Discussions

What kind of business do you feel Brandon is truly lacking or missing all together? Is there room for a particular type of retail store and/or service that you feel would benefit the community?

While I do think that Brandon in lacking variety, the biggest problem with introducing different kinds of retail outlets is that people here are not willing to pay more money for specialty/local/high quality goods LOL.  
 
We once had two scrapbooking stores, both are now closed. We had a tea shop on 18th street that closed once DavidsTea opened in the mall. There are always some people willing to pay more money, but ultimately there are more people who aren't. A few months ago there were people on the site complaining about a $2 admission fee to one of the craft sales that functioned as a fundraiser. Add online shopping into the mix and you don't have a very easy environment to start a business in.  
 
However to answer your question, my cousin recently brought to my attention that there is no place in Brandon anymore where one can buy maternity clothes. Personally I miss having a specialty tea shop that isn't DavidsTea. It is incredibly difficult to avoid artificial flavours in the tea there.

An actual spa, with treatments and different saunas, experiential showers (think 10 spa or a tiny Thermea). There is no where in Brandon to go to a Infrared Sauna.

Maternity clothes - definitely!  
The only place I have been able to find anything is a small (8') section at Wal-Mart... very little selection.  
Makes it very difficult to shop "local" when there are no options available. I have had to order online, and am planning a Winnipeg trip in the coming months just to find maternity clothes.

In regard to online shopping...it’s hard in Brandon because there’s not much for variety so there is no competition in pricing. If you don’t want to pay the price that the one or 2 stores in town have, your other option is online, which does tend do be cheaper. However, in places where they have competitive pricing, sometimes the store is cheaper than online so it’s easier to shop local there. Everyone wants consumers to buy local but if everyone did, there would be a lot more people in debt.  
 
I think Brandon is lacking in the entertainment area and would like to see some more things like that. One for example would be an indoor pool like Portage. A family pass there is $5 cheaper and the area is much bigger and imo, better. We often travel to Portage to get together with others at the pool but they never want to come to Brandon’s because it’s not as good lol. So then that’s also lost money to the city as a whole because they would go out for dinner and shopping after  
 
Plus size clothing, for men especially, is something I think Brandon is lacking in as well.

We need a Wholesale Club. I have to go to Winnipeg to get packaging and certain confectionery items that are not available in Brandon.

The pool idea. Granted we have the Sportsplex and the Y, but there are so many kids lessons going on and aquatics that you really have no where for just a nice swim. The Y is way too small now and again, when it’s public swimming, there is actually people still doing laps. So space is very congested. I wish the pools we had were a tad warmer, an enjoyable swim shouldn’t be shivering in the water.

I’d love to see a Costco in Brandon and surrounding area.

You will soon need a decent place to buy underwear with La Senza closing too. (Not saying La Senza's quality was great, but it does serve a market purpose)  
 
Literally soon you will only be able to buy women's bras or panties in Giant Tiger or Walmart....and wow, doesn't that say something about shoppers in the area??

Wouldn't that be fun?

There is also La Vie En Rose in the mall, New Beginnings on 18th, Penningtons for plus size also on 18thish...I think people will be fine for bras and panties in our City.  
 
Also most these stores will have most likely sourced their materials from the same places, your just paying extra for the branding at the "higher end" shops. There is nothing anymore wrong with the underwear from Walmart or Giant Tiger compared to La Senza so I am not sure what your trying to get at with your comment about shoppers in the area??? La Senza was more so a specialty shop anyways not as much for every day under garments.

La Vie en Rose has been open in the mall for several months now. I have heard much better things about their products than La Senza's.

I didn’t realize la Senza was closing, and I just heard north shore recently closed in the mall as well. Tough times I suppose. Personally, I would love to see an old navy come to Brandon, we always stop there when in the peg.

I'd love to see a shop that sells 'rescued' foods at a reduced cost. There's so much that goes to waste because some orgs have no way of safely transporting/storing potential donations of short-expiry refrigerated/frozen foods.

Like golden corral