Tsawwassen Mills mall hoping to attract far-flung customers

Metro Vancouver's newest mega-mall is opening its doors this morning near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, but it remains to be seen if it will draw enough shoppers and workers for long-term success.

Built on Tsawwassen First Nation land, the Tsawwassen Mills shopping centre will be the fourth largest in Metro Vancouver, based on its 1.2 million square feetof retail space.

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But its location surrounded by farmland, far from any SkyTrain station and with limited bus access, means the mall's owner, Ivanho Cambridge, will have its work cut out attracting enough customers, according to retail consultant David Ian Gray.

"It's not going to be a slam dunk," said Gray, who is the founder of Dig360.

"They're not going to be a convenience mallor mall for locals. Sure, locals will shop there, but for them to be successful, they're going to be what's known as a destination mallor a mall where people are going to make some pretty major time investments for their shopping trips."

Montreal-basedIvanho Cambridge is no stranger to projects of this scale it runs two of the region's three largest malls, GuildfordTown Centre in Surrey and Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby.

Furthermore, it's basing the Tsawwassen project on two similar 'Mills' malls, CrossIron Mills north of Calgary andVaughan Millson the outskirts of Toronto.

"We don't even talk about being, necessarily, a regional draw we're a destination," said Ivanho Cambridge executive John Scott.

"Peoplecome here come from great distances. We know that because they typically come less frequently, but they stay and they shop here a lot longer. They've made that trip, and they want to be here."

Gray, who has done some consulting work forIvanho Cambridge in the past, but hasn't worked on this project,points out that Tsawwassen Mills could attract people heading to and from Vancouver Islandand possibly American shoppers looking to exploit theCanadian dollar when it's low.

Staffing an issue

But according to Gray, as well as struggling to lure enough customers for the huge project, finding enough staff could be a problem.

"One of the challenges they've already run into is attracting, broadly speaking, employees," he said.

"Generally. it's younger people that are employed in retail and shopping malls and, and some won't have cars, so they're looking for work that's an easy commute."

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So in an effort to attract workers it is running an employeeshuttle to the Scott Road SkyTrain station in Surrey seven days a week. Employees can use the shuttle for $2 a ride.

The mall's biggest tenant is the U.S.-based outdoor chain, Bass Pro Shops, which is using 180,000 sq. ft. of retail space.

"This is the very first store that we're opening up in British Columbia, second store in Western Canada beyond Calgary," said general manager Gerry MacIntyre, who added that it wasn't easy getting enough workers.

"We've lost a few people to the other locations in the mall here," he said.

"It was an uphill battle out of the gates, initially. You know, we had a very good hire; the quality of people we've been getting from the local towns is absolutely amazing, and we're just about to capacity right now."

Scott acknowledgedstaffing is a challenge, but he downplayedthe struggle in finding enough people.

"The bottom line is, you know, 3,000, 3,500 people is a lot of people and it comes with its challenges, but we're in great shape," he said, adding that about a third of the jobs will be full-time.

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