Vacant storefronts with papered-over windows line the hallways of Grandin Park Plaza. Few businesses remain in the mall, with even fewer people seen browsing the shops on a given day.
Many of the business owners still opening their doors confess business is on the decline, making the future even more uncertain for the mall and its occupants. Over the years, businesses have packed up shop and walked away, either relocating or giving up on their business venture altogether.
"It's obviously not good, but I know it's got a lot of potential," Bruce Lauder said in a quiet voice as he stood behind the counter of his antique and collectables store, Chairs N' Lamps. "It could be a very busy mall, it just requires owners to say yes, let's get this thing going."
He said Vancouver-based management company Amacon has left mall tenants in the dark for years, while feeding them incomplete information about future plans.
"They don't tell us anything," he said. "Unless something happens with the ownership to promote the place, to get more stores open in here, I don't think the future would look too good."
He said he is unsure what the future holds for his business and the mall and isn't sure how much longer he will stick around.
"If I knew what their plans were, I would think about staying here," he said. "The way it's going, everything's just sort of on the edge right now."
Many business owners at the mall expressed concern over small amounts of foot traffic, which means less money is being brought in for the businesses, making it increasingly difficult to balance the books.
Nasir Qaderi, owner of Kabul Tailoring, said he would like to see more people attracted to the mall, but noted the current situation doesn't have a huge impact on his business.
"For me, (it does) not make any difference because I've spent enough time in here over the years, all of St. Albert knows us," he said, but agreed if the mall were to improve and get busier it would be "better for business."
Qaderi has called Grandin Park Plaza home for 12 years and intends to remain there for as long as possible. He would like to see the mall attract more specialty shops and businesses, something that would bring more life to the mall and increase profitability for his fellow business owners.
Most businesses located in the mall have been in place for more than a decade.
SHAVA Bookstore, run by volunteers with the Sturgeon Hospital Auxilliary Volunteer Association, has been in the mall for dozens of years, said team leader Dorothy Branson.
"The mall has provided us space for as long as I can remember," she said, adding she has volunteered at the location since 1988.
The bookstore does well in the mall, bringing in between $100,000 and $135,000 each year, she said. These funds are directed to the Sturgeon Community Hospital for the purchase of much-needed equipment.
"We're very happy with the traffic that we get in here," she said. "If there were more stores or whatever, there might be more traffic, but we're not unhappy with the traffic that we do have."
Branson said she is unsure what the future plans are for the mall and the last thing she heard was that the mall would be demolished in favour of a high-density-living development.
Amacon took over management of Grandin Park Plaza in 2005 and had big plans that have failed to materialize. The company aimed to turn the mall into a $450-million urban village that would include five high-rise towers between 15 and 19 storeys high and 157,000 square feet of commercial space.
In mid-2009, however, the project was delayed.
"The plans were to develop something in 2008, which the brakes were put up on that due to the global economic downturn," said Brent Lee, manager of Commercial and Industrial Properties with Amacon. "In terms of the future development of the property, it's sort of just on hold. I don't know of anything percolating right now."
He said he is unaware of a timeline for when the ultimate redevelopment may take place.
During the planning stages for the planned development, tenants were informed that their time in the mall was dwindling — a threat that forced many businesses to seek homes elsewhere.
Business departures
"Everybody started jumping ship when they heard (the plans) and once it starts becoming like a ghost town, everybody's leaving and then it just brings everything down," said a resident artist with the Visual Arts Studio Association (VASA) who did not want to be named.
VASA began looking for a new home after being told the mall was being demolished to make way for the high-rise development.
"The VASA artists who were here were under the impression the mall was going to be torn down six years ago, so they made sure they got alternative digs," said Carla Beerens, resident artist at VASA.
VASA has finally found another home and is moving out of Grandin Park Plaza to set up shop in the Hemingway Centre across the street on June 1.
Beerens said VASA likely would have stayed in the mall had they not been told years ago that it was being torn down, even though there was limited foot traffic coming into the studio.
"This has been a dead mall for 15 years," she said. "If we get five people in a day, I'm surprised."
This lack of shoppers forced many businesses to depart, including a spa, lotto booth, liquor store, shoe repair, thrift store, medical lab and dry cleaner.
Beerens said she thinks the only way to bring people into the mall is a mass-advertising campaign letting people know there are still stores worth coming to.
Although VASA's departure is a step in the right direction for the studio, its departure will have a lasting impact on remaining businesses.
Lauder said his business will be affected, as the "artsy" clientele VASA attracted will no longer be browsing his shop.
"We've lost a few stores in the past year – three or four – and every time you lose a store, it's less traffic," he said. "We don't get new people coming it; it's always regulars."
In order to draw new people into the mall, Grandin Park Plaza must also draw in new businesses, he said, adding if more businesses called the mall home, it would provide shoppers with a much-needed alternative to big-box stores and oversized malls.
Still hope
There is a flicker of hope, however. One business that recognizes the potential that the mall has is Force on Force Tactical Training Ltd., which is set to open its doors this summer.
Scott Collacutt, co-owner, said the business will transform a large portion of the basement to be used for military and police training, and it will be open to the general public.
"I believe this is going to help Grandin Mall," he said. "The business will take off because there's a lot of interest already in the Alberta area."
The five business owners signed a four-year lease with Amacon – the longest lease the company would commit to – a handful of months ago, aware that the company had plans to tear down the facility.
Collacutt and the other owners asked that the business be given at least one year's notice before the mall is torn down — a clause that was accepted by Amacon.
Signing four-year leases with a one-year redevelopment notice clause is something not all businesses can benefit from.
Lee said he is unsure if these are typical in lease agreements signed with the company and many tenants said they feared they could be evicted at any moment.
"The challenge is that to maintain the flexibility of future redevelopment, you can't offer the security of certainty of term that a lot of retailers might require," he said. "What we're left with is sort of small businesses that are building dollhouses and different, sort of, second-run sort of businesses that can live with the uncertainty."
