Portage la Prairie mall to hang ‘closed’ sign after 45 years

It’s been a cornerstone of the assemblage for 45 years, but astatine the extremity of this year, the Portage la Prairie Mall is shutting its doors for good.

The manager of the Manitoba city’s economical improvement bureau says the closure, happening adjacent month, is concerning for concern owners and the assemblage astatine large, but not needfully a surprise.

“The Portage promenade has really been a existent cornerstone and an economical operator present successful Portage la Prairie,” Eve O’Leary of Portage Regional Economic Development told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.

“But implicit the past possibly 10 years oregon truthful determination was the exit of a mates of anchor stores, and determination has been a diminution successful the fig of businesses that are operating from there.”

O’Leary said her agency, on with the municipal authorities and different stakeholders are focused connected transitioning the mall’s remaining businesses arsenic the closure becomes imminent.

The community, she said, identified immoderate of the issues astir the promenade a fewer years back, and efforts person been made to pre-emptively mitigate the effects connected concern owners.

“We truly privation to recognize that it is simply a hard clip for them arsenic concern owners — they’ve invested truthful overmuch clip and vigor and resources successful their businesses, and our hearts truly bash spell retired to them astatine this challenging time,” O’Leary said.

The bully news, she said, is that Portage remains a destination for economical development, arsenic evidenced by the galore businesses located astir the soon-to-be-closed buying centre.

“There are a batch of things happening successful that country for sure. Change is hard, but knowing that we’ve (taken) proactive measures… and there’s beardown enactment successful our municipality, it’s precise encouraging for our businesses that we’re going to beryllium resilient.”

While the economical improvement bureau and section officials tin assistance concern owners determination on, O’Leary said galore successful the metropolis person affirmative memories of the mall, and there’s an outpouring of nostalgia from the assemblage since the announcement.

“There’s tons of nostalgia connected the mall… the promenade was truly a spot for societal cohesion arsenic good arsenic a section economical driver, truthful tons of conversations astir the bully aged times of the mall.”

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The Portage mall’s closure is being reflected successful akin shutdowns crossed North America. Retail expert Bruce Winder told Connecting Winnipeg that galore malls are feeling the struggle.

“The malls are going through, and person went through, a important transition,” helium said.

“Middle-class Canada has benignant of evaporated, and you’re either looking for worth oregon you’re well-heeled and you’re looking for existent high-end worldly — and immoderate of those mediate malls are benignant of disappearing

“The worth malls aren’t doing atrocious — the malls with the Dollarama successful it and things similar that, they’re doing truly well,… and past immoderate of the malls that are truly costly successful immoderate markets are doing well, but that mediate promenade is truly the trouble.”

O’Leary said there’s nary factual program yet for the destiny of the gathering successful Portage erstwhile it’s retired arsenic a mall, but the metropolis is looking astatine a fig of imaginable options.