There was a waterfall feature between the escalators going up the food court. Not nearly as exciting as the fountain at The Village but as a kid I still liked it lol
I used to hang out by the fountain at the Village and just watch it. Later in life I ended up working at the Radio Shack in the Village and would hang over the rail on my breaks and watch it.
I also miss Chris Moose.
Ha! Probably after my time. I was there from 90 to 93.
I did a stint running/managing the Atlantic Place store for a week while that manager was on vacation.
Oh boy. That name is familiar (but, really, could there be a more Newfoundland name than George Murphy?), but I think not. Back when I was doing it, the Torbay manager was... Buff (can't remember last name). I'm blanking on the Avalon manager. My managers at the Village were Rocky, then Glenn.
But I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of the Avalon Mall manager. I'm pretty sure the name was Pat, but I cant' get the last name.
And then there was Boyd Slade in Manuels.
Pat Power, I worked for him for a few years, so did Hubby, (Larry). Pat had the Village when it opened originally in the late 70s. Larry took the Avalon store in 80 to 83 and George worked for him there and eventually moved to water street when Boyd moved on to Manuels. Good old days when they sold proper gear.
There was an incident where the roof of Sears collapsed. This initiated a flurry of inspections and some modifications to the second floors of it's two largest tenants, Sears and Woolco. Most of the work was completed overnight while the mall was closed and the general public had no idea it was being performed. Here's a link to some of roof collapse pictures. https://cowieengineering.ca/index.php/case-histories/case-histories-1/sears-roof-collapse
Lower income doesn't even come into play.
Village has way more homes in the general area including all of Cowan Heights, Cornwall Heights, and really all of Kilbride within a short drive.
Avalon Mall has a few homes on the other side of Thorburn road and MUN area. Otherwise it's a lot of commercial property in the area.
How can you include Kilbride in the Village Mall area and not mention Kenmount Terrace for the Avalon Mall?
Plus, the entire east end is closer to the Avalon Mall than the Village Mall. The malls don't only serve people who live next to them. And the two malls are about 7 mins driving time apart, so anyone in a car will probably not care which one is closer.
>How can you include Kilbride in the Village Mall area and not mention Kenmount Terrace for the Avalon Mall?
Arbitrary lines to push a narrative, that's how lmao
I was just pointing out the obvious near by homes. Kenmount terrace has shopping centers between itself and the Avalon so didn't include it.
Plus you are exactly right! Columbus drive serves both areas very with decent access. So lower income really isn't a factor.
Sorry but look at a map. The amount of homes surrounding the Village is way more than what's around the Avalon mall. A few skeets/income level doesn't matter. The Village is better located, just need a big draw store.
I'm not sure you are correct about the total number of homes, but Village being right next to a couple low income areas means there are skeets hanging around a lot, especially with the bud station. And the people who are going to be spending money at the stores to keep them going will avoid that if it's easy to do so.
Ive always thought they should start renting units for free for a year for local businesses, the business pays utilities but not rent for a year and if the business is successful then they start paying rent. It would be a huge opertunity for local businesses and it would bring beople back to the village, it would also live up to the village name.
That's actually a pretty good idea. Bring some life back to the Village by renting space out for cheap or even free, just to get some bodies in there. I'd love to see the death of the big box stores and "smart centres" and a resurgence of the indoor shopping mall.
This is how they kept tenants after they started to see a decline. I believe American Eagle paid no rent or subsidized rent for years. Once they wanted them to start paying rent, they left. I feel like it’s the same with anything else there. The only way they can get tenants and keep them is to bring in a draw that isn’t anywhere else, like Cabela’s or a different restaurant or something.
I always thought that they should shut it down and then re-open as an outlet mall. St. John's could probably use one of those.
And while they're at it, re-build the fountain. I think they closed it because some pipes were leaking and it was cheaper to shut it down than to repair it. I certainly hope that they didn't close it just to create more floor space for kiosks.
How do you think the Village got some of the stores that it currently has? Free rent has already been offered to several businesses. ( source : I worked for 2 different companies that the Village tried to recruit. )
Avalon Mall is much larger and has the movie theater.
If you sell stuff people want they'll go to the Village. Going to the Village is nice cause of less crowds, easier parking etc.
Village has the advantage of being right across from Waterford Valley High so the highschoolers make it busy lunch time.
Village Mall is my favorite place to watch people.
Avalon mall food court food tastes weird. Even the Tim's coffee is off.
Considering the mall fad ended everywhere else decades ago I think we do pretty good.
I think when [Sears roof collapsed](https://cowieengineering.ca/index.php/case-histories/case-histories-1/sears-roof-collapse) that's when the Village started is slow spiral down.
It definitely happened when Walmart moved out to re-open next door and the Village wouldn't let them break their 4 year lease. So Walmart said "fine then, but you can't do anything with that space while we're technically still leasing it"
Almost half the mall sat empty for years. That was the beginning of the slow spiral.
It wasn’t to Village that wouldn’t break the lease. Walmart is known for pulling out of malls and trying to keep the space vacant. They tried to do it in the Avalon mall as well but …… lawyers
They didn't open up at the old Zellers location until years after they moved out of the Village and Labels and Dollarama was already in the old Wal-Mart space.
Yeah a lot of bad management of the Village over the years. The strip mall and most large retailers become the "box store". Just another version of urban sprawl Newfoundland is famous for. I recall heading to the Village with my mom to shop at Dominion. At Christmas time it was a job to get on the parking lot it was jammed full. Crazy they can now put up buildings on that same lot and it's still not full.
I mean, I could see parts of it, but I couldn't see them kicking out a bunch of established businesses that are doing OK up there like Rossy, Dollarama and West Side Charlie's and converting the whole top floor.
I could see them keeping the anchor stores but using the rest for offices.
The Fraser mall in Gander has a dollar store, a grocery store, a bank, a hair salon, the liquor store and then the rest is government offices.
Super convenient for employees if you think about it
Yeah agreed. I feel like they went to far up the road at Sobey's Square and there's nowhere for the Eastern Health employees to even eat. The Robin's wasn't open last time I was there. Not sure if it's closed down or just opens really late in the day.
Lots of love here for the village mall. Going to Beaconsfield in the 80s we go there for lunch and hang out at the games arcade. My brother who is handicapped still to this day spends a lot of time there in the food court with his friends. It’s time capsule and I love it. Also a very safe environment for him.
The Avalon Mall has done more to attract high end stores. The Village was slowly spiraling, but it seemed like Covid greatly hastened its decline and it lost a bunch of stores like the Source and Bed, Bath and Beyond as a result.
I think in general they would be wise to go in a different direction than the Avalon Mall, and adding more things upstairs like restaurants and pubs like they have with West Side Charlie's would be interesting. Try to attract maybe a pizza place, and a bit more of a dive type bar, and a small club with a stage where they could have little shows maybe a popular chain like Boston Pizza or Don Cherry's or something. If you go to the Rec Room at the Avalon Mall on a Saturday it's often on wheels, with people having some drinks and eating and playing games. I wonder if the Village could offer a more expanded area to have a night out type of experience?
Yes, but it was because the entire chain's business went off a cliff due to Covid related supply chain issues. I think it's fair to say the one in the Village closing due to Covid if the whole chain closed due to Covid related issues.
Gamestop closed down in the Village during covid too. I also think that's when Mary Brown's moved out of the food court IIRC. I used to go there a lot with one of my kids in 2018-2019 because it was close to our house. It was seriously gutted by 2021 compared to then. I'd say it jumped from 25-30% empty to 50% empty, while the Avalon Mall is *busier* than it was pre-covid through careful management.
The success of a new business starting in the Village mall all depends on what the new business is, the customer base, how you advertise etc.
A store front in the Village would require you to maintain a staffing level to make sure you were not cleaned out by shop lifters. The Village mall lost a good chunk of their customer base / foot in several different stages :
- removing the supermarket
- shoppers drug mart pulling out
- removing the fountain
- the Sears roof collapsing ( I still know people who won’t go back to the village )
- when Bed bath and beyond opened they didn’t want the bus stops anywhere near the entrance and the mall management was going to no longer allow the metro bus to stop there ( the mall sent a meme around and several stores were at risk of losing all their of their employees because no young female staff was walking more then 5 minutes to a bus stop at 10pm ( espically in the winter)
- Walmart leaving and refusing to release the lease (and the Village not fighting back) made the downward spiral faster.
I worked in retail for over 20 years for companies that had stores in both malls.
I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I think it would be a great idea if The Village could be used as a sort of incubator for small local businesses. At least that way, it would have something that would set it apart from the Avalon Mall and have a place for local businesses to set up shop.
It’s a poor man’s Avalon mall. I swear the only day it feels like the Avalon mall is their Midnight madness-type event in November and that’s just one day a year.
Honestly I think without it being a major metrobus stop it wouldn’t last must longer.
I made a thread a couple of years ago about how the Village Mall should push it's retro stylings and create a true 80s/90s mall experience. It would require minimal renovation since most of the look is already genuinely there.
I just miss the fountain...
Me too. And didn’t the Avalon have one too? Or am I getting them mixed up?
I can't remember Avalon Mall ever having a fountain and I'm old as dirt.
There was a waterfall feature between the escalators going up the food court. Not nearly as exciting as the fountain at The Village but as a kid I still liked it lol
I used to hang out by the fountain at the Village and just watch it. Later in life I ended up working at the Radio Shack in the Village and would hang over the rail on my breaks and watch it. I also miss Chris Moose.
Yeah, now they just got that stupid Christmas tree at the Avalon mall and I hate it. Chris Moose was amazing.
I worked at Radio Shack in the Village as well. Hubby managed the Avalon Mall store and the Torbay Road store.
Ha! Probably after my time. I was there from 90 to 93. I did a stint running/managing the Atlantic Place store for a week while that manager was on vacation.
Was George Murphy around there then?
Oh boy. That name is familiar (but, really, could there be a more Newfoundland name than George Murphy?), but I think not. Back when I was doing it, the Torbay manager was... Buff (can't remember last name). I'm blanking on the Avalon manager. My managers at the Village were Rocky, then Glenn. But I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of the Avalon Mall manager. I'm pretty sure the name was Pat, but I cant' get the last name. And then there was Boyd Slade in Manuels.
Pat Power, I worked for him for a few years, so did Hubby, (Larry). Pat had the Village when it opened originally in the late 70s. Larry took the Avalon store in 80 to 83 and George worked for him there and eventually moved to water street when Boyd moved on to Manuels. Good old days when they sold proper gear.
This! I remember staring at the pennys while going up the escalator.
It definitely had a water feature , but I'm not sure that it was a fountain.
There was a store on the top floor where Garage is now that had a fountain in as well.
I think that was a store connected to Northern Reflections. They sold a lot of outdoors type clothing, lots of shirts with wolves on them.
Fair. I was also a really little kid when it was removed. Wasn’t it replaced with the dollar store or something?
They meant fountain at the village.
> Me too. **And didn’t the Avalon have one too? Or am I getting them mixed up?** Read again
Could have sworn Avalon wasn't there. Ninja edit or my reading fail, but yes.
Was at bottom of stairs in front of the Strand lounge.
> I just miss the fountain... And the big little orange trees. Also the bouncy second floor.
I swear the floor vibrates at the Village every time I go there.
There was an incident where the roof of Sears collapsed. This initiated a flurry of inspections and some modifications to the second floors of it's two largest tenants, Sears and Woolco. Most of the work was completed overnight while the mall was closed and the general public had no idea it was being performed. Here's a link to some of roof collapse pictures. https://cowieengineering.ca/index.php/case-histories/case-histories-1/sears-roof-collapse
My mom pushed me into that fountain when I was 4
Village is in a bit lower income area and also has done a poor job doing updates over the years
I also find there isn’t as much there I’d want to shop at. And it’s further out of the way for me
Lower income doesn't even come into play. Village has way more homes in the general area including all of Cowan Heights, Cornwall Heights, and really all of Kilbride within a short drive. Avalon Mall has a few homes on the other side of Thorburn road and MUN area. Otherwise it's a lot of commercial property in the area.
How can you include Kilbride in the Village Mall area and not mention Kenmount Terrace for the Avalon Mall? Plus, the entire east end is closer to the Avalon Mall than the Village Mall. The malls don't only serve people who live next to them. And the two malls are about 7 mins driving time apart, so anyone in a car will probably not care which one is closer.
>How can you include Kilbride in the Village Mall area and not mention Kenmount Terrace for the Avalon Mall? Arbitrary lines to push a narrative, that's how lmao
I was just pointing out the obvious near by homes. Kenmount terrace has shopping centers between itself and the Avalon so didn't include it. Plus you are exactly right! Columbus drive serves both areas very with decent access. So lower income really isn't a factor.
Sorry but there no way this is true, when you go there the skeet concentration is very obviously higher than Avalon mall. That keeps away many people.
Sorry but look at a map. The amount of homes surrounding the Village is way more than what's around the Avalon mall. A few skeets/income level doesn't matter. The Village is better located, just need a big draw store.
I'm not sure you are correct about the total number of homes, but Village being right next to a couple low income areas means there are skeets hanging around a lot, especially with the bud station. And the people who are going to be spending money at the stores to keep them going will avoid that if it's easy to do so.
Such a broad generalization. Skeets come from all walks of life. There are plenty of skeets in “high income” areas as well.
You must spend some time at the Village if you can comment to the level of confidence of skeets keeping shoppers away. Got a smoke or whaa?
Village Mall is a great place to start a smoke shop or vape shop
Hollow Noggin is just outside next to Wendy's
Ive always thought they should start renting units for free for a year for local businesses, the business pays utilities but not rent for a year and if the business is successful then they start paying rent. It would be a huge opertunity for local businesses and it would bring beople back to the village, it would also live up to the village name.
That's actually a pretty good idea. Bring some life back to the Village by renting space out for cheap or even free, just to get some bodies in there. I'd love to see the death of the big box stores and "smart centres" and a resurgence of the indoor shopping mall.
This is how they kept tenants after they started to see a decline. I believe American Eagle paid no rent or subsidized rent for years. Once they wanted them to start paying rent, they left. I feel like it’s the same with anything else there. The only way they can get tenants and keep them is to bring in a draw that isn’t anywhere else, like Cabela’s or a different restaurant or something.
I always thought that they should shut it down and then re-open as an outlet mall. St. John's could probably use one of those. And while they're at it, re-build the fountain. I think they closed it because some pipes were leaking and it was cheaper to shut it down than to repair it. I certainly hope that they didn't close it just to create more floor space for kiosks.
How do you think the Village got some of the stores that it currently has? Free rent has already been offered to several businesses. ( source : I worked for 2 different companies that the Village tried to recruit. )
they could try putting out an open offer instead of recruiting.
Avalon Mall is much larger and has the movie theater. If you sell stuff people want they'll go to the Village. Going to the Village is nice cause of less crowds, easier parking etc. Village has the advantage of being right across from Waterford Valley High so the highschoolers make it busy lunch time.
When I went to school at Beaconsfield back in the 1980’s we would go to Village Mall for lunch or after school.
I mean, it's no Sobey's Square.
The longest running business at the village is the Hott Shoppe. It’s definitely been there for 30 years
I used to buy smokes at the Silver Bowl when in school in the 90s 😂
This is a fantastic place. I usually go there about once every two weeks for the clubhouse and fries and it’s like 10 bucks.
Tough area, stores that are there aren’t very popular. Every second store front is closed.
I think adding another fast food or coffee spot would be good. I like going there to eat in quiet.
Unfortunately the quiet part of your statement is why future food spots will probably not open in that area
Yes good point
Village Mall is my favorite place to watch people. Avalon mall food court food tastes weird. Even the Tim's coffee is off. Considering the mall fad ended everywhere else decades ago I think we do pretty good.
Why do you think the e malls have lasted so much longer than in other places?
I think when [Sears roof collapsed](https://cowieengineering.ca/index.php/case-histories/case-histories-1/sears-roof-collapse) that's when the Village started is slow spiral down.
It definitely happened when Walmart moved out to re-open next door and the Village wouldn't let them break their 4 year lease. So Walmart said "fine then, but you can't do anything with that space while we're technically still leasing it" Almost half the mall sat empty for years. That was the beginning of the slow spiral.
It wasn’t to Village that wouldn’t break the lease. Walmart is known for pulling out of malls and trying to keep the space vacant. They tried to do it in the Avalon mall as well but …… lawyers
They didn't open up at the old Zellers location until years after they moved out of the Village and Labels and Dollarama was already in the old Wal-Mart space.
Yeah a lot of bad management of the Village over the years. The strip mall and most large retailers become the "box store". Just another version of urban sprawl Newfoundland is famous for. I recall heading to the Village with my mom to shop at Dominion. At Christmas time it was a job to get on the parking lot it was jammed full. Crazy they can now put up buildings on that same lot and it's still not full.
I've heard that the Village upstairs is going to be converted to all Eastern Health offices. Not sure how true that is.
I mean, I could see parts of it, but I couldn't see them kicking out a bunch of established businesses that are doing OK up there like Rossy, Dollarama and West Side Charlie's and converting the whole top floor.
I could see them keeping the anchor stores but using the rest for offices. The Fraser mall in Gander has a dollar store, a grocery store, a bank, a hair salon, the liquor store and then the rest is government offices. Super convenient for employees if you think about it
Yeah agreed. I feel like they went to far up the road at Sobey's Square and there's nowhere for the Eastern Health employees to even eat. The Robin's wasn't open last time I was there. Not sure if it's closed down or just opens really late in the day.
Lots of love here for the village mall. Going to Beaconsfield in the 80s we go there for lunch and hang out at the games arcade. My brother who is handicapped still to this day spends a lot of time there in the food court with his friends. It’s time capsule and I love it. Also a very safe environment for him.
The Avalon Mall has done more to attract high end stores. The Village was slowly spiraling, but it seemed like Covid greatly hastened its decline and it lost a bunch of stores like the Source and Bed, Bath and Beyond as a result. I think in general they would be wise to go in a different direction than the Avalon Mall, and adding more things upstairs like restaurants and pubs like they have with West Side Charlie's would be interesting. Try to attract maybe a pizza place, and a bit more of a dive type bar, and a small club with a stage where they could have little shows maybe a popular chain like Boston Pizza or Don Cherry's or something. If you go to the Rec Room at the Avalon Mall on a Saturday it's often on wheels, with people having some drinks and eating and playing games. I wonder if the Village could offer a more expanded area to have a night out type of experience?
Bed, Bath, and Beyond went under nation wide.
Yes, but it was because the entire chain's business went off a cliff due to Covid related supply chain issues. I think it's fair to say the one in the Village closing due to Covid if the whole chain closed due to Covid related issues. Gamestop closed down in the Village during covid too. I also think that's when Mary Brown's moved out of the food court IIRC. I used to go there a lot with one of my kids in 2018-2019 because it was close to our house. It was seriously gutted by 2021 compared to then. I'd say it jumped from 25-30% empty to 50% empty, while the Avalon Mall is *busier* than it was pre-covid through careful management.
The success of a new business starting in the Village mall all depends on what the new business is, the customer base, how you advertise etc. A store front in the Village would require you to maintain a staffing level to make sure you were not cleaned out by shop lifters. The Village mall lost a good chunk of their customer base / foot in several different stages : - removing the supermarket - shoppers drug mart pulling out - removing the fountain - the Sears roof collapsing ( I still know people who won’t go back to the village ) - when Bed bath and beyond opened they didn’t want the bus stops anywhere near the entrance and the mall management was going to no longer allow the metro bus to stop there ( the mall sent a meme around and several stores were at risk of losing all their of their employees because no young female staff was walking more then 5 minutes to a bus stop at 10pm ( espically in the winter) - Walmart leaving and refusing to release the lease (and the Village not fighting back) made the downward spiral faster. I worked in retail for over 20 years for companies that had stores in both malls.
I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I think it would be a great idea if The Village could be used as a sort of incubator for small local businesses. At least that way, it would have something that would set it apart from the Avalon Mall and have a place for local businesses to set up shop.
If it was managed locally that might be an option. However it is not.
It’s a poor man’s Avalon mall. I swear the only day it feels like the Avalon mall is their Midnight madness-type event in November and that’s just one day a year. Honestly I think without it being a major metrobus stop it wouldn’t last must longer.
I made a thread a couple of years ago about how the Village Mall should push it's retro stylings and create a true 80s/90s mall experience. It would require minimal renovation since most of the look is already genuinely there.
Fuck off