Area malls push for holiday shopping Area malls push for holiday shopping
Friday September 11 2009 By PETER CRISCIONE The owners of Mississauga’s Square One shopping centre are asking Peel Region for permission to operate on most statutory holidays.
But the operators of Bramalea City Centre and Erin Mills Town Centre say the rules have to be the same for everyone.
“We are not opposed to Square One being able to open on holidays. We are, however, opposed to Square One being able to open unilaterally,” said Kevin Hodgins, communications advisor for consulting firm InterStratics, who addressed council on behalf of the two malls. “Our centres would be negatively impacted by losing tens of millions of dollars each year.”
Square One representatives Nance MacDonald and Peter Thoma appeared before Regional council yesterday, where they made a case for keeping the mall open on statutory holidays.
Though most retail outlets across the GTA are shut down on special occasions, there are provisions under Ontario’s Retail Business Holidays Act that allow certain operations to remain open for business.
Exemptions are given to “tourist-friendly” retail areas and several locations, including the Eaton Centre in Toronto and Mississauga’s Chinese Cultural Centre, have been operating on holidays for years.
MacDonald and Thoma argued Square One, Ontario’s largest shopping centre at 1.8 million square feet, draws in millions of people to Mississauga annually and can be considered a core tourist attraction for the city.
They asked councillors to consider allowing Square One to open its doors on six holidays including New Year’s Day, Family Day, Victoria Day and Thanksgiving.
The mall would remain closed on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
“What we would like to see is Ontario’s premier shopping centre elevated to the same status as other smaller regional shopping areas in the GTA,” said Thoma, noting individual shop owners could decide for themselves whether or not to open their stores.
The delegation pointed to the economic potential of remaining open on special occasions.
About 22 per cent of shoppers that frequent Square One reside outside of Mississauga.
On holidays, mall officials figure that number would increase up to 40 per cent.
At the same time, the group representing Bramalea and Erin Mills Town Centres highlighted the financial hit those malls take on statutory holidays.
Based on mall statistics, both centres reason they lose about $10 million each year, Hodgins said.
InterStratics proposed a joint designation for all three centres.
“The Bramalea City Centre and Erin Mills Town Centre are also super regional shopping centres that in fact serve the same market and meet the same (tourist) criteria as Square One,” Hodgins said. “Based on that, we are asking any considerations given to Square One also be equally given to (to all three) so that they can move forward synergistically.”
Peel Region staff will review Square One’s application and come back with a report to council on Oct. 1. In the meantime, Bramalea and Erin Mills Town Centre officials were advised to submit their own exemption application and schedule a public meeting.
