In a world where high-tech online shopping is capturing a big slice of retail pie, one might not consider Saskatoon's Market Mall as a potential saviour of the traditional brick and mortar model.

We feel this type of mall can be a community hub. - Taylor Brown, Strathallen Capital Corp.

Enter new mall owners Strathallen Capital Corp.

"We are known to buy malls that need a little tender loving care," said Strathallen's Taylor Brown in an interview with CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

"We do this for a living and we can't even keep up with how fast things are evolving," Brown said of the threat posed by the steady growth of e-commerce.

Safe, warm, inviting

Strathallen is taking a "back to the future" approach for Market Mall.

Strathallen Capital Corp's Taylor Brown says his company will put about $15M into Market Mall renovations. (Strathallen Capital Corp. ) "We feel that this type of mall can be a community hub."

In some respects it already is — Market Mall is surrounded by senior's living, and there are schools nearby, so the mall is a gathering place for young and old.

It's that feeling that the new owners would like to capitalize on for current and future tenants.

"The foot traffic at the mall is fantastic; the mall's management was great, and it had all the bones that we needed to turn the mall around," said Brown.

Part of creating a community hub involves bringing big names like Giant Tiger and Planet Fitness into the mall, along with a medical clinic that will focus on seniors.

The new owners will also be working on some of the basics, like a new roof, to make sure the mall remains warm, safe and inviting.

More changes on the drawing board

Brown told Saskatoon Morning that phase II is also on the drawing board, but that he is not ready to talk about longer term plans at the mall.

"We are almost there and it's going to be new and exciting for the mall and it will give it a whole new feeling, that's for sure."

In the end, Brown suggested, the company will spend some $15,000,000 fixing the mall's bones and then making it more esthetically pleasing, all in an effort to convince Saskatoon shoppers to step away from their computers and smart phones and shop the old fashioned way.