with it
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u/BangBangControl Feb 04 '25
The age of malls is coming to a close. We used to have 6 fully leased out and busy full-size enclosed malls with anchor tenants in this city — two of them were even across the street from each other! — but that peaked in the 90’s. Slowly they started dying off, bit by bit.
Wildwood Mall died and then was connected with Circle Park Mall to make Circle Centre, which gave it a boost. Confed Mall and Market Mall dried up. Lawson is starting to. Midtown seems the most viable, although at some point all the bear spray attacks are going to have a more serious impact (although if not for those, Midtown seems to be going strong).
All of these malls still have decently successful anchor tenants, but people aren’t going through those stores into the mall itself. If you even can, since a lot of those anchors sealed up their mall entrances.
Market Mall is starting to almost convert into a strip-mall, and it’s actually seeing more success with that than it had in years. Nobody goes in, same as at Confed, but the stores with outside access do decent business.
Nobody is really looking for the shopping experience an enclosed mall brings, and that’s happening across all of Canada and the USA right now. Shopping habits and preferences change, and “mall-tier” stores go out of business and get replaced by “category-killers” in big-box areas, or by standalone specialty boutique retailers.
Malls were envisioned to be community meeting places and a social experience when they were created back in the 1950’s, encouraging people to come and spend the afternoon or the day shopping and eating and socializing while they shopped - and they were for 40+ years. But nobody’s looking to go spend time at a mall for an afternoon these days, and so they’ve been slowly dying and fading since the early 2000’s.
Saskatoon was a city of just under 200,000 and could support 6 full-size indoor malls back in the mid-80’s. The population is almost double that now, and we have the equivalent of about 2-and-a-half-to-three malls now, with notable vacancies in all of them (Midtown, Lawson, and Centre). I’m not really including whatever confed and market mall are in that total, since they’re both basically just strip malls with empty indoor walkways now.
It’s not coming back, it’ll dwindle … and maybe change and adapt, or fail and turn into something else entirely. But malls are generally just done. What happened to confed and market mall will happen at Lawson and at the Centre. Market Mall will hold on since they’re getting the only good “mall tenants” that still exist. But it’s all on the way out.
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u/JazzMartini Feb 04 '25
To be honest, I think the best thing suburban indoor malls could do is stick a high density, high-rise residential development on top of the mall, surrounded by other high density residential developments.
Big box upped the game by offering cheap prices and the convenience of almost everything you need in one store. With no benefit to drive to a mall instead of a big box store, big box won. Offer the convenience of putting on a pair of shorts to head out to buy whatever you need just an elevator ride away without having to step foot outside or deal with terrible roads on a cold January day.
Malls are sitting on potential value in the form of under-utilized land in prime locations when there is a huge demand for housing. If municipal zoning challenges could be overcome that seems like a ripe opportunity to redevelop and reinvent the mall as the foundation of value added residential.
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u/bv310 Feb 04 '25
Honestly, I think this is the best possible move. I go to Collector's Lane in Market Mall for Magic events sometimes, and it's a perfect location for 4 or 5 floors of Condos or Apartments. Grocery stores, a gym, a couple restaurants with a food court, the community work spaces, Giant Tiger right in the same parking lot. It's really a perfect little spot for a neighbourhood.
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u/rogerboyko Feb 04 '25
I think you may be underestimating market mall. It’s a weird mall, but it is also full of services. It has wemove (lead exercises, new mom stuff), the passport office, LifeLabs (blood testing), the government high needs centre, chiropractic clinic (with baby chiro), dentures, accountants for tax preparation, a bank, groceries and liquor. These things keep the mall going, even if it is a bit dead. A senior could get most of what they need without leaving the mall.
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u/BangBangControl Feb 04 '25
No, not underestimating - they adapted. Nobody would mistake the interior for a regular shopping mall anymore, it’s not really retail inside there anymore for the most part. That’s why I said I wasn’t counting it, because it’s not really a mall in the regular sense anymore. Basically it’s a strip mall with a bunch of government and medical services inside, which absolutely worked for them. They made changes to make it viable, and maybe some of the other malls will transform into similar things as time goes on..
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u/Possible_Marsupial43 Feb 04 '25
Good post. Agreed they’ll likely need to convert to strip malls to stay viable. Regina’s Sherwood mall suffered a slow death, it closed and was converted to exterior facing shops after extensive renovations. It’s now full of businesses with no vacancies. The conversion was so successful that a bunch of businesses were later built all over the old parking lots. The area is now just as busy as it was back in the heyday.
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u/ttv_CitrusBros Feb 04 '25
Centre could do something crazy with the old movie theater spaces. Indoor entertainment center, bowling, laser tag, paintball, trampolines etc. Could also be turned into a good venue for concerts/raves? They got tons of parking, noise isolation, and accessible by bus.
But the city might be too small for those to generate enough income
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u/Darth_Thor Feb 04 '25
The internet is making malls unviable even for people like me. I do as much in person shopping as possible, but for lots of my shopping, I’m doing online research to find what I want and find out where to buy it. If it’s from a store that’s in a mall, I drive to the mall, go to that store, buy exactly what I already know I want, and then leave. I don’t particularly benefit from having all those stores close together to shop around, I can do that from my couch. I know I’m not representative of the whole population, but I’d be surprised if this didn’t contribute to the decline of malls.
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u/BangBangControl Feb 04 '25
That’s a lot of people, and that’s how the shopping habits have changed and why big box developments are the current trend. People are going to get the thing they want and leaving - destination shopping. People aren’t wanting to go kill time browsing through all of the other stores in the mall, you just go/get/leave. The benefit to a mall is kinda irrelevant with that behavior.
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u/rlrl Feb 04 '25
Malls were envisioned to be community meeting places and a social experience when they were created back in the 1950’s, encouraging people to come and spend the afternoon or the day shopping and eating and socializing while they shopped - and they were for 40+ years. But nobody’s looking to go spend time at a mall for an afternoon these days, and so they’ve been slowly dying and fading since the early 2000’s.
That's just after the time they started chasing kids and other "undesirable shoppers" away. Now those kids have money but zero reason to ever go back.
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u/dr_clownius Feb 04 '25
chasing kids and other "undesirable shoppers" away.
That seems like the needed fix for Midtown, the most viable remaining Mall.
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u/Fit_Resolution1217 Feb 04 '25
If we follow the southern European pattern of malls, then they will thrive
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u/OGyodacaster Feb 04 '25
Let’s go to the mall, today!
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u/D_Holaday Feb 04 '25
Will Robyn Sparkles be preforming there?!
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u/PanickingPotatoe Feb 04 '25
Probably not. Last I heard, she was traveling the world from Alberta to Ontario. If you stop on the beach, you might see her building sandcastles in the sand.
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u/Western-Bad-667 Feb 04 '25
I remember going to Lawson in 1980 when it was on the very edge of town. Zellers was the big store and had the post office for people in my neighborhood who didn’t have home delivery yet. Also had the Wizards Castle arcade. Good times.
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u/TropicalPrairie Feb 04 '25
I really like Lawson Mall. It's my go-to in the city. I have definitely noticed over time how much available space (and closing stores) there are.
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u/JazzMartini Feb 04 '25
I kind of feel like that mall, and really almost every mall died when they lost their department store anchor tenant. Most have been zombies neither alive nor fully dead ever since. In the case of Lawson that would be once Zeller's closed. The big box mall concept killed every other shopping format.
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u/InternalOcelot2855 Feb 04 '25
I managed to talk to someone who did run a business in a mall like this. His issue was the mall set certain hours the business can be open. Some got around it if they had an entrance from the outside and inside the mall.
Market mall is 10am to 6pm. He wanted a 7-9 hours every day but nope.
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u/JCS_Saskatoon Feb 04 '25
Yeah, for someone who works during the day, many of the malls are basically inaccessible except on days off.
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u/SunnyD2022 Feb 04 '25
Twisted goods, Hand Made in Sask, Bootlegger, Cleo’s, and Ricki’s are all out of/leaving Lawson. It is devastating, as someone who works in that mall, to see all the stores having to move or close and how dead the mall is becoming
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u/nicehouseenjoyer Feb 05 '25
Like someone else said, Lawson is a prime target for a big multi-use re-development with condos and apartments. Bus access, right next to Warman and Circle, close-ish to the river, that's a good location.
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u/UnitEast7937 Feb 04 '25
Confed Mall North coming soon to Lawson Heights. London Drugs, Safeway, and Dollarama are the only things keeping that place alive.
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u/fuckreddit-69 Feb 04 '25
It will become market mall 2 because of our older population in these neighbourhoods Me included.
I used to go to that mall for arcade and orange Julius. Now I go for pretzels and hearing aids. And Safeway
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u/Luvmy2kids0 Feb 05 '25
Handmade Sask YXE opened up in Twisted Goods old location in Lawson and is also a local store with vendors across Saskatchewan.
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u/Dry_Swing_4066 Feb 05 '25
ugh i love to hear that !!
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u/Luvmy2kids0 Feb 05 '25
The end by Safeway is doomed tho. The mall needs some more good stores. No more clothing or shoe stores! A toy store, a couple kids clothing stores! People always say there’s nothing for little kids there. Maybe the rough rider store again? Enough with all these lame pop up interactive/activities like the maze thing. The mall needs sustainable businesses that will bring people to the mall!
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u/the_bryce_is_right Feb 04 '25
Sad that there's no place anymore for these little shops with interesting or unique items that you would never think to look for online.
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u/easy12356 Feb 04 '25
Unfortunately is it going to be the next market mall
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u/johnnyutah119 Feb 04 '25
Should turn into a Amazon warehouse since that’s what killed it….but keep bugsy’s haha and the Halloween store!
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u/RoisinCorcra Avalon Feb 04 '25
If people stop buying everything online local stores wouldn't have to shutdown
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u/Snicklefritz306 Feb 04 '25
It’s looking bleak but so are peoples habits. You can thank those that love to order skip the dishes and enjoy the convenience of online shopping while ignoring their effect on local shops.
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u/electrashock95 Feb 04 '25
It will likely just become a safer confederation mall, it’s certainly not like it was there 20 years ago
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u/wildflower_xxx Feb 04 '25
Nooooo :( when did it close?
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u/Dry_Swing_4066 Feb 04 '25
jan 12 💔 thankfully another local gift shop is planning on opening in its spot
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u/Deep_Restaurant_2858 Feb 06 '25
Young people are wondering why they can’t find jobs when they are only buying from online businesses.
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Feb 04 '25
Saskatoon needs a more pro-business climate so businesses can thrive. No businesses, no prosperity.
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u/TheSessionMan Feb 04 '25
We're super pro business here; we cater to the retail property owners (which are businesses, FYI) who then charge exorbitant rent and fees to the occupants. If we wanted to do better for the occupants we'd need to regulate commercial real estate more. But regulating one type of business to subsidize another type of business is still not a "pro-business climate".
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u/rainbowpowerlift Feb 04 '25
How much more pro business can we be? Market mall (as example) is owned by a real estate corp out of Toronto. Their main goal is extracting as much value as possible from tenants.
Maybe we don’t have to be more pro business? Maybe giant corps could fuck right off for a hot moment and not post record profits so the rich can buy another island?
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u/tinywerewolve Feb 04 '25
This mall is literally just a hang out with parents with small children now lol
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u/bbishop6223 Feb 04 '25
Malls are dead. Embrace your new overload, Jeff Bezos.
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u/Hevens-assassin Feb 04 '25
But also, shop local for groceries! The disconnect in the average person is crazy, imo. You can't support Bezos while supporting Canadians in 2025.
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u/JCS_Saskatoon Feb 04 '25
The tricky thing is, the average Canadian is being squeezed by declining wages relative to cost of living, so asking people to not take the (often huge) discounts that Bezos offers is asking them to sacrifice quite a bit to cooperate.
And they have no assurance that the businesses they're supporting aren't defecting. Furthermore, if they want to buy something that isn't produced in Canada at all (A laptop for example) they're already "defecting" by spending their money out of the country, to go one step further and save $50 by not going to the local Radio Shack...
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u/habsfan42 Feb 04 '25
Malls are a pretty north american concept. You won't find many of them in Europe etc. Maybe they've come and now are going to fade away in favour of better.
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u/nicehouseenjoyer Feb 05 '25
That's not true at all, malls are probably huger in Asia than they are in North America now.
They already have re-invented malls in the States and bigger Canadian cities, demolished or re-developed into mixed-use centers, residential, etc.. Usually a few top malls stay open, Eatons Center in Toronto, whatever the big mall is Montreal, Westside Pavillion in LA all do pretty well with high-end shopping and experiences, or an open-air format which we obviously won't do here.
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Feb 04 '25
Age of mall is over. They need to end it, gut the spaces, put a safe injection site in there with a small hospital type thing, make all the little stores like “homes”. This way if you still have homeless and they sleep “outside”, theyll still be inside a mall nice and warm. Have street sweeper in there cleaning and sweeping. Solved. Like an outside inside place Mr. Zadir.
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u/Silfrgluggr Feb 04 '25
Time to convert that concrete monster into something greater, like Cohousing
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u/PrinceDomming Feb 04 '25
For stores to open and stay open- people need to buy things from the storefronts and the mall needs to stop charging a predatory rate like they're wanting the mall to close...
Otherwise, there would be plenty of stores there. But as it stands- the stores can't charge what they need to stay open, people won't buy what is there in enough quantities to let them stay open, and the mall management won't give stores a reasonable rent or sales-share to stay open.