@Reecemartin I personally think that West Ed is not impervious to the Mall carnage that is happening but it is one of the few malls that can survive. West Edmonton mall's greatest success is that it is not just a shopping mall, it is an entertainment hub with a water park, amusement park, movie theaters, aquarium, bowling, mini golf and more.
This is the top 10 busiest shopping centers in Canada in
2018.--------------------------------------------- This is the top 10 busiest shopping centers in Canada in
2019
And this is how the USA compares to Canada. ( Note 291.0 million more people live in United States compared to Canada )
Now the top mall for visitor count in North America is the Eaton Centre. Now Toronto has a Population of 6,139,000 according to the 2019 census which is around 6 times the population of Edmonton 972,223.
Now West Ed is getting a annual visitor count of 30 million which is 30 times of Edmonton population. So If you take the population of Eaton Centre which gets 52.3 million annual visitors they only get around 9 times the population of Toronto.
Now West Ed in my opinion is Edmonton's greatest tourist attraction and with that it might be impossible to get rid of. Triple 5 group is making a fortune off of their 3 maga malls in NA and I don't think that the fall of retail in NA will affect it.
With the question of does West Ed need a housing development. I do not think it is necessary for a housing project to be Incorporated into the property. The new LRT will give access to the people in the south side and downtown to West Ed with the new proposed LRT stop.
Sorry for the rant by the way.
All of the sources come form the Retail council of Canada ----------}
https://www.retailcouncil.org/
