Big changes are afoot at Huntsville Place Mall

By spring of next year, Huntsville Place Mall will have a new look, a new food court and a building full of tenants, many of the newest ones local businesses.

It’s part of a revitalization of the mall, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

“The original owners have decided to revitalize the mall, give the mall back to the community, and stick with what we’ve always said: this is Muskoka’s only indoor shopping centre and we want to be the community’s shopping centre,” said mall manager Lindsay Edwards, who has been working with Stephen Lim, a representative from the mall’s management company, Effort Trust, to enact the changes.

“We decided that it is important to bring a mixture of eclectic vendors both to the mall and the food court, to entice local, Muskoka-based businesses,” said Edwards.

Some of the work has already begun. With the owners of King’s Buffet retiring, that space is being renovated for the Bears Den, a local restaurant which has an existing location on Highway 11 – one that will remain – and other, temporary digs in the mall’s food court.

A new food court will be built, too, with three to five vendors, all local. “We have already started interviewing potential vendors,” said Edwards. “All have been Muskoka-based, existing businesses.”

A new tenant will move into the 24,000 square-foot vacant space beside Dollarama at the end of the mall, with plans to open by late November. “It’s an existing, national, triple-A rated business that has two new owners, who are relocating their families here long term,” said Edwards. “They are really making an investment. They see the big picture and the forecast for the Huntsville Place Mall.” An announcement on that tenant will be coming soon, she added.

There’s also 12,000 square feet of vacant space at the back of the mall where the old Zellers restaurant used to be. Another merchant will be moving into that space and new entrances into that retail location will be created.

The vacant storefronts in the interior of the mall will be filled, too.

“We are also interviewing retail vendors who are local in Muskoka who would like to be in the middle of mall,” said Edwards. “We are extremely excited that every potential vendor that has come through our doors has been accepting of our ideas, want to be part of the change, can get over the negatives they have heard in the past, and can walk in and see the vision Stephen and I have.

We are hoping that everyone will be open, operating and already successful by spring 2018 and the mall will be 100 per cent filled.
Lindsay Edwards, Huntsville Place Mall manager

Finally, the mall entrances will be renovated and the existing washrooms will be relocated. “We are beautifying this property in its entirety,” said Edwards, adding that all of the renovation projects within the mall are being done 100 per cent by local trades. “We are employing local trades for all of our projects. For me, that’s a great thing.”

The existing mall tenants are happy about the changes, said Edwards. “They are welcoming the changes, they are seeing new life being breathed into the shopping centre. This is a whole new era for the mall.” And she adds, to quell some of the rumours she’s heard circulating, “No, I’m not putting a bowling alley in the mall.”

There will be new activities at the mall, too. Watch for PD day fun days for students, with face painting and Lost World reptile stations. And the mall may host a summer farmers’ market as well.

Huntsville Place Mall has new hours, open 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. except for Fridays when the mall is open from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Announcements about new tenants will appear first on the mall’s Facebook page here.

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