Here’s a sign of the times, a shopping centre that’s seen better days. The term “dead mall” is often heard when discussing retail, with many such places (even before the Corona shutdown) becoming literal ghost towns due to a lack of shops. Losing a tenant is bad, but if an anchor it can be devastating. Here at the Town ‘N’ Country (T&C to those who know and love it) in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, they’ve seen two big department stores shutter in the last decade. Ouch!
First to go was Zellers in the early 2010s, a budget chain dating back to the 1930s that succumbed to the one-two punch that was Walmart and the Internet. The US firm Target came in to take their place, but they crashed and burned and soon retreated back to home territory. The Moose Jaw store was never to be part of that Canadian expansion, by the way. The space has since had a new tenant move in, a government social services outlet. Will it mean more people in the mall, yes I suppose, but doubt it’ll mean more business for those stores left.
Sears in Canada dates back to the 1950s, operating for many decades as Simpson-Sears. This chain was more upscale and for years a retail juggernaut. While still operating in the US (but on shaky ground), the independent Canadian operation closed in 2018. Online shopping claims another victim.
We’re reminded, there’s some retail lessons here. They’ve been witness to a retail apocalypse here and we ponder the long term chances of the mall surviving.
The Town ‘N’ Country dates back to the 1970s (first reference we could find was ’78). We happened to be passing through town, returning from our epic Summer 2019 SK adventure (articles to be published post Covid) when a wrong turn lead us here. And we just had to snap a couple pics and reminisce.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
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Date of adventure: August, 2019. Location: Moose Jaw, SK.
They’re a dying breed but most seem to be hanging on for now (I hear it’s pretty dire in the States). We live by one of Calgary’s original malls and it’s about a quarter empty. But it still has two anchor tenants, so it’s doing better than some.
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Thorsby Hotel, built in 1929 & a photo by the manager's 7 years old daughter. More below 👇
Agreema politely asked if she could shoot a few photos & we obliged. A dark environment like this is very unforgiving & the camera she used quite temperamental, so she did an amazing job. We're out of work as photographers! Great food at this place, BTW!
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Tofield Hotel, built in 1912 & patron Lana, shot on Rob's vintage view camera. More below 👇
She's a sweetie & met her late husband at the hotel. The building from the alley side hasn't changed much since being built but the front brickwork is now covered by siding.
Crossley slides (unrestored), an unnamed fellow snacking on Sun-Maid Raisins - mountains of BC - 1950s. More below 👇
The distinctive red box is instantly recognizable! The location is listed as the Whitewater Valley & we think it's in the Sandon area close to Retallack. Perhaps some of our friends out that way can confirm. Sandon B.C., would Hal know? Crossley frequented Sandon so the location makes sense. Note the (mine?) road cutting across the slope in back. The slide is dated 1955 in the catalogue but 1956 on the frame.
Shout out to: Jason Sailer. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
An old section of Highway #6 (BC) in the 1970s & 2021 - it's the second most shared post in our entire history! More below 👇
The original photo shows the road about the time it was decommissioned. This was always a troublesome section & so it got replaced by a new route further up the hill. While it hasn’t seen a car in eons, it remains overall in reasonable shape, save for some rockfall in places like this. These came down about ten years ago.
Happy Holidays from Off the Beaten Path w' Chris & Connie. Thanks for your continued support & encouragement. More 👇
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CPKC's Holiday Train from a few nights ago. Rather than fight the crowds to see it, we wanted something a little more intimate. A bit of hike, but we brought mulled wine to help us keep warm while waiting. It's not a great shot & originally we had no intent to share it here, but what the heck.
Trainspotting is like fishing. It's not about the catch but rather getting out. If a train comes by, great, but if not, we had each other & a chance to get away from the day's problems. That's a BIG win in our books...even if we did freeze our bottoms off. _______
Out exploring with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
Everything starts with Z.
Haven’t heard that slogan in like a million years!
Lunch with my mom at the Zellers lunch counter after one of her legendary shopping marathons! That was bliss.
A stop at the lunch counter was mandatory.
Losing two anchors must have been quite the blow.
You’d think a death blow, yet the mall is still open. The clock must be ticking though.
Miss those stores!
Times in the retail biz are changing and the old guard has been swept away.
My Mom & Aunty used to take me to Zellers when I was little. Such fond memories!
Everyone’s Moms shopped there!
There’s a lot of malls like that in Canada. I’ve been in that mall in happier times.
They’re a dying breed but most seem to be hanging on for now (I hear it’s pretty dire in the States). We live by one of Calgary’s original malls and it’s about a quarter empty. But it still has two anchor tenants, so it’s doing better than some.