It’s been a cornerstone of the community for 45 years, but at the end of this year, the Portage la Prairie Mall is shutting its doors for good.
The director of the Manitoba city’s economic development agency says the closure, happening next month, is concerning for business owners and the community at large, but not necessarily a surprise.
“The Portage mall has actually been a real cornerstone and an economic driver here in Portage la Prairie,” Eve O’Leary of Portage Regional Economic Development told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
“But over the past maybe 10 years or so there was the exit of a couple of anchor stores, and there has been a decline in the number of businesses that are operating from there.”
O’Leary said her agency, along with the municipal government and other stakeholders are focused on transitioning the mall’s remaining businesses as the closure becomes imminent.
The community, she said, identified some of the issues around the mall a few years back, and efforts have been made to pre-emptively mitigate the effects on business owners.
“We really want to understand that it is a difficult time for them as business owners — they’ve invested so much time and energy and resources in their businesses, and our hearts really do go out to them at this challenging time,” O’Leary said.
Get breaking National news
The good news, she said, is that Portage remains a destination for economic development, as evidenced by the many businesses located around the soon-to-be-closed shopping centre.
“There are a lot of things happening in that area for sure. Change is hard, but knowing that we’ve (taken) proactive measures… and there’s strong leadership in our municipality, it’s very encouraging for our businesses that we’re going to be resilient.”
While the economic development agency and local officials can help business owners move on, O’Leary said many in the city have positive memories of the mall, and there’s an outpouring of nostalgia from the community since the announcement.
“There’s lots of nostalgia on the mall… the mall was really a place for social cohesion as well as a local economic driver, so lots of conversations about the good old times of the mall.”
The Portage mall’s closure is being reflected in similar shutdowns across North America. Retail analyst Bruce Winder told Connecting Winnipeg that many malls are feeling the struggle.
“The malls are going through, and have went through, a significant transition,” he said.
“Middle-class Canada has sort of evaporated, and you’re either looking for value or you’re well-heeled and you’re looking for real high-end stuff — and some of those middle malls are sort of disappearing
“The value malls aren’t doing bad — the malls with the Dollarama in it and things like that, they’re doing really well,… and then some of the malls that are really expensive in some markets are doing well, but that middle mall is really the trouble.”
O’Leary said there’s no concrete plan yet for the fate of the building in Portage once it’s retired as a mall, but the city is looking at a number of potential options.
Comments