EAST-END SHOPPING
Tecumseh Mall on upswing
PetSmart and Giant Tiger should be opening their doors this fall at Tecumseh Mall and the east Windsor mall has found another business to move into most of the abandoned Sobeys store. “We’ll have a new tenant in the new year,” Tecumseh Mall general manager Colleen Conlin said Thursday.
The welcome news for east-end shoppers is part of a revitalization for the mall and the area around Tecumseh Road East and Lauzon Parkway where a new Lowe’s store should also be opening this fall. The closure of Zellers in 2013 and Sobeys in 2014 left two large anchor locations empty at Tecumseh Mall.
“A lot of positive impact is happening in the east end,” Conlin said. “The tenants are very excited. It’s been a longtime waiting.” The lease hasn’t been signed so Conlin can’t say who is taking over about 40,000 square feet of the former Sobeys grocery store. She said the new tenant is not a grocery store. The new store should be announced this year and open in 2019, she said.
There will be about 15,000 square feet of space left over, which won’t be difficult to lease, she said.
“Once we announce who the tenant is it won’t take long to fill out that little section,” Conlin said. Since the closure of Zellers, some of that space has been filled with a call centre and then with the opening last year of Sky Zone Trampoline Park. The mall is renovating the rest of that space for Petsmart and the discount chain store Giant Tiger and should be done construction at the end of September, she said.
“Having something like Giant Tiger join the family and PetSmart is all positive. It’s great for this neighbourhood.”
Giant Tiger spokeswoman Alison Scarlett said the store is on track for its grand opening Oct. 13. The company is moving its Wyandotte Street East outlet in Riverside to Tecumseh Mall. “We are looking forward to welcoming our current and new shoppers to our new home,” Scarlett said of the opening that will include gift card giveaways, a charity barbecue for Windsor Lifeline Outreach and a visit from Friendly, the Giant Tiger mascot.
The former Rona outlet across the street from the mall is being renovated to become a Lowe’s store. A spokeswoman for Lowe’s Canada said the store is scheduled to open in the fall but did not have a specific date.
That renovation cost was put at $2 million according to a city list of building permit construction values. Rona had sat vacant since it closed in 2013. Lowe’s Canada acquired Rona in 2016. Tecumseh Mall was built in 1973 and has more than 65 stores, including an LCBO and Canada Trust, as well as Smoke and Spice and East Side Mario’s restaurants outside the mall and GoodLife Fitness at the north end. The mall is at 69 per cent occupancy, not including the old Sobeys space, Conlin said.