The North Calgary Mall?

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Smyth94

Social issues?

None at all.

I'd check your blood pressure though -- if I were you.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

It's actually called Ed's now since the mall took over ownership. I don't remember the car dealership but I wouldn't doubt it.

Perhaps Smyth94 will want to consult with his fellow Edmontonians to see if this is indeed true.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

It's such a dump eh.

Generated 23,500 jobs;
Contributed $339 million in taxes a year;
An annual economic impact of $1.2 billion;
Surpassed the economic benefit of the Town of Banff by generating tourism expenditures of $670 million a year, compared to $565 million a year in Banff;
Established Edmonton and Alberta as a major tourist destination by attracting millions of national and international tourists annually.

http://www.triplefive.com/tourism.html

I don't see anyone defending it like it is a member of the family....there happens to be some people on this site that will bash Edmonton no matter what is there or who good something is. It's not a dump...if it was...it would be out of business and they wouldn't be expanding and they wouldn't have the numbers like above.

JOM I won't unconditionally bash Edmonton. Their have good sports fans and civic pride, but the city is awful, the mall is the 'tourist attraction', too many flakes per capita, they try to burn down their own city on Canada Day, the numbered their streets and aves the wrong way, and the very same engineer must have built northlands ... where you "can't lean forward in your seat, or you wreck everyone elses sidelines."

There are simply alot of things to bash that are low hanging fruit.

[Smyth94]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Perhaps Smyth94 will want to consult with his fellow Edmontonians to see if this is indeed true.

Perhaps Phaunthier will make claims on HF on how he prefers Edmonton to Calgary again

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Jake

Found some numbers for Disney... apparently that guy has his stats wrong.

From Amusement Business Magizine:

• Magic Kingdom, 16.2 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world.
• Epcot, 9.9 million visitors
• Disney-MGM Studios, 8.6 million visitors
• Disney's Animal Kingdom, 8.2 million visitors

Comparing WEM to Disney is ridiculous.

Which one is which? And how are they off? Not sure how he obtained the numbers but if he is putting it between 10 and 20 million wouldn't they compare? Like someone wrote those places know exactly how many go into their gates. WEM would just be an educated guess so it could be plus or minus.

How is it ridiculous? Even if WEM is only 10 million, only the first one has more numbers than it.

[Resolute 14]

Actually, WEM is a dump, but then, all malls are dumps.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Which one is which? And how are they off? Not sure how he obtained the numbers but if he is putting it between 10 and 20 million wouldn't they compare? Like someone wrote those places know exactly how many go into their gates. WEM would just be an educated guess so it could be plus or minus.

How is it ridiculous? Even if WEM is only 10 million, only the first one has more numbers than it.

You are aware that you are comparing a theme park to a mall, right? Apples and oranges comparison. If you want to compare theme parks, fine, but people that go to WEM to buy a shirt or a TV are not going to the theme park.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Flames in 07

JOM I won't unconditionally bash Edmonton. Their have good sports fans and civic pride, but the city is awful, the mall is the 'tourist attraction', too many flakes per capita, they try to burn down their own city on Canada Day, the numbered their streets and aves the wrong way, and the very same engineer must have built northlands ... where you "can't lean forward in your seat, or you wreck everyone elses sidelines."

There are simply alot of things to bash that are low hanging fruit.

True...but that can be said for almost any city including Calgary. Which is were I now live. There are a lot of things about Edmonton that are good to, and, IMO WEM is one of them. I also admitted that some of it is turning into a dive but the mall is much older than the ones here in Calgary. Just so everyone knows, I have never lived in Edmonton.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

You are aware that you are comparing a theme park to a mall, right? Apples and oranges comparison. If you want to compare theme parks, fine, but people that go to WEM to buy a shirt or a TV are not going to the theme park.

Thanks for clearing that up for me....I am comparing the numbers....and it is quite impresive that a mall in a town of 700,000 can attract the same number or close to the same number of people that a themepark situated in a city of 3.8 million and a facility that is recognized by the entire world.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

True...but that can be said for almost any city including Calgary. Which is were I now live. There are a lot of things about Edmonton that are good to, and, IMO WEM is one of them. I also admitted that some of it is turning into a dive but the mall is much older than the ones here in Calgary. Just so everyone knows, I have never lived in Edmonton.

WEM isn't a wart, but there are lots of reasons from WEM that Calgary shouldn't go for this new mall. It really isn't nessasary for Calgary to have this big mall (just like Edmonton to have WEM) and regardless of what Smyth94 believes, its not upscale... to be able to keep itself alive, they have 2-3 of the same store as they can't expand into the "up scale" stores or else they sink themselves. Edmonton just doesn't have the income to support it (the way Calgary has with Chinook, or Market) and you get frequent main features turnover, and places like Playdium and Red's going in favour as (as Reggie put it well) "sockhops" that have turned WEM into a ceasepool for ceasepool for run away high schoolers to find shelter, or their version of junior high "clubs" - its actually pretty embarassing.

I like West Ed for a few things, its size gives it alot of options besides just shopping. However, consequent to that fact, it ends up drowning itself from a business standpoint.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Thanks for clearing that up for me....I am comparing the numbers....and it is quite impresive that a mall in a town of 700,000 can attract the same number or close to the same number of people that a themepark situated in a city of 3.8 million and a facility that is recognized by the entire world.

Not really. One person can go to a mall 30 times a year. One person typically does not visit a park like Disneyland more than once a year, at most.

I like the convienent use of Edmonton city population vs Edmonton Metro too. Usually when it comes to Calgary vs Edmonton population, Edmontonians despise city proper counts.

Also, as has been mentined ad nauseum over time, someone from Camrose or Westlock who goes into the big city is not a tourist. Frankly, those "tourist" numbers are a complete fraud.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Thanks for clearing that up for me....I am comparing the numbers....and it is quite impresive that a mall in a town of 700,000 can attract the same number or close to the same number of people that a themepark situated in a city of 3.8 million and a facility that is recognized by the entire world.

If it cost $70 to enter West Edmonton Mall, the numbers would be different.

If Disney also tracked the number of people who went to Downtown Disney (which is a shopping/restaurant district outside the park but free) it would be well upwards of the figures they're reporting.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Not really. One person can go to a mall 30 times a year. One person typically does not visit a park like Disneyland more than once a year, at most.

I like the convienent use of Edmonton city population vs Edmonton Metro too. Usually when it comes to Calgary vs Edmonton population, Edmontonians despise city proper counts.

Also, as has been mentined ad nauseum over time, someone from Camrose or Westlock who goes into the big city is not a tourist. Frankly, those "tourist" numbers are a complete fraud.

I used Edmonton's city numbers not the metro...otherwise it would be over 900,000. As is LA's metro about 15,000,000

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I used Edmonton's city numbers not the metro...otherwise it would be over 900,000. As is LA's metro about 15,000,000

Actually, Edmonton's metro is a little over one million.

And feel free to address the main point whenever you are ready.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Which one is which? And how are they off? Not sure how he obtained the numbers but if he is putting it between 10 and 20 million wouldn't they compare? Like someone wrote those places know exactly how many go into their gates. WEM would just be an educated guess so it could be plus or minus.

How is it ridiculous? Even if WEM is only 10 million, only the first one has more numbers than it.

Walt Disney World in Florida is huge (roughly the same size as the city of San Francisco) and contains the four theme parks listed (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom), as well as two water parks, and a large shopping area (although, not as large as WEM).

As far as their attendance numbers go, they only count a person's entry into one park each day (you can go to 2 or more parks in a single day, but your attendance is only counted at the first park you enter that day). Given those numbers, Disney World draws 42.9 million visitors a year to just the 4 theme parks.

There are 16 separate Disney-owned hotel/resorts on the WDW property, each with hundreds (if not thousands) of rooms. That doesn't include the non-Disney hotels all around the WDW property, which are filled every night with people who are in the Orlando region solely because Walt Disney bought a lot of land there 40 years ago.

To say that WEM is a bigger "tourist" draw than WDW is just laughable (even if you accept that people driving in for the day from Camrose and Lloydminster to shop at The Gap and ride the Mindbender count as tourists).

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Actually, Edmonton's metro is a little over one million.

And feel free to address the main point whenever you are ready.

Holy cow....you're the one who went off topic about the population. If I wanted to make the numbers look more infavour of Edmonton I would have used Edmontons city pop and LA's metro pop. But I didn't yet you're harpen on me because "I am conveniently using Edmonton's city numbers".

Whatever.

[Shazam]

Not sure what the point of all this is...

Is WEM popular? Yes.
Do lots of people (tourists, whoever) go to WEM? Yes.
Does it need some modernization? Yes.
It is upscale? No. South Coast Plaza is upscale.
Is it great for Edmonton? Yes.
Is it great for Alberta? Yes.

Does Calgary need a giant mall too? Who the hell knows.
Is Calgary putting up a giant mall because Edmonton has one? No. If it was, they would've built one a long time ago. Calgary is getting another mall because many market analysts consider Calgary under-retailed.

[Smyth94]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

and places like Playdium and Red's going in favour as (as Reggie put it well) "sockhops" that have turned WEM into a ceasepool for ceasepool for run away high schoolers to find shelter, or their version of junior high "clubs" - its actually pretty embarassing..

Playdium closed down everywhere in the country. Only one location left.

Red's is basically the same right now, with Ed's.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by getbak

Walt Disney World in Florida is huge (roughly the same size as the city of San Francisco) and contains the four theme parks listed (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom), as well as two water parks, and a large shopping area (although, not as large as WEM).

As far as their attendance numbers go, they only count a person's entry into one park each day (you can go to 2 or more parks in a single day, but your attendance is only counted at the first park you enter that day). Given those numbers, Disney World draws 42.9 million visitors a year to just the 4 theme parks.

There are 16 separate Disney-owned hotel/resorts on the WDW property, each with hundreds (if not thousands) of rooms. That doesn't include the non-Disney hotels all around the WDW property, which are filled every night with people who are in the Orlando region solely because Walt Disney bought a lot of land there 40 years ago.

To say that WEM is a bigger "tourist" draw than WDW is just laughable (even if you accept that people driving in for the day from Camrose and Lloydminster to shop at The Gap and ride the Mindbender count as tourists).

Ok..I wasn't comparing WEM to the four Disney parks in florida, and I don't think the author of that other study was either. When I was comparing them it was to Disneyland in LA. That comparision is good enough. 14 million to LA 10 million to WEM

Even with your 49 million. Disney land offers annual passes, week passes, 4 day passes. How many locals go there? I am sure they count every person every time they enter the gates....so.....someone buys a four day pass.....well.....is that considered 1 person or 4 people....or is it considered 2 if the person only goes 2 times?

The point I am making is WEM provideds impressive numbers for a city so far north and so small (compared to cities like LA)...as does the stampede....which would provided even higher numbers if it ran year round.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Which one is which? And how are they off? Not sure how he obtained the numbers but if he is putting it between 10 and 20 million wouldn't they compare? Like someone wrote those places know exactly how many go into their gates. WEM would just be an educated guess so it could be plus or minus.

How is it ridiculous? Even if WEM is only 10 million, only the first one has more numbers than it.

First of all... your source is s**t. Its written by a student who didn't even say where he got those stats from in his article. Its worth nothing.

Second, the numbers I gave say Disney Land attracts approximatly 42.9 million people a year. Even if your source has any validity, thats over twice the number of your sources maximum range.

And yes, Disney Land/world do keep track of the huge numbers of people going in and out. They sell tickets and count how many they sell. WEM does not. Giving a range of 100% is complete BS and is not comparable.