An empty feeling: closed shops found in Saint John's malls

A CBC News count of vacant store locations in major retail centres in Saint John this week came up with more than two dozen empty spaces.

In Brunswick Square in the city's uptown, there are 14 high-profile empty retail spaces. At McAllister Place, another 11 vacant stores including large spaces left behind when Sobeysmoved out and Target shut down.

More and more customers were demanding to be able to do their shopping online.- Jim Cormier, Retail Council of Canada

An explanation for why there is such a surplus of retail space in the cityisn't the easiest to pin down. But Jim Cormier, the Atlantic director of the Retail Council of Canada, thinks residual effects felt from the 2008 economic downturn are partly to blame.

"That caused a huge amount of disruption for our members" said Cormier.

Another major factor waschanges in how consumers actually shop,he said.

"More and more customers were demanding to be able to do their shopping online."

Competitive sector

Cormier considers retail to be one of the most competitive sectors in the economy and said store owners are constantly forced to remain flexible to stay on top.

"If their landlords do not share those sentiments then there are some retailers that have the ability to say, 'Well, if I don't feel I'm getting the best deal at location A, maybe I'll look at location B.'"

While both Brunswick Square and McAllister Place have sizable vacancies, Cormier said he doesn't think the mall format is less popular.

"It depends on the retailers and it depends on the mall itself," he said.

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It really depends on how competitive each mall wants to be, Cormier said.

A lot of it depends on traffic, but for many stores it simply comes down to how much retailers are charged.

Turn-around attempt

Regardless of the causes, the Uptown Saint John Business Improvement Association is attempting to turn things around in the city's core.

"We're actually in the process of starting a strategic planning session," said president Morgan Lanigan.

Lanigan said the group is approaching the major property owners in the uptown to see what help they need to reinvest in their facilities. Another major piece is seeing what could be done to lure an A-list tenant to those buildings, he said.

Cormier said the draw from a top-tier location could be what a retail location needs to become "the place to go."

"Sometimes it comes down to having a really cool anchor store," he said.

But those anchor stores won't come if there aren't the incentives to come in the first place, he said.

The more popular the store is, its ability increases to move into a location perfectly catered to its needs.