A recent report from Credit Suisse identified six retailers common to America’s ‘most valuable’ mall properties. We thought it would be interesting to do a similar comparison with Canada’s top centres, though there are some key differences between the two countries. 

Credit Suisse identified Nordstrom, Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, Apple, Tiffany & Co. and The Cheesecake Factory (restaurant) as common tenants to the ‘most valuable’ U.S. malls. Canada’s top malls share some of the same tenants. Nordstrom, however, currently operates only three Canadian stores, and it will open three more Canadian locations (all in Toronto) by the fall of 2017. A deal to open Canada’s first Cheesecake Factory location, which would have been located in a leading mall, fell through last year. 

We recently reported on Canada’s top 25 shopping centres in terms of sales per square foot. We’ll use that list as our ‘most valuable’ malls for convenience, and discuss tenants in a few of the top properties. 

Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, which is both Canada’s most productive and highest-selling mall property ($1,610/square foot annual sales, $1.2 billion in total sales), features locations for Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, Tiffany & Co. and Apple. Although the mall’s Louis Vuitton store is technically a concession at Holt Renfrew, it features a mall-fronting entrance and at 4,000 square feet, is the third largest Vuitton location in the country. Nordstrom will join the mix when it opens a 196,000 square foot location at Yorkdale on October 21 of this year. 

Vancouver’s CF Pacific Centre ($1,599/square foot annual sales) features a 230,000 square foot Nordstrom flagship which opened last September, as well as locations for Apple, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton. The Tiffany and Vuitton locations are both shop-in-store concessions within the mall’s productive and expanding Holt Renfrew. It’s worth noting that Pacific Centre lacks a Lululemon store, though there’s one three blocks west at 970 Robson Street (corner of Burrard Street). 

Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre ($1,537/square foot annual sales) includes locations for Tiffany & Co., Apple and Lululemon. The mall lacks Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton locations. Given the mall’s expansion plans and proximity to Vancouver’s affluent West Side, more upscale tenants can be expected. 

Toronto’s CF Toronto Eaton Centre ($1,509/square foot annual sales) features Lululemon and Apple stores, but lacks a Tiffany & Co. location. Louis Vuitton opened a 1,200 square foot concession last month within Saks Fifth Avenue, which occupies part of the mall’s Hudson’s Bay building. The centre is a hotbed of activity (being at Canada’s busiest pedestrian intersection) and on September 16 of this year, Nordstrom will open a 220,000 square foot flagship in space formerly occupied by Sears. Rumour has it that Apple will also open a replacement store in the centre — this time as a flagship location. 

Edmonton’s Southgate Centre ($1,215/square foot annual sales) features Apple Store and Lululemon locations. The mall lacks Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton and Nordstrom stores. It’s unclear if any of these will open at the centre — Tiffany & Co. operates a successful location at West Edmonton Mall, and until recently Nordstrom was also in talks to open at Canada’s biggest centre. Although Louis Vuitton is said to be seeking suburban Edmonton space (to replace an existing downtown Holt Renfrew concession), sources say that Vuitton is unlikely to move into Southgate. 

Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre ($1,119/square foot annual sales) has become increasingly upscale over the past several years. Nordstrom opened its first Canadian store at Chinook in the fall of 2014, and the mall now houses locations for Apple, Tiffany & Co. and Lululemon. We’re not aware of any plans to add Louis Vuitton to the mix, though rumours persist that Saks Fifth Avenue will open in the mall’s former Target space, possibly housing a Vuitton shop-in-store concession. 

Mississauga’s Square One ($1,008/square foot annual sales) is also becoming substantially more upscale, and it recently opened a ‘luxury wing’ with several first-to-market tenants. The mall features locations for Apple and Lululemon, and in the summer of 2016, Tiffany & Co. will open a shop-in-store concession within the mall’s new 130,000 square foot Holt Renfrew flagship. Sources say that Louis Vuitton could also eventually join Square One’s retail mix with a concession at Holt’s.

Downtown Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza retail component ($1,096/square foot annual sales) is remarkable because 1) it features none of the retailers discussed above, and 2) the centre operates only six days a week between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday-Friday, and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturdays. The Oxford Properties-managed centre houses a number of strong tenants to serve Canada’s financial district, including dapper American fashion retailer Brooks Brothers. 

eTail Canada, the “one stop shop”conference for ecommerce and multi-channel best practices, networking and technology evaluation for Canadian retailers, is hosting a conference on May 16-19, 2016 at Toronto’s Hyatt Regency. Top omnichannel thought leaders will be attending and speaking at the event.

There is a 25% registration discount for subscribers (retailers only) using code EC16RI.

Two notable speakers are Jeremy Pee and Nicolas Gaudreau. Their speaking panels will cover everything from digital innovation across various channels to utilizing customer experiences using data. Here’s a brief summary of their presentations:

Jeremy Pee – SVP of eCommerce and Omni-Channel, Loblaw Digital, speaking about Digital Innovation At Loblaw: Covering Wins And Challenges:

Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s food and pharmacy leader, is working to create seamless end-to-end customer experiences across retail and digital. Over the past 3 years, it has launched three successful e-commerce businesses and continues to introduce new innovation in the Canadian landscape. These achievements are made possible by building an entrepreneurial and innovative culture within the Loblaw Digital business.

Nicolas Gaudreau – CMO, Group Dynamite, speaking at: CMO Panel Discussion: Evolving The Role To Build Cross-Channel Collaboration:

With technology shaping brands’ marketing plan, the world of the CMO has been drastically effected. There is now a need to understand and adapt to eCommerce/digital strategies so it may boost business growth. The CMOs on this panel are doing just this, and leading their brands to engage with customers in a more connective way.

If you want to see who else is speaking, . 

To see who else will be there, . 

Montréal’s Pierre Trudeau International Airport is expanding its international wing, with plans to enlarge its duty free retail component. It’s the second retail expansion for the terminal in less than a year. 

Aer Rianta International North America (ARINA) runs the Loop Duty Free store at the airport, which expanded from 12,000 square feet to 13,130 square feet in September of 2015. The latest expansion will add a further 3,550 square feet of retail space to the store, adding brands such as Desigual, Lacoste, Longchamp, Pandora, Tumi and Victoria’s Secret to the mix. 

The store is ARINA’s largest location, and it also operates Canadian locations at international airports in Halifax, Ottawa and Winnipeg.