Calgary retail vacancy among lowest in North America
BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD APRIL 14, 2011
The rush of popular American sellers into the Calgary market is making retail space in the city hard to come by.
Colliers International's newest retail real estate report pegs vacancy in the sector at 1.48 per cent, among the lowest rates in all of North America.
One reason cited for the space squeeze is the number of U.S. retailers wanting to expand into Canada and Canadian retailers wanting to grow their share of the market in response.
"A lot of the retailers have to grow," said Rob Walker, vice-president/partner with Colliers.
"They have to continue to show growth, particularly the publicly-traded ones and so it's a dog-eat-dog business.
"They're continuing to secure these sites well in advance of developments. The space is a challenge for the most part; leased before the buildings are finished construction."
Malika Rajani, co-owner of the Passione women's store, appreciates Calgary's retail space demands after relocating from CrossIron Mills to a new location downtown this year.
"We went to a lot of places downtown and did our research. We had to go to the statistical data," she said.
Rajani and business partner Natasha Jiwani eventually settled on 17th Avenue.
"There was a lack of appropriate retail clothing store space actually," said Rajani.
Calgary's retail vacancy at the end of 2009 was 1.71 per cent and 1.43 per cent at the end of 2010, according to Colliers.
Its latest report states the first quarter of 2011 "has only accelerated the momentum in the retail market witnessed throughout 2010."
"Calgary's retail vacancy rate continues to be one of the lowest not only in Canada but in North America including keynote markets such as New York City," states Colliers.
The firm projects retail space to remain at a premium, with vacancy rates in the 1.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent range into the foreseeable future.
Emily Scarlett, of H&M Canada, said the company is pleased with its success in Calgary. The fashion retailer is opening its fourth location in the city today -a 20,000-square-foot flagship store at the redeveloped downtown CORE shopping centre.
"We still have our eye here on both Calgary and Edmonton in terms of opening even more stores in both markets," she said.
Numerous well-known international retailers have set up shop in Calgary during the past year, with Tiffany's and Victoria's Secret, both at Chinook Centre, among the latest to secure mall space.
Colliers says several other American interests, including Marshall's, Cabela's, Kohl's and J. Crew have shown recent interest in the Calgary market.
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