The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

yeah the whole mall is slated to be redevloped.

But in Ontario the bay basically won a case where some malls took them to court, the bay was ordered to pay 50% of what they owed and they were not to be evicted under the ruling.

I imagine they will be able to use that case as a precident or something to help them here.

[SpongeG]

That PAUL bakery on Robson, when I peeked through the crack of the door last week it looked like absolutely no work was being done, considering its supposedly been getting worked on for most of this year its pretty slow progress if any at all.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Sungiven Foods is opening in Richmond on Bridgeport in the old Pier 1 location....they are also opening in North Van at the old Pier 1 location.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

And South Surrey #3211 152nd Street
https://sungivenfoods.ca/locations

I've only shopped at the Kitsilano operation but it's The Most Underwhelming Grocery Store Ever-places like Market 88, Hen Long & Lucky's have them beat to ribbons.

[officedweller]

Good catch for Sungiven Foods to grab the old Pier 1 locations.
Agreed that they don't appear all that busy or interesting, but the prices are okay,just hard to convert.
25 cents per banana works out to the same at 69 cents/lb.
I bought some stuff there on Amex's "Shop Small" or "Shp Local" promotion (Spend $10, get $5 credit).

Originally Posted by Changing City

News reports suggest it's gone beyond just locking them out. The lease has been terminated for non-payment (as was noted above). It would be interesting to know who gets the stock they left behind in this situation.

The article says:

The letter on the door of the department store inside Coquitlam Centre mall indicates that the landlord, Pensionfund Realty Limited, has terminated the store's lease "for default in the payment of rent."
...

"Accordingly, as the default in question constitutes a major default under the lease, the landlord has re-entered and taken possession of the premises to lawfully enforce its rights," the letter reads.

The letter quoted in the news story said the lease was terminated. Interestingly, when a landlord re-enters a property and seizes inventory it's called distraint, but you cannot distrain after the lease is terminated.

Also, if you distrain while the lease is intact, that distraint is said to be a full remedy for prior defaults, so you cannot immediately terminate following distraint, because you need another default (and notice of default, etc) to justify the termination.

So my guess is that HBC still owns the inventory.

Here's a website that touches on a couple of those factors:

https://www.gdlaw.ca/blog/2016/04/distre...ith-lease-disputes-self-help-remedy.html

The Hudson's Bay at Coquitam Centre doesn't seem to have a massive floorplate.
If the redevelopment started on the west side (instead of near Lincoln Station),
slicing off the Hudson's Bay store would provide a nice long series of developable parcels along Johnson Street.

PS - Ironic that the store HBC has upgraded is the one terminated - compare to Lougheed Mall's store.


https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2792456,-122.7978781,947m/data=!3m1!1e3

[jollyburger]

Oxford also was involved in some lawsuits with HBC since they partnered up with Rio Can on their properties so no doubt Oxford is looking to bail on them.

[officedweller]

Old department stores leases are at very low lease rates, so the landlords are no doubt thinking they can make more by repurposing the space at a higher lease rate or undertaking a larger redevelopment.

[GeeCee]

The old Sears space at Coquitlam Centre was split into at least two CRUs (one on each floor?). I haven't been in that part of the mall in years, though. I imagine they'll do the same with the Bay, assuming that it doesn't reopen.

[SpongeG]

the old sears, Ardene uses about 1/3 or so of the top floor and a furniture store uses the bottom floor, not the whole floor though. I think that part is to be demolished in phase 1 of the redevelopment,

[zahav]

Sungiven is smart in that their stores are small, they are not really competing with huge spaces like Superstore. Almost like neighbourhood shops but bigger. When I went into the City Square one when it opened, I was shocked to see how much smaller than Safeway it was. So medium sized spaces like Pier 1 make sense, those aren't that easy to come by either. It's usually the smaller retail that has more vacancies

[dreambrother808]

I wonder if any of these Bay locations will actually close or is this all part of negotiation to lower their costs during the pandemic. I don’t think it’s fair that mall landlords aren’t sharing in the burden.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

I wonder if any of these Bay locations will actually close or is this all part of negotiation to lower their costs during the pandemic. I don’t think it’s fair that mall landlords aren’t sharing in the burden.

Well it's trying to negotiate better terms by using the courts. Without all the details it seems like an easy way out to just blame the landlords in this situation.

They just got forced to pay off their back rent at some Quebec malls

A Quebec judge has ordered Hudson's Bay Co. to pay rent at several of its department stores in the province, saying the retailer cannot take the law into its own hands.

In separate rulings issued Friday, Justice Katheryne Desfosses granted safeguard orders to shopping mall landlords Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust, Oxford Properties Group and Dorval Property Corp.

The Quebec Superior Court judge ordered HBC to pay the full outstanding rent at multiple locations starting from when the applications were filed and extending for a six month period -- the maximum time the emergency order can apply -- or until a judgement on the merits of each case is rendered.

https://www.cp24.com/news/quebec-judge-o...rds-at-multiple-shopping-malls-1.5201372

[officedweller]

In the US, mall owners are starting to declare bankruptcy:
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.wsj.com/...ors-as-pandemic-pain-spreads-11605013664

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

In the US, mall owners are starting to declare bankruptcy:
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.wsj.com/...ors-as-pandemic-pain-spreads-11605013664

Yup. Some pretty massive mortgage defaults on some big malls in the US, with some pretty big players too.

[officedweller]

@ Pacific Centre

Cadillac Fairview announced today shoppers will be able to get two hours of free parking if they spend $200 or more at any of the 100 retailers within the mall, which includes anchor retailers Holt Renfrew and Nordstrom.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pacific-centre-free-parking-christmas-2020

Morguard's attempt to evict Hudson's Bay at a North York, ON mall was unsuccessful:

Landlord unsuccessful in trying to evict Hudson's Bay store in North York
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/landlord-unsu...dson-s-bay-store-in-north-york-1.5200865

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

@ Pacific Centre


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pacific-centre-free-parking-christmas-2020

Anyone been in the Pac Centre parking lot recently? How under utilized is it right now?

[jollyburger]

Morguard negotiations at another ON mall

The trust has recently concluded discussions with The Bay for its location at Cambridge Centre in relation to its upcoming renewal option as well. As an incentive to The Bay to exercise their option, the trust allowed The Bay to enter into a structured or percentage deal at this location only. The estimated annual impact of the fill tenants, along with the concession granted to The Bay will total approximately $8 million to $9 million annually as compared to results in 2019.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4383606...ai-sahi-on-q3-2020-results-earnings-call

[s211]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Anyone been in the Pac Centre parking lot recently? How under utilized is it right now?

Several hundred parking stalls always available, if their parking entrance open-stall billboard is accurate.

[officedweller]

Out of 1374 spaces total according to this:

https://en.parkopedia.ca/parking/undergr...riving=202011251630&leaving=202011251830

[Vin]

Another downtown Starbucks bites the dust

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/starbucks-vancouver-closed-howe-street

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Vin

Another downtown Starbucks bites the dust

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/starbucks-vancouver-closed-howe-street

I was surprised to see in that article that they had already closed the Yaletown one, which was one of their nicer locations and always seemed busy. I wonder if another coffee chain will pick it up?