The Plaza at Polo’s parking lot was full for the first time in years Tuesday morning, something the site’s developer says speaks to the continued importance of the Polo Park shopping district.
Best-known as a short-lived Target Canada store, the Plaza, located on the former Winnipeg Stadium site, sat empty for three years. Recent tenants include the 24/7 Intouch call centre, which opened earlier this year, and Winners and HomeSense stores, which opened their doors to the public on Tuesday.
“It isn’t full (yet),” Shindico developer Sandy Shindleman told 680 CJOB’s Hal Anderson. “We still have a space available between 24/7 and the HomeSense and Winners space, but we have it set up that hopefully we’ll have a tenant there before too long.
“Now we’re working on trying to attract best-in-class ideas and planning for some mixed use –– some office and some retail to be their neighbours.”
Currently, empty lots surround the Plaza.
While the failure of Target Canada and the closure of the building may have led many to bemoan the future of traditional retail, Shindleman said the worldwide shopping landscape may have changed, but customers are still out there – they’re just looking for unique ideas.
“Nobody’s immune, but knee-jerk reactions won’t solve the problem,” he said. “Retail’s still providing a lot of jobs. We have to make it inspirational and we have to make it compelling, and people will shop if they have jobs. Jobs create the income for people to buy anything anywhere.”
The Plaza at Polo was opened as a Target Canada store in October 2014, but closed in 2015 as part of the company’s restructuring, which resulted in the closure of all 133 Canadian locations.
WATCH: Vacant Target building at Polo Park gets new tenant
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