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Malls making changes

Upgrades, renovations and new stores in Red Deer malls’ plans
8679102_web1_Parkland-Mall

Parkland Mall has been rejuvenated by a major fitness addition.

“The opening of GoodLife Fitness and Fit4Less has resulted in a significant increase in traffic at the mall as well as increased interest from smaller retailers,” said Dan Hachey, general manager of the mall owned by Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust.

The 63,000-square-foot GoodLife Fitness and adjacent 12,000-square-foot Fit4Less, whoch opened in the spring, are billed as the company’s biggest clubs in Alberta. GoodLife Fitness has 350 clubs across Canada.

Several new stores have opened recently at the mall including, The Card and Gift Shop, The Golden Touch and Sophie’s Treats. Vitality Health is scheduled to open this fall.

The mall is also in negotiation with a number of national retailers to fill the former Safeway space. Safeway’s parent company closed the store and about 50 other Safeway and Sobeys locations throughout Canada in 2014 as part of a restructuring.

Work has already begun on updating the interior and facade of the mall, which has more than 100 shops and services.

“We have multiple development projects underway to support our growing tenant list and prepare for future additions,” said Hachey.

The mall is also replacing some of its signs. Two roadside signs will be removed this month, with new signs in place in December.

Over at Bower Place mall, Spirit of Halloween has opened up in the former Target space as a temporary tenant.

“We’ve got plans for the unit, just nothing we can announce yet,” said Dallas Hand, mall marketing director.

Lululemon, the well-known Canadian fitness apparel maker, is opening a new shop in the mall.

Sears will be closing its Bower Place store this weekend. Sears Canada announced in June it will close 59 stores, including 20 department stores, 15 Sears Home Stores, 10 Sears Outlets and 14 Sears Hometown locations.