[COM] Armada Arndale (Redevelopment) | $200m

[Brucetiki]

The reason for this was apparently, TTP wouldn't let Coles have two stores branded the same. So the sign outside said Bi-Lo and traded as Bi-Lo, even though the stock was obviously Coles. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some Woolworths angle behind it also.
Who remembers when that Bi-Lo/Coles/HarrisScarffe space was World 4 Kids. That was so much better than Toys R Us ever was.

Those were the days. World 4 Kids were a Coles-Myer offshoot from memory and briefly became the toy department branding for Kmart once the stand alone stores ceased.

Now Toys R Us are on their last legs - closing completely in the UK and all but closing int the US

Apparently it's because of "ferocious" online competition.
Why don't they just adopt an online model as well, and scale back their stores to reduce costs?

On the subject of toy stores, is toy world in the myer center still operating?

Last I checked it was.

[duke]

Now Toys R Us are on their last legs - closing completely in the UK and all but closing int the US

Toys R Us went bust because it was taken private using debt. Simplistically, the investors spent bought Toys R Us for $9.6 billion, but only put in $1.7 billion of their own cash. The rest was debt. After the transaction went through, the debt was transferred to Toys R Us.
The debt was so large that it was unserviceable and was only a matter of time until it went bust. It's another case of Private Equity firms making quick money while leaving a shell behind to collapse. It's the same as companies like Dick Smith. There is a good article here which probably explains it better than I can http://www.news.com.au/finance/business ... ed815b2f3f

Also a really good video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JYUo9WKkao

[duke]

By The Way, is there a way to get up to the 2nd floor of Harris Scarfes permanent normal location legally, I want to see what is up there now, I wonder if it is open to people

It's still the old Harris Scarfe layout with things like empty shelving. One of the construction companies was using the area as an office during the renovations.

[rev]

Speaking of the Harris Scarfe section of the center, Aldi has opened up today.

[Abwolf]

Anybody know what is being built in the carpark corner First Ave and Hanson Road?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Howie]

Wondering the same, quite a few underground storage tanks. Initially thought it was a service station.

[how good is he]

From the ground work it looks like it could be a petrol station...possibly Woolworths Petrol.

[rev]

Petrol station.

[ralmin]

Caltex Woolworths: https://plus.google.com/photos/photo/10 ... 0500526802

[relapse]

Once David Jones closed John Martins at Arndale, Westfield saw the writing on the wall and sold it and bought West Lakes because they knew it was not going to recover.

Sadly over the last 15 years it has felt as though Arndale has been dying a death by 1000 cuts. I actually have no idea what can be done to rejuvenate that shopping centre as there is absolutely nothing at all to entice people to go there especially as West Lakes is only 10 minutes up the road.

Honestly I think someone would be crazy to spend that kind of money on redeveloping Arndale unless it involved making the center smaller and selling off some of the land.

And yet the place is always busy throughout the day.....
And yet the owners are planning on doing a further two stages of redevelopments adding around 70 new stores, after already doing renovations and adding new stores and eateries....

It takes a lot longer then 10 minutes "up the road". What's your definition of "10 minutes up the road"? Are you blacking out while driving and have large lapses in your memory?
Because I don't know how anyone thinks it's 10 minutes "up the road".
It takes at least a good 10 minutes to get to Bunnings on Port Road..

West Lakes is owned and operated by Scentre Group under the Westfield banner.
Arndale is owned and operated by RetPro under the Armada banner.

Two competing companies in the shopping center business who are trying to attract or do attract much the same in clients to lease retail space to. Of course Scentre Group(the Australian/NZ spin off from the break up of Westfield Group) is in another league with $40 billion in assets, but that's besides the point.
The logic some of you have should see you commenting that all other shopping centers within a 10 minute radius of West Lakes should shut down because..reasons...
Fulham Gardens shopping center quite a few years ago under went a renovation. Why? West Lakes is almost on it's door step..it's still busy despite West Lakes being around the corner.

Arndale is operated by a competitor company to West Lakes' operators.
They are running a business. They want to be successful in running their business. So what they will do, is they will renovate and update and expand on what is already there. They will bring in new retail outlets, eateries, and whatever else they need to make their center a bigger success then what it already is. You might not have any idea how to rejuvenate it, but that's why you'll never be in charge of anything more then running the payment of your quarterly bills, and those running shopping center portfolios will be in charge of expanding their portfolios and value of their assets.


If you want to drive 20+ minutes to West Lakes, go right ahead and enjoy your self. Arndale isn't going anywhere. And I much prefer Arndale to West Lakes, with or without renovations.

As others have said it is far closer to 10 mins than it is 20 minutes.

You keep trying to use smaller centres as a basis of comparison, but Arndale isn't a Golden Grove Village or Churchill Road etc it's one of the six big suburban malls in SA (Marion, West Lakes, TTP, Arndale, Elizabeth and Colonnades).

As for trying to question my business acumen, the irony with your comment is that Westfield made a business decision to sell off Arndale and buy West Lakes, that alone suggests that Westfield knew that Arndale was no longer going to be a viable long term investment for them. If a major business like Westfield no longer had faith in Arndale as a viable asset then I think it seems entirely natural to question just how viable a huge investment in the centre would actually be.

The problem that Arndale has is that a shopping centre needs major anchor tennants in order to get people through the door. When it comes to major anchor type tennants Arndale really only has Big W and that's about it. West Lakes on the other hand has K-Mart, Target, David Jones, JB HIFI and a significantly wider range of stores.

For people living between both centres, there is nothing at all to attract people to Arndale. This also has a flow on effect with attracting potential retailers.

I have no doubt that the two centres could co-exist if they were on a level footing, but Westfield walked away from Arndale and spent the last 20 years turning West Lakes into a juggernaunt that they can no longer compete with. At this present state of time Arndale seems to resemble a oversized version of Churchill Road/GG VIllage/Parabanks, whereas 25 years ago it was easily the equal of West Lakes

Don't get me wrong, I would like to see something happen to bring life back to that place,I just think that unless they can pull a rabbit out of their hat and bringing in some major anchor tennants I just can't see how they are going to bring the people back to the centre.

[metro]

Maybe the owners of Arndale should pressure the state govt to rename Kilkenny train station to 'Arndale Centre', it's about a 10min walk from the shopping centre which is a similar distance as Westfield Marion is from Oaklands station

[claybro]

Maybe the owners of Arndale should pressure the state govt to rename Kilkenny train station to 'Arndale Centre', it's about a 10min walk from the shopping centre which is a similar distance as Westfield Marion is from Oaklands station

speaking of Kilkenny station, the area adjacent is a wasted tract of land. Part of the problem with Arndale, is the under-utilised former industrial land nearby. What a pity there is not more emphasis on doing something with the acres of old factories at Kilkenny and Woodville North, that could become medium density housing with links to Arndale. Better still, if the OH line happens to be converted to light rail it could have a spur along David terrace terminating at Arndale to connect the housing with the centre direct.

[gnrc_louis]

Maybe the owners of Arndale should pressure the state govt to rename Kilkenny train station to 'Arndale Centre', it's about a 10min walk from the shopping centre which is a similar distance as Westfield Marion is from Oaklands station

Woodville Park Station is actually an even closer walk.

[Eurostar]

I just want to see a combined Woolworths, Big W, Dan Murphys and pub

Coles group could probably do bigger combination though
Coles, Kmart/Target, First Choice Liquor/Liquorland, Bunnings, Charlies Diner

[SBD]

You keep trying to use smaller centres as a basis of comparison, but Arndale isn't a Golden Grove Village or Churchill Road etc it's one of the six big suburban malls in SA (Marion, West Lakes, TTP, Arndale, Elizabeth and Colonnades).

Does anyone know where to find objective numbers (total floor area, annual number of customer visits, annual count of discrete customers, daily employment FTE, ...) to define what are really Adelaide's "big 6" (or any other number)? Your list is roughly "the centres that used to have a John Martins" which kind of dates them these days.

Is there a big gap between those six and Munno Para, Castle Plaza, Golden Grove, Parabanks, or the "shopping precincts/high streets" of Prospect, Port Adelaide, Norwood. Numbers should be explicit whether they cover the entire centre including outbuildings or are for the main mall only.