The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

Imperial's handover of Esso to 7/11 has started. A lot of empty shelves at local Esso's as the handover is being implemented.

Not sure about branding, as the Esso's will still have their rewards and Tim Hortons

the esso near me is still called on the run but it has those little signs all over the lawn/planted area that say 7-11 always open or something like that, i wonder if it will affect petro canada since it has 7-11s for its stations

Kids foot locker is expanding in metrotown

esprit has opened a store at metrotown, just across from banana republic

[whatnext]

A Pharmasave just opened at the base of the Shannon Mews rental building. I didn't even know there was commercial zoning at 57th and Granville!

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

the esso near me is still called on the run but it has those little signs all over the lawn/planted area that say 7-11 always open or something like that, i wonder if it will affect petro canada since it has 7-11s for its stations

Kids foot locker is expanding in metrotown

esprit has opened a store at metrotown, just across from banana republic

Guilford also has new footlocker beside there existing store.

[SpongeG]

yeah, there is a small store there now but it is going to take up all the space to the left, i think it previously had 2 stores in those spots, going to be pretty big

also noticed all locations of ben moss (i think it was) are having closing down sales

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

yeah, there is a small store there now but it is going to take up all the space to the left, i think it previously had 2 stores in those spots, going to be pretty big

also noticed all locations of ben moss (i think it was) are having closing down sales

yup noticed that in a few malls that ben moss had signs up. You never know with jewelry stores they seem to always have closing sales and remain open.

[Tetsuo]

Originally Posted by whatnext

A Pharmasave just opened at the base of the Shannon Mews rental building. I didn't even know there was commercial zoning at 57th and Granville!

Is this the one that had the Craigslist internship controversy ?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

Is this the one that had the Craigslist internship controversy ?

Yup.

"The Craigslist posting asked for “energetic, motivated volunteers” to help set up the pharmacy and help out around the store, a new location opening on West 57th Avenue."

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/pharmasave-sorry-for-ad-asking-for-volunteer-workers-1.2920746

[Sheba]

I just found this article from a few months ago. A few choice sections:

Industry observers agree: The 1.2-million-sq.-ft. Tsawwassen Mills could be the last major shopping mall development in the Lower Mainland for the next decade, if not longer. Sky-high land prices throughout the region mean that low-density commercial developments such as malls are a difficult business case to make.

"We foresee one, maybe two, large commercial retail developments in the next 20 years," says James Smerdon, vice-president and director of retail consulting at Colliers International's Vancouver office. "And likely not in Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver, the North Shore, and the like. If anything, they will be further inland, like Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford or Chilliwack."

...

Smerdon said that is the industry trend for Metro Vancouver's malls: As new players are kept out by limited space, consumer demand continues to boom.

"While there are few new malls, the population here keeps growing," Smerdon said. "(The region is) adding 40,000 to 50,000 people every year. And the low Canadian dollar is also a huge factor — it's keeping billions of dollars a year in the Lower Mainland instead of driving people to go to the United States. We are even seeing more American shoppers here, although they are usually not daytrippers and are concentrated in tourist areas like downtown Vancouver or Whistler."

The increased demand, Smerdon said, is creating what he calls "doughnuts" — where developers are building high-density residential and service centres surrounding low-density malls. The logical next step, with land for new malls at a premium, will be the densification of the malls themselves, often with "residential components".

Shape Properties, for example, is densifying and diversifying Brentwood Mall into a "city core", with 1.1 million square feet of retail and 500,000 square feet of office and residential space. Construction began in 2014 and is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Right next door to Park Royal, Onni is building the Evelyn community of 350 homes. Amantea agreed that "residential components" now make up a key aspect of Park Royal's transformation.

"Like many other shopping centres, we are looking at ways to include a stronger residential component to go with our already-strong, mixed-use space," he said, noting Park Royal's existing office tower and rental housing. "We see — in the next five, 10, 20 years — a real opportunity … to increase the residential component here. If we see more people living on the property, they will become an important part of our shopping market, and more importantly, they will do so without ever having to get into a car."

Which does not mean that malls without residential space, such as the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet and Tsawwassen Mills, are at a disadvantage. It's just that their strategies have to be different.

"It can definitely work," Smerdon said. "But you have to focus on the tenant mix and draw people from a greater distance. Tsawwassen Mills has low-density around its location, so it has 15 first-to-market retailers (shops that are the first of their kind in Metro Vancouver), and that's obviously intentional. McArthurGlen is the same. You have to draw from a very wide region. It is absolutely possible, but you have to make it a destination."

[Tetsuo]

^^^ Much to Vin's dismay

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

^^^ Much to Vin's dismay

LOL! But I'm not sure if you actually read the entire article. Generally, it is saying that malls need to go high density and be part of mixed-developments. It also says that there is and will be lots of demand for retail in city centres, contrary to the "experts" on the forum claiming otherwise.

Frankly, I'm happy to hear the news. I don't really care about low-density suburban malls, especially those in the middle of nowhere not easily accessible by public transit, although surprisingly they are still drawing people, especially those with cars.

Still think our city and town centres can have more concentrated and high density multi-storied retail buildings to cater to the increasing population in these areas. Looking forward to Brentwood and Lougheed, as well as Surrey Central expansions. You'd be surprised how lucrative they can be.

The only thing that dismays me is knowing the fact that for a place that has the highest demand for shopping, ie. downtown Vancouver, there are no steps taken by the City to encourage developers to build newer facilities for the increasing population as well as the large number of tourists, as claimed by the article.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

Imperial's handover of Esso to 7/11 has started. A lot of empty shelves at local Esso's as the handover is being implemented.

Not sure about branding, as the Esso's will still have their rewards and Tim Hortons

Makes sense, typically the fuel retail operator owns all of the C-store inventory and profit it earns. The fuel inventory and profit being retained by the station brand, i.e. Esso.

There was plenty of press about the franchisors basically being offered minimum wage jobs along with a cancelling of their Esso contracts.

As the end drew nigh, there would have been no incentive to restock the shelves.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Vin

LOL! But I'm not sure if you actually read the entire article. Generally, it is saying that malls need to go high density and be part of mixed-developments. It also says that there is and will be lots of demand for retail in city centres, contrary to the "experts" on the forum claiming otherwise.


The only thing that dismays me is knowing the fact that for a place that has the highest demand for shopping, ie. downtown Vancouver, there are no steps taken by the City to encourage developers to build newer facilities for the increasing population as well as the large number of tourists, as claimed by the article.

There may be demand for retail but real estate prices are going to keep malls and likely most large format stores from opening new spaces in most of the metro area. The only areas with enough open land for that are well outside CoV. My hope is that they go for mixed developments instead of a suburban mall with acres of surface parking.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Sheba

There may be demand for retail but real estate prices are going to keep malls and likely most large format stores from opening new spaces in most of the metro area. The only areas with enough open land for that are well outside CoV. My hope is that they go for mixed developments instead of a suburban mall with acres of surface parking.

I'm actually talking about 4-5 storey malls requiring small lot areas in city and town centres. On top of these mall podiums could be a hotel block or condo, or even an office tower.

http://www.budgethotels.sg/1-day-madness-shopping-in-singapore-orchard-road/

[officedweller]

Smaller enclosed malls downtown have not historically done well:

Harbour Centre
Royal Centre
Sinclair Centre
Vancouver Centre
The Carlyle (before conversion)

The only successful multi-storey spaces are the Winners/Best Buy combination at Granville & Robson and the Homesense/IGA at Richards & Robson - because their upper levels are occupied by single "anchor" tenants.

Even the former Atrium at Pacific Centre (where Holt Renfrew is now) wasn't very busy - even though it was connected to the main mall.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Smaller enclosed malls downtown have not historically done well:

Harbour Centre
Royal Centre
Sinclair Centre
Vancouver Centre
The Carlyle (before conversion)

The only successful multi-storey spaces are the Winners/Best Buy combination at Granville & Robson and the Homesense/IGA at Richards & Robson - because their upper levels are occupied by single "anchor" tenants.

Even the former Atrium at Pacific Centre (where Holt Renfrew is now) wasn't very busy - even though it was connected to the main mall.

Those were badly designed and out-dated. Furthermore, they were built at a time when there were hardly any or no residential neighbourhoods nearby to sustain after-office hour businesses. They were also not situated in the proper shopping districts. In short, they only catered to office workers. I can see new ones doing very well, especially those close by Robson/Granville, Burrard/Davie, library district, stadium district, Nelson/Seymour, Broadway/Granville, Olympic Village Station, Broadway/Cambie, or Main/Terminal. These retail centres can have a food court, supermarket, big-box stores, cafes, restaurants and other retail shops all contained in one well-designed multi-storey building with a plaza and possibly a skylight, like the Atrium in Victoria. The exterior of the building can be something like the new Parq Casino. Such anchor centres can help propel retail/commercial zones downtown to expand.

[jlousa]

How expected, let's move the goal posts when the results don't fit your pre conceived expectations. Hows this for a new proposal right on Robson. Telus gardens was supposed to have 2nd floor retail but couldn't find commercial tenants and had to convert to office instead. Guess that huge demand for retail space isn't quite as strong as some think.

[bluefox]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

also noticed all locations of ben moss (i think it was) are having closing down sales

Originally Posted by cairnstone

yup noticed that in a few malls that ben moss had signs up. You never know with jewelry stores they seem to always have closing sales and remain open.

In this case, that's highly unlikely to happen. Ben Moss filed for bankruptcy protection in August and intends to close down. Extended warranties are all void, which has resulted in quite a few BBB complaints.

http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ben-moss-customer-s-upset-over-losing-life-time-service-plans-1.3020468

Alvarez and Marsal were appointed as restructuring/monitoring agent for the wind-down. They also handled Target's exit from Canada.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by jlousa

How expected, let's move the goal posts when the results don't fit your pre conceived expectations. Hows this for a new proposal right on Robson. Telus gardens was supposed to have 2nd floor retail but couldn't find commercial tenants and had to convert to office instead. Guess that huge demand for retail space isn't quite as strong as some think.

It was likely too expensive to be viable for most retail.

[jollyburger]

City Market Park Royal opening Oct 21

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Telus gardens was supposed to have 2nd floor retail but couldn't find commercial tenants and had to convert to office instead. Guess that huge demand for retail space isn't quite as strong as some think.

It's a matter of public record that major international brands want a presence in Vancouver but cannot find the right kind of space and location for their brands, despite searching for years in some cases. You can dig up numerous articles like the following to that effect:

Prestige brands converge in downtown Vancouver

Evan Duggan, Special to The Sun 08.25.2015

...

However, Sherman Scott, an associate vice-president and retail specialist with Colliers International in Vancouver, said street level spaces remain the biggest draw for the top-end shops in Vancouver — especially on Alberni Street.

“We’re seeing an incredible amount of demand from luxury brands that want to be in Vancouver, and what we’ve got is a limited supply of space,” Scott told The Vancouver Sun.

“There’s been some shakeup where you’ve got vacancies in the mid-tier retailers on the 1100-block of Robson, for instance,” he said. “We’ve seen downward pressure on those rents. The discount brands and luxury brands are where the demand is coming from.”

Scott recently had a client arrive from Austria looking for space. “He wanted to move here and also set up a luxury retail space,” he said. “It was a pretty short tour just because there aren’t a lot of options.”

He has another group coming from New York this week.

“The demographic here is extremely appealing,” he said, agreeing with Winston that Asian consumers either living in Vancouver or visiting the city are increasingly spending money in the most exclusive stores.

“We might not be up there with Paris, London and New York, but we’re definitely recognized as an international city,” he said.

There aren’t enough street-level spaces to go around, though.

“When Dior went in Hotel Vancouver, there were multiple offers on that space,” Scott said. “At 745 Thurlow, they’ve got Versace going in there, they’ve got Brunello Cucinelli. At the Carlyle across the street, De Beers and Tory Burch opened up not that long ago. And now they’ve got Prada going in on the corner.”

The battle for the exclusive locations might expand the luxury district onto adjacent streets,” Scott said. “These brands are competing with each other,” he said. “Where does it go from here?”

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/com...e+downtown+Vancouver/11316070/story.html