Port Place Mall Phase 2 Filling Fast

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Dollarama Store Setting Up New Store

Coastal Capital Moves From Commercial Street

The Pantry Restaurant Location

Port Place Mall Still The Happenin' Place Downtown

The second phase of the completely renovated Port Place Mall is quickly starting to see businesses  getting ready to open.

The biggest by far is the Dollarama Store having a sign in the window advertising they are Now Hiring, good news if you are looking for a job downtown. In the old Port Place mall there had been a dollar store, but it wasn't the size this one appears to be. The same company opened a store at Terminal Park a few years ago and is going gangbusters with bargain-seeking shoppers.

The Coastal Capital Insurance office has moved out of their Commercial Street location and their new Port Place office is now open for business. I think the only reason they were on Commercial Street was due to being displaced when the Port Place Mall reno was started.

There are window signs showing that Nanaimo will soon have the choice of some new eateries with the Pantry and the Noodle Box locating in the mall.

The first phase of the Port Place renovation has been complete for quite sometime and is clearly the centre for commercial activity in downtown Nanaimo. The main traffic draws in the old section are Thrifty Foods, London Drugs, Government Liquor Store and CIBC. In addition other well known names are located here including Starbucks and Subway.

The newly finished section of the mall is more like Main Street as it is not covered and has one hour angle parking in front of the new stores. Originally, if I remember correctly the developers said the upstairs of this section was going to be devoted to residential, but those plans seem to have changed as it appears the upstairs is designed for office space.