Canadian Tire applies to build store at Carlingwood
Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: February 26, 2019
Canadian Tire is planning a new store at the Carlingwood Shopping Centre, with an eye on closing its outlet just 2.5 kilometres east on Carling Avenue.
A spokesman for the company said moving west from Carling and Clyde Avenue to the intersection of Carling and Woodroffe Avenue “will enable us to improve our customers’ shopping experience and better meet the needs of the community.”
Carlingwood, which opened in 1956, has been looking for another retail anchor since the Sears outlet closed in January 2018, leaving roughly 180,000 square feet of empty space and 133 employees without work. A demolition permit for the Sears store was issued last fall. It had been a mainstay in the west-end for decades and the closure left the mall with only one anchor, a Loblaws on the east end of the 30-acre site.
Canadian Tire has submitted a site planning application to the city of Ottawa, which it hopes to have approved by April 2. No zoning changes are required. The plan calls for a two-storey build, roughly on the old Sears footprint, with a 30-bay automotive service centre facing Woodroffe Avenue. The vehicle entrances will be via the existing Carling signalized stop and from Woodroffe, where only right-hand turns will be permitted.
The store at Carling and Clyde, built for about $40 million, opened in March 2008 with some unusual features. Originally, almost all the retail space was on the second floor, while the first floor was reduced to allow for a large covered parking lot. Some shoppers didn’t like the second-floor concept and the car entrance from Clyde could be awkward.
Retail analyst Barry Nabatian, who has no inside knowledge about the proposal, said it looks like a good move for the shopping centre, Canadian Tire and the community.
His “expectation” was that sales at the Carling/Clyde location were not as strong as Canadian Tire would have liked. That stretch of Carling, he added, is not well suited to big retail stores that need a good deal of surface parking.
“I think it’s a better office location than retail.”
He expects the current store will be subdivided and leased as professional space.
The new location, meanwhile, will give Canadian Tire access to the mall foot traffic and offer automotive service close to a residential community. Stores such as Canadian Tire, which sell groceries, are today almost like department stores, he added.
“This solves a huge problem for Carlingwood.”
Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh scheduled a meeting on the plan on Tuesday, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Ron Kolbus centre on Greenview Avenue.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email
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Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
https://ottawacitizen.com/business/local...re-applies-to-build-store-at-carlingwood
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