Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 03/02) - Doors are opening for business all through Yellowknife's Centre Square Mall. And the re-awakening comes with a fresh look. The mall has new signs outside.

It took a long time for Centre Square's Jennifer Marchant to decide on the design of eight aurora-coloured signs.

"I wanted a Northern look," said Marchant.

Nearly every square inch of the downtown Centre Square Mall is leased now. New arrivals include HeadGear, Willow Bay, Jay Set and Brudy's Urban Wear.

The SoapBerry Shop returned to the mall after trying out a different location for a while. Bootlegger clothing store is opening in early August. Contractors are at work on the new jean store.

"There are negotiations taking place for the restaurant," said Marchant referring to an empty restaurant location facing both the mall and 51st Ave.

"It's good to be back here. This is a great place for retail," said soap and fragrance store owner Honeylet Robertson.

Like-minded customers

Retail merchants often find that sales improve when they are close to similar retailers with like-minded customers. The mall also provides a warm place for shoppers during Yellowknife's long, cold winters.

"The mall is a place where lots of people come through," said Willow Bay's Amber Beauchamp.

She always thought the mall was a practical place for giftware and home-style businesses.

A lot of people thought a hat shop was an odd choice for Yellowknife business people. "But the store is doing very well. We've already had to make four or five new orders," said HeadGear's manager Shawna Fox, explaining that the mall draws customers from more than just Yellowknife.

"It's all the small communities too."

And it turns out there is a huge market for hats in the city.

"A lot of people have been saying there is no place to buy hats," said the store's co-owner, Trent Hayward.

The partners researched locations before they opened and found that other hat specialty stores in larger locations always did well in malls -- and the space that was available in Centre Square was perfect.

"We didn't want to be too big."