While not the only business to close up recently, Liquidation World’s decision to shutter its Westlock location in the Capri Centre Mall represents the largest and most visible empty storefront in town.
Situated at the corner of highways 44 and 18, the vacant retail outlet is just one of several properties devoid of life, joined by the old site of Shoppers Drug Mart on Main Street, the former tack shop in the Sears building and the old sporting goods and Hope Resource Centre building on 107 Street.
There are even several, less visible vacancies, as there are empty storefronts inside the Capri Centre Mall as well.
For Community Futures Tawatinaw Region general manager Kelly Harris-Martin, there is no single reason why those storefronts are either being vacated or remaining empty.
“Is this an aging population issue?” she asked, suggesting perhaps it’s a factor of business owners retiring and either being unable or unwilling to hand the reins over to the younger generation.
She also raised the spectre of the businesses not receiving the support of local residents, who choose to travel to places like St. Albert or Edmonton to do their shopping instead of staying in town.
Further to that is the suggestion online shopping has become the retail outlet of choice.
“If we want new business to start here, we have to be prepared to support it,” Harris-Martin said.
She said she’s heard from several home business owners anecdotally that their main hindrance to establishing a brick-and-mortar presence is the size of the storefronts available for rent.
An ideal size would be around 500 sq. ft., she said, but units that small are hard to come by, with larger spaces being more numerous.
“Scaling up from home-based into 2,000 sq. ft. is a pretty steep curve,” she said.
Of course, no matter how big or how small the potential storefront is, there is still the issue of paying rent on that property.
Whether or not that is a factor in the disappearance of some businesses and the slow appearance of new ones, Harris-Martin said she did not know.
In the case of Liquidation World, it was a corporate decision to close all its outlets across the country.
Losing its flagship tenant was just another blow to the Capri Centre Mall, but mall manager Rick Winnick said negotiations are already in the works to fill that vacancy, as well as the former Rexall location.
“There is considerable interest in the mall,” he said, adding there are five groups interested in occupying Liquidation World’s unit.
“We’ve been meeting with quite a few on a weekly basis,” he added. “I’m sure it won’t be long until that space is filled.”
While Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger acknowledges there are some concerns surrounding vacant retail properties, he said he’s not overly concerned.
“I don’t buy into a doom and gloom scenario,” he said.
The community is “poised for prosperity,” he said, listing off expansions at Westlock Terminals and the seed-cleaning plant, as well as the soon-to-be-opening Tim Hortons, as prime examples of the town’s strong economic situation.
It’s not up to the town to dictate where businesses choose to set up, so long as they following the town’s zoning plan. To that end, Leriger said the town is working on revising its Land Use Bylaw this year, in hopes of encouraging development and setting the stage for the next two or three decades of growth.
It’s all about making the business community aware the town is ready and open for business, he said.
