W. Kel. Future Shop Closing!

[Spocky]

And another big empty retail space that will never be filled! whats next!

+1. It might be mildly amusing to look at WK as the next BC ghost town, but it's not so slowly becoming a reality and it's not amusing to anyone who lives and shops in the area. I know of no other city in BC that demonstrates quite this amount of commercial devastation. I think you'd have to go to some of the gutted American Rust Belt cities to find this percentage of retail vacancy. Of course, the landlords hold onto their illusion of "everything's fine" and it's rare to see them drop below $16/ft NNN + $10! Good luck paying $26/ft. and staying alive in this market!

[GenuinelyInterested]

Pretty soon all of West Kelowna will look like this place.

[Symbonite]

There is a reason why they dont tell anyone that they are closing the store. Theft.

Most people would be like screw this...even our managers are being canned so there would be tons of theft.

This happened to me once when I was working In Vancouver for Gateway Country (Gateway had their own stores something like the apple stores)

Anyways it happened in April 2001 right after the Tech bubble bursted. we had about 10 stores in Canada with one store in Edmonton that was just about to open that weekend...then boom closed papered up and locks changed....One million dollars a store to open just to shut down....no warning....

The American people taking care of the shut down said that we were lucky to live in BC because they were forced to give us a severance package. The people in the states with the shut down stores came to a closed store with their final cheque and no severance.

But They built in Westbank during the boom and by the time they were finished it was a bust...

[Thinktank]

I haven't bought electronic or computer stuff in ages.
I got everything. I got two computers and a laptop.
I got a 19" Samsung tv. A dirt cheap digital camera.

I'm glad Future Shop closed up because I don't need anything there.

[Captain Awesome]

But They built in Westbank during the boom and by the time they were finished it was a bust...

FutureShop opened in 2011 - hardly the booming times. In fact, I thought it was a gutsy move on their part to be expanding during a recession (well, technically we've been out of recession for a while but still).

[DoubleFang]

Had to drive to the Kelowna Future Shop today to cash in a Christmas gift card.

When leaving I noticed the new renos for the Target Store.... It then hit me that could it be possible that they closed the WK FS to herd customers to the Kelowna store, just to compete with the new Target?

With the drive(at least an hour), plus gas and wear and tear, I probably wont be shopping there in the near future.

We have: London Drugs
Staples
Andres
The Source
Walmart

I hope people still shop on the Westside, and support the business we have left.

[TimmyE]

Maybe this is the strategy. Sign up the big national box stores and then saturate the market with too many businesses. The box stores can't make it go and leave. But they've signed a long term lease and so the landlord still collects rent on empty space. Mmmm.

[Symbonite]

FutureShop opened in 2011 - hardly the booming times. In fact, I thought it was a gutsy move on their part to be expanding during a recession (well, technically we've been out of recession for a while but still).

Ya i guess your right....but didnt they have the sign there for like years before they started building...were they contracted that they have to go in as an anchor when the built the mall.

[sislonski]

When and if I shop, I only shop on the Westside. Rarely do I go into Kelowna anymore, to spend money.

[Fancy]

I don't know of anyone that doesn't go into Kelowna to shop. The basics can get in West Kelowna but the selection just isn't there.

[Spocky]

I don't know of anyone that doesn't go into Kelowna to shop. The basics can get in West Kelowna but the selection just isn't there.

Completely agreed. Other than Walmart, Superstore, Starbucks and fuel, I rarely purchase anything on this side of the bridge.

[GoStumpy]

That, and I live in West Kel, work in Kelowna, so I stop by many places after work that are otherwise closed by the time I get to West Kel!

I do admit, I bloody hate going into Kelowna on weekends

But look at me, off to Kelowna to return bottles since there are no bottle depots on the west-side that give full refunds

[Spocky]

That, and I live in West Kel, work in Kelowna, so I stop by many places after work that are otherwise closed by the time I get to West Kel!

I do admit, I bloody hate going into Kelowna on weekends

But look at me, off to Kelowna to return bottles since there are no bottle depots on the west-side that give full refunds

97 through town and downtown Kelowna are nightmares in the summer but fortunately I keep my own schedule so I end up going there mostly on weekdays. As for West Kelowna, I think that the discussion about the retail selection here is mostly academic as it's going to continue drying up. I would like to administer sanity tests for the developers who are still busy building additional space in a market that's in rigor mortis, however. Doesn't anyone actually look around a town they're investing millions of dollars to build commercial space in, or do they all figure (wrongly) that they're building the better mousetrap and they'll succeed where other landlords are crashing and burning?

[Thinktank]

rich people don't know what to do with their money
and they build anywhere - and long term they always
get their money back - and more.

[Spocky]

rich people don't know what to do with their money
and they build anywhere - and long term they always
get their money back - and more.

I beg to differ. The business failures across North America and the world in the last five years have eaten up untold trillions of dollars of "rich people's cash." The only way to support that bizarre thesis is if you are a subscriber to The Daily Worker.