The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[Vin]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

I think the reason the Rack is in Langley is because that's the only place they could find a space for it.

BBB on Broadway is 38k square feet.. perfect for a Rack. Canadian stores are 35-38k square feet.

Ron.

Bingo! Definitely not downtown unless another large box-style retail building or new mall is constructed here.

Simons is still finding hard to come downtown despite years of searching. Sad.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Vin

Bingo! Definitely not downtown unless another large box-style retail building or new mall is constructed here.

Simons is still finding hard to come downtown despite years of searching. Sad.

How many years? Because there were two retail floors in Telus Garden that were replaced with three floors of office, because nobody wanted them. And the new building in the 900 block of Granville also had two floors of retail that have been switched to office, because there were office tenants, but not retail tenants interested in signing up.

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by Changing City

How many years? Because there were two retail floors in Telus Garden that were replaced with three floors of office, because nobody wanted them. And the new building in the 900 block of Granville also had two floors of retail that have been switched to office, because there were office tenants, but not retail tenants interested in signing up.

Were these spaces actually 100k+ sq ft?

Ron.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

Were these spaces actually 100k+ sq ft?

Ron.

No - around 50,000 I think. But Simons wouldn't want 100,000 would they?

[jollyburger]

It would probably fit well with any commercial space in side the Holborn HBC parking lot redevelopment.

[officedweller]

Simons also missed an opportunity at The Post, assuming that multi-level space was an option.
They must be waiting for a Georgia / Granville / Robson location that's not in the seedy areas.

Originally Posted by Changing City

No - around 50,000 I think. But Simons wouldn't want 100,000 would they?

100,000 sq ft is standard Simons size.
Older stores used to be smaller.

From a 2014 Retail Insider story:

The Simons store in Les Galeries de la Capitale is currently about 45,000 square feet. Sources tell La Presse that Simons could expand, doubling in size to about 90,000 square feet. Even with the proposed expansion, the store would still be slightly smaller than the chain’s 100,000 square foot flagship at Place Ste-Foy, though it will be similar in size to its new stores.

La Maison Simons stores have become larger, generally. In the past, most Simons stores have spanned about 45-65,000 square feet. Recently announced Simons stores have generally been in the 100,000 square foot range. These include a 113,000 square foot store at Square One in Mississauga (opening spring, 2016), a 105,000 square foot store at Park Royal in West Vancouver (opening fall, 2015), an 80,000 square foot store in Gatineau, Quebec (opening spring, 2015), and a 105,000 square foot location at Ottawa’s Rideau Centre (opening August, 2016). Its Les Galeries d’Anjou (opened August, 2013) and West Edmonton Mall (opened October, 2012) stores are the largest in the chain, occupying about 120,000 square feet each.

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...ouble-the-size-of-its-quebec-city-store/

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Simons also missed an opportunity at The Post, assuming that multi-level space was an option.
They must be waiting for a Georgia / Granville / Robson location that's not in the seedy areas.

100,000 sq ft is standard Simons size.
Older stores used to be smaller.

Fair enough, thanks - I've only seen Park Royal from outside. Maybe they'll look at the new Oakridge mall. It's true that much space would be hard to find Downtown in existing or any obvious immediate future developments. It's possible they could have taken all three floors in Telus, but I suspect CIBC had already claimed their space.

The Bay Parkade (if Holborn ever get round to building it) is, as jollyburger noted, the most likely. I don't think Bonnis are looking at that sort of space, or single tenancy in their 800 Granville project, as they're only planning 100,000 sf in total, (although with 470,000 sf of office above, it ought to be possible to fit them in).

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Fair enough, thanks - I've only seen Park Royal from outside. Maybe they'll look at the new Oakridge mall. It's true that much space would be hard to find Downtown in existing or any obvious immediate future developments. It's possible they could have taken all three floors in Telus, but I suspect CIBC had already claimed their space.

The Bay Parkade (if Holborn ever get round to building it) is, as jollyburger noted, the most likely. I don't think Bonnis are looking at that sort of space, or single tenancy in their 800 Granville project, as they're only planning 100,000 sf in total, (although with 470,000 sf of office above, it ought to be possible to fit them in).

The old plans for Oakridge did have space for a second department store, but the more recent plans (probably still very flexible) did not have a second department store space, just Hudson's Bay. There were some in the smaller size "major" category.

I agree that the Holborn site is likely, but I (and likely others) think of Seymour St. as the "back" of the retail area and not really a prime location.
That could also be why Apple did not take the underground space at Telus Garden - a bit off the beaten track together with low visibility underground.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Conrad Yablonski

Latest line of pure lying idiocy from TWG

On UrbanToronto, a notice was posted showing termination of TWG's lease as of Feb 24, 2023 at Yorkdale Mall for failure to pay rent.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The old plans for Oakridge did have space for a second department store, but the more recent plans (probably still very flexible) did not have a second department store space, just Hudson's Bay. There were some in the smaller size "major" category.

I agree that the Holborn site is likely, but I (and likely others) think of Seymour St. as the "back" of the retail area and not really a prime location.
That could also be why Apple did not take the underground space at Telus Garden - a bit off the beaten track together with low visibility underground.

I don't know Apple does underground stores pretty nicely


cdn.arstechnica.net

I thought Simons was taking a break from expanding after its Maritimes store.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by Changing City

No - around 50,000 I think. But Simons wouldn't want 100,000 would they?

Simon's does smaller formats for new stores too, the Halifax Shopping Centre location, opening next year, is just over 50K SF on one level in the former Eaton's / Sears space which originally was three levels.

[teriyaki]

In the midst of talk about Simons trying to look for expansion, news just broke that Nordstrom is pulling out of Canada completely.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/03/02/nordstrom-closing-all-canadian-stores-2500-jobs-affected/

There's some retail space for ya.

[PeterAKer]

Nordstrom Downtown Vancouver Store would make perfect sense for Simons to move into.

[phesto]

Ouch, that's a big loss for downtown.

Probably also doesn't bode well for the Pacific Centre tenants who took space in the expansion wing that leads to Nordstrom...

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by teriyaki

In the midst of talk about Simons trying to look for expansion, news just broke that Nordstrom is pulling out of Canada completely.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/03/02/nordstrom-closing-all-canadian-stores-2500-jobs-affected/

There's some retail space for ya.

Amazing coincidence! I guess we'll see if Simon's are interested in a Downtown store. Alternatively, I wonder whether The Bay might be interested in moving in while they rebuild. At least the elevators and escalators work in Nordstrom.

[phesto]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Amazing coincidence! I guess we'll see if Simon's are interested in a Downtown store. Alternatively, I wonder whether The Bay might be interested in moving in while they rebuild. At least the elevators and escalators work in Nordstrom.

I can't imagine that the Bay redevelopment will be happening anytime soon given the current office market.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by phesto

I can't imagine that the Bay redevelopment will be happening anytime soon given the current office market.

It depends if they're serious about developing it, and whether they're keen to retain a presence while the redevelopment happens. There probably won't be an opportunity to get a big space like this in the foreseeable future.

[NewfBC]

Wow. I guess no Nordstrom Rack in BBB on Broadway. So weird that we've just been discussing this.

Ron.

[PeterAKer]

The HBC Redevelopment Plan needs to just go away along with Bonnis's plan for the Commodore. Both plans are completely disrespectful to the design of the buildings.

[phesto]

Originally Posted by PeterAKer

The HBC Redevelopment Plan needs to just go away along with Bonnis's plan for the Commodore.

These are both projects that could still move forward with securing rezoning but realistically will only be viable in the next upswing of the office cycle...say 7-10 years.