Sport Chek's planned expansion in St. Albert Centre next year appears to have cost two long-time businesses their spaces in the mall.
Jillian Creech, general manager for St. Albert Centre, confirmed the leases for both Red Rose Cleaners and Pine House have not been renewed in order to create room for the sport retailer's planned 2014 expansion.
Neither business owner is happy about the move.
“We are really upset and all of my customers are very mad,” said Quan Lu, who has owned and operated the Pine House for 10 years. “They have e-mailed the mall and the phoned but (the mall) didn't do anything for us. They said that's business.”
Abdallah Jiwa has owned Red Rose Cleaners since 1993. He too is upset about the recent move.
“I'm not happy. It's not just me. All of my customers are very unhappy about it but there is nothing we can do,” Jiwa said.
Both businesses will closing down by the middle of August, when their leases expire. Neither has decided what they will do afterwards. Both are looking for new space but are unsure they will be able to find anything.
Lu said he has asked the mall if there is another space to which he can relocate but has been told there is nothing available.
“We have to go somewhere else,” said Lu. “I'm going to try my best to find another location.”
Sport Chek announced in January it would be expanding its store in St. Albert Centre. Its parent company FGL Sports Ltd. closed the Sport Mart in St. Albert in March, along with 39 other Sport Marts nationally.
The Gazette contacted FGL Sports for comment but did not receive a response by press deadline.
The new Sport Chek will be built out into the mall parking lot beside the Winners that is now in place.
Creech said plans for the expansion are going well but referred all questions about the expansion to FGL Sports.
This will be the mall's second significant expansion in as many years. Target, which opened its doors in May, expanded the space that was previously occupied by Zellers by building out into the parking lot.
Creech said the mall is working with the city on retaining sufficient parking at its location.
“We are making sure we are meeting with those guidelines,” Creech said.
Maurice St. Denis is a frequent patron of both Red Rose Cleaners and the Pine House. He said he typically visits the cleaners twice a week to drop off his dry cleaning, then eats at the Pine House with his wife.
He said he is sad both establishments have been told they have to leave to make way for a bigger store.
“It's disheartening to think they were sort of forced out of the mall,” St. Denis said. “From what I understand they weren't really given much of an option.”
St. Denis said the optics of the situation – moving out two smaller, locally owned businesses in favour of a national chain – are poor.
“They're good people. That's what frustrates me,” said St. Denis. “They've built a good client base.”
