The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[madog222]

I would really like to see Ikea but they just opened downtown Toronto last year and are in the process of building a major expansion at their Richmond store so I don't see downtown Vancouver happening soon.

[officedweller]

Add Decathlon to the list looking for large spaces.

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Both Simons and Sporting Life have either lost brands or dropped them. Both had Canada Goose, and Sporting Life even had a dedicated area for them, but they have both stopped carrying or lost the right to carry the brand.

Canada Goose changed its focus to their own corporate stores.
https://www.narcity.com/canada-goose-coa...ble-at-some-retailers-across-the-country

[officedweller]

"Somebody stole them all": No carts at Yaletown grocer stuns customer
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/stolen-grocery-carts-yaletown-grocery-store

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It's not a great place for them anyway, and I hadn't realised that all the stores are corporate. There's no sign (yet) of Holborn actually doing anything with the Bay Parkade site, and they'll struggle to make anything work at the moment, with a rising interest rate, increasing office vacancy and limited residential potential.

(I expect someone will suggest it should just be a huge mall, but strangely, in the 17 years since they bought the site, they haven't pursued that idea.)

Wrong again, buddy. Holborn has great ideas, but I suspect they have not been getting a lot of support from backward City officials. Add on the current economic climate, it could just be a matter of waiting it out.

From Dailyhive:
New world-class mall and observation deck concept for Vancouver (RENDERINGS)

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/hudsons-bay-parkade-vancouver-holborn-group

A mall design is certainly being sought by Holborn.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Vin

Wrong again, buddy. Holborn has great ideas, but I suspect they have not been getting a lot of support from backward City officials. Add on the current economic climate, it could just be a matter of waiting it out.

From Dailyhive:
New world-class mall and observation deck concept for Vancouver (RENDERINGS)


A mall design is certainly being sought by Holborn.

Oh please, Holborn has been coasting on the taxpayers dime at Little Mountain and that foot dragging has nothing to do with support from the city.

[LeftCoaster]

Holborn has exactly that. Ideas.

Execution? Not so much.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Holborn has exactly that. Ideas.

Execution? Not so much.

Seventeen years of not getting a proposal together that's developable isn't the sign of a competent company. It's not like there have been any policy changes since they bought the site. They still have to replace the SRO, but can have market housing to compensate, and they might get a bit more if they retain the heritage facades of the Dunsmuir Hotel. There's a lot of potential commercial density they could have built, if they'd wanted to, but they've missed the office demand for the last market cycle, and there are several hotels now proposed which would be ahead of anything they might contemplate. Like Little Mountain, and their W Hastings undeveloped rental building, it's weird how the years go by and they just sit on the assets.

In retail terms, I'm sure you can't reveal what might replace Nordstrom yet, but do you have any sense of how long we can expect to wait before there's news?

[LeftCoaster]

Shouldn't take too long now. A lot of moving parts but the intent is to replace it as quickly as possible.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Shouldn't take too long now. A lot of moving parts but the intent is to replace it as quickly as possible.

Thanks. Sounds positive!

[theKB]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Shouldn't take too long now. A lot of moving parts but the intent is to replace it as quickly as possible.

Fingers crossed for Eataly....

Looking at those concepts for the parking garage, I can't see what department stores would take another gamble on the Canadian Market as there are not many home grown options are not exactly hunting for space. With that said, Vancouver was the exception for Nordstrom, so maybe an Asian or European company may take a stab at it. Although it would just have to be a Holt Renfrew competitor for it to be any sort of success (which I don't think is a bad thing).

Given how the Paradox Hotel is an extension of the Granville Strip and Yaletown it would be interesting to see how that space would unfold if they didn't have a CF or some other reputable mall operator involved in the whole retail / hotel project.

[SpongeG]

UK based Vivobarefoot has opened their first North American store in Kitsilano. They also have a warehouse in Surrey.

retail insider story

https://www.vivobarefoot.com/ca/

[theKB]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

UK based Vivobarefoot has opened their first North American store in Kitsilano. They also have a warehouse in Surrey.

retail insider story

https://www.vivobarefoot.com/ca/

This execution vs their pop-up @ CF Chinook and stores in other global markets is pretty sad looking.

[jollyburger]

Michael Kors concept store in Vancouver

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...ept-store-in-vancouver-photos-interview/

DavidsTea is doing some open Tea bar concept. How DavidsTea still exists rocks my world.

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...-concept-in-stores-nationwide-interview/

[theKB]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Michael Kors concept store in Vancouver

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...ept-store-in-vancouver-photos-interview/

DavidsTea is doing some open Tea bar concept. How DavidsTea still exists rocks my world.

https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...-concept-in-stores-nationwide-interview/

I would think the success of the nordstrom end of the mall will highly depend on what tenant(s) take over that space. With that said, I was always curious how well the Hugo Boss / Kate Spade did in that area of PC.

Michael Kors went through a round of store closures with no replacements, and I would think for Vancouver, similar to Coach, it is now an outlet focused brand.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Holborn has exactly that. Ideas.

Execution? Not so much.

Must be free for Holborn to get two international consultants to come with all those fancy drawings eh? Ideas that cost nothing must be very nice in this perfect world of ours.

Originally Posted by Changing City

Seventeen years of not getting a proposal together that's developable isn't the sign of a competent company. It's not like there have been any policy changes since they bought the site. They still have to replace the SRO, but can have market housing to compensate, and they might get a bit more if they retain the heritage facades of the Dunsmuir Hotel. There's a lot of potential commercial density they could have built, if they'd wanted to, but they've missed the office demand for the last market cycle, and there are several hotels now proposed which would be ahead of anything they might contemplate. Like Little Mountain, and their W Hastings undeveloped rental building, it's weird how the years go by and they just sit on the assets.

In retail terms, I'm sure you can't reveal what might replace Nordstrom yet, but do you have any sense of how long we can expect to wait before there's news?

Says someone who claimed that Holborn hadn't pursued the idea.

Sometimes the greatest developers wait out till City policies become more favourable.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Oh please, Holborn has been coasting on the taxpayers dime at Little Mountain and that foot dragging has nothing to do with support from the city.

This wouldn't have happened if there were no silly little activists who protest everything, and that they were allowed to build with higher densities.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/little-mountain-redevelopment-vancouver-still-stalled

[Migrant_Coconut]

Anybody can pay for a pretty set of CGI renders. Unless Holborn actually applies for a development permit, they are indeed not doing anything with the site, and CC is correct.

As for protests, when have those ever stopped a development in Vancouver in the last ten years? Holborn evidently prefers to just buy property and do nothing with it.

[Sheba]

Point Roberts, the cut-off U.S. town on B.C.'s border, wants Canadian workers

Businesses in the isolated U.S. border town of Point Roberts just south of Vancouver are calling on President Joe Biden to help them hire Canadians to fill a labour shortage.

...

Calder says while they've looked for American citizens from other parts of Washington state to come work, high rental costs and four daily border crossings are barriers.

They say they hope their government will address their concerns and allow them to temporarily employ Canadians with work visas.

...

"The requirement is people that work here have to be either U.S. citizens or dual citizens, and we're kind of exhausting that pool of people," Duncan said.

...

Calder says Canadians used to work in Point Roberts, but permission was rescinded by Homeland Security after 911.

[connect2source]

New French bakery cafe 1100 block Robson, south side a couple of doors down from PAUL.
photo by me

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by connect2source

New French bakery cafe 1100 block Robson, south side a couple of doors down from PAUL.
photo by me

They have an existing cafe in the 200 block of West Broadway. Always seems quiet - they should do better on Robson.