Herb Auerbach is not impressed with McArthurGlen – to say the least.
.
.
Recently opened next to the airport isolated in a field far from the Sky Train station and surrounded by parking on land leased from the airport is McArthurGlen Fashion Mall (what an imaginative name) . McArthurGlen is an English company. Have you ever heard of them?
Las Vegas is ersatz. This place is ersatz Las Vegas, with a bit of Disneyland mixed in. It is so unsophisticated and cheapo it turned my stomach to walk through it, which I just had to do. Its a bad stage set that makes Aberdeen Mall look like 22nd century and comes nowhere close to your La Borgata in Scottsdale or the Forum Shops at Caesar’s in Las Vegas.
I predicted McArthurGlen at YVR will fail within five years. My daughter thinks not, and says it is appealing to the masses and in particular the Asian market. God help us.
.
Herb’s daughter is right. It won’t fail. Just look at its success in Europe. Moreover Herb is most definitely not the target market! 🙂
It’s an outlet mall.
Has Mr. Auerbach ever walked into a Winners, Marshall’s, TJMaxx or Ross?
This is not Nordstrom.
When I went there I loved the architecture and was impressed how most of it looked fairly real. I found the only good thing to buy there was a cup of coffee though.
I kept thinking to myself, This is pretty and it’s nice to walk here. Now if only the stores had useful things in them and that the entire area was somewhere else it would be a hit. Imagine if some part of Vancouver close to a Skytrain and to housing looked like this and also had more variety of stores. It would be the best place to go.
Indeed.
Robson Street could look like it. Why is Robson not a pedestrian zone from stadium all the way to Stanley Park, or to start with, from Granville to top of the hill ? Instead its sidewalks are narrow and 70% of the space is for cars. At least this mall gives an allure ( albeit a touch too Disneyesque ) of a European inspired pedestrian area with benches, cafes and fountains, safe for kids, the elderly and hard core shoppers. Vancouver can learn from it, for Robson, Denman, Davie or S-Granville.
We need more outdoor shopping areas free of cars !
Ok, if this pedestrian outdoor mall with vaguely Disney kitsch is not good. Then what would be “better” in terms of architecture and ambience? The reality is that it’s all built at the same time by probably 1 developer (or a consortium, since I don’t know the history on the deal). So to expect this concept to look “organically” grown over a decade, it won’t happen for awhile.
I think people are forgetting that some customers just like “newer” architecture, even if it mimics something old. Don’t forget there’s a huge Asian segment immigrated from Asia who love the European fake old architecture….like what you find in…..Whistler BC or Mont Tremblant in Quebec.
Yes, it’s romanticized. But come on folks: in the West, we romanticize EAst Asia’s pagodas, huatongs, perfect manicured Japanese/Zen gardens, etc.
Personally I think the design is great! It’s a well done creation of what one sees in places in Europe. And really, you might think that a street in Paris or wherever grew organically one at a time over a long period but it’s possible that it all came up in just a few years when there was a development boom going on.
I have no problem with faking something old. Look at the public library. It’s a rip-off of the Roman coliseum and it’s great!
Yes its kitsch but we’ll done. Ironically it validates many points that Pricetags promotes: people respond to European style pedestrian oriented high streets. Cutting edge modernist architecture wouldn’t offer the same feel. Sure it has a parking lot but also good transit (something Tsawassen Mills won’t have).
I can’t think of a mall which has exciting architecture. It’s success will depend on how many want the outdoor experience in the depths of our rainy winter.
I went and had a look. Yes, it’s ersatz characterized ‘Southern European village’, much like La Borgata was ersatz Italian. McArthur Glen is essentially an English company run by New Yorkers, with much experience in retailing and commercial property.
As Disneyland, La Borgata and Las Vegas are successful, then ours might well be too. One important aspect that Auerbach doesn’t mention is that it has many brand name shops. These days in retail brands are hugely important. Aberdeen Centre doesn’t have this, unless you consider Giordano but this is a Hong Kong chain.
Ersatz architecture is everywhere. What is the Bay building on Georgia, Greek? The Hotel Vancouver, Chateauesque style. Much of Shaughnessy is mock Tudor, deriving style from the 16th Century. Developers are cranking out ersatz Craftsman style town homes in the burbs as fast as possible. Grannie’s cottage is well loved and retail experts know it.
The SkyTrain is three minutes away, so for all intents and purposes it is on a transit line.
I had no intention of buying and I did resist buying shoes from Ecco, Geox, and others, but I succumbed to a couple of cotton shirts with a good weave and a couple of well designed and well made jackets.
Bob nailed the kicker, will it live through the rain.
Yep, everything here should be Cedar Longhouses.
Herb comes off as more than a bit snobbish. I suppose he never shopped at Eaton’s downtown because he hated the architecture there as well?
A consumer reporter did price comparisons between McArthur Glen and a big outlet mall south of the border. Shopping locally turned out to be less expensive for nearly all the items. So I hope this mall is successful and keeps more dollars here in Canada.
I haven’t visited yet so I’ll reserve judgement on location, architecture and amenities.