For a west-end Edmonton power centre, there is life after Wal-Mart.

Despite the loss of one of its major anchors, Mayfield Common is moving forward by boosting its fashion and home-fashion components.

A mixed-use shopping destination located at Stony Plain Road and 170 Street, Mayfield Common becomes the first site in Alberta to play host to a HomeSense/Winners superstore, with the outlet taking up a good chunk of the space vacated by Wal-Mart.

Meanwhile, it is also adding Liz Claiborne, Town Shoes and X/S Wares to its roster of more than 30 tenants.

The space became available when Wal-Mart left its location there earlier this year to move to a current stand-alone space just west on Stony Plain Road and 185 Street. That locale is currently being developed, with additional retail joining the discount giant there.

But while Wal-Mart’s exit left a gap at Mayfield Common, it also opened up new opportunities for the property, part of the Rio Can Real Estate Investment Trust.

Winners, with an existing store in the centre, took advantage of the availability of extra space to import its superstore concept into the province.

The recently opened store provides Edmonton shoppers with two distinct store environments on one level, along with the convenience of shared cash registers.

“The superstore offers our customers greater convenience,” said Shannon Johnson, spokesperson for Winners Merchants International L.P. “They will have the opportunity to fulfil their home decor and apparel needs in one quick, easy-to-shop environment.”

Combining HomeSense with Winners also allows the company to introduce more people to the HomeSense concept, said Johnson, who points out that not everyone is familiar with the connection between the two.

Like Winners, HomeSense sells brand-name products at discounted prices, the difference being the emphasis on home fashions instead of clothing and related apparel.

Winners started rolling out the superstore concept two years ago, opening the first one in Markham, Ont.

It will introduce it to Calgary in 2005 by converting the existing Winners at Heritage Mall into the expanded combined superstore format.

When the larger spot came on the market in Edmonton, the company decided it was time to move from its smaller existing location at Mayfield Common. That in turn created additional vacancies where Winners was once housed. Those will now be filled by the Liz Claiborne designer fashion store and Town Shoes, both expected to open in 2005, while two of the remaining subdivided spots are currently vacant.

Back at the old Wal-Mart site, X/S Wares, a home-fashion retailer that sells both furniture and home and garden accessories, opens its new Edmonton store, leaving just one spot remaining where buyers once flocked to get their low-price fix.

But Rio Can’s Matt Keenan, director of leasing for Western Canada, expects to land a tenant shortly.

Keenan said the centre is doing very well in the strong west-end power corridor, which also includes West Edmonton Mall and a number of other big-box centres.

“There’s a lot of space in the west end and it’s a challenge finding people that are not already in the marketplace,” he said. But he adds that sales numbers for Mayfield Common merchants are “very, very positive.”

With the exception of the open spots at the power centre, Mayfield Common is now virtually full, though it is looking at the possible addition of a number of new, smaller retail pads.

Other main Mayfield Common tenants include Save-On-Foods and Office Depot, while its existing fashion component encompasses a Danier Outlet, Reitmans, Smart Set and the Jean Outlet.

The multi-purpose destination, however, draws additional customers with a House of Tools, Super Pet, Sport Chek, Boston Pizza, A&W and a Bank of Montreal among its choices.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)