The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

You may be surprised, there will be some big players not at Oakridge.

I guess Holt Renfrew will be there as well so that might be enough for the brands with huge flagships downtown.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I guess Holt Renfrew will be there as well so that might be enough for the brands with huge flagships downtown.

The anchors at Oakridge will be Hudson's Bay and Safeway, no Holt Renfrew unless things have changed.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The anchors at Oakridge will be Hudson's Bay and Safeway, no Holt Renfrew unless things have changed.

No you're correct I must have misread an article that mentioned them as a possible third anchor.

[theKB]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The anchors at Oakridge will be Hudson's Bay and Safeway, no Holt Renfrew unless things have changed.

I'm surprised a mall of this nature will have its two key anchors as those brands, however this is obviously a grandfather situation.

They bay is in tatters, the Saks/Bay combo at the Toronto Eaton Centre is a disaster, humid/lack of climate control, no working escalators and now the operator of their food court thing has filed for bankruptcy. I would make the bold assumption that selling the rights to the Oakridge lease will be in the cards when the chips are down.

Being the main grocery option coming back to that area will be good for safeway but can't see it fitting the customer base of that mall, I wonder if their parent, Empire/Sobeys will use it as an opportunity to bring a more "premium" concept to market (not that safeway isn't upmarket in price, but definitely not upmarket in terms of offerings).

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by theKB

I'm surprised a mall of this nature will have its two key anchors as those brands, however this is obviously a grandfather situation.

They bay is in tatters, the Saks/Bay combo at the Toronto Eaton Centre is a disaster, humid/lack of climate control, no working escalators and now the operator of their food court thing has filed for bankruptcy. I would make the bold assumption that selling the rights to the Oakridge lease will be in the cards when the chips are down.

Being the main grocery option coming back to that area will be good for safeway but can't see it fitting the customer base of that mall, I wonder if their parent, Empire/Sobeys will use it as an opportunity to bring a more "premium" concept to market (not that safeway isn't upmarket in price, but definitely not upmarket in terms of offerings).

Would love for Sobeys to bring Farm Boy to Vancouver. Unlikely though.

https://www.farmboy.ca/

Ron.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

Would love for Sobeys to bring Farm Boy to Vancouver. Unlikely though.

https://www.farmboy.ca/

Ron.

They're up to 50 in Ontario

https://retail-insider.com/bulletin/...on-in-ontario/

[theKB]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

Would love for Sobeys to bring Farm Boy to Vancouver. Unlikely though.

https://www.farmboy.ca/

Ron.

I would even suggest Longo's - they have a great selection of private label products and prepared foods as well.

[Capitol Hill]

If the merger/acquisition of Neiman Marcus goes through that would seem to be a better fit for Oakridge than another Bay in the metro region. Even Saks seems like it’d be a better fit.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by Capitol Hill

If the merger/acquisition of Neiman Marcus goes through that would seem to be a better fit for Oakridge than another Bay in the metro region. Even Saks seems like it’d be a better fit.

I have my doubts about Hudson's Bay taking the space under any banner. Perhaps Simons will consider it over opening downtown. Other than that, we have no other Canadian options for a mid to high-end tenant taking a purpose built department store space that was conceived when HBC was in far better shape.

[theKB]

Originally Posted by connect2source

I have my doubts about Hudson's Bay taking the space under any banner. Perhaps Simons will consider it over opening downtown. Other than that, we have no other Canadian options for a mid to high-end tenant taking a purpose built department store space that was conceived when HBC was in far better shape.

Even with it being a fairly close proximity it could be conceivable that holt renfrew could be interested in being at oakridge. Bloor Holt to Yorkdale is roughly 10km, with that said the population draw is much larger in Toronto.

Given the success of seemingly any high end retailing in Vancouver being fairly successful (see nordstrom) and with the volume of space being taken by LVMW, it would be interesting if they took that place and put a Bon Marche Rive Gauche or some sort of one off department store there that more suited the mall. With that said, for them to bring that brand to NA, it would probably land in NYC or LA vs Vancouver, similar to how Printemps is opening a store in NYC.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by theKB

Even with it being a fairly close proximity it could be conceivable that holt renfrew could be interested in being at oakridge. Bloor Holt to Yorkdale is roughly 10km, with that said the population draw is much larger in Toronto.

Given the success of seemingly any high end retailing in Vancouver being fairly successful (see nordstrom) and with the volume of space being taken by LVMW, it would be interesting if they took that place and put a Bon Marche Rive Gauche or some sort of one off department store there that more suited the mall. With that said, for them to bring that brand to NA, it would probably land in NYC or LA vs Vancouver, similar to how Printemps is opening a store in NYC.

Considering the Nordstrom space is still available downtown and it showed such high profitability, I don’t see why any new-to-market high end department store would take Oakridge over that. I could see Printemps downtown or how about the first Galeries Lafayette outside of France! Let’s dream big, lol.

[officedweller]

Of interest:

History: ‘Don’t tell me how to run my store’: Inside the demise of Eaton’s
The once-great retailer filed for bankruptcy 25 years ago, leaving behind unpaid creditors and stiffed employees
https://www.tvo.org/article/dont-tel...mise-of-eatons

[C3YVR]

Diptyque has been open for about a month at Pacific Centre next to the old Four Seasons entrance.

[jollyburger]

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. bids for 7-Eleven stores and is purchasing GetGo Café +Markets

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., a global leader in convenience and mobility, confirmed on Monday that it recently submitted a friendly, non-binding proposal to Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. for the purchase of 7-Eleven stores.

“The Company is focused on reaching a mutually agreeable transaction that benefits both companies’ customers, employees, franchisees and shareholders. There can be no certainty at this stage that any agreement or transaction will be reached. The Company does not anticipate issuing any further public statements regarding discussions with Seven & i unless or until an agreement is reached,” it said in a news release.

https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...-cafe-markets/

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Of interest:

History: ‘Don’t tell me how to run my store’: Inside the demise of Eaton’s
The once-great retailer filed for bankruptcy 25 years ago, leaving behind unpaid creditors and stiffed employees
https://www.tvo.org/article/dont-tel...mise-of-eatons

My verdict about the demise of Canadian department stores: latter generations running the chains make crappy decisions and lack good visions like their predecessors. They treat the stores like plain corporate assets or money trees instead of seeing their value in benefitting societies.

This is happening to the Hudson Bay as we speak.

If someone from the Bay even bothers about what the public have to say: first of all, clean up the frontage of your flagship in Vancouver and you will see significant improvements in sales because your forebears laid good foundations which you are destroying bit by bit by simply not caring.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Considering the Nordstrom space is still available downtown and it showed such high profitability, I don’t see why any new-to-market high end department store would take Oakridge over that. I could see Printemps downtown or how about the first Galeries Lafayette outside of France! Let’s dream big, lol.

Why would they when they can do so in Montreal or Toronto? A decade ago, maybe because of the potential customer base, and I did bring up the idea of French chains coming here previously. Not anymore because opening a chain in an area with great social problems and lousy retail commercial investments will only serve to degrade their brand. We are not Singapore.

[Vin]

Starbucks sales tumble as customers reject high-priced coffee
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/star...ffee-1.6983527

Starbucks’ struggles reflect consumer fatigue with high prices at food chains, restaurants and stores after years of price hikes. They also reveal cracks in Starbucks’ business model, which has changed in response to customer demand from a predominately sit-down coffee shop to a mostly drive-thru and mobile takeout chain.

Again failing to listen to what consumers want at their own demise: Mediocre quality expensive coffee and bad customer service, it is not a wonder why this is happening.

[SpongeG]

a lot of people are boycotting them because of their Israel stance.

I've never had bad customer service there.

[urbanight93]

i know a lot of people my age who love coffee don't go to starbucks because their coffee isn't actually very good. So many better independent options.

Perhaps going back to the root (i.e. coffee quality).

Not to mention their points (or star) system is completely rigged.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

a lot of people are boycotting them because of their Israel stance.

I've never had bad customer service there.

I would also say many other people are either pro-Israel or remain neutral in their stance.

The bad customer service here does not refer to staff-to-customer interactions, but rather a bad model trend of not letting more people sit in the stores to enjoy coffee. Expansion of Drive-thrus in suburbs is just not sustainable when the urban centre branches, where huge concentrations of the population live, have their services watered down.