Tsawwassen malls
The 1.4-million-square-foot Tsawwassen Mills mall in Tsawwassen officially opened on October 5 and welcomed 284,000 people in the first six days. Traffic was so heavy for the mall’s three exits that shoppers were stuck in cars for hours as they tried to leave. The adjacent 600,000-square-foot Tsawwassen Commons will have a phased opening in 2017.
Aritzia IPO
One of B.C.’s most successful retailers went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and its stock rose about 10% on the first day of trading (October 3). Since then Aritzia shares have floundered. The company itself did not receive any proceeds from the IPO, but investors Berkshire Partners LLC and Aritzia founder and CEO Brian Hill did by selling their subordinate voting shares. Hill and Berkshire Partners also kept control of the company by keeping shares that have multiple votes – a situation that might have dissuaded some investors.
H.Y. Louie shrinks
One of B.C.’s oldest and largest companies, H.Y. Louie Co. Ltd., shrank operations by closing its wholesale division and selling three Marketplace IGA stores to Overwaitea Food Group. H.Y. Louie will continue to operate 28 IGA stores and has plans to increase what is now a three-store Fresh St. Market grocery store chain
Trudeau in China
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a weeklong trip to China at the end of August and struck an agreement with Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) CEO Jack Ma to make it easier for Canadian companies to reach the 400 million consumers who use the e-commerce platform. The partnership also committed the parties to help Alibaba secure a “representative and commercial presence” in Canada, which would likely accelerate the trend toward e-commerce purchases and make it more important for retailers to consider digital sales channels.
Mail call
Retailers were on edge for months as Canada Post’s negotiations for a new contract with its union bogged down and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers threatened job action. Many retailers switched their distribution methods for e-commerce sales to courier companies such as FedEx to avoid glitches.
Black Friday blues
Black Friday excitement plateaued after many years of growth, according to retail analysts. Canadian Black Friday sales in 2016 fell back to a level last seen in 2014, according to DIG360. Just under half (48%) of 1,587 Canadian adults that DIG360 and Léger surveyed bought or browsed deals this year. That compares with 68% of shoppers who did the same thing in 2015.
Holt Renfrew overhaul
Holt Renfrew unveiled a long-awaited 40,000-square-foot expansion to its downtown Vancouver store to make for a 190,000-square-foot department store at Pacific Centre. Most of the new space will be devoted to an expanded menswear section, but it will also house an 80-seat café. The company added 40 employees to what had been 500 staff at the site.
Wine in store
B.C. wine started appearing on more grocery store shelves thanks to Save-On-Foods buying licences from the BC Wine Institute. By August, that chain had B.C. wine on shelves in nine of its stores. The B.C. government auctioned off 12 wine licences, and Loblaw Co. Ltd. bid $6,914,000 for six licences that went to auction in April. The other six were at auction in December, but the highest bidder’s name was not disclosed by press time.
