Cariboo Mall in 100 Mile House has new owners, and it may soon be getting an exterior facelift.
That’s the word from mall manager Wayne Walker who says he expects the mall will soon sport a whole new look and, possibly, some new businesses.
Cariboo Mall is now owned by Kandolas Investments group of Kelowna, which he notes also owns a variety of other malls in the province, as well as numerous furniture stores, including the chain of 13 City Furniture & Appliances locations.
Walker says Kandolas should not to be confused with Kondola’s Furniture, which, he says, is not connected.
Furthermore, he adds he doesn’t know if Kandolas will open a furniture store in the mall, where there are currently vacancies.
“It is a very progressive company and there is empty space there. I think that would be anybody’s guess.”
Walker notes it was “strictly coincidental” that the Coughlan’s Hardware store recently moved out, and was unrelated to the mall’s sale in January or any plans the company may or may not have.
“I think you are going to see a lot of very positive changes in the mall over the period of the next six months to a year.”
This will likely include a “fairly major facelift” to the exterior, he explains, as well as some new tenants at the mall.
“There seems to be a really good demand. I’ve had a lot of interest in space in the mall in the last two months; it’s really positive.
“I would venture a guess that by this fall the mall could have a very different look [on the] exterior and … not very much vacant space left.”
The increased interest appears to stem from past inquiries that fizzled out for before Walker took over as the now-local new management, he adds.
“Many of the calls that I’ve had were from people who had existing businesses that had been interested over the years, but for whatever reason couldn’t seem to work anything out.
“It just takes working the fine print out and, hopefully, this summer we’ll see a couple of new businesses in there.”
Walker notes he can be reached at 250-395-3424 for inquiries about mall space.
“For anybody that’s interested, the Cariboo Mall is open for business. I’ll talk to anybody for any size.”
