Lime Ridge Mall-always changing

Yesterday's visit had me noticing several empty storefronts or hoarding for upcoming stores. American Eagle Outfitters will be returning to the main floor by Addition-Elle next month. Jacob (upstairs)-the store is gone? Last year, the outlet and regular stores merged into the upstairs site. Well, Jacob Outlet left Ancaster Meadowlands earlier this year-Globo Shoes is now in that unit.

Cassis for women is gone. Tommy Hilfiger has up to 70% off and the store looks 1/3 empty (fixtures/merchandise; one side of doors have signs to use the side corridor doors only). The shoe store by Swarovski is gone. Crabtree & Evelyn has long gone but so have both convenience stores (International News by C&B's store and the one in the food court by the Quick Stitch unit). Noticed that the Bell store is hoarded and replaced by a kiosk in the hallway. The former dollar store behind the kiosk seems to be a site for another store. I don't know how Home Furniture is doing in the former Bulk Barn location. There is a small nail salon next to the Bell store-that corridor used to have a lot of foot traffic when the cinemas were still around.

Taco Bell-menus are gone and sign was turned off. Is Taco Bell leaving the food court or just renovating?

Spring Rolls restaurant is coming in the summer (per mall directory). Oh, that will be a food treat to enjoy in Hamilton!

H&R Block has a storefront in/near the former Bikini Village unit.

Sears-wall knockdown has been evident and rack removal (no Land's End??-remember how 2-3 years ago, that line was to help drive traffic to Sears and even had a separate cash counter installed in each store) and the customer service counter near the Nevada section(also gone) has disappeared. The white paint needs to be replaced by a fresher colour so that the walls can act like a backdrop for the few mannequins styled with outfits.

Bombay Company has amazing presence upstairs with its clear windows all around. Sigh-such beautiful wares! Without that presence, that part of the mall would be quiet. The salon that used to be near Yankee Candle's store-did it leave the mall or is it Salon Profilo which is on the other side of the upper level?

Athletes world just closed its doors at the beginning of the year rent is too high they said, it used to be such a great place to spend the day shopping I barelystep foot in that place anymore (unless theresa great deal) like tommy 70 % off I may just have to check it out, thanks

I used to only shop at the at the mall..years ago when there was a k-mart. I didn't drive but could walk. Now I only go for my kids. I hate it. Parking is crazy. I never understand why there's so many cars. I don't see that many people inside. Maybe they're all at the food court LOL

Re: so many cars at lots--it would not surprise me if some people park their cars there to use transit to go downtown because meters are the norm in the lower city or paid lots. One thing in the mall's favour is that the perimeter road is decently marked--compare that to the road bisecting The Centre on Barton (bit of a free for all out there). Mapleview Centre's berms and tree line along Maple Ave. makes a parking seem like a day at the park-refreshing! But the car traffic around that mall seems not to recognize pedestrians (aka recipients of heavy gas-pedal syndrome at corners and crosswalks). The actual lanes from city streets into the lots are OK but not around the mall (especially that ramp in the back seems tight).

K-mart-that store had some good merchandise. I remember buying clear plastic clothes hangers that had bubbles and sparkly blue squares inside--wish I had purchased more than the 2pkgs. I did back then.

We go to get our hair done at Limeridge, but that seems to be the only time we go anymore. I'll stop in Children's Place or Old Navy for clothes for the kids, but not much else. I was in Eastgate yesterday and noticed almost a 1/3 of the stores there are vacant.

I find the Bay pretty attractive as the store had reduced some stock and most racks look really tidy now-less of a free-for-all, but still mostly designer. RW&Co and Le Chateau have some appeal for clothing and Melanie Lyne's ok. But most of the women's stores' stock is stuck in some kind of oblivion (where's the fabric i.e. for sleeves, nice prints, quality???) with high price tags. Footwear for large sizes-good luck finding it.

I think the upper level corridor leading towards Home Outfitters is in peril but as long as the Kernels booth remains in business, stores/counters there may still hold on to their locations. Birks/Swarovski seem too high-end for the mall but without them, the "new" extension on the mall would suffer (Shoppers Drug Mart anchors that end for certain).

I miss the old fountain and the fashion shows that the mall office used to organize. We need something like that to get shoppers interested in what the stores have and even bump up the food court beverage sales runs before and after the shows. Mapleview Mall's old food court was perfect for their daytime weekend fashion shows because the customers were mostly seated and watching and there would be a crowd by the elevator (Tim Horton's and Shoppers were getting lots of traffic too) when a show was about to start. Now Mapleview's new food court vista is endless gray or the highway traffic. Not quite the same appeal...