Found this on boing boing tv the other day, would have been a timely video three years ago as we all awaited the Big Box shopping village (that never came) on the outskirts of town…
Interesting thing is that all these going out of business signs in the video, look quite similar to the already closed storefronts of 3rd Ave and we don’t even have the Wal Mart…
I don’t know about other areas, but the North End of Nanaimo, where Wal Mart is located, is actually the area that’s thriving. There are chain stores and mom and pop stores all mixed together there, and it seems to be working well. Down town (south end) where there aren’t any big box stores, the little guys are suffering. Anywhere else in town where there are big stores, all the little stores are doing well. I know a lot of people on this board are either FROM Nanaimo, or have moved TO Nanaimo, so you know what I’m talking about…
In Port Place Mall, there’s no big stores, and that mall SUCKS. In Terminal Park mall, things are starting to turn around as there’s a Starbucks there, and other corporate stores opening up. Brooks Landing has been doing awesome since Staples and Timmy’s have opened up there. Country club is rocking with Future shop, Urban Barn and Jysk. Rutherford is starting to pick up again now that London Drugs and Best Buy are there. (That being said, there is a London Drugs in Port Place, but it still sucks) And of course, there’s Woodgrove and surrounding area with all the huge stores. All these places are doing well, and the little guys who are lucky enough to get into these malls and be surrounded by the big boxes are doing VERY well. But Downtown, where there are no big box stores, is suffering dramatically.
I wonder how much of Port Place’s woes are tied into it’s actual location. There has been some talk lately about the south end getting some more development, that it’s been ignored for the most part because a lot of the poorer folks live at that end of town. That being said, I love shopping downtown because of the independent little stores (and the bigger ones, like Flying Fish) but aside from the international store and Thrifty’s, don’t recall spending any money myself in Port Place even though we usually park there when we are spending time downtown or in the Old Quarter. Rutherford still has a long ways to go before it loses that tomb-like quality it has, though we go there a little more often now that Best Buy is there. (seems like half of Nanaimo can be found there on a rainy night!)
LOL, you Nanaimo kids quit hijacking our rupert themes… 
I often shopped at Port Place mall. I would say the LD in Port Place was always busier than the one in Rutherford (or what ever they call that mall now) Come to think of it; I seem to recall that mall having a bad echo problem (it made Ocean Centre look busy sometimes.) Thrifty foods in Port Place always seemed to be busy as well. I loved buying my groceries there. But you’re right; I don’t recall the other stores being very busy. There was a plan to totally re-do that mall I wonder what’s happening there now. The big complaint I heard was not about the big box stores but rather the amount of crack heads that hung out by the Salvation Army. To me that section of Nanaimo was my favourite, it had character and I thought the whole crack head thing was blown out of proportion. Although I shopped at Woodgrove, Costco, Real Canadian Super Store, as well as worked in that neighbourhood, I didn’t like it much. Way too many grouchy old people. They, in my opinion were a lot harder to deal with than the crack heads. Although it’s scary to think that Woodgrove would routinely get more shoppers in a day than there are people in Prince Rupert.
I’ve not had any issues with the downtown ‘crowd’ either, I just made sure my car doors have been locked and don’t use the bottom level of the parkade under any circumstances!
Saffron mentioned “Flying Fish”
There’s a guy in Rupert who owns and/or runs “Udder Bags” in Cow Bay who used to work at Flying Fish and do some of the buying for that store. It’s so strange how connected Nanaimo and Rupert are.