New Horizon Mall sitting mostly empty following summer opening

A trip to the New Horizon Mall makes for a lonely, if not slightly post-apocalyptic,experience.

The mammoth mall wasbilledas a modern, international bazaar with an Asian flavour,openingquietlythis summer just outside Calgary, south oftheCrossIron Mills megamall.

But of its 517 retail units,only nine less than 2% are currently occupied and open for business, despite the mall being open since June.

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A Korean cosmetics store was the first to openbut since thenonly eight others have followed. The rest of the immaculateglass-fronted retail units sit empty, mostdisplaying 'for lease'signs.

It's a difficult taskto stumble on one of the occupied storesin the vast 320,000 square-foot mall, where theonly sounds are thewhir of redundantescalatorsor arealtor giving a hushed tour to a worried-looking prospect.

It's not the startbusiness owners envisaged but most remainupbeat about the mall's future.

"It takes merchants time to realize that this is the opportunity that will pay off soon," saidMirzaTahir, who set up a print shop in the mall.

"As the mall gets filled it will become everything that we thought of before we got into business. It's going to grow but you have to have a lot of patience and you've got to go with it," said Tahir.

"If you quit too early you could get out and give it back and five years down the road it will cost you more to get back in," he said.

Nearly every retailunitin thismall isprivately owned, rather than the more commonplace model where stores lease space from themall's owners.

Earlier this summerthemall said itwas 99% sold. Now it just needs businesses to breathe life into it.

The mall also needs to attract 27 food businesses to its eerily empty food court, complete with an expanse of gleaming newtables, chairs and garbage units.

Sabi Mattuis the latest to open up shop at the malladdinga perfume boutique to the mix. He feels the mall will eventually come good withmore and more businesses opening their doors.

"I'm excited and today we held a mini celebration," said Mattu, who even flew in a holy man from India to performa spiritual blessing in his store to bring good luck and success as he shared the moment with family members.

"I know I won't be alone and next month there will be 50 shops opening and in another month 100 so it will take time but it will be good," said Mattu.

Others that didn't want to be interviewed on the record spoke about theirfrustrationat what they see as alack of action, promotion and marketing by the mall's management.

One owner said nobody had been in his store to make a purchase in five days. Another already paying rent on a unit yet to open says he's shocked and angryabouthow empty the mall is months after opening.

The mall was supposed to hold its grand opening event late in October. That event hasnow been pushed backto an undetermined date in 2019.

"I don't know exactly what month it will be but it will probably be geared toward next spring," said an upbeatJason Babiuk, General Manager at New Horizon Mall.

"We've got another 40 to 50 build outs that we're doing right now and nothing but positive responses from our current owners and a lot of the public that come in here," said Babiuk.

"CrossIron Mills across the street took approximately three to three and-a-half years to get their mall full," he said, adding some owners are still deciding what types of business to open.

The mall is replacing its grand openingwith afall festival event on October 27th to try and raise its profile.

Babiuk says it'salso now offering $5000 in incentives for ownersthat can open before December 31,2018 to try and get more units occupied before the new year.

"Rome can't be built in a day, we are very positive, we know this mall will be successful and will be the premier shopping destination for the outer Calgary limits," Babiuk said.

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