Several new or expanded retail projects are slated to open in the next few months, but analysts say Metro Vancouver can accommodate a lot more retail space even as consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce.
The region ranks last among major cities in Canada when it comes to per-capita retail space in a combination of shopping malls and unenclosed power centres.
Vancouver has 14.2 square feet of retail space per person, which is far below the national average of 19, according to Colliers International research.
That is good news for retailers such as Holt Renfrew, which plans to unveil its long-awaited 40,000-square-foot expansion in mid-September.
The store will then be 190,000 square feet. Most of the new space will be devoted to an expanded menswear section but it will also house an 80-seat café and will add 40 employees to the 500 who currently work in the building.
Future Holt Renfrew plans are to triple the size of its women’s shoes department and expand its personal shopping experience, where shoppers get access to in-store apartments.
When those initiatives are complete, the store will add another 80 to 100 employees, said Carla Stef, the Vancouver store’s marketing manager.
The region’s largest new mall project in years, the 1.2 million-square-foot Tsawwassen Mills at the corner of Highway 17 and 52nd Street in Delta, is slated to open on October 5 and provide jobs for thousands of people.
Included in the mall’s more than 160 tenants will be a 32,687-square-foot Saks OFF Fifth store, the outlet banner associated with the luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue.
The mall will also have destination stores, such as a 145,000-square-foot unit operated by the fishing, hunting and outdoor-equipment seller Bass Pro Shops. That store is slated to have many interactive installations to draw shoppers.
The 550,000-square-foot Tsawwassen Commons Shopping Centre, adjacent to Tsawwassen Mills, is expected to have a phased opening this fall, although it is unclear how many of its tenants will be open by the holiday season.
Meanwhile, Robert Thurlow, who is general manager of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver Airport, told Business in Vancouver that the mall is considering May 2017 for the opening of its 150,000-square-foot Phase 2.
“We’re still finalizing plans,” he said.
Thurlow’s current 240,000-square-foot outlet mall in Richmond, near Vancouver International Airport, opened in July 2015 when it was about 65% filled with tenants. It is now almost full.
“Metro Vancouver is nowhere near served by as much retail space on a per-capita basis as there is a capacity for,” said James Smerdon, who is a Colliers International vice-president and director of its retail consulting.
“There will be a spike in per-capita retail space when Tsawwassen Mills opens, but we have 50,000 people moving here each year.”
Retail Insider Media Ltd. owner Craig Patterson agreed.
“Some landlords are addressing the fact that there is room for more retail space than is currently there,” he said.
“Shape Properties is expanding its Brentwood and Lougheed town centres, Metropolis at Metrotown [owner Ivanhoé Cambridge] is going to do some improvements and Richmond Centre [owner Cadillac Fairview] is going to redevelop the mall’s south side, although that hasn’t been announced yet.”
Ivanhoé Cambridge earlier this year scaled back its $1.5 billion redevelopment plan for Oakridge Centre after discovering that an aquifer runs beneath the mall site. But the mall owner still plans to expand Oakridge westward with an unspecified amount of new street-front retail space.
Pacific Centre is also slated to expand thanks to the city’s urban design panel supporting mall-owner Cadillac Fairview’s proposal to build a 25,614-square-foot, three-storey addition on the plaza at the corner of West Georgia and Howe streets.
Further into the future are plans for a major redevelopment at Richmond's Lansdowne Centre. •
