Random Play: Alt.Republic: The rolling mall
96 Responses
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Tim Hannah, in reply to
Johnsonville mall is going to expand, maybe to the point of being a proper Mall destination thing.
I'm pretty sure they were trying to get Kirk's as their premier leaseholder, but they wouldn't leave the city, or couldn't get a good enough deal, or something.
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Ben, basically your argument is that the mall is easy cos you can drive there, they have lots of nice carparks and there aren't nasty "random obstacles" around the place.
I don't have any argument, per se, just some observations about St Luke's which are positive along with other ones that aren't so positive. But yes, the basic idea of a mall is a bunch of shops with their own large carpark, which is good for shoppers, obviously so since a lot of shoppers choose it in preference to a great many other options. I find it especially convenient when I've got the family with me, when random obstacles are real hazards to life and avoiding them is a great deal of effort.
I'm trying to thing of what levels of gentle coaxing, strong discouragement, or physical restraint are appropriate with our three to indicate that mall shopping is not a hobby, or sport, and that there are more constructive ways to spend both their time, and our money.
That's dead easy. The only money they can spend in the mall is their own.
What a party pooper dad I am! "2 dollar shop dad, come on!!!" "Ask you mum."
St Lukes has several 2 dollar shops, but I definitely prefer Avondale for that. A whole district of 2 dollar shops
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I think any shopping is mad as. Having worked in St Lukes (what felt like every friggin day) for 7 years, I have to admit, I think it's the people like Mr Wilson and there is many, that will use, and enjoy it, no matter it's size. You get regulars (the every Tuesday shoppers) you get the minibus seniors (retirement homes are all over St Lukes, Sandringham, Mt Roskill). You get single women/mothers who prefer to park in safety. You get female retailers who feel safer going to their cars after late shifts and those with no parking other than surrounding streets, get security to escort them. In general there is a group of the public happy to use the maul. I think it's mad to shop, generally, but I do know a few back doors in for any shopping I have to commit in that maul, and I sneak in then out as quickly as possible. JB Hifi, Dick Smith, work across the road and I imagine a bridge could go over to that group of shops for pedestrians?
But yeah, don't like the maul at the best of times but Mr Wilson's right sir! People will use it. It will be the same people that will continue to use it. It will just be bigger and uglier than it is now. Some will visit to have a look to say they have been, because y'know, it's the biggest.It will be done. The little softball field across from the car park will be gone. A sad sign of the times. -
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I'm pretty sure they were trying to get Kirk's as their premier leaseholder, but they wouldn't leave the city, or couldn't get a good enough deal, or something.
Really? That strikes me as pretty weird because Kirk's entire brand is very high end retail not being a cornerstone tenant in a suburban mall (which is actually much sounder for an outfit like Farmers or the Warehouse).
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Tim Hannah, in reply to
Skyscrapercity has text of a DomPost article no longer on their site
Wellington City Council is supporting the $100 million-plus development of Johnsonville Shopping Centre despite a warning from Kirkcaldie & Stains that it will rip the heart from the city’s Golden Mile…
…Mr Milford confirmed that Johnsonville Shopping Centre management had approached Kirks about a possible move out to the new premises planned to open in 2012.
“We’re open-minded but Kirks has been in the same location 145 years and this is where our heritage is. We’re not going anywhere."
You do wonder whether it was a serious suggestion, but it was a suggestion.
I guess if your business is about gutting the CBD, you may as well be upfront about it.
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
By "mall" I meant a full on Westield or similar. If you just mean a group of shops undercover, the central city has several malls.
Also, I don't regard J-Ville as Wellington. I know it has the same council (and it's the J-Villites and Tawans who elect all the crap councillors and got peeved when Kerry got the boot), but it's really a separate nearby town.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I actually don't usually buy anything more from St Luke's than groceries, and something to eat. Most of my 'shopping' is wandering around looking at things I have no intention of paying retail prices for, making myself aware of new features, holding the thing in my hands, making measurements etc. Then I tend to jump on the 'net and deal-hunt.
Except at Christmas, if I've left things too late, then it's a one-stop shop, if you can get in. But lately, having a highly organized wife, I've done most of my shopping weeks in advance, with more research, less impulse, and have generally found Christmas to be a much more enjoyable season as a result.
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I’ve heard that whole “an upgraded J’ville Mall would gut the CBD” thing, and it puzzles me. The central city in Wellington is associated with premium retail: you don’t go there because it’s the cheapest and easiest place, you go there because you want to visit shops like Kirks. Upgrading J’ville mall isn’t going to affect Kirks – it’ll maybe affect the chain stores on the golden mile (Farmers, Hallensteins, that sort of thing), but even then I think the effects aren’t going to be pronounced.
Frankly, the demographic that would get in the car and drive out to J’ville in preference to wandering the CBD is already doing that – but they’re driving out to Porirua or Lower Hutt. I think that the people that should be worried about an expanded J’ville mall is the WestField group. At the moment, if you’re in a northern suburb, you’re probably already going out to Porirua mall for that sort of shopping – an upsized J’ville would cut into that market, but I don’t think it’d have too much of an effect on the CBD.
Disclaimer: J'ville resident.
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Jville mall used to be flasher than it is now, yet it didn't destroy city retailing. Once upon a time there was a branch of James Smith's, when that was Kirk's principal rival. It got radically redeveloped in the 90s and for a while was a classic Westfield writ small, with appliances, two bookstores and the standard women's clothing retailers. It's fallen into 2 dollar shopdom in recent years. It's very well served with train and bus transport, and no harder to get to by car than Porirua or the Hutt. It's just a bit hemmed in by major roads to expand too much further.
Disclaimer: worked there as a student for several years
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I confess, I probably fell out of love with St Lukes for good when their Bennett's bookstore closed. That was my favourite bolthole on family trips to the shopping centre, by some margin. Even now I get a bit nostalgic when I spot bits of old Bennett's fitout in other shops elsewhere (Bed Bath and Beyond at Lynnmall, for instance, or UBS at Auckland University campus).
In retrospect, just a well-stocked chain bookstore with "classic" wooden trappings, but so much about retail isn't rational anyway so why should my retail nostalgia be any different?
/mallreverie
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BenWilson, in reply to
Word. I got pissy when Stirling Sports turned into just another fashion outlet.
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Don't forget Nature's Window, which had a golden few years selling genuinely high-quality educational toys and games, before it shifted down to flogging just above dollar shop grade plastic crap and finally folded this year.
Plus they turned off the waterfall towards the end, the bastards.
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Not being on a "transport corridor" just doesn't seem like that much of a crime for a place that is designed for cars. You can get there using public transport, but that's always going to be about as much hassle as ... using public transport to go shopping is. There are 3 bus lines that stop there, all of which intersect the Western Rail Line and of course cross a lot of the busier commuting routes.
So I'm still drawn back to my first thought that the only people who have any reasonable gripe with the place are residents whose access to roadways is diminished by increased traffic, and loss of street parking during very busy times.
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Ben, you are assuming that the only people who use St Lukes are there to go shopping and will necessarily trundle home with bags and bags of consumables. In my experience, most shoppers I see are typically carrying very little, except, of course, those coming out of the supermarket. But that's no different to the other supermarkets - cars will always be useful when doing large supermarket shopping expeditions.
It also has services (movies, food court) and I expect, as part of the upgrade, it will get a bar/restaurant precinct like the Westfield Albany mall, and the users of such amenities have no requirement to take a car there and back.
Lack of integration with the train system is a major oversight. The system is currently being upgraded to electric, and once we get our CBD loop, it will be a major transport mechanism. Allowing car-oriented service centres is both short-sighted and counterproductive.
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Just wrote this long post which I previewed and then pushed enter. Was asked to log in again, and then I lost it.
Is there now a 'time-out' function, or did I just push the wrong button?
It was a continuation of my experiences with St Lukes since the 90s, and how in my mind it has degenerated over the years since favourite shops, like Bennett's, have closed, and the coffee has gone from being average to undrinkable.
Oh well, hard to re-write these things when the flow is gone, so will just move on.
It did involve fleas though, so I'm sure you'll all be disappointed.
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Recordari, would you email me please?
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Sam F, in reply to
It did involve fleas though, so I'm sure you'll all be disappointed.
Indeed. Your mention of coffee did make me remember that semi-secret teashop above Farmers, though.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I normally only get bras and knickers from Farmers and the odd grocery item. My girlfriend on visiting Ak always drags me in ( she worked there as long as me) to St Lukes or Onehunga Dress mart but seriously I do avoid the place as much as one is able and I actually drive past it every day. It really is a bit boring for me. I abhor shopping. True!
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I thought this post was about the street the Queen lives in having an earthquake or something. But no it is about a shopping center, how disappointing. Innit?
I know this is a totally nonsense post but I needed to try out the new interface, not happy yet. Did this post? -
Yes it did. Now I'm off to the pub.
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Sacha, in reply to
Not being on a "transport corridor" just doesn't seem like that much of a crime for a place that is designed for cars.
You may be juding by today's traffic volumes, Ben, but the only way the roads around there won't be gridlocked with a bigger mall is to remove some of the cars. Public transport does that - and even the cost-benefit accounting shows a large improvement for car drivers from investing in it.
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Your mention of coffee did make me remember that semi-secret teashop above Farmers, though.
The other bit of the lost post mentioned my failing memory with regards to when we moved into the area. Circa 2000, ish. And now you talk about a secret teashop above farmers? Are you sure you weren't imagining things? Did they have cake? Cause then I almost certainly went there, but seriously, cannot remember it.
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BenWilson, in reply to
There's a hell of a long way to go before gridlock. I haven't even seen that in the busiest period around Christmas, or during rush hour.
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BenWilson, in reply to
In my experience, most shoppers I see are typically carrying very little, except, of course, those coming out of the supermarket.
Sure, and those people can surely face the 500m walk to the major transport corridors on either side, or 800m to the train, if they don't live near the 3 lines that already stop directly at the mall? You'll easily walk these distances shopping in town centers, which many are touting as in some way superior to malls.
Edit: If more people caught the bus to the mall, I'm sure the bus companies could be persuaded to run more routes. But they don't, so they haven't. Yeah, the mall could have been closer to the train line when it was made decades ago and no-one used rail. But it isn't. I really don't see that as an argument to squeeze this particular mall. If they can get the increased custom from people in cars, and will make the parking to accommodate those people, no one has lost anything, except for people who have to use those roads, probably because they live near there.
Edit: I must also add, St Lukes is my favorite choice when going to a Event cinema. There is always very close free parking.
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Yes Tea Shop above and way back, the most amazing waterfall in the middle of the mall that went upward. Like beads of oil. I have the photo with Grandad to prove it. Was 6 at the time.
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