Bets on how long til they close after the novelty wears off?

wouldn’t you know it…a good news story about someone having enough faith in our City to invest and open a new business and the very first comment that comes from…….. “steeliepete” is……”bets on how long til they close after the novelty wars off?”

steelie..ya gotta get out more and meet some people who live in the real world and actually have some optimism in their lives…some might wear of on you.

…and if that happens..who knows… you might just realize that the sky is NOT actually falling..

I suspect they took a good hard look at the amount of business they get that originates from PG and area before they committed. I know I’m looking forward to their arrival!

In Calgary they have the Iron Cross Mall (one of the best shopping malls in Western Canada) anchored by the Bass Pro Shop.

The Iron Cross Mall is a fantastic place to visit and a must stop when in the Calgary area. If this place turns out to be a tenth of what the Bass Pro Shop is, then it will be very popular in PG… its just to bad it wasn’t located at a local mall, so as to help anchor further commercial growth in PG as a destination shopping center.

I go to Sport Chek when I’m in the mall. I go to Canadian Tire when I’m up that way for the other shopping. I will go to Wholesale Sports once and if it isn’t great I won’t go back. People are creatures of habit! If the store isn’t impressive enough to change a habit then people will go back to their old routine. Been to Target twice….. Back to the old routine!

So exciting! I try my best to support local but have had a hard time getting local stores to pricematch certain things. With Wholesale in town prices should drop locally, finally. I’ll still stop at Wholesale though due to a larger selection of in stock items.

Parking is going to be a real b****. People say park in Value Village but who is exactly going to do that? The mall owner built a fence to keep Delano’s customers from parking on the other side it was so tight before, what has changed?

The mall in Calgary is actually CrossIron Mills, but I can see how Iron Cross slipped out:P

I see they are already tearing up the dirt for this store.

The sports store in Spruceland closed a while ago, so there should be some excess business for this store, however I agree with NoWay, people tend to stick with their shopping patterns.

I have heard many complaints about Target, and the comment, **I will not be going back**.

There is such a thing as reaching a saturation point when it comes to purchases. How many hockey sticks, skates, boards, ski’s etc; do people need??

With a population that is not growing, the market is not getting bigger.

Same problem that China faces, consumer saturation=reduced sales.

I too wasn’t all that impressed with Target, but I’m hoping they’ll get better over time. Prices out of the gate weren’t competitive with any of the other big box stores. If they hope to capture some market share in PG, they have to give people a reason to go there. So far they haven’t done that.

As for Wholesale Sports, good for them. As Palopu said, there might be room for another sports equipment store in this town.

Businesses open all the time. Why is O-250 so fixated on this one?

34 thousand sq. ft? Disappointment and happiness. After all was said and done having my federal government spend all that money and person hours and literature not to mention creating rules, and on and on, introducing us to metric, I am amazed that the store wasn’t announced with square metres. Happiness? Sure am glad I don’t have to pay to heat that sucker.

Wholesale Sports should do well in PG and like axman said, you can bet that they analyzed the amount of business they were getting from PG area postal codes when they were making their plans.

I would shop there if I still lived in PG. With the exception of Northern Hardware, the other local places to purchase fishing gear were brutal by the time I had left. I eventually starting shopping online because I got tired of prices that were out to lunch, subpar selection and unwillingness to special order stuff in and staff that were worried more about talking it up with their buddies than running the cash register.

I hope it does well!

Talking about new business and ventures in PG area, I am surprised there was no mention of Central Mountain Air’s firat flight to Calgary in the news. Ben Meisner slipping a bit here ;)

just for you DPJ ;)
blog/view/28221/1/direct+flights+between+prince+george+and+calgary+announced

My expiriance with Wholesale sports in Calgary, Edmonton, Kamloops and Langley is fair at best … shelves are rarely stocked and the Archery “Expert” last week was the Optics “Expert” while the week before was the Footwear “Expert”

I will check it out I am sure … and may make a purchase there … But for now my Fishing and Firearm related stuff I will continue to buy from Nechako Outdoors … and my Archery related stuff I will continue to buy from T&F Country Sports

That was when it was announced but not when the first flight actually departed from the airport.

I do not fish or hunt. Neither do I go camping. So, for me, I will likely go into the store once or twice to see what they offer.

I was in Surplus Herbies a couple of weeks ago, and they may provide some competion. They seemed to have a large selection of fishing gear and a reasonable selection of camping gear, plus a bunch of handy little gadgets. I know I will go in there on occasion to see what fate brings into the “surplus” part of the store.

The more the merrier, I suppose. Competition will weed some out in a town that is not growing.

We must remember, the amozn’s of this world are growing by leaps and bounds.

I confess, I just bought a new camera, sent from the east coast, here in less than 48 hours, no tax to boot.

Of course, we really no longer have camera stores because of that. Future Shops, Targets, Drug stores that sell electronic drugs, etc. ….. the retail world has been changing.

I still maintain this new store is in the wrong part of town.

As some sign off with ….. time will tell.

It would be interesting to get some idea of which stores succeeded and which failed over time.

I hear Niners Diner sold … for offices apparently ….. furthering the “death” of downtown PG if that is true.

gus: “Of course, we really no longer have camera stores because of that. Future Shops, Targets, Drug stores that sell electronic drugs, etc. ….. the retail world has been changing.”

It’s changed. I do a fair bit of shopping online because of price and selection.

As for Wholesale Sports, I’m not crazy about the location of the new store, either, but hey, I’m sure they did their research. ;-)

location, location, location …….

the PG location seems to be unique to their other stores in BC in relation to the rest of the shopping locations in PG ….

It seems to be a destination store which may simply have been able to shop for the cheapest space.

Who knows. Who cares.

It is their dime and the property owner’s dime, not ours.

I will definatly shop here. When I have been in the market for firearms and hunting gear I wait till i am in kamloops, on business, and buy my stuff at the wholesale sports there. I have saved myself quite a bit compared to what I would have paid if I had bought my firearms here. As for the “expert” comment I always research my interests and possible purchases, with people unrelated to the store trying to sell me the firearms, and then look for the best prices. Unfortunatly PG does not even compare in prices for firearms. But i do agree that if you want archery stuff T&F Country Sports is the place to go.

This is a great addition to our city.
It is another step in growth and development as well as keeping money in our town.
Prince George is a great place to live and is getting better all the time.

gus: “It seems to be a destination store which may simply have been able to shop for the cheapest space. “

I think they were at on time going to locate across from the Home Depot on O’Grady Road, but that fell through. This location is presumably much cheaper than that option.

The Wholesale sports in Kamloops is always packed with people when I am there. It will be the same in Prince George. People will drive from all over to go there. Pier one is coming also. I don’t shop there much but it will be a good addition. You can bet these big stores did their research before moving in. I had never heard of the Bulk Barn before they opened here but it seems to be a cool store and busy.

It amazes me to hear all the people complaining about Wholesale’s location.
For too long our city has been expanding outwards and has left the downtown to slowly die.

People gripe about the state of our downtown and now that there’s a business willing to make a huge investment in the core, people are up in arms about the location – mind blowing. As far as I’m concerned the location is fantastic and should help bolster further development and investment in the core.

It would be interesting to know how many more thousands of square feet of retail space has come into PG in the past 10 – 20 years without a corresponding increase of population.