SASKATOONEXPRESS - September 5-11, 2016 - Page 1
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Volume 14, Issue 35, Week of September 5, 2016
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper A few stores down, half a dozen spaceaged pods, glowing eerily blue, sit awaiting – customers eager to interact with the virtual reality experiences they offer. The Coachman restaurant is full of customers looking for breakfast, including an elderly woman dining alone, sipping her tea and poking at her iPad with a silver stylus. “A lot of people come in saying, ‘My kid says I should get an iPad so we can FaceTime,’ or ‘I want to learn how to email,’” said F. David Scully, sales manager at Neural Net, a locally owned electronics boutique specializing in Apple products and a diverse selection of high-end products including the Big Green Egg Barbecue system. “We had a lady come in in for a new stylus — she had worn out her old one. She told us how she also recently had to upgrade her iPad, because her previous version wasn’t fast enough for her. Then she told us she had just celebrated her 90th birthday.” Neural Net is busy, especially for a weekday morning, with everyone from a hipster in tight pants to a business professional to a mom with her two kids waiting for their turn with Scully’s in-demand sales associates. The retailer, which originally opened in downtown Saskatoon in 2001, made the move to Market Mall in 2008. “It was a better space, close to the front entrance,” said Scully. “Parking was a concern downtown. Back then people were carrying huge pieces of electronics into our store, imagine a giant TV, carrying it two blocks in the winter.” Perhaps one of the defining features of Market Mall is its lush indoor mini-golf course. Natural foliage and ponds full of Betty Anne Fisher has seen a lot of change during her time at Market Mall. (Photo by Cam Hutchinson) giant goldfish keep the space feeling alive Tammy Robert their male counterparts. “It’s like Cheers only much larger,” said and tropical year-round. One of the tenants Saskatoon Express This scene is duplicated numerous times Fisher, who has spent the last decades work- overlooking the green space is The Chilt’s 10 a.m. on a weekday morning, and across the food court, with sunshine from ing at Market Mall, first as a retailer, now in dren’s Discovery Museum (CDM), which Market Mall’s food court is packed. the enormous skylights overhead casting mall management. “The atmosphere is evi- will be moving into the much larger former If Saskatoon ever had a local version a warm glow over the hundreds of seniors dent the minute you walk in the door. Market Mendel Art Gallery space in 2018. of a small-town coffee row, this would be who flock to Market Mall every morning, Mall has become a community in itself.” “We approached Market Mall because it. Tables have been pulled together and many walking from the condos and living The mall is celebrating its 50 anniverwe felt it was a great community mall, and dozens of men sit facing each other, their complexes just across the street. Tables of sary. we would complement the other amenities mesh-backed caps boasting their prefernew Canadians, mothers with preschool It’s a community, and an eclectic one at for children and their caregivers there, like ence of farm machinery dealers or auction children and Safeway employees enjoying that. The simple black-and-white barberthe mini-golf, the playland, and the food shop, located in a corner next to the north- court,” said Dr. Erica Bird, one of founders houses, steaming Styrofoam cups in front of their coffee break are dotted throughout, west Safeway doors, already has walk-in them. Their median age is 75, give or take a tucking into cinnamon buns or breakfast of the CDM who today serves as president clients sitting next to the door, waiting for few years. sandwiches. of the board of directors. “Since we opened a trim. The gentleman in the barber’s chair in spring 2009, the mall has gotten busier A few tables over sits a duplicate row Market Mall’s general manager, Betty of coffee-drinkers lined up head to head: Anne Fisher, says it is scenes like this that is swathed in a leopard-print cape, squintand more vibrant, and we are proud to have all women this time, a pastel and powdery remind her of another place where everyone ing as the tips of what’s left of his sparse played a small part in that growth. hairline sprinkle down his nose. group just as engrossed in conversation as knows your name. (Continued on page 6)
The evolution of Market Mall Small-town feel in a big-city mall
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