MALL OPENS ITS DOORS
New Horizon Mall, which officially opened Thursday, is billed as a unique shopping experience in Western Canada, with about 500 privately owned shops expected to set up by summer
The Calgary area’s newest mall is being billed as one unlike any other in Western Canada, and its 500 retailers are banking on its unique style to help them thrive once their doors open this summer.
Located just north of the city across the road from CrossIron Mills, the New Horizon Mall cost $200 million to build and was developed by the Torgan Group and MPI Property Group. The 30,000-square-metre, international-themed shopping centre is the first mall in Alberta where each retail space is purchased, not rented. It’s similar to a condo building for retailers, with individual stores either owner-operated or leased by owners to other retailers.
“The business model of this mall is like an Asian-styled mall, really, something that you would see in the east part of the world, the old shuks or the bazaars, but much more, of course, modern and up-to-date,” said Moe Kharfan, an investor who purchased four units.
“You can come to this mall and purchase things from all over the world. This was the attraction for me because it’s different from anything in the region.”
Units range in size from about 13 to 40 square metres, with those on the higher end costing owners $750,000. Each unit is surrounded by glass walls throughout the largely white-coated shopping centre.
The mall’s doors are open to the public, but retailers only started receiving their keys Tuesday and shops haven’t yet been set up. A grand opening is expected in the summer.
One prominent theme of the mall will be entertainment, with fashion shows and live music events taking place at the stage located at the centre of the mall’s ground floor.
A dining centre and food court, featuring 26 diverse fast-food res- taurants, are located on the top floor, where the most expensive unit sold for $950,000. More than 350 underground parking stalls are also available for free to customers.
Torgan Group president Eli Swirsky said the shopping centre’s business model has worked in the Toronto area, where the company has operated Pacific Mall since 1997.
“This is not going to be Tim Hortons. It’s going to be mainly small stores and small merchants. Some of the names you will recognize but the majority of the names will be unique to this mall,” Swirsky said. “It’s owned by the merchants so it has a different type of commitment. It’s a higher level of commitment compared to being a tenant in a mall. It worked very well in Toronto because people liked to own the stores and they liked to own the businesses.”
Swirsky said the company believes the concept will work in Calgary because of the city’s multicultural community. Proximity to CrossIron Mills shouldn’t hurt, either, he added.
“We expect our shoppers to go over there and their shoppers to go over here,” he said. “We actually complement each other very well.”
Based on the number of businesses, New Horizon is the second largest shopping centre in Canada, with an area more than five times the size of a CFL football field. The new mall ranks behind the West Edmonton Mall, which has more than 800 stores.
But for new shop owners such as Ramesh Prajuli, who purchased a 13-square-metre space to sell Himalayan arts and crafts, his business might not have been possible at other malls in the city.
“The shopping experience will be entirely different from going to a big mall with a big area,” said Prajuli, who plans to sell “purely exotic items” from Nepal, India and Pakistan out of his $182,000 unit. “Customers want to have different experiences. I’m hoping they ’re going to enjoy the shopping experience here. I’m hoping this will be a kind of tourist destination as well in Calgary.”
Albert Fialkow, a realtor with Century21 Bravo who bought two units, said he hopes to turn his space into a gallery where local artists can showcase their work.
“They can get in here, get mall exposure for a nominal amount,” Fialkow said. “I think the traffic will come … because people are curious. You’re going to have the variety and the diversity in this mall that really doesn’t exist anywhere else. People are going to have the opportunity to pick up interesting items. This mall allows those opportunities that don’t exist elsewhere.”
It’s going to be mainly small stores and small merchants. Some of the names you will recognize but the majority … will be unique to this mall.