Old Navy, Ardene, Dollarama to open in Medicine Hat Mall before Christmas

“They’re all going to be roughly the same size as the new Marshalls and HomeSense area there,” said Okrainec. “So, that’s the three that are opening up. We’re going to be open this fall.”

While Old Navy and Dollarama will be new additions for the mall, Ardene is an existing retailer and will be moving into a new 15,000 square foot space.

Okrainec said these outfitters will help ease the burden of Sears’ departure in late 2017 and will provide an economic boost for the mall as a whole.

“In retail it’s been kind of chaos,” he said. “When Target went away we started to sort that out and built a whole new area down there. We were just getting to the end of that and then Sears pulled out. So, it’s a challenge for all little landlords.”

Part of the 80,000 square foot Sears space has been demolished to make room for the three stores.

Learning from the closure of the Target and Sears stores over the years in Medicine Hat, Okrainec added it was unlikely to see another large retailer become a primary tenant and take up all the available space themselves.

“People don’t want to hear this, but Medicine Hat isn’t a super-big city,” he said. “A lot of these big tenants, it’s a little bit of a struggle to get them to some of our centres. But, this is what we did and I think in the end it’s going to be very well received.”

It won’t just be the three stores opening in time for the biggest shopping period of the year either, as a new entrance and washrooms will be included in the renovation project.

Something that Okrainec said was needed for the west end of the building.

“There are no decent washrooms at this end of the centre,” he said. “So, those ones are going to be just as big as the ones that are in the food court now.”

There is no word yet on how many jobs will be created once the three stores open later this fall.

by Scott Roblin

Old Navy, Ardene, Dollarama to open in Medicine Hat Mall before Christmas

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