A walking tour and review of "Royalmount" the new enormous mall built in Montreal, Canada. As you will see, I have some criticisms of Royalmount as it is in September 2024. All opinions are my own. #Royalmount #Canada #Montreal
So, I did a bit of digging on the "second largest mall in Canada" claim. It's been repeated in a lot of news articles about the mall (example: montreal.citynews.ca/2024/09/03/royalmount-mall-montreal-opening/) but it is simply not true. Royalmount phase 1 which just opened is 824,000-square-feet. It's not the second largest mall in Canada... it's not even second largest in Montreal! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_shopping_centres_in_Canada Royalmount is not even in the largest 40 malls in Canada. I understand that they have future plans to add more shopping and residential buildings. But as of today, calling it 2nd largest is straight up false advertising.
I live close to Royalmount and I seriously think it could be one of the most developed and advanced infrastructure project in the history of Montreal. Sadly Town of Mont Royal which is where the mall is located obstructs a big part of the project by blocking the residential part of it. (several 50 story towers that they want to build). This project also gives a ridership boost to De La Savane metro station which was among the top 10 least used metro stations in 2023. As someone who lives close and knows the area well I have already seen a big increase in the ridership of the station in the past few days.
I agree (having worked in that area before) Namur and de la Savane are not that busy. and location wise not really ''walking'' friendly just of Décarie service road. I was laughing with my husband about that area saying ''Oh now the husband shopping for his next luxury car will be able to drop his wife at the mall (across the street) instead of her tagging along LOL'' you know when the Gucci and Tiffany store will be open ;)
Thanks for saving me a trip. It needs seats in the big open spaces. I doubt if many of those visitors are luxury shoppers. I'm skeptical whether those who are use the metro.
I agree with what you said, except I never understand the argument of ''shouldn't we trying to fix the roads instead of buildings malls?''. I don't see how how they are at all related. Roads = municipal jurisdiction and tax payer money. A mall is a private venture with private money. We are not paying for Royalmount. I am not much of a shopper, but I suppose I would say that billions in private investment for a ''lifestyle centre'' is better than the wasteland that area was before. At least it fits into the urban landscape pretty well with good metro connectivity. It's not a mall with giant surface parking everywhere like Marché Central or Galleries D'Anjou.
How many hours and dollars the cities of TMR and MTL spent on planning this site is probably what he meant. You know what a "study" cost since ages? And it's not over yet.
You know the idea is "sharing the wealth" not "making the rich richer". City mergers was one tool to share the wealth (or costs) When you think of TMR and Westmount not paying their fare share (no homeless, not migrant welcoming, etc.)
Would you have been happier if they replaced the A&W with a fine dining restaurant and the window with a giant aquarium containing endangered species of fish?
I see a foreclose rent sign and the bank taking it in their hands and than there is no mall and just empty plot of land sitting vacant like the bluebonnets here in Montreal used to be
The golden age of shopping malls in both Canada & the US were from the 1960's to the early 2000's. Starting in the late 2000's & early 2010's, is when north American malls started to go on a steady decline, never to recover like it used to be during the hey days. Times have changed.
Malls can still be popular if they are close and surrounded by dense mixed walkable neighborhoods and are easily accessible by rapid transit like in Europe and Asia. Tons of Malls in North America don’t have these things around them and that’s a big reason for their decline.
Just a heads-up, the mall is now open, but it's far from being complete. They just finished phase 1 out of 19 last week, and about 85% of the building/activities are still unfinished. There's no rec room, VIP area, aquarium, concert space, or outdoor sections yet-they still need to be built. If this is really only 15% of the mall then its looking promising in my opinion
@@WealthEngineering 170+ stores 60+ cafés and restaurants 50% of brands new to Quebec or never-seen-before concepts VIP movie house Canada’s first 100% carbon-neutral mixed-use development Green spaces with over 450,000 trees, shrubs, plants and perennials 100+ charging stations for electric vehicles Energy loop that reduces GHG emissions by 93% All services within a maximum 15-minute walk A skybridge connects the site to De la Savane metro station Linked to the city’s bike path network 500 bike parking spaces
Only when you get outside in the backyard, outlet mall mostly outdoor but this one all the stores are in side, outside are for patio and small park only in the summer.
@@joenroute9646ce serait peut être le moment d'élever le niveau...non ? On en a des gens ( architectes...designers...ingénieurs...) capables. Why not ?
I visited the mall and I can say that from outside it is visible that the architecture was not considered în this project. Normally such a construction must have a unitary design to be attractive, a shape to remember. Unfortunately there are only some pieces gathered in a place. No artistic signature. It is a pity because it is a new construction and it lost the opportunity to be an iconic mall for Montreal.
A big reason why North American malls are struggling is the fact that they are not located in dense mixed walkable neighbourhoods and they are also often not located close to a rapid transit. In North America, they are often only surrounded by surface parking lots and are far from neighborhoods. European and Asian malls are usually doing way better because they are usually surrounded by mixed used and dense walkable neighborhoods and fast, frequent rapid transit systems.
@@MrEufemia The US has about 1100 malls and Europe has around 10k malls. They are also extremely common in Asia with place like Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapour and Tokyo having massive underground and overground rapid transit connections.
Town of Mont Royal which is where the mall is located sadly blocked the residential part of the Royalmount project (50 story towers) it was luxury condos. If there’s high demand for these types of homes I think it’s fine but affordable housing should definitely be a priority and the city of Montreal was a little bit frustrated a few years ago that affordable housing was not included in the project. Fortunately, there’s about 10k affordable housing units that are planned for the future around Namur metro station which is only a few blocks south of Royalmount.
@@abdoulm.sorofino2642 Namur surroundings is freaking non-place. Shocking to pass from say, Laurier Station to Namur. Namur has great station art but once you step outside it's parking lots and the highway....
This is awesome for Montréal. Over the years many of my friends would normally go to Toronto or New York to find these types of luxury stores. nice to see Mount Royal, QC finally can offer that for Montréalers
Have you heard of holt renfrew in montreal? They have all luxury brands. People are just cluesless and think that luxury brand stores never existed in Montréal before lol
That shopping center was designed to be built before the pandemic, market has changed now, i give it 2-3 years tops, nobody has the money anymore for this luxury market.
As a recent tourist to Montreal, I don't see why I would make the trek all the way out here. I was very impressed with Ste. Catharine and the underground stores. So much to see and so close to hotels and transportation. Malls have pretty much died here in the States and I really only venture out to our mall in WNY to go to the Apple store. Canada has nice downtowns with destinations. That Orange Julep place looked cool. He have (had?) a chain called Orange Julius. I wonder whether they are related. But thanks for exploring another corner of Montreal.
@@alexandrapoirier7301 Cool. I'll have to try out this iconic place once. CapitaineMontreal also did a video on the place and I could see the menu. Just wonder whether it is walkable from the metro station.
Le nom "Royalmount" pour le centre d'achat de luxe à Montréal peut sembler surprenant étant donné son caractère anglophone, surtout dans un contexte où la protection du français est une priorité au Québec. Cependant, il est important de noter que ce nom fait référence au quartier où le projet est situé, soit à l’intersection du boulevard Décarie et de l'autoroute 40, dans l'arrondissement de Mont-Royal. Le nom "Mount Royal" ou "Mont-Royal" est déjà un toponyme bien établi en anglais et en français à Montréal, en référence à la montagne qui surplombe la ville. En ce qui concerne l’usage de l’anglais, il s'agit probablement d'une stratégie marketing visant à attirer une clientèle internationale et de luxe, pour qui des noms anglophones peuvent sembler plus prestigieux ou plus universels. Bien que ce choix puisse paraître en contradiction avec la Charte de la langue française, il reste à voir comment les entreprises comme Royalmount équilibrent l'identité locale et internationale dans leur branding.
There are no charts/maps and I found few signs anywhere. While leaving on Friday I found dozens of workers in the parking area to exit as there was no signage and no one knew one/two way lanes. The A & W was super packed & airless, there were no napkins or condiments. For me the food court area is the best part. Tuesday was the soft opening, Thursday was the official opening. I was not impressed. They shouldn't have opened yet but due to economics I understand why the retailers that were open decided to open.
I live near this mall, just a walk away. I went there with my friends and it was amazing. I dont know if this is a product of gentrification because there are condos being built everywhere, where I live.
bet on it. For decades there have been efforts to gentrify cote-des-neiges but with much failure, particularly around the Van Horne between darlington and Wilderton areas. Always something going wrong. Which I'm chuckling at - enough of the city is gentrified, thus rendering many priced out of any housing in this city.
The gentrification of the neighborhood called “Le Triangle” in the Côte-des-Neiges borough around Namur metro station has been a success in the past decade tho.
We already have Holt Renfrew Ogilvy on Saint-Catherine St, right beside the Apple store. 250,000 square feet dedicated to luxury shopping. Combined with Harry Rosen and the smaller luxury stores close by, I'd argue it offers a much better shopping experience than what we get to see in this video.
thank you for the vidéo. One of my friend wanted me to go there. I dont like shopping and shopping centre, and after seen this , well for sure I am not going .(sorry for my english I am french). I like you ❤
Last Sat. we were at this mall. The restos starts to open at 11am, which is a bit late. We ended up at A&W, very small space. We waited for a long time to pay & people were disappointed . The problem was the internet connection, the cashier said !!! OMG!...That's why my daughter's fone was also disconnected! Another thing, the mall should make a signage hanging for the directions where the stores are located so people will know where to go just like in Eaton Center, downtown , Montreal ! I still prefer Downtown plenty of stores to shop!
used to work there before our lease was terminated and building demolished to build this. Traffic was bad enough back then. I cannot imagine what traffic will be when/if they put up the residential towers.
I am not happy that COACH is there, because they remove the skin on cows that are still alive. HOPE everybody sign the petition to stop this on PETA. Tysm
Merci de ce vidéo, c'est intéressant de voir ce nouveau centre d'achats. ¨Ça fait juste deux ou trois jours que j'entends parler de ça. Depuis des mois, je passais à côté du chantier, mais je ne savais pas ce que c'était. D'accord avec toi sur une chose. Tout ce que nous voyons là était déjà disponible ailleurs à Montréal. Est-ce que ce sera mieux quand le projet sera complet, de regrouper tous ces commerces sous un même toit ? Donnons la chance au coureur, nous saurons seulement alors ce que sera vraiment Royalmont.
Thanks for the tour, I guess I don't have to go now.... I looked on Google Earth, the 4 nearest malls are all around 3 km away: Rockland, Cavendish, Place Vertu and Côte-des-Neiges. My guess is not all of those malls will survive.
Cavendish Mall is not what it used to be. And as for Cote-des-Neiges, it might actually be torn down for housing. We used to go to Dollar Cinema and the owner was bought by a bigger company so he unfortunately closed. But I had never been through the day time but at night it was always empty besides the movie theater.
All these mainstream woke people, including this dude, hating without knowing. What is currently open is just phase 1 of 19. You don’t build an empire in just 6 years. They didn’t build downtown, carrefour Laval, Marché Central, Galleries d’Anjou, nor any other large scale commercial or residential project in one go. These projects span accross 10-20 years before they reach their final result.
I asked AI about "boring with a big L": In social media and casual conversation, saying something is a "big L" typically indicates a substantial defeat or setback, often used humorously or self-deprecatingly. Therefore, "boring with a big L" implies that the boredom is exceptionally unappealing or frustrating, highlighting the negative experience even further
Boring with a big "L". I'm still laughing 😂 I know the biggest mall in Canada is the infamous Edmonton Mall. When I worked in student exchanges in Mexico I had a student from Edmonton. He described his hometown as the most boring in the world. "Our main attraction is a mall." Malls are closing in the US but in Latin American cities they're very popular. There are several within walking distance of my apartment in São Paulo.
You are 100% right. We went there and we could stay for 30 min max. we paid for the parking and left as quickly as possible its over crowded we didn't find a place to sit.... the ppl like they've never seen a shopping center before that was wired.! It's reminded me when we lived in duabi for 2.5 years and could finish the duabi mall ... this mall is just a luxury brands mall. This is not for all ppl. We can only go there to watch not to shop
I think what some people fail to understand is that this opening just like any other malls in the world would always opt for that soft opening. This is not by any means a “grand” opening. They can’t wait for all their contractors/concessionaires to be complete 100% all at the same time. Because they would lose money by then. To start their income, they would start the operations even though a lot are still unfinished. Thats why I myself is not too hyped on going here just yet knowing and expecting that it’s just a soft opening. Might wait until the end of the year.
I don't understand, there's already a luxury mall close to it, the Rockland center, there used to be a Harry Rosen store there. Another one is Les Cours Mont-Royal yet it's almost a dead mall now, they had to reuse the space to put some silly giant arcade games. E-commerce destroyed the malls... I understand they started the project in 2014 but still e-commerce was already the big thing. Even Les Ailes de la Mode had to close and this was before e-commerce. And then covid and work at home trend happened followed by inflation. They should have aborted this project. The only explanation I have is "sunk cost fallacy".
To me this looks massively DISAPPOINTING. A greatly missed opportunity in 2 main ways. 1. It looks generic. Nothing high end or special about it. They could have done a ton better. Look at the Istinye, Zorlu shopping malls in Turkey, for example. The best part of this new Montreal mall was walking back outside. 2. This obsession with single level outdoor car parks that waste space. We have a housing issue in Canada and a multi level underground carpark would be way better, and develop all that carpark area into surrounding mid-high density housing. Would elevate the entire area!
it's a let-down. They could have gone for opulent design for a change. Instead it looks like an outdated mall retrofitted. The decors don't make sense. The pavement outside is an eyesore. Too much useless bulky stuff and too much space eaten up by bad design. I don't know why mtl sucks at this. the city of design is not designing.
As a urban planner, this is absolutely ugly and outdated. Just another boring building not adding any beauty to the surroundings and it will die in a few decades.
Dan you should make one of the Cincinnati Mall the mall is semi-abandoned because there are at least 5 stores left but they don't want to leave praying that it will resurge in popularity. Plus a tip the camera's don't work and a group of RU-vidrs where able to go see inside
Serves them right.. most of them voted for big bloated government which resulted in confiscatory tax rates for anyone who works hard. And now with all that inflation, they have no money left over to spend hundreds of dollars on nice stuff. They are just window shoppers now.. taking a detour to see this latest novelty while on their way to boustan for the deal of the day.
Plenty of space at the parking lot? Here's why: $5 per 30 minutes. The first 30 minutes is free. Afterthat, $5 for each 1/2 hour. In other words, 3 hours of parking at RoyalMount will cost the shopper $25! Rip-off!
Ce nom Royalmount est un crachat au visage des Québécois et de Montréal la deuxième ville francophone du Monde! Il faut boycotter ce centre qui en plus n'avait pas sa place dans cette partie de la ville déjà trop congestionnée!
It's a lovely name.. and it's very appropriate considering that it's located in the bilingual Town of Mount Royal.. a planned town that financed the 110 year old tunnel that passes underneath Mount Royal and later financed the development of Canadian Northern's transcontinental Railroad. Also worth mentioning is that the garden city's coat of arms is composed of several significant elements: The royal crown, of French origin, is enclosed in the top panel and blazoned with fleurons. Two heraldic roses, of English origin, are stylized wild roses with two rows of five petals separated by pointed sepals. So the shared heritage of both English and French is reflected in the name and town that spawned the name Royalmount. Therefore, it is ludicrous to see this new mall's name as a "spit in the face" to anyone. But I know people with your zeeno phobic personality will still take umbrage to anything that isn't entirely in French. Oh well.. I suspect that you would never have gone there in the first place.. after you do your weekly shopping at Dollarama and have no money left over to "boycott" this new mall. 😂
I'm more impressed with the outside of the mall. Moreover, the thing about 'premium malls' is eventually, they all end up relying on less premium brands, mainly because new malls usually don't have an anchor store to rely on. A place like Royalmount is bound to get a couple of Dollaramas within a few years. Most cities of a certain size have malls with premium tenants - premium brand like the handful we've seen in your video are fairly common in any city over half a million, so it'll never be a tourist draw that can sustain a shopping centre. They will likely have more success with restaurants or premium food courts, although those have also become quite commonplace.
Mélanger Poulet rouge et Yves saint Laurent excusez moi c’est du grand n’importe quoi ! Des allées très étroites alors que le premier étage est immense les gens se bousculent alors que nous sommes même pas encore en période de fête! Non très mal conçu c’est un flop pour moi ! C’est peut-être le plus grand en superficie mais il est inintéressant ! Le propriétaire Bernard Arnaud un français qui veut s’enrichir plus qu’il en est il a méprisé Montréal elle ne mérite pas ce mall qui ressemble à un grand hangar d’avion aéronautique.
You were right next to Dunn's and didn't even suggest it :( As for Royal Mount, I don't see why you would come to De la Savanne rather than go downtown. If you're already in the city St. Catherine's has most of those places and I think quite of few of them are part of the underground city as well. If you're on the north shore, you can always go to Carrefour Laval. I'm pretty sure Longueuil has there own big mall too. What I can see is that they tried to do something like Centrolpolis in Laval by having a large communal space outside where they'll be able to do events, and maybe have like food trucks or stalls or something.
Montreal is known world wide for being a fashion city , innivative and creative. Fashions scholls now international from Montreal . Many world designers are located in Montreal and even Taylor Swift wears Montreal s designer clothes . As for exemple , SSENSE boutique in the Old Montreal attracts people from New York and all over North america . I notoced you something make comments with checking the facts.
I'm so glad u went to check it out so i no longer feel l have to. I'm not much of a shopper to begin with, i couldn't agree more with mr boring big L. looks very 'montreal', half assed and unfinished. id only go to check out the fou fou food court, theres supposed to be a restaurant there run by the former owner of moishes (awesome steakhouse which used to be on the plato but has since reopened in old montreal) ps orange julep poutine by far one of the best in the city.
De La Savane Metro station is located at the very end of the CDN NDG borough at the border of TMR. It’s in the middle of the island and about 7-8km from downtown.
"I am not someone who usually does luxury shopping". So, I guess I wasn't surprised by your lack of enthusiasm. Why would you enjoy the experience if it is not your thing.
How cool! Another mall for poor people to stay warm during Montreal's winters. It's a big Mall but no one is leaving with handbags. What a waist of money!
Killed by Covid, online shopping, and city Hall's infatuation with bicycles. Going downtown used to be magic, now I stay away at all costs. One lane on Sainte Catherine, and blocked at Bleury. Que montréal repose en paix.
you're not the only one buddy. I also have a bad opinion of the Royalmount during my last visit. First of all, the location of the Poulet Rouge and A&W is too random, where are the food courts for the general public? I'm not talking about the foufou. In addition, I realized that there were few unique CLOTHING stores. During my last visit I wondered where they were? I was shocked to see that there were few. Most of the luxury stores were stores specializing in cosmetics, shoes and accessories. IT'S A VERY SHAME
I live a mile and a half away and I really was expecting tiny Bougie stores . I was expecting all the stores to be stores we don’t have around here … like LV and Gucci etc. No no no, there’s a sports experts, and Garage, Dynamite (whose head office is a few blocks away) and other fast fashions. i haven’t watched your video yet but the parking inside is really cheaply made. sadly not impressed. oh well.
