Target may pull the plug in Canada in late February, if 4th quarter 2014 results are not indicative of a turnaround. I was at the Hillside location before Christmas, and you could hear a pin drop... Furthermore, Sears across Canada are not faring well either. The Hillside mall may have some problems, if these two anchors are toast. Once again this is related to the fact that Millennial Generation (the twenty something cohort) are not interested the mall-based suburban-based auto-dependent lifestyle. Retailers who rely on consumers with vehicles are in for a shock, the younger generation is not driving as much and as such unless there are convenient transportation choices for them, that planned shopping trip may never occur and the product or service will be bought on-line. This generation reserves their automobile usage for Big Box stores such as Costco and Superstore, and thereby stocks up as needed. Ever notice the long line-ups of cars on weekends in the Westshore (in Victoria) towards these retailers. These two big retailers are one stop locations and offer products that can not be bought on-line. We are witnessing the end of the suburban model of development in favor of higher density compact communities, where people can choose their mode of travel for shopping. In fact with the surge of online shopping, unless there are convenient transportation choices they will simply forego the trip and use a different retailer on line. It is time that decision makers start realizing the impact that the Millennial generation will make on shaping demand for urban planning and the requisite transportation planning. The Millennial Generation sees the car as only one of the choices of a multi-modal transportation system. They want to be able to choose to drive rather than be forced to drive to conduct their daily activities.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 19:27:49 +0000
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