The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Van23H

The Empire theatres space in Oakridge centre will become Crate and Barrel. They have received approval for the design and it should be just over 20,000 sqft-25,000sqft including the Chinese restaurant.

the empire theatre on granville street + robson - they are supposed to be pulling out once the lease is up

it used to house about 8 theatres didn't it? about 4 levels

[s211]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

the empire theatre on granville street + robson - they are supposed to be pulling out once the lease is up

it used to house about 8 theatres didn't it? about 4 levels

And would have to be one of the last locations in the city that I'd consider putting upper-end fashion.

[webster]

Timmy Ho's going in at the base of the new social housing building at Pender & Abbott.

They'd been advertising it as a restaurant space - i was hoping for something that wasn't fast food - oh well

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by webster

Timmy Ho's going in at the base of the new social housing building at Pender & Abbott.

They'd been advertising it as a restaurant space - i was hoping for something that wasn't fast food - oh well

yup just saw that today .... they are moving FAST ... expect it to be open this month.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

the empire theatre on granville street + robson - they are supposed to be pulling out once the lease is up

it used to house about 8 theatres didn't it? about 4 levels

too small ... but would be a good location I think.

one space that would work well and is going to be vacant soon is the Downtown Post Office.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

yup just saw that today .... they are moving FAST ... expect it to be open this month.

They'll slow down when they start counter service.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by officedweller

They'll slow down when they start counter service.

Zing!

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by officedweller

They'll slow down when they start counter service.

lulz

my photo of said location

[dreambrother808]

Whole Foods on Robson is expanding into the vacated, adjacent Three Graces store.

Apparently there is an unresolved, Robson-specific zoning issue with having too much street-level storefront though and this is part of why Safeway is on the second floor in that area.

One of the improvements will be a hot bar à la the Cambie location.

[jlousa]

Great article in this weeks BIV about Robson street. Looks like leases have dropped down to $160psf from $250psf not too long ago. There's mention of a luxury car dealership eyeing the HMV space as well, although I don't see how that makes any sense. They mention that Sears is only paying $2psf for the Pac Centre location thanks to taking over Eatons lease.

[officedweller]

Thanks for the Sears lease rate - that's 600,000 sq ft at $2.00 psf.

BTW - here's a reminder how big Sears' floorplate is - that's 7 storeys (mall level is a bit smaller, I think) => 600,000 sq ft.
Nordstrom's typical store is supposed to be about 200,000 sq ft. (?)

Pics by me today.


http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/949/imgp1382s.jpg


http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/8420/imgp1383a.jpg

[LeftCoaster]

And their lease runs until 2068...

[mezzanine]

that's a really green roof!

and i mean that in a bad way!

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

that's a really green roof!

and i mean that in a bad way!

There are actually 2 small trees on the roof.
You can see one just about dead centre.
The funny thing is that the plants growing are probably the same types of sedums that would be planted on a true green roof.

[McPaul]

Perhaps it's because I'm new to van as of July, but I had NO idea that sears was 7 stories. None. What's in the other 5? Cause the mall is just two.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Whole Foods on Robson is expanding into the vacated, adjacent Three Graces store.

Apparently there is an unresolved, Robson-specific zoning issue with having too much street-level storefront though and this is part of why Safeway is on the second floor in that area.

One of the improvements will be a hot bar à la the Cambie location.

awesome news! as the store right now is so subpar when compared to Cambie it really is a joke. I know its a Capers store that got taken over by Whole Foods but still it really is a stinker.

If only they could get the Bar and Grill space as well >> http://g.co/maps/ymg3s

when should we expect this reno/expansion to finish?

[dreambrother808]

Like I said, there were some issues with having too much storefront space on Robson. Not sure if that was resolved. The owner of Three Graces didn't have her lease renewed and was told that Whole Foods was the reason why. A Whole Foods manager told me about the hot bar as well as other hinted at improvements but seemed in the dark about the expansion. This was a couple months ago.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by McPaul

Perhaps it's because I'm new to van as of July, but I had NO idea that sears was 7 stories. None. What's in the other 5? Cause the mall is just two.

they have condensed it down to 4 stories plus the mall level - used to be 5 when it converted back to sears from eatons after the eatons revamp...

mall level - mens
street level - accessories makeup etc
2+3 were womens/kids
4 was home
5 was furniture/electronics

now its mall level - mens & Electronics
street level - same
2 - womens
3 - kids + home
4 - home and furniture
5 - closed
6 - clearance outlet
7 - closed

i think thats how it goes now - someone can correct me

[jlousa]

Seems right.

Forgot to mention that Bitter opened yesterday, it was doing pretty brisk business yesterday and will bring some additional life to Hastings.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Seems right.

Forgot to mention that Bitter opened yesterday, it was doing pretty brisk business yesterday and will bring some additional life to Hastings.

awesome! when am I buying you a drink there?

http://scoutmagazine.ca/tag/bitter-hastings-vancouver/