The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[officedweller]

... until the health authority says to go to the air conditioned / filtered air mall to avoid the heat and/or forest fire smoke...

[Caliplanner1]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

And aren't indoor malls slower in nice sunny days?

....not if it's also hot!

[officedweller]

Retail Insider listed Simons as opening a store in Richmond, BC
- presumably the former Richmond Centre Sears?

http://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2015/7/list

[Vin]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

And aren't indoor malls slower in nice sunny days?

Are they? Go to Metrotown or PC now and see if they are slow. In fact, with global warming and all, more people enter malls for their A/C.

Originally Posted by Caliplanner1

....not if it's also hot!

Originally Posted by officedweller

... until the health authority says to go to the air conditioned / filtered air mall to avoid the heat and/or forest fire smoke...

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Vin

Are they? Go to Metrotown or PC now and see if they are slow. In fact, with global warming and all, more people enter malls for their A/C.

This is actually not true, footfall in Canadian malls is down about 2.6% YoY, and has been declining for the better part of a decade now. This is offset however by total spend which is up enough to compensate for the decrease in traffic, as fewer shoppers are making larger purchases.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

That is the same market trends as Robson. If they could board up the windows and roll up the carpet on robson they would. Most days from MId Jan to April the stores don't sell enough to cover the rent for the day. RObson has a 6 month window that rocks and 6 months were its crying.

Most stores indoor or out have significant sales droughts Jan to April. Sales are very seasonal and spring is slow regardless of type of shopping experience.

Originally Posted by ozonemania

Many retail high streets (at least in North America) have the same issue. Retailers need to locate here as prestige/flagship placeholders -- the bread and butter come from their other distribution points.

This is very true. As an interesting piece of trivia, Zara views their locations as a form of advertising and will often spend far more than is economically viable to locate a store on high streets.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

This is actually not true, footfall in Canadian malls is down about 2.6% YoY, and has been declining for the better part of a decade now. This is offset however by total spend which is up enough to compensate for the decrease in traffic, as fewer shoppers are making larger purchases.

I'm referring to downtown/city/commercial centre malls (PC, Metrotown, Richmond Centre), and Lower Mainland-specifically, but I'm not sure if your data reflects that. I'm definitely not referring to outlying suburbia malls, and since I'm not a proponent of urban sprawl, am actually glad if less people enter such a mall. Also, most outlying malls in Canada are getting rather old and tiresome, and with so many closures, especially in the burbs (Target, Eaton's, Sears, etc.), it's no wonder that your stats shows just that.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Vin

Are they? Go to Metrotown or PC now and see if they are slow. In fact, with global warming and all, more people enter malls for their A/C.

Maybe. I guess personally I dislike going to indoor malls on nice sunny days. Something depressing about that lol

[Sheba]

Target's struggle to sell stores exposes Canada's weak retail leasing market

Insolvent Target Canada's sale of its store leases and other properties fetched far less than the amount the retailer spent initially acquiring its leases - a reflection of the softening retail real estate market in the wake of the U.S. discounter's exit from Canada.

And in a telling move, the retailer, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January and closed all 133 of its outlets, was forced to hand back 75 store leases to their landlords, unable to find suitable buyers for them, recent court filings say. That's up from 55 leases it returned - or "disclaimed" - in April when Target was about to launch its property auction.

...

While Target lawyers have said the property sale process sparked "robust" interest, industry insiders say a generally tepid response from retailers for Target leases, along with other chains' store closings, underscore the struggle among many landlords to fill vacant mall space.

"It is quite a bit of space for the market to absorb," said Caiti Morgan, vice-president of retail valuation at realtor Cushman & Wakefield. "The Target property auction results … weren't particularly stellar."

In the span of four years, Canada's retail leasing market has gone from being a landlord's dream to a challenge for many property owners.

...

Some traditional enclosed shopping centres are looking at attracting food and restaurant tenants as well as other non-traditional operators, rather than mainly fashion chains.

But some mall space may vanish or be converted to spa, fitness, medical, residential, office or even call-centre uses, observers say.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...k-retail-leasing-market/article25715341/

[TourOdeon]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Maybe. I guess personally I dislike going to indoor malls on nice sunny days. Something depressing about that lol

As long as we have a lot of Asian population, indoor malls will still be quite attractive. In general, Asians are afraid of getting tanned.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Maybe. I guess personally I dislike going to indoor malls on nice sunny days. Something depressing about that lol

It's pastime for losers & 98# weaklings.

[Vin]

Talking about indoor malls can really show us what some people are made of: the amount of ignorant intolerance is just mind-boggling. Please get back to the topic of retail, this kinda talk is getting us nowhere.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by Vin
Talking about indoor malls can really show us what some people are made of: the amount of ignorant intolerance is just mind-boggling. Please get back to the topic of retail, this kinda talk is getting us nowhere.

Once again your Captain High Horse act shows you for a deeply illiberal and limited poster.

==============


Two new developments on the edge of Kitsilano promise increased capacity for retail but if the experience undergone by stores in the 1800 W 1st is any example it'll be years before the area generates worthwhile pedestrian traffic.

I'm speaking of the 1700 block W 1st & the 1600 block W 4th.

[Caliplanner1]

Does anyone know when the new shopping mall at the Marpole Canada Line station will be opening?

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by Caliplanner1

Does anyone know when the new shopping mall at the Marpole Canada Line station will be opening?

You mean Marine Drive and the sign says fall 2015.

[Pinion]

Do gyms count as retail? The new LoLo Club 16 is impressive

Club 16 opening, North Vancouver by chrisjohann, on Flickr

This fellow seemed pretty popular for some reason

Club 16 opening, North Vancouver by chrisjohann, on Flickr

I judge your poor spelling!

Club 16 opening, North Vancouver by chrisjohann, on Flickr

Great view, too

Club 16 opening, North Vancouver by chrisjohann, on Flickr

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Do gyms count as retail? The new LoLo Club 16 is impressive

They do nowadays. The article I quoted above:

"Some traditional enclosed shopping centres are looking at attracting food and restaurant tenants as well as other non-traditional operators, rather than mainly fashion chains.

But some mall space may vanish or be converted to spa, fitness, medical, residential, office or even call-centre uses, observers say."

I'm kind of surprised Metrotown doesn't have a fitness club yet. It's got food and restaurants, medical / dental (quite a lot actually - there are 7 dentists). Station Square will add residential and office space (who knows if the Sears proposal will ever happen). Now the question is what's going to happen to the Target space - will it be one big store or broken up into two or more?

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Do gyms count as retail? The new LoLo Club 16 is impressive

More interesting than the usual posts about luxury outlets and where/when Simons and Uniqlo are going to pop up.

Originally Posted by Sheba

I'm kind of surprised Metrotown doesn't have a fitness club yet. It's got food and restaurants, medical / dental (quite a lot actually - there are 7 dentists). Station Square will add residential and office space (who knows if the Sears proposal will ever happen). Now the question is what's going to happen to the Target space - will it be one big store or broken up into two or more?

Bonsar Rec Complex is pretty close by. I'm not sure how up to date their equipment is but it looks pretty decent from looking at the website.

[memememe76]

Club 16 is already pretty close in Edmonds. Steve Nash really needs to leave its current Kingsway location. Goodlife is looking to expand, but perhaps Vancouver proper is its focus for now.

[EastVanMark]

I believe Goodlife is opening at the Sovereign site which is like a block away from Station Square.