General Retail News

[Urbanarchit]

It's been a while since I've visited Venus Envy, but I noticed that they now have a Bank Street retail frontage, between The Comic Book Shoppe and Stroked Ego. I'm guessing they may vacate their old premises, which could open up a new plot for development of some sort.

Also, it's been months but Salem Storehouse Inc./ Ottawa Bible House across the street closed down or moved. I don't know if anyone has bought into that property, but I hope some interesting store or restaurant opens up.

[eemy]

With HBC selling their Yonge and Queen property to Cadillac Fairview, I wonder if they might do the same in Ottawa, combining the Freiman Mall/HBC with the Rideau Centre. I think it would probably jump to the top of the list of largest malls in Ottawa-Gatineau, but I'm not sure. Cadillac Fairview would probably do a better job maintaining the property than HBC as well.

[Dundas]

Can anyone comfirm that The Exchange Pub in the rideau centre closed down? I was planning on going there but when I checked it out on Yelp it says it's closed down. I tried calling but the number is out of service.

http://m.yelp.ca/biz/the-exchange-pu...taurant-ottawa

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by Dundas

Can anyone comfirm that The Exchange Pub in the rideau centre closed down? I was planning on going there but when I checked it out on Yelp it says it's closed down. I tried calling but the number is out of service.

http://m.yelp.ca/biz/the-exchange-pu...taurant-ottawa

Yes it closed up shop I think around Christmas - maybe earlier. I don't go to Rideau as much as I used to. It's a lot of drywall at the moment. :-)

[teej1984]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

Yes it closed up shop I think around Christmas - maybe earlier. I don't go to Rideau as much as I used to. It's a lot of drywall at the moment. :-)

Yep, it's closed! And yep, there is a ton of drywall all over Rideau now. Exciting to see what the refreshed stores will look like! Stitches, however, is an eyesore!

Try Hooch down the street!

[Harley613]

I spoke with a security guard re: The Exchange and he heard they are still looking for a tenant.

[Dundas]

It's hard to believe that they closed down. I was there shopping before Christmas and it was still open.
I never actually went there to eat. Im still pissed that I have a 25$ elephant and castle gift card.

[Radster]

I posted this in the Rumour thread a few weeks ago, but I guess it can go in the retail thread too:

Wellington West is getting their own LCBO! It is going into the old carpet store space, where Somerset turns into Wellington Street West (corner of Garland St).

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by teej1984

Yep, it's closed! And yep, there is a ton of drywall all over Rideau now. Exciting to see what the refreshed stores will look like! Stitches, however, is an eyesore!

Try Hooch down the street!

Didn't think Rideau had a Stiches since they closed this one down;

[teej1984]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Didn't think Rideau had a Stiches since they closed this one down;

Because luckily it was tucked away, out of eyesight for most (thankfully), on the second floor in the corner above the Marketplace (under Sephora).

[J.OT13]

I don't know, I think Stitches was/is a perfect match for sketchy Rideau. Plus, those bastards at the Rideau Centre were actually using one of the coolest buildings in Ottawa (may it RIP).

Considering they've been rejecting big name retailers for the last 15 years (H&M anyone?), they could have accommodated them in that masterpiece of a building.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by defishel

Also, it's been months but Salem Storehouse Inc./ Ottawa Bible House across the street closed down or moved. I don't know if anyone has bought into that property, but I hope some interesting store or restaurant opens up.

I actually went to check in on this in November. The office of the Canadian Bible Society http://www.biblesociety.ca/
is there on the second floor, and they own the building. It's a national organization, but they don't do a lot out of that building.

They used to run the store themselves, and when that wasn't working out they brought in Salem. Didn't work out for Salem either, who apparently has a larger store on Merivale.

They're now planning on converting the space into a youth outreach centre of sorts. The interior is not very impressive, compared with the very interesting exterior.

I'm not a religious person, but it was interesting to learn about them. They used to have their HQ on Sparks, you can still see the lettering on the exterior:

Source: http://markbellis.blogspot.ca/2013/0...et-ottawa.html

[kevinbottawa]

RioCan’s Darth Vader CEO Sees Apartments Atop Retail

By Katia Dmitrieva Feb 18, 2014 4:21 PM ET

Edward Sonshine, chief executive officer of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, says he’s known as Darth Vader in the downtown Toronto neighborhood where he battled to put up a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet.

RioCan, Canada’s largest REIT, wants to locate chain stores where people are moving -- into the center of North America’s largest cities. Sonshine plans to build rental apartments on top of his retail empire to capitalize on growing populations in places like Toronto, Calgary and Austin, Texas.

For years, the 67-year-old developer fought residents opposed to his plan of including a Wal-Mart in RioCan’s proposed retail and office complex near Kensington Market, a district of international grocers and vintage clothing stores.

“What you have is a finite amount of retail space and it’s hard to build more in this world,” Sonshine, who founded the company in 1993, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto office last week. “Witness what we’re going through at Bathurst Street. Build a few floors, and I’m the Darth Vader of Kensington.”

RioCan took a step back last week, axing the big box retailer from its latest submission to the City of Toronto. Sonshine, whose father used to take him to Kensington market on Saturdays when it was a hub for Jewish bakeries and shops, isn’t deterred from his urban push.

“That’s where we used to shop,” Sonshine said. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s become quite trendy and very focused. It is a jewel of Toronto, a different kind of jewel.”

Scarab Beetles

After building the REIT into a C$8.04 billion ($7.34 billion) company by developing shopping malls in suburbia and renting them out to retail tenants, the CEO is shifting toward mixed-used properties. Sonshine plans to build 3,000 to 4,000 residential rental units in the next five years and has three sites under consideration in Toronto.

Canada’s largest retail landlord intends to spend at least C$600 million over that time on the strategy. Many of the rentals will be perched atop the company’s tenants, including Target Corp., Canadian Tire Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores. (WMT)

“Long term, you can never go wrong owning rental residential in good areas of a good city,” said Sonshine, his gold scarab-beetle cuff links flashing as his hands moved over the table, emphasizing a point. “No one is interested in one-off profits. The value will be better by keeping that rental residential real estate.”

Census Geek

RioCan rose 1.4 percent to C$26.60 at the 4 p.m. close in Toronto today. The shares have gained 7.4 percent this year, outperforming the 3.1 percent increase in the 39-member Bloomberg Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust Index. The stock, which fell 10 percent last year along with the REIT index amid concerns over rising interest rates, has four buys, five holds and no sells among analysts who research the firm.

The Toronto-based company has been pulling out of smaller Canadian cities such as Sault Ste. Marie where populations are stagnating. RioCan, which made the moves after Sonshine began reading detailed census reports in 2004, shifted assets so that 73 percent of revenue today flows from urban centers. Over the next five years, that figure will reach about 80 percent, with a bias to Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa, Sonshine said.

There hasn’t been a substantial number of rental apartments built in Toronto, a city in the midst of a condominium boom, in the last 40 years, he said. Residents, many who currently rent in those new condo towers, want the security and convenience that comes with having a professional landlord and a superintendent in the building, Sonshine said.

Toronto’s Manhattanization

RioCan plans to build The Well, a 7.7 acre (3.1 hectare) mixed-used neighborhood of condos and rental apartments, retail, and office space in downtown Toronto. The company and its partners on the project, Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Diamond Corp., submitted a rezoning application Feb. 11.

“What we’ve worked very hard at over the last few years was having the capabilities in-house to develop mixed-use properties,” Sonshine said. “That’s where the future’s going to be, that’s part of the intensification.”

The market may be hesitant of the strategy at first because RioCan’s expertise has traditionally been in retail, according to Heather Kirk, a real estate analyst at Bank of Montreal who rates the company’s shares a hold. It’s likely to pay off, she said.

“Look at Toronto -- 15 years ago that whole downtown King West area was a ghost town,” Kirk said by phone Feb. 14, referring to the neighborhood where RioCan wants to build The Well. “It’s the Manhattanization of Toronto. That’s a trend that’s happening in a lot of cities.”

Texas Malls

Across Canada, cities have grown up around the retail space that RioCan purchased two decades ago. Adding home rentals on top of those locations just means more revenue for the REIT and more return for shareholders, she said.

Toronto, Canada’s biggest city, grew 9.2 percent to 5.6 million people in 2011 from 2006, according to the most recent census by Statistics Canada. Calgary’s population jumped 13 percent in that period, fueled by the energy industry. New York’s population grew only 3.8 percent to 8.3 million people in 2011 from the decade before.

For now, 95 percent of RioCan’s rental revenue comes from retail, with Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire and movie chain Cineplex Inc. being the company’s top three tenants, according to a portfolio fact sheet. Ontario is RioCan’s biggest market, generating about 56 percent of its revenue, followed by Quebec and Alberta. The U.S. accounts for 15 percent and is composed of about 50 shopping centers in Texas and other states, Sonshine said.

Stealing Assets

RioCan snapped up properties south of the border following the 2008 financial crisis, taking advantage of the price decline.

“I’ve got one regret -- that we didn’t buy more,” Sonshine said from behind navy-blue framed glasses. “With the benefit of hindsight now, we were stealing the assets. We’re looking to expand more in the U.S. but it’s hard because things have gotten so expensive.”

After retail rents have risen 10 percent to 12 percent annually in the last five years, the company is starting to get push-back from its tenants, said Sonshine. The rise of on-line shopping websites, including Amazon.com, are another challenge, posing competition for shoppers’ dollars, he said.

Hence the shift into mixed-use developments, Sonshine said, whose guiding business strategy is to remain “always paranoid.”

“People may change their shopping habits, they may change their working habits,” he said. “They’ll always need a roof over their head.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...op-retail.html

[1overcosc]

A very positive development. IIRC this company owns the mall at Lincoln Fields. This could potentially bring about real TOD there.

[teej1984]

H&M opening in Gatineau at Les Promenades http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...596/story.html

[Urbanarchit]

I walked by and photographed the progress for the LCBO in Hintonburg. The sign is up and they have many shelves up, but they don't have their inventory up yet. The sign above says they'll be opening soon.


LCBO by Shel DeF on Flickr

[gjhall]

Rumour mill says early March.

[rocketphish]

Microbrewery Beyond the Pale to expand to City Centre building

One of Ottawa’s most successful microbreweries has a major expansion on tap.

By David Sali
Published on February 26, 2014

Beyond the Pale plans to move its brewing operations later this year from its current 2,000-square-foot facility at 5 Hamilton Ave. in Hintonburg to a new 8,000-square-foot location at 250 City Centre Ave., just north of Somerset Street W.

Co-owner Shane Clark says the brewery, which opened in November 2012 and was initially 900 square feet, has outgrown its current home. The company’s 31/2-barrel system now churns out 400 litres per batch, but demand for Beyond the Pale’s suds has reached the point where the plant is running 20 hours a day, six days a week.

“It’s a bit much,” Mr. Clark, who owns the brewhouse along with his father Al and pal Rob McIsaac, said with a chuckle. “I’m the brewer, and I might crack.”

Not that he’s really complaining.

“It’s a wonderful problem,” he conceded.

The City Centre location will feature a much larger 15-barrel system, which can produce 1,750 litres per batch. Work on the new facility will start in March, and the owners hope to be brewing there by August. Mr. Clark estimates the move will cost about half a million dollars.

All three owners live in the neighbourhood, making City Centre an ideal location, he said.

“It’s as close as humanly possible to where we live,” he said. “We like to be able to walk to work.”

The company, whose product is now poured at about 45 pubs in the Ottawa area, sells nearly 15,000 litres of beer a month at bars and its retail outlet on Hamilton Avenue. Mr. Clark said if all goes well, Beyond the Pale will be ready to start marketing its brew at the LCBO by early in 2015.

Under provincial law, a brewery cannot operate more than one retail outlet until it produces at least 2.5 million litres a year. Mr. Clark said the store and tasting room will likely remain on Hamilton Avenue for a while, although he said they might eventually be relocated to City Centre as well.

“We’re kind of debating what the best strategy is,” he said.

The City Centre property, part of a retail and warehouse complex, is currently zoned for mixed use and will require an amendment to be used as a brewery. Mr. Clark said he and his partners have been in talks with city officials for months and don’t anticipate any problems getting the rezoning approved.

“We’re not too worried about it,” he said.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2014-02-26/a...tre-building/1

[c_speed3108]

Score one for the suburban mall. Place D'Orleans will get the city's second H&M this fall


http://www.obj.ca/Local/Retail/2014-...ns-this-fall/1


This quote is interesting too:

The introduction of a popular new retailer like H&M will be a boon to business at the mall, said Barry Nabatian, a retail analyst with Shore Tanner and Associates.

He said the new store will combine with a recently-opened Target store to expand the mall as a destination for shoppers.

“The pace of growth at Place d’Orleans has not been as much as Bayshore or St. Laurent Shopping Centre,” said Mr. Nabatian. “But now things are changing and I think we will see (Place d’Orleans) grow and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go for an expansion.”

[movebyleap]

Re: H&M announcements

Woah - going form zero to a possible five or six in the area....can you say oversaturation?

My teen daughter was a huge fan of this store and would shop there every time she was in NYC or Europe. Now she hasn't stepped foot in the Bayshore store. Somehow the attraction is gone.

Good on Place d'Orleans though. It's a great looking mall and deserves more traffic.