There goes the shopping mecca

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
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Those that didn’t want them thar big box stores cluttering the highway are going to be happy…  on the other hand, keep fueling up the car for shopping trips to Terrace…

Prince Rupert retail development put on the shelf
By Shaun Thomas - The Northern View - May 06, 2008

Royop, the firm behind the proposed retail development on the old B.C. Hydro site in Prince Rupert, has confirmed that the project has been shelved indefinitely.

“The real issue is the cost to prep the site. To take a site that is treed and is either muskeg or granite, and create a flat site to develop on is extremely expensive and is more expensive than the interested parties are willing to pay,” said Royop Vice-president of Development Melvin Foht.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and, frankly, our finances to unfortunately come to this conclusion and it is not something we came to lightly…I’m disappointed that we couldn’t bring anything to fruition there.”

Plans for the retail development had included 220,000 square feet of retail space in nine buildings, and the city had already gone through all of the rezoning requirements for the 25 acres. While praising the work of the city, Foht said the company has spoken with officials in regards to other sites, but they were either too small or too expensive to create a similar development.

However, he said that large retailers remain interested in coming to Prince Rupert, and that the door remains open in the future.

“We’ve been involved in Prince Rupert for close to three years and we’ve really done a lot of work to search out sites that would attract national and international retailers like a Wal Mart or a Canadian Tire,” he said, noting that Royop is working with Canadian Tire to develop locations in other communities at the moment.

“If we can find a site that meets the criteria, including the economic criteria, then we would be interesting in pursuing that.”

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Not surprising. They are basically saying that at this time there just isn’t enough money potential in it for them to spend the money to develop the property.

All it takes is one of the chains to open shop here somewhere and the rest will follow.

3

So much for the so called boom!
There is nothing worth buying in this town apart from groceries…
We are so lucky that we have 3 very nice good sized food stores, however the rest of the shopping here is dismal…as dismal as the weather at times…
So off we go to take our cash out of the community to Terrace and beyond.
Thank goodness there is internet shopping!! 
I don’t blame the developer as there just isnt enough potiental here to bring in big box shopping… 
Attention Terrace Walmart Shoppers!! 

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Walmart, home depot etc do not equate a boom.

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Must mean Terrace has had a boom recently :unamused:

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Boom is in growth to make it worthwhile for big retailers to come in…

I guess big growth is still many years away … The port thing is going to take a long time…

7

This town is goin down hill.
I wonder what the tourists think of this town for shopping, sure we got lots flowers and sightseeing around here but Take a walk downtown and in the mall its depressing, also all the hoodlums breaking windows, empty stores, stores and businesses not keeping the their store fronts clean eg: Audio Vision what an eye sore.
Shopping is the shits here! Sports, hardware, electronics etc etc. you cant find anything here that you want. Go to terrace and you have many options. If i do plan on buying anything its in Terrace or online… except for my gorceries.

thats my 2 cents

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I shop online for the most part. Movie Gallery has some good games in it, so I go there once in a while since Zellars rarely ever has a game I want to buy in it (Recently pre-ordered Ninja Gaiden II). Internet shopping, yay!

I wish Subway would fix up their window already, it looks so terrible. Also, what’s with the message “Wake up Rupert” on it? I don’t know whether it has absolutely no meaning or if it was some kind of acting out over something. Both are possible, though the latter probably lesser so.

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I believe it comes from him having to replace the windows about once every three weeks, he’s probably tired of all the crap that the bar fight crowd and young hooligans inflict on his windows, the message is for those that haven’t a clue as to what goes in the city…

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My family and I just moved up here 3 1/2 weeks ago, and whereas we would go shopping to the “box stores” about once a week in our hometown of Nanaimo, we haven’t really found it much of a hardship shopping here in Prince Rupert exclusively.  We have found pretty much everything we need or want between the three grocery stores, the shops in the mall, and various places around down town.  Sure, things pop up in the Canadian Tire flyer that my husband thinks he just HAS to have, but since it’s so far away, we’re not wasting our money.

I love that I can just walk out my door, walk for a few minutes to the downtown and find pretty much everything I need there.  And in the odd case that something comes up that I can’t find downtown, I’m sure I’ll be able to buy it online, and if not, it’s probably something that I didn’t really need anyway, you know?  I’m liking this new lifestyle.

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It’s okay Princess, people on this board just like to complain for the sake of complaining.
I don’t think Prince Rupert is all that bad for shopping either.

What a bunch of whiners. :unamused:

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the shopping here does suck you often cannot find even basic things… 
Well any place is better than Nanaimo…  I wish you the best here as overall I like Prince Rupert’s life style of having things close by but the shopping sucks!!

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What do you consider basic? I seem to do fairly well. And I shop locally.

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there is no selection on basic things like small appliances at a reasonable price
Mens clothing is either high end or low end no middle lines…
towels and bedding selections are limited
Shoes are high end or low end too …
try buying curtains in this town
thank god for online and walmart just up the road
I work with people with limited funds and often their choices are very limited here
I am so grateful grocery stores are fair priced here considering the vast distance but other shopping sucks 

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and what planet is it your living on? Yes shopping is just great in rupert, everything you need and great prices, its the reason nobody drives to terrace every weekend, so they dont have to laugh at the pitiful shopping up there and feel good about their experience shopping here, that must be why eh? I suppose the weather is just great too everyone just wants to complain about it, it doesnt really rain most of the year here its actually hot and sunny in the summer, we are all just whiners.
    Living in denial of reality doesnt change the physical world for others, only for you. The shopping here is pitiful, the weather is wet, denying those facts doesnt change them, I notice its the ones who cant get the hell out of here for various reasons that make these claims, they have to stay so they have to like it, whether they like it or not so they say this type of shit like the shopping aint so bad yet a trip up and down second and third ave. sure shows a different thing yeah? I only seen a simular type of downtown core in gold river oh and their pulp mill closed too, what a coincidence! Lets not forget the huge amount of job oppertunities that abound here along with nice low tax rates you would expect from such a tiny dump. This place has become just great over the past decade with the new port and all, you can get over 8 hours of work a week on a good month, pretty hard to beat that eh, nevermind the fact that a guy working full time at tim hortons will make twice as much in a year, but we have a pizza hut so quit  complaining. The best description ive heard of rupert came from a guy in terrace, he said “terrace must be the asshole of canada, and rupert is 90 miles up it”.

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LOL, I guess all those Rupertites you’ll find in Terrace every Saturday just wanted to go for a drive at 1.29 a litre. oh oh. wait make that 1.32 at Petro Can this morning! :astonished:

On any given Saturday it seems like half of this town is down the road at that one wandering the aisles of Walmart, Canadian Tire et al…

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Honestly, when we lived up there we learned to make do with what we had in town and very rarely drove to Terrace for shopping, maybe once a year or so. We did get stuff when we were on holidays in Alberta or the lower mainland but for the most part our furniture, electronics, clothes and other sundries were bought locally. That being said, I think there was a better selection in town for things when the mill was still running so I can’t truly speak for those who are still there and finding it tough to find what they need/want.

Oh and just to put it all in perspective for you…

Wal-Mart built a “super-center” a short drive away from where we live. We visited it one night and bought a mini paint roller since I was in the middle of painting the family room at the time and the brushes I was using were crap. Yeah, it might be big but aside from the groceries it is just more of the same old, same old but with more room in the aisles and more check-outs. We don’t shop there very often in the first place so I can’t see us making any effort to go to the new place but something my husband told me a short while after the Wal-Mart store had opened had me laughing out loud. Seems that one of the upper management where he works had headed into the local PC Super-Store early one morning to pick up some lunch stuff and guess who was walking out the front doors with a shopping cart full of groceries?? The CAO of the new Wal-mart!!

:smiley:

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As I’m sure Saffron can back me on this, I’d like to say that shopping in Nanaimo is actually quite decent. I have moved here from a town that has four good malls and several crappy malls.  It has pretty much every box store you can imagine, and there are more on the way.  Yes, I miss the “option” of going shopping whenever I want, to get whatever I want, but I made the choice to move to a small, isolated town, and I’m enjoying what a small, isolated town has to offer.

IMO, some people are meant to live in small towns, and others are meant to live in large towns.  A town being large or small has nothing to do with whether it’s a good place or not.  In my short time here, I’ve explored a lot of the shops, and I like what I see that’s available.  I like that it’s “quaint” here.  I wouldn’t have moved here if I didn’t think I’d like it.  Yes, there are some crappy store fronts, yes there’s less variety of clothing options etc, but for the size and geographical location of this place, we’re doing pretty well.  I’m glad Chris J is moving away from this place; it sucks to be stuck in a town that you hate.  I hated Nanaimo, and I’m so glad to have left it.

I’m going to do my best to help to make this place better while I live here.  Even if it’s by spending my money in town here as opposed to always leaving to shop elsewhere, or if  it’s by joining the civic pride group and picking up garbage once in awhile, the place you live is only as good as you make it for yourself.

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[quote=“Princess of Power”]
IMO, some people are meant to live in small towns, and others are meant to live in large towns. [/quote]

Very true! When we moved away from Rupert, we were living in a town with one grocery store (thankfully a semi-decent one) and a Fields store. Outside of that, there were a couple of mom and pop places with very little on the shelves…boy, did I ever miss Zellers and the shops Rupert had!!
On the other hand, we decided not to buy a home in Nanaimo because we’ve spent the past 20+ years in towns the size of Rupert or smaller and have become accustomed to being in communities where you can get to know a lot of the people around you just walking around the place. Nanaimo does have some very good shopping (oh boy, we went to Mclaren’s the other day and wow, what a lighting selection!!) but that was no incentive to live there, just an excuse to shop reasonably locally instead of contemplating trips over to the Mainland to shop. I like some of the cultural events in Nanaimo and the waterfront but wouldn’t want to live there by any means.

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I grew up in the Big Smoke, and got a real kick out of all the people here who were ‘surprised’ to discover WalMart sell crap!
Still buy it myself sometimes though… I got a 6 speaker surround sound system for $44.00.
It’s GARBAGE.
But I’m old and half deaf and now I an actually hear speech (with a subwoofer) when I watch a DVD instead of just the crashes and booms. The guy beside me picked up the same set and commented what a rip-off Future Shop was because the Sony system was $499.
Too stoopid to live…