The North Calgary Mall?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by 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.

Exactly...thats all I have been saying...but you get some people that just bash anything without really considering it.

[Resolute 14]

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.

Three points were made in my reply.

You are ignoring two of them. Why?

[RougeUnderoos]

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.

Yes, it is a dump. I've been there. If that mall was in Calgary, I'd call it a dump. It's got nothing to do with being in Edmonton and everything to do with being run-down, dirty and undeniably dated.

I haven't been there in a couple years, but when I was it was dingy and rather dark in some places, despite the fact that it was 3o'clock in the afternoon. There was a bunch of greasy punks beating up a shopping cart that was locked to an "upscale" track in front of the Elephant and Castle so that probably added to the impression that it was a dump.

As for the comparisons to Disneyland/Disneyworld -- I mean come on. That is just embarassing. It's like comparing the world famous Castle Pub in Calgary to Buckingham Palace.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Jake

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.

Thats right ######....tickets sold. You buy a 4 day pass...well that is four tickets...not four different people.

And as I stated....I was comparing Disneyland LA.....did you read that part??????????

This company uses 22 million visitors
http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/co...ss/wested.html

This company claims 22 million
With over 370 000 square metres of gross building area and 22 million visitors
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/Publications/...4_17_2003E.cfm

This site claims 22 million
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...nton_mall.html

This site claims 22 million
http://www.specialeventbooking.com/wem/

Got it???? The point is...it is a lot of people. Where do they all come from? Who knows. Where do all the people that go to disney land come from? Same thing. But I would guess a lot of people from LA, San Fran, Vegas, San Diego and the rest of the area go there often...just as lots of people from Calgary go skiing often. Do more people go to disney land than WEM. Hell ya...but look at the democraphics of the region.

[jolinar of malkshor]

These parks sell annual passes. I would assume that many people for LA or other close cities would take their children there often. ! week passes, 4 day passes. When people go to Disney Land they stay there longer than they would in Edmonton. Example...a coworker of mine is there right now...for 1 week....he is taking is 7 year old daughter and will be at Disneyland for 5 of the 7 days.....so do they count them 5 times? Probably.....everytime they go through the gate for the day.

Already talked about.

See first question. Do people from the rest of California count as visitors?

It looks like it is so.
Californians themselves are the mainstay of the state's travel and tourism industry, comprising 86 % of domestic travel, or 265 million person-trips. Out-of-state visitors account for 44 million person-trips.

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/stats2.html

Does that answer your questions?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

As for the comparisons to Disneyland/Disneyworld -- I mean come on. That is just embarassing. It's like comparing the world famous Castle Pub in Calgary to Buckingham Palace.

It's like talking to brick walls....

Because Castle pub has close to the same amount of visitors as Buckingham palace and the two venues are sooooo similar. Nice comparison.

WEM is an entertainment facility. Disneyland is an amusement park (entertainment). Similar types of attractions. Similar draws in numbers.
Can you figure that out???? Do we need to do Seasame street here?

**Enter *********************tainment
*******Enter ***********tainment
**********Enter *****tainment
************Entertainment
************Entertainment
************Entertainment

Yaaaaaaa

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

It's like talking to brick walls....

Because Castle pub has close to the same amount of visitors as Buckingham palace and the two venues are sooooo similar. Nice comparison.

WEM is an entertainment facility. Disneyland is an amusement park (entertainment). Similar types of attractions. Similar draws in numbers.
Can you figure that out???? Do we need to do Seasame street here?

**Enter *********************tainment
*******Enter ***********tainment
**********Enter *****tainment
************Entertainment
************Entertainment
************Entertainment

Yaaaaaaa

Laugh. Seasame Street.

I have been to Disneyland and West Edmonton Mall and any comparison between the two is just ######ed.

But hey, if you want to compare a shabby mall in the boonies to Disneyland then go ahead. If you are so deluded as to believe that the two "attractions" are comparable then you keep on keeping on.

I'm not particularly interested in studying the attendance figures at either place, but even without studying it all, I am positive that very few people pay $70 admission every time they walk into buy coin rolls and balloons at the Dollar Store in West Ed.

What do you have, a personal stake in the place? It is dumpy. I've been there. It is not a nice place. It is old and rundown. Part of the roof caved in a couple years ago and they had a river running down the hallway. It is decrepit and filled with shabby stores.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Laugh. Seasame Street.

I have been to Disneyland and West Edmonton Mall and any comparison between the two is just ######ed.

But hey, if you want to compare a shabby mall in the boonies to Disneyland then go ahead. If you are so deluded as to believe that the two "attractions" are comparable then you keep on keeping on.

I'm not particularly interested in studying the attendance figures at either place, but even without studying it all, I am positive that very few people pay $70 admission every time they walk into buy coin rolls and balloons at the Dollar Store in West Ed.

What do you have, a personal stake in the place? It is dumpy. I've been there. It is not a nice place. It is old and rundown. Part of the roof caved in a couple years ago and they had a river running down the hallway. It is decrepit and filled with shabby stores.

No I don't have a personal stake and for the third time I have said there are dumpy parts to it. Also, I am not saying it is as good or better than disneyland......no were did I say it had the same entertainment value as Disneyland. What I did say was that it is not a complete dump and it is pretty inpressive that it attractes the amount of people it does (close to the amount of Disneyland). The numbers with regards to taxes employment, and economic spin offs are equally as impressive.

As for the flood....it's not like the place is so run down it just fell in. There was a major hailstorm and WEM has lots of glass for the roof. I was there only a few months ago and it is not as run down as some of the people are making it out to be. Is it older? ya....can they do renovations? ya....doesn't make it a dump.

[Shazam]

Well, see, it's like comparing a Reliant K-Car versus a Pinanfarino Mythos. It's perfectly valid. They're both cars. And they both have four wheels. It's just like how Disneyland has Mickey Mouse, and WEM has Hooters chicks that accidently show their thongs.

Apparently I'm not missing anything by having JOM on my ignore list.

[Shazam]

Here's some more accurate figures for everyone:

WEM attendance:

http://www.edmonton.com/statistics/page.asp?page=70

Disneyland attendance:

http://thedisneyblog.typepad.com/tdb...ark_atten.html

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I'm not particularly interested in studying the attendance figures at either place, but even without studying it all, I am positive that very few people pay $70 admission every time they walk into buy coin rolls and balloons at the Dollar Store in West Ed.

Exactly. You can't compare Disneyland and West Edmonton Mall, because one of them you pay to get in and the other you don't.

A more reasonable comparison might be the Las Vegas Strip which has upwards of 40 million visitors a year. Both cost nothing to visit.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Calgary's new mall will be better because it will have horseys and doctors to make them feel better.

[Phanuthier]

Let's compare malls to malls.

WEM - ~10 million
Berjaya Times Square = 36 million (http://www.timessquarekl.com/aboutus.html)

Mall of America - no stats on visitors, but $1.8 billion USD in economic impact, WEM is $1.2 billion Canadian (Mall of America is almost double)

Just 2 sites that had info...

[Smyth94]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Let's compare malls to malls.

WEM - ~10 million
Berjaya Times Square = 36 million (http://www.timessquarekl.com/aboutus.html)

Mall of America - no stats on visitors, but $1.8 billion USD in economic impact, WEM is $1.2 billion Canadian (Mall of America is almost double)

Just 2 sites that had info...

The numbers are all over the place. Guiness says 20M. Other sources say 20M.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Smyth94

The numbers are all over the place. Guiness says 20M. Other sources say 20M.

Ok, I'll give you 20 million.

WEM - 20 million
Berjaya Times Square = 36 million

[Smyth94]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Ok, I'll give you 20 million.

WEM - 20 million
Berjaya Times Square = 36 million

Your point being?

More population in the area, higher number of visitors? Thanks sherlock.

Mall of America is the same. Nothing compared to West Ed, but more visitors because of the high population density.

Will not change the fact that is Alberta's number one tourist attraction.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Smyth94

Will not change the fact that is Alberta's number one tourist attraction.

Oh Christ. For someone who extolled the virtuous pursuit of rich and rewarding cultural experiences, you're hanging on to crass commerce of a decidedly generic nature.

Talk about a flip-flop.

Man, you suck.

WEM is downscaling to a flea market. The diversity you expouse is available in any other city.

[V]

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.

There really are a lot of things to bash, no doubt. But I don't understand you'r "numbered the streets and aves the wrong way" comment. The streets go north-south, just like Calgary. Is Calgary wrong too?

[V]

Is no one else getting the impression that Smyth94 looks a whole lot like another poster who loved to get into epic Edmonton/Calgary ****ing contests? Our good buddy Sundeep?? This woudn't be the first time he's shown up on a messageboard with a different alias after being banned.

[Daradon]

The race track makes sense and the mall makes sense. The growth in general makes sense. I'm just worried about the river and the surrounding development.