The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[officedweller]

Metropolis will also have office towers fronting Kingsway, too - eventually - so that could account for all they'd want to build.

Add the Hilton (at Crystal Mall) to hotels in the area.

Concord is the one that bought the Sears lands.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Metropolis will also have office towers fronting Kingsway, too - eventually - so that could account for all they'd want to build.

Add the Hilton (at Crystal Mall) to hotels in the area.

Concord is the one that bought the Sears lands.

The Sears redevelopment was announced in 2013 and there's been no movement on it since then - until the announcement of them selling and then leasing back the property earlier this year, when Concord changed from developer to owner. Seeing as it's a long term lease, I don't expect to hear anything about redeveloping the property anytime soon.

Target on the other hand... That spot has been sitting vacant for months and Ivanhoe Cambridge is bound to want to get something in there soon to keep from leaking more cash on the empty space. If no one moves in soon (and I would have expected to hear something by now) then a reno / redevelopment of some sort seems likely.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I doubt they'll add any more office towers to Metrotown in the near future. Metrotown III is still pretty empty and Station Square is supposed to be building some office space on top of the retail in the podiums.

A hotel could be interesting as the one in Station Square is fairly small. Does anyone know how the one at Sovereign is doing? A rental residential tower there definitely would not be affordable housing so I suspect they'd do a condo tower instead.

Yeah they'd have to put forward a master plan - but I really can't see them redeveloping except at maybe the Target and Sears (which they now own) locations. Externally everything else will stay pretty much the same with the mall.

Sears is owned by concord pacific. And i do believe development plans are in the works.

ivanhoe has been moving around cmu's lately. mexx is empty, vi la ros moved, plus a few others. i think i counted 10 last month

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Sheba

The Sears redevelopment was announced in 2013 and there's been no movement on it since then - until the announcement of them selling and then leasing back the property earlier this year, when Concord changed from developer to owner. Seeing as it's a long term lease, I don't expect to hear anything about redeveloping the property anytime soon.

Target on the other hand... That spot has been sitting vacant for months and Ivanhoe Cambridge is bound to want to get something in there soon to keep from leaking more cash on the empty space. If no one moves in soon (and I would have expected to hear something by now) then a reno / redevelopment of some sort seems likely.

I think ivanhoe will wait for long term tenent. There are lots of brands looking so they can afford to wait. Also I believe that target is still on hook for lease or portion of.

[officedweller]

On some of the leases, Target USA would have been a guarantor - depends on each lease.

Mentioned in this G&M article today:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...-for-new-tenants-begins/article27083304/

[urbancanadian]

Originally Posted by LowerLonsdaleMike

Anyone know why Kamei Royale is leaving their prominent location above Tiffany's? Their Facebook page says they are vacating next month and reopening at 1066 West Hastings in the Spring.

I'd love this to be that they are vacating the Burrard Building to demolish and build Vancouver's tallest tower, but I think I'm 10 years ahead of myself.

I think it's more likely that Tiffany's expands upwards and converts the store into a flagship. I know they've been wanting to expand for a while (or find a larger space). The current store does massive sales and it's in such a prime location.

[Van23H]

Originally Posted by urbancanadian

I think it's more likely that Tiffany's expands upwards and converts the store into a flagship. I know they've been wanting to expand for a while (or find a larger space). The current store does massive sales and it's in such a prime location.

TIffany will expand upstairs. I have seen the renders of the store a couple months ago. Will be even nicer than the Bloor Street flagship.

[TourOdeon]

Originally Posted by Van23H

TIffany will expand upstairs. I have seen the renders of the store a couple months ago. Will be even nicer than the Bloor Street flagship.

Where can I see the rendering?

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Sheba

The Sears redevelopment was announced in 2013 and there's been no movement on it since then - until the announcement of them selling and then leasing back the property earlier this year, when Concord changed from developer to owner. Seeing as it's a long term lease, I don't expect to hear anything about redeveloping the property anytime soon.

Target on the other hand... That spot has been sitting vacant for months and Ivanhoe Cambridge is bound to want to get something in there soon to keep from leaking more cash on the empty space. If no one moves in soon (and I would have expected to hear something by now) then a reno / redevelopment of some sort seems likely.

North West corner of Sears Metrotown is being renovated. Does that mean that they won' be redeveloping that store any time soon? Or is it that it will take time before they get to re-build of the store section of the site?

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by WBC

North West corner of Sears Metrotown is being renovated. Does that mean that they won' be redeveloping that store any time soon? Or is it that it will take time before they get to re-build of the store section of the site?

I seem to remember reading on here that Concord was going to use that space in Sears as a sales center for one or more of their developments (I think one over by Brentwood but don't quote me on that).

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by WBC

North West corner of Sears Metrotown is being renovated. Does that mean that they won' be redeveloping that store any time soon? Or is it that it will take time before they get to re-build of the store section of the site?

That's going to be a Concord sales center.

[officedweller]

Of interest:

Hudson’s Bay Co to open new [Lord & Taylor] discount fashion chain in United States
http://business.financialpost.com/news/r...-discount-fashion-chain-in-united-states

**********

BMO @ Marine Gateway now open:


https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarineGateway?src=hash

[Sheba]

IKEA plans to double its number of stores in Canada over the next 10 years after seeing in-store visits increase by four per cent in the last year.

...

IKEA is attempting to make online ordering easier by adding five new pickup and order points in Quebec City and in four Ontario cities - London, St. Catharines, Whitby and Windsor.

The Quebec City and London pickup points, where customers can collect goods ordered online, will open by December.

Sjostrand said consumers are drawn to IKEA's warehouse-like stores for ideas about home decorating so bricks-and-mortar retail will continue to be important. The stores have had about 26 million visitors this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ikea-doubles-retail-stores-1.3308233

Nothing here yet but it is an expansion of mini pickup stores that was talked about awhile ago. If they open anything in the CoV it would be a mini store - having two warehouse stores in the area is more than enough.

[SpongeG]

perhaps abbotsofrd would get a pick up store, serve the east valley well

[Tetsuo]

It would be cool to see a downtown IKEA, postal site

[newwestizzy]

Royal city centre Wal-Mart opened today

[GeeCee]

Re: IKEA: I'm not a business minded person, but a 4% rise in traffic doesn't seem like much - at least, not enough to justify that kind of expansion.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by GeeCee

Re: IKEA: I'm not a business minded person, but a 4% rise in traffic doesn't seem like much - at least, not enough to justify that kind of expansion.

Well they are expanding to mini pickup sites - not full stores. That should help entice online shoppers.

[Sheba]

Sears Canada announces more real estate sales, including warehouses

Sears Canada continues to sell off its real estate in Canada to raise cash and restructure its retail operations.

It has sold a distribution centre in Vaughan, Ont. for $100 million and another one in an undisclosed city, most likely Regina, with a vacant property beside it for $28 million.

Brandon G. Stranzl, Sears executive chairman, called the real estate sold "non-core" assets which could "create value for the company."

Sears Canada entered an agreement with Tamworth Properties Inc. to lease back the distribution centre in Vaughan in what a spokesman said would be a long-term lease.

It also agreed to sell another unnamed distribution centre, which it has already closed, for $8.5 million.

Earlier this year it sold three retail properties in Burnaby and Chilliwack, B.C., and in Calgary, to Concord Pacific Real Estate Developments for $140 million. On Friday, it announced plans to partner with Concord to develop other properties, again not specifying where.

A Sears spokesman said the locations of the sold real estate would not be divulged until sales close, but a Sept. 2 filing lists Regina as the location of one property to be sold.

Sears recently appointed former Nine West executive Carrie Kirkman as president charged with restoring Sears Canada's core retail business.

In its second quarter earnings report, it said same-store sales had improved 3.9 per cent in the past year.

The Canadian department store chain is 48 per cent owned by U.S. Sears head Eddie Lampert and has been selling off real estate for the past two years to raise cash.

Sears Canada continues to operate 166 corporate stores, 177 Hometown stores and 84 Sears Travel offices as well as an online ordering service in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sears-ca...ate-sales-including-warehouses-1.3317882


...and so it continues

[officedweller]

Save-On-Foods opens international store
The front half is mainstream groceries; the other is foods from around the world
By Raizel Robin | November 13, 2015

Save-On-Foods International, a new format from the Overwaitea Food Group, opened Nov. 6 in Surrey, B.C.’s Fleetwood neighbourhood (152nd and Fraser Highway).

Unlike conventional Save-Ons, this 74,000-square-foot store is “split in half,” Jas Athwal, director of ethnic merchandising for Overwaitea Food Group, told Canadian Grocer.

...

The Fleetwood Save-On store was formerly a PriceSmart Foods International.

The switch to Save-On allows the store to meld many of the product offerings and prices of PriceSmart–a discount banner–with the programs of the conventional Save-On-Foods, such as Darrell’s Deals, Talk about Fresh Solutions and Talk about What’s New.

But it’s also part of a rebranding strategy at Overwaitea, which has converted 15 of its 16 PriceSmart stores to Save-Ons since February of last year.

PriceSmart foods is becoming Overwaitea’s Asian banner, said Athwal. New PriceSmart stores will open in Richmond and Burnaby, B.C. over the next few weeks.

http://www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/save-on-foods-opens-international-store-59629