Calgary Openings, Closings, and Developments

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Saw this in the news about the Northland Walmart:



I thought this bit of news would be worth sticking in this thread as that Walmart is pretty much the old Woolco with some lipstick on it. Next to the North Hill Sears (now a Showroom Furniture) it's a good time machine back to the 80's.....

No timeline given for this conversion though. Probably contingent on the Deerfoot City wannabe redevelopment plans for that area happening.

One of two stores in Canada? Aren't there a few Walmart Supercenters in Calgary already? I have to imagine major renovations are required as that's an old store.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

One of two stores in Canada? Aren't there a few Walmart Supercenters in Calgary already? I have to imagine major renovations are required as that's an old store.

One of two stores to be converted

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Did the McDonalds ever re-open since Covid? I can't believe that inside McD has been the exact same since 1993. I should go revisit my childhood Woolco one last time.

It is wonderfully quaint - the McD's is exactly where the cafeteria was in a Woolco - buried at the back of the store, in the middle. Not by the entrance. It's pretty small and cramped. Wish they had crinkle cut fries and gravy.

Of course, it never made any sense whatsoever as the other end of the mall has always had a free standing McDonalds....

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

One of two stores in Canada? Aren't there a few Walmart Supercenters in Calgary already? I have to imagine major renovations are required as that's an old store.

I suspect they'd be better of nuking that site as part of any razing of the mall. It's tied into the mall in such a way that it'd probably just easier to rebuild it from scratch as part of a major redevelopment. Kind of like Deerfoot City - they just built on an unused part of the site and demo'ed the mall itself.

I don't shop at WalMart a lot, but once in a while I do, and recognize there are many people that do want/need to shop there, so as part of a inclusive demographic - you need places like a Walmart.

That Northland location services pretty much everyone north of 16th and south of Country Hills (between Sarcee and 10th St) so it services a good swath of the inner city. I also have an irrational dislike of the Bow Trail Walmart (probably related to ease of access) and will goto the Northland location 1st.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

It is wonderfully quaint - the McD's is exactly where the cafeteria was in a Woolco - buried at the back of the store, in the middle. Not by the entrance. It's pretty small and cramped. Wish they had crinkle cut fries and gravy.

Of course, it never made any sense whatsoever as the other end of the mall has always had a free standing McDonalds...

I've only ever ordered once from that in-Walmart McDonalds at Northland when they had some special promotion but that location did probably serve a purpose as the standalone McDonald's is probably the slowest store in the city. I don't go very often and when I do I try to go to any other McDonald's because I've previously had 15 to 20 minute wait times for food there. Maybe things have improved since the renovation but their previous performance was enough to keep me away for good.

[Hack&Lube]

There was an entire Northland Mall demolish and redevelopment plan approved by city council from 5 years ago but I haven't heard a peep since:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ncil-1.3479838

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There was an entire Northland Mall demolish and redevelopment plan approved by city council from 5 years ago but I haven't heard a peep since:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ncil-1.3479838

It's still alive.

Land Use Amendment Request as of June 2020

Updated Concept Plan

Based on that, just seems they'll extend the current Walmart northward while breaking up the mall for phase 1.

[Calgary14]

That whole strip mall in Deer Ridge needs to be redone. I think it actually used to be a mall as well. I know all of that was there first but I am guessing those stores (especially the walmart) got hit hard once Deerfoot Meadows was developed

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Joborule

It's still alive.

Land Use Amendment Request as of June 2020

Updated Concept Plan

Based on that, just seems they'll extend the current Walmart northward while breaking up the mall for phase 1.

I still remember when the North End had all these Eatons arches

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

That whole strip mall in Deer Ridge needs to be redone. I think it actually used to be a mall as well. I know all of that was there first but I am guessing those stores (especially the walmart) got hit hard once Deerfoot Meadows was developed

Yeah, that was literally just renovated from a walk in mall to a front facing strip mall a few years ago. Not a chance a community mall is redeveloped twice in ten years.

[calf]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I still remember when the North End had all these Eatons arches

That gave me a flood of memories of going to Eaton's with my parents to pick up ugly, scratchy sweaters for school photos.

Also remember going there in the store's final days and all that was around and for sale was the display racks.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

That whole strip mall in Deer Ridge needs to be redone. I think it actually used to be a mall as well. I know all of that was there first but I am guessing those stores (especially the walmart) got hit hard once Deerfoot Meadows was developed

The Wal Mart didn't arrive until after Deerfoot Meadows was established; it moved into the space formerly occupied by Zellers.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by calf

That gave me a flood of memories of going to Eaton's with my parents to pick up ugly, scratchy sweaters for school photos.

Also remember going there in the store's final days and all that was around and for sale was the display racks.

Oh yeah I think Eatons was still there when we were in Simon Fraser. I don't remember if it was still there by the time we had moved to Churchill. It must have been since their bankruptcy was 1999.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Reaper

The Wal Mart didn't arrive until after Deerfoot Meadows was established; it moved into the space formerly occupied by Zellers.

I didn't find out about this mall until last year. That Zellers wasn't turned into a Target?

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I didn't find out about this mall until last year. That Zellers wasn't turned into a Target?

Yes it was a Target before all of them shut down, then Walmart moved in.

[sleepingmoose]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Yes it was a Target before all of them shut down, then Walmart moved in.

Actually, I don't believe Deer Valley became a Target - it went straight from Zellers to Walmart.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by calf

That gave me a flood of memories of going to Eaton's with my parents to pick up ugly, scratchy sweaters for school photos.

Also remember going there in the store's final days and all that was around and for sale was the display racks.

The Future Shop in the middle of the mall was great.

[Vinny01]

I have a lot of memories of Northland Mall. I worked out at the Gold’s gym there from 03-09 and also worked at both the Best Buy and Future Shop that used to be in that Mall in 2006. Haven’t been for years and years.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

The Future Shop in the middle of the mall was great.

I went to Churchill in the late 90s, and going to Future Shop and HMV to check out computer games/CD's over lunch was an almost daily occurrence.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

Actually, I don't believe Deer Valley became a Target - it went straight from Zellers to Walmart.

Hmmm. Perhaps I'm misremembering.
I used to live down the street and my parents are still there. I could have sworn I shopped there for a while as a Target.


Then stopped going because I refuse to step foot in Walmarts.


But my brain has been failing me more often as I grow older!

[shermanator]

Comery Block is going into the old Wurst location...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2djQdhVPJ/