Help could soon be on the way to breathe some new economic life into a struggling community shopping mall in Pincourt.
Guzzo Cinemas is expected to open a new movie house in the Faubourg de L’île shopping mall next year.
It would be much needed relief for the retail shops that are frustrated with the lack of shoppers.
“Unfortunately, the shopping mall has a reputation that it’s dead and there’s only elderly people that are here. So young people will be driven in precisely because of the cinema, so it’s great,” José Hoyo of Impression 3D told Global News.
The once thriving mall now has a vacancy rate of almost 50 per cent. Deserted corridors, closed store fronts and long-forgotten names is what greets shoppers as they walk through.
Business at Paris Coiffure Elle & Lui is down 20 per cent.
“The mall is really, really dead. It’s very depressing,” Marie Camren Da Costa said.
Online shopping and competition from larger regional malls have driven many shoppers away, according to the mall’s property manager.
Michael Bonetto of Groupe Quint believes local residents want a local mall but trying to attract the shopper has been a challenge.
He’s hoping the arrival of Guzzo Cinemas will change that.
“With the cinemas coming in things will develop,” Bonetto said. “Some retailers will show interest. It will bring other types of entertainment concept if you will.”
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