The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[Vin]

Restrictive zoning to only allow for limited heights, densities, land uses, etc. Owners would rather sit on it and wait it out. One can yield a lot more with way less investment funds in other jurisdictions. Hence the boom in developments outside Vancouver proper, including retail.

[Waders]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Japanese household products store Muji is planning to open its Robson Street location on December 2

I am glad the Robson store will carry a wide selection of potted plants

Source

[SpongeG]

looks good and should be bright, they really opened it up.


dailyhive

[ryanmaccdn]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Please explain...

There is a good article a few years back where London Drugs was pleading with the city to renovate their Robson Street store but were rejected because the city wanted like 75% of the store front to be glass. LD came back and said the economics of that location wouldn't support loosing alot of sqr footage to make that change... and thus we have a 80's monstrosity.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

looks good and should be bright, they really opened it up.

Glad to see Muji on Robson but I so wish they had redeveloped this horrible building, even the 80's, galleria style ceiling, sort-of ruins the typically very architectural look of Muji. A re-do similar to what was done with Aldo, Forever 21 on the 1000 block, would have been so much more satisfying.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by connect2source

Glad to see Muji on Robson but I so wish they had redeveloped this horrible building, even the 80's, galleria style ceiling, sort-of ruins the typically very architectural look of Muji. A re-do similar to what was done with Aldo, Forever 21 on the 1000 block, would have been so much more satisfying.

The glass atrium is very dirty and there are literally holes in it. Plus the stained glass pieces look very much out of place. I find it odd that Muji opened with it in such a state. They seem to be using upstairs space as well, for stock, admin, bathrooms, etc. so why wouldn’t their facade include the derelict 90s stucco 🞵🞵🞵🞵 up there?

It does let in a lot of light, however, and the space is great otherwise.

[Vin]

It almost looks like a Muji pop-up in an old rundown market. Well, that's downtown's street retail standard.

[osirisboy]

It totally looks like a pop up shop!! And very disappointing and odd that they didn't redo the 2nd level exterior since they also are occupying the second floor. Muji really cheapened out on this store

[SpongeG]

this is a flagship that opened in singapore a few months ago, seems to be their new look with all the wood beams

[SpongeG]

miniso is opening soon in new westminster

MINISO NEW WESTMINSTER (COMING SOON)
MINISO Shops at New West
Unit# A03008A ,Shops at New West, New Westminster, B.C.
Check back soon!

and coquitlam

MINISO COQUITLAM CENTRE (COMING SOON)
MINISO Coquitlam Centre
Unit# 2840 Coquitlam Centre 2929 Barnet Highway Coquitlam, BC V3B 5R5

Check back soon!

and the robson store still isn't open? they looked like they were moving in stock almost 2 months ago

MINISO ROBSON (COMING SOON)
MINISO Robson
1039 Robson Street, Vancouver B.C. V6E 1A9
Check back soon!

http://miniso.ca/

[Waders]

May be Muji had a deadline to open the Canada flagship store this year?
Looks like the original plan was to open a smaller size flagship store first before the Metrotown store.

The Japanese clothing and household goods retailer initially planned on opening the Robson Street store before the Metropolis at Metrotown shopping mall location.

However, after the incredible performance of its pop-up shop at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in early-2017, it realized it had to go back to the drawing board as Vancouver was deserving of a larger flagship.

And as a result, the Canadian flagship store at 1125 Robson Street is 14,507 sq. ft. – about twice the size of the 7,770-sq-ft Metrotown store that opened in late-August, and close to three times the size of any of the company’s four stores in Greater Toronto.

The performance of the Metrotown store also reaffirmed MUJI Canada CEO Toru Akita’s expectations for the Metro Vancouver market. Over 1,600 people lined up outside the store on its opening day, with the line snaking outside the mall, and within the first two weeks the Metrotown store had sold more product than all of the Toronto stores combined.

“After the success of the Metrotown store, I decided to accelerate the speed of the opening of the stores in British Columbia,” Akita told Daily Hive in an interview. “The Metrotown store opening was the biggest store opening in the Canada and United States markets. We never experienced that before.”

Akita said that beyond Metrotown and Robson, MUJI is interested in opening more stores in Metro Vancouver, but he was unable to provide possible locations at this time. He also stated the company had begun exploring its expansion into markets in other Canadian provinces.

The Metrotown location’s performance has continued to exceed expectations. In fact, over the last month, the Metrotown store was the top performing location in the country.

Satoru Matsuzaki, President of Mujirushi Ryohin, the international umbrella operating company of MUJI, also echoed Akita on the region’s market interest: “I have the confidence that MUJI will be successful in Vancouver, therefore we need a big size store here [on Robson].”

The enormous size of the Robson Street flagship, which employs 150 people, was accomplished by taking over and merging the retail spaces formerly held by Gap and Below The Belt – a multi-storey high atrium space with a glass ceiling.

Source

Also,

Muji Coffee Counter, a cafe that serves fair-trade coffee from Vancouver's Ethical Bean with partial proceeds benefiting women and children in need in Guatemala.

If the cafe proves a hit among Vancouverites, it may lead Muji to launch a food menu similar to that seen at the retailer's outposts in Asia. "This counter could be used to test the potential of other products,"

Source

[SpongeG]

they have stand alone muji cafes in asia, they would do pretty well here too

[officedweller]

Doesn't look like they designed the store around the atrium at all.

Originally Posted by SpongeG

looks good and should be bright, they really opened it up.


dailyhive

[officedweller]

NCIX files for bankruptcy after closing all retail stores
https://www.techspot.com/news/72137-ncix-files-bankruptcy-after-closing-all-retail-stores.html

[Vin]

Interesting that Japanese retail concept is making inroads to Canadian cities now. They are expanding quite quickly too, but still a lot more careful than American giant Target. I wonder when their giants like Hankyu, Isetan and Takashimaya will also get here to compete with The Bay and Nordstrom.

Another Japanese chain that I think will do well here in the Lower Mainland is Moss Burger.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by Vin

Another Japanese chain that I think will do well here in the Lower Mainland is Moss Burger.

You mean Mos Burger

[officedweller]

Way back when I was in Japan - didn't know if that was supposed to be "moss" burger or "Mo's" burger.

[flipper316]

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵. Uniqlo, Miniso, Muji. Who can tell the difference? How many more of these stores are gonna come here.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Vin

Interesting that Japanese retail concept is making inroads to Canadian cities now. They are expanding quite quickly too, but still a lot more careful than American giant Target. I wonder when their giants like Hankyu, Isetan and Takashimaya will also get here to compete with The Bay and Nordstrom.

They'll all be extinct before they ever open a Canadian location.

[LowerLonsdaleMike]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵. Uniqlo, Miniso, Muji. Who can tell the difference? How many more of these stores are gonna come here.

Walked through Muji yesterday and I have to say, it's really not all it's hyped up to be. I wanted it to be, but I dont know who's going to pay $50 for a small potted plant. Prices are ridiculous there.