Company Aims to Level Playing Field for Independent Grocers in Canada

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January 22, 2018

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Small independent grocery stores now have a new tool at their disposal to battle the big chains in a very competitive marketplace.

Toronto-based Execulytics Consulting has launched new store services for these independent retailers which include fresh operational support and an extensive list of retail analytics products.

Mike Mauti, an industry veteran and senior vice-president of client services with Execulytics Consulting, says “the goal with this service is to provide independent retailers with the types of tools that large grocery companies have been using for years.”

Mike Mauti, SVP of Client Services – Execulytics Consulting

“With the help of Execulytics, our hope is that independent retailers can compete with chain stores,” he says.

Mauti, also managing partner of the consulting firm, has been operating for almost two years focusing primarily on the food industry particularly on produce suppliers and now he is branching out into grocery retail services.

“As a long-time veteran of the grocery industry I played many roles over the years developing processes and tools to help the stores manage their business better. That included processes to improve fresh foods operations, as well as retail analytics tools to improve pricing, assortment and labour expenditures,” he says.

“As I was working in those areas, it became my belief that this is what separated chain stores from independent retailers – the fact that they have strong central services to rely on, allowing them to focus solely on servicing their customer and selling groceries.”

If that was a huge strength of the chain store, then it stood to reason that there was a significant opportunity to offer those types of services and that type of support to an independent retailer.

His handful of analytics software pieces – Labourlytics, Assortalytics and Priceulytics – can really help bridge the gap or help independent retailers compete with chain stores, he says.

Labourlytics crunches sales data and labour requirements for managers, allowing them to build a schedule to suit the needs of the customer.

Assortalytics is an assortment optimizer to help select customer centric assortments. It provides custom metrics to rank products and maximize shelf space efficiency.

Priceulytics is a price analyzer and index generator. It indexes price competitiveness relative to a store’s general competition.

Execulytics also offers a Specialist-for-Hire option. It mimics what the large retailers would have used for years which is a team of real department experts that help a store maintain their standards, train their staff and essentially just merchandise in a way that will sell products to customers.

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“We have assembled a bonafide Dream Team of fresh specialists, including experts from across the country that have a combined 100 plus years of experience in fresh execution and retail management,” says Mauti.

These analytics are what allow big companies with deep pockets to manage their costs, manage their customer facing attributes such as their price and their assortment, and it allows them to do it simply “so they can get on the business of servicing customers and selling product whereas an independent retailer has to guess at a lot of those things. And a lot of time guesswork doesn’t yield the best results,” he says.

The services being offered by Execulytics will really help level the playing field between an independent retailer and their larger competitors, adds Mauti.

The services are available across Canada.

Comparing Luxury Retail in India to Canada

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Retail Insider

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January 21, 2018

Louis Vuitton on Bloor Street (Image: KEVRIC)

By Amish Dargan

Luxury is defined as a good for which the demand increases as does the income of a person. However, now the fathers of economics do nothing but turn uncomfortably in their graves as the defining factor for luxuries, for the most of us, is nothing but a method or a means to show off our wealth, regardless of what we have. It’s a guilty pleasure we’re not ashamed to accept.

The luxury market in India, as opposed to wide belief, has been in existence since the early 1800s. From material luxuries such as rich food and goods imported through silk routes, to famous chefs and butlers, to the early launches of horse wagons and ambassadors, to the first TV’s in the locality, to more emotional and reconnecting luxuries such as big parties, weddings, or ceremonies to show off wealth.

The Canadian scenario has been slightly different, having been the blessed younger brother of the Americas, and descendent of Europe. By the virtues of being the sibling, hence, any revolutionary product that is launched throughout the world, will reach Canada as soon as it reaches any other part of the world.

Needless to say, the luxury sector in both the countries has had a very interesting contrast. Let’s study it a bit further:

1. Economies

Where India is still a developing country where a whopping 30% of its population was still under the poverty line in 2013, the demand for luxury has been frankly unaffected by the financial status of the country. In fact, Confederation of Indian Industry stated that India is the world’s fastest growing luxury market, and reported that in 2015 in a span of 1 year, the luxury retail market grew from an approximate $14 billion dollars to a whopping $18 billion dollars — which is astounding because even though the GDP growth rate had fallen from an 8% to 7.1%, India had a strong 2% share in the global luxury market in terms of sales.

On the other hand, Canada, due to its sluggish economy, shows a possible lag in the luxury sector in the next few years. Millennials are looking for ways to economize their income, and only those with high end earnings, who are unaffected by the economy will continue to buy these goods. The boomers are retiring soon, and increasing financial debt and slow GDP is making millennials more than skeptical about their purchases. Although and increasing amount of showrooms are predicted to open in Canada, there is no surety of increase in purchases.

2. Consumer Behaviour

In a country which is known for its rich cultural background of extravagant food and material choices, Indians, surprisingly, majorly view the world of luxury as an investment or a means to show off/share experiences, such as investment in gold or lavish weddings. Indians have a tendency of acting in a manner where they are more likely to consider the future trends, the resale value and the utility with respect to how fast the product depreciates when buying the item, be it luxury or normal. However, all this research is expanded to international markets too, where those in India who can afford luxuries, realize that they can just go to the other country to purchase the item- and hence, save their taxes and importing costs too. Of course, this is only for the foreign luxury brands- Indians don’t really have to rely on other countries for their luxury purchases. Our Kerala gold, Sabyasachi and Nalli sarees satisfy both our thirst for luxury and return on investment.

The Canadian citizens, however, despite rising debt and increase in the cost of luxury condos and cars, are being loomed in to buy these at the ‘attractive’ interest rates and offers in the country are pulling the consumers into an unending loop of debt. A house in Toronto now costs $1 million dollars easily, and what’s a house without a fancy car parked in the garage?

The reason that the Canadians are increasingly investing in these ‘attractive’ interest rates, which they are okay with as long as they stay low, is the ‘wealth effect’, which makes a person believe that they have the liberty to spend more, as increases the value of their already owned assets. They feel as though they can take on this debt and that it is affordable, and that is perhaps, why, the average Canadian now holds an average of $22,081 in debt, a 3.6% increase from 2015.

3. Customer Make Up

An impressive 42% of the luxury goods in India are sold online- and previously no one would have cared. But with the sudden shock that demonetization has put most of its higher class families into, the number of people preferring to drop by their favourite Louis Vuitton store to get a ‘feel’ of their favourite bag before purchase, fell exponentially.

What has that done? Credit cards and convenient payment schemes online are giving even those from the middle class options to afford their favourite Gucci shoes without having to burn a hole in their pocket. The standard of living is constantly on the rise, and millennials through the cyber world are more informed. So yes, it isn’t unusual to see BMW’s and Audi’s in the streets of Delhi, and girls flaunting Juicy Couture– most of whom aren’t even from the richer few. Take the example of Apple. A luxury product, still, in many countries is now available to the middle, and even lower middle class!

The Canadian scenario, although is slightly different, where most of the purchasers of luxury goods have an income of at least $100,000. This can be attributed to the fact that the items that make up their luxury products are widely different and strictly western (German technology, French fashion) – whereas Indians are liberal (Indian sari brands, gold, big fat Indian weddings). Canadians strictly look for personalized experience and pampering- thank you cards when you get home, mineral water in the stores, and appointed professionals to help you choose the right thing. Indians, carry the importance of the experience forward to their friends and family. They too, love a good pampering- but they are very concerned and very particular about the utility and functionality that is exhibited post purchase.

Of course, the Indian and western mindset and make-up is becoming increasingly similar because of the shared global culture- but there are a few things that still remain interesting, yet baffling in the global scenario of luxury purchases. What do you feel about this?

Circle K Announces Canadian Expansion with 1st Franchise Opportunities

By

Craig Patterson

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January 19, 2018

(DOWNTOWN TORONTO. PHOTO: GOOGLE STREET VIEW)

Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is welcoming applicants to operate the first new franchises under its Circle K banner, which recently launched in Canada as part of a name change. The expansion begins in the Ontario market, and the company has more information on its franchising website: http://franchise-circlek.com.

Circle K locations have been popping up all over the country in Couche-Tard locations formerly branded with names such as Mac’s — in September of 2015, the company announced that it would adopt the Circle K brand on all of its stores in English Canada, while retaining the Couche-Tard name for its locations in Quebec.

The announced Ontario franchise expansion begins immediately. “At Circle K, we are committed to growing our brand globally and look forward to providing business partners in Ontario with the full range of Circle K branded products and service,” said Matt McCure, Vice President, Circle K Worldwide Franchise. “We are excited that through this franchise offer, more retailers will be able to join us in our mission to become the world’s preferred destination for convenience and fuel.”

Franchisees gain access to Circle K’s private brands as well as comprehensive training and continued education of the brand, not to mention operational and marketing support. The new franchise stores will display the Circle K logo, which began in Texas in 1951.

Couche-Tard is one of the world’s largest convenience store retailers with almost 10,000 locations in North America, with more than 2,200 of them in Canada. It is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores in the United States, as well as a leader in Canada. In Europe, Couche-Tard operates convenience store and road transportation fuel retail in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), as well as in Ireland and Poland.

In addition, under licensing agreements, Couche-Tard operates more than 1,800 stores under the Circle K banner in 14 countries and territories including China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, which brings the worldwide total network to more than 15,700 stores.

Mercatino Expands Food Hall Concept

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Mario Toneguzzi

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January 18, 2018

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By Mario Toneguzzi

Mercatino, means Little Market in Italian, but the establishment has made a big splash with the opening of its first location at the One York Street tower in Toronto.

“One York is a flagship location for Mercatino, and fitting to make a real statement for our expansion to the Toronto market,” said Amit Vadan, CEO of Mercatino, a Calgary-based company.

“Each of Mercatino’s locations feature unique food stations that are enriched with an incredible variety of high quality, wholesome, and natural ingredients that are delivered fresh daily, which are then combined together by our chefs to produce an exceptional and very flavourful experience.”

Mercatino, which started in 2014, now has six locations in Canada – four in Calgary including the iconic Bow Tower and the Fifth Avenue Place tower in the downtown – as well as one at the 201 Portage office building in downtown Winnipeg. Its first location was in the Bow.

(The beautiful space was designed by GH+A and built-out by BUILD IT. Scroll for images)

“It’s like a market style restaurant. We have lots of different offerings from coffee to grab-and-go sandwiches and salads to our famous sort of chef’s table and daily features that rotate Monday to Friday. So lots of different varieties of food in one convenient market style retail location,” said Vadan.

Harbour Eats by Mercatino is operating an impressive food hall in One York Street with an expansive terrace overlooking a new city park and Lake Ontario.

“We essentially are a food hall. We’re gravitating towards kind of our entire food court and re-branding the whole food hall phenomena and having lots of different stations and offerings within a larger atmosphere,” said Vadan. “So for example in One York we have 350 seats that’s all common area and then we’ve got the six vendors there we control and operate it and we have different offerings within those parameters.”

The entire food hall is about 15,000 square feet and Mercatino has about 2,700 square feet of that space, designed by GH+A, which has worked with some of the country’s leading retailers and landlords.

Vadan said Mercatino’s goal is to provide fresh, healthy meals that are affordable and it wants to bring that to professional buildings across Canada.

“Our focus is in the downtown cores of all the major cities. We’d love to see us continue to expand in Toronto and look at other potential development sites like Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver,” he said. “We’ve got some prospects in Edmonton and in Toronto at this point. I think comfortably we could probably do another three or four here in the next 12 to 18 months.”

Simon Shahin, President and CEO of BUILD IT which oversaw the construction of Mercatino, said One York is a brand-new building with everything state-of-the-art in it.

“It’s a beautiful space that Menkes is providing the main general area and Mercatino just matched the style and overall space with their design and it just flows so well together with what Menkes has designed as the main food court area and what Mercatino’s designers came up with for the food service area,” said Shahin.

“As a contractor on that project there was a lot of higher end finishes that were involved in there.”

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Sears Canada Employees Face Options After Retailer Collapse

By

Mario Toneguzzi

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January 18, 2018

Thousands of people across the country now find themselves out of work after Sears Canada shut down all its stores.

But a retail employment specialist says the prospect of future work for them really depends on what type of roles they had with the former Canadian retail giant.

Suzanne Sears, of Toronto-based Best Retail Careers International Inc., which is retained primarily by retailers to do private searches to fill vacancies or key replacements from the CEO to sales clerk level, said most of the store level staff will be absorbed fairly easily with the only obstacle being the higher salaries of the long-timers.

“There’s a huge market for what we would call street level retailers. There’s a big shortage of them and Sears people are relatively well respected at that level. So I would assume that they would be absorbed rather quickly,” said Sears.

SEARS AT CAPILANO MALL IN NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2017. PHOTO: LEE RIVETT

“The only caveat for them is since so many of them have been in those roles for so long and had the commensurate wage increases over the years they might not find the same levels of compensation available to them on a job for job basis. Many will get a sticker shock but they will find work. There’s no question.”

She said senior store managers making pretty close to six figure salaries will have a tougher time replacing those jobs at that compensation level. There are also quite a few district sales managers and home field district managers, who oversaw various home renovations, who will also take a little bit longer to find new employment.

“Where it really becomes challenging is to all the head office staff. Those who were in accounting, finance, IT, there’s still a significant demand for that talent. So they should find new positions probably pretty close to the compensation levels,” said Sears.

“What no longer exists are merchandising, inventory and buying jobs. All of the people in those categories are really going to be stressed to find comparable work. The reason for that is most of the growth in Canadian retail has been foreign be it China, USA or European brands and they pretty well manage their own buying, marketing, inventory, supply chain from outside of the country. So when you take that entire segment of supply chain management out of the market these are the people that are going to have a very difficult time because that category of jobs no longer exists at least not in retail.”

SEARS METROTOWN: FORMER SEARS CANADA CEO RON BOIRE VISITED THE BURNABY STORE IN 2015 AS PART OF HIS B.C. TOUR. BOIRE STOPPED TO VISIT WITH METROTOWN EMPLOYEES JOYCE CHIEN, VICKY HERNANDEZ AND BIANCA LEUNG. PHOTO: LARRY WRIGHT/BURNABY NOW

If they were to find those types of jobs, most of them would be in Montreal or Vancouver and not so much in Toronto, she said, adding that most people would not be prepared to move.

“The other sad piece is how many are being turfed very near but not quite at the ends of their careers and sadly ageism exists,” added Sears.

If the more senior Sears people can adapt and adjust to the changing retail environment like taking a one-year consulting gig or filling in for a maternity leave, they will find opportunity in the marketplace.

“Their expertise is beyond doubt. They have those skills. But they may have to sell them somewhere to a market more in short-term contract work than ever-finding an entity like Sears to hitch their star to,” said Sears.

Some will also take the opportunity now to be self-employed.

Penguin Pick-Up Expands Click-and-Collect with Retailer Partnerships

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Mario Toneguzzi

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January 18, 2018

Grocery shopping is getting faster and easier across the country with the expansion of the unique services being offered by Toronto-based Penguin Pick-Up – a network of 76 free, convenient pick-up locations for online purchases.

Just recently the company announced the grand opening of two new Penguin Pick-Up/Walmart locations at Yonge and Eglinton and Queen’s Quay.

Egil Moller Nielsen, senior vice-president and head of Penguin Pick-Up & Penguin Fresh, said the company began three years ago.

“Penguin Pick-Up is a network of locations which you can ship your online orders to on your behalf and at the same time the retailers can use our network to distribute online orders,” said Nielsen.

SCREEN SHOT FROM THE WALMART CANADA/PENGUIN PICK-UP WEBSITE

“The benefit for retailers is that they save a lot of money shipping many orders to one location instead of many orders to many locations. The benefit for you as a consumer is that you don’t need to worry about being home when delivery takes place. We’re trying to take the cost aspect out of the last mile. So we call it the other solution for the last mile. But we’re also taking all the frustrations away from the last mile.”

In Toronto, customers, with just a few clicks, can place their grocery order online at walmart.ca/grocery, select a convenient time and location and enjoy free pickup.

“The new co-branded Penguin Pick-Up/Walmart locations allow us to better serve more Toronto households, especially those that don’t have a Walmart Supercentre nearby,” said Daryl Porter, Vice President of omni-channel operations and online grocery at Walmart Canada, in a statement. “We continue to invest in services to make every day easier for busy Canadians and that includes offering greater flexibility and convenience to shop for groceries.

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“Right now, this format is still new for us. The Pick-Up locations are an important part of our urban/city strategy and they could definitely work in other markets. However, we don’t have anything to announce at this time.”

Penguin Pick-Up has 37 locations in the Greater Toronto Area. The company’s physical locations are branded with signage. Customers can ship anything to Penguin Pick-Up from any online retailer in the world.

Nielsen said the company’s growth has been at “a pretty good pace” since its inception. When asked how many locations he foresees eventually, he replied: “Hundreds.”

“But we really want to follow where retailers and consumers are having the biggest challenges to meet,” he said. “Over time, we found that in particular urban areas, and in particular in areas where there’s high density . . . that’s where the biggest challenge comes in to the last mile. It’s not our only focus but that’s where we see that we are solving an immediate problem for retailers and consumers.”

Nielsen said the Penguin Pick-Up locations are equipped with freezers and coolers to store food. The locations, which are open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, can store fresh and frozen food as well as hard goods such as electronics and apparel.

Since its launch in 2014, Penguin Pick-Up has received packages from over 5,000 retailers in 11 countries.

The company also operates Penguin Fresh which sells farm fresh food – a farmers’ market online. Consumers can choose food from local suppliers and farmers.

Recently, Metro Supply Chain Group Inc. (Metro) announced that it had finalized an agreement with Penguin Pick-Up to add that company’s convenient online purchase pick-up locations to its expanding direct-to-consumer delivery choices.

“Regardless of which provider actually fulfills the last mile to the consumer, it’s the retailer who takes the reputation hit for any inconvenience that can arise during that part of the transaction,” said Metro’s Head of Ecommerce Development, Tony Jasinski, in a statement. “From ‘sorry we missed you’ slips through stolen packages, the process is fraught with variables. Offering options like Penguin Pick-Up that replace the potential for human error with a consistent, predictable last mile experience helps our retailers go from online shopping cart to repeat customer that much faster.”

Sears Canada Real Estate Presents Challenges and Opportunities

By

Mario Toneguzzi

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January 17, 2018

Now the fun begins for the retail and real estate industry across the country.

With the closure of all Sears Canada stores as of Sunday, a vast wasteland of empty space is now open in shopping centres across the country and in standalone structures.

But for the retail sector, like in life, when one door closes, a window of opportunity opens. And that’s how the industry is looking at the closure of what was a formerly iconic retail brand across Canada.

Peter Morris, CEO of Greenstead Consulting Group based in Victoria, said at one point in time Sears had 190 stores (of varying sizes) and well over 15,000 employees. The last store closures will result in millions of square feet becoming available on the market.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity depending upon where the space is located on one end of the scale,” said Morris. “The other end of the scale there’s going to be long-term pain in certain locations and for certain communities.”

Morris said he knows of some Sears locations where they were paying 50 cents per square foot because they were very old leases. But landlords of those spaces are now in a prime position to be able to re-purpose that space.

“Keep it retail. Make it service. Make it institutional such as libraries. And get an uplift on the rent and actually re-position the property,” said Morris. “A lot of people considered Sears to be an anchor and that was very, very true while Sears was in its heyday but frankly Sears stopped drawing traffic many years ago as witnessed by its demise. Those well-located Sears stores will be very quickly re-purposed.”

But there are also many former Sears stores that were standalone buildings. Morris said those are also ripe for redevelopment opportunities into mixed-use or condo use by either being torn down or re-purposed from the inside out.

AT THE RENOVATED ‘WTS’ SEARS CONCEPT LOCATION AT PROMENADE MALL IN THORNHILL, ON. PHOTO: CHRISTINA AVILA FOR STYLE DEMOCRACY

“The ones that are going to be hurt however is unfortunately where Sears was strongest at the end of its life,” explained Morris. “That is in rural communities. Because in rural communities Sears was the general store of old. We saw the demise of department stores coming back in the 1970s, 1980s with the rise of the specialty store chains. Prior that, department stores ruled the roost and it was specialty stores, mom and pop, independent stores, that you found downtown and on main street. The department stores had the branding, the advertising power and the purchasing power to fill their stores with a selection.”

“But once those specialty stores came along we started to see sales in department stores peter out. After that came the big box stores – the Best Buys of the world and stores like that – and that started to cause the demise of a lot of specialty stores too. Where Sears did well in rural markets was because the specialty stores couldn’t operate efficiently in those markets. They were too small to meet the needs that they had for their bottom line for their investors . . . And the big box stores obviously can’t operate in a small rural catchment area for the same reason because they need to get those economies of scale.”

So it’s going to be hard to backfill those former Sears spaces in smaller communities.

“It’s a tale of two geographies. Urban versus rural,” said Morris.

“It’s a little early. There’s going to be a lot of planning. It’s safe to say there aren’t any 150,000-square-foot users to take up so many stores. They’re going to have to re-demise that space. But shopping centres themselves are going through a transition. If Sears was in a prominent shopping centre, they have no problems chopping that space up into smaller spaces, commanding very high dollar value and the owners of those properties are going to be very, very satisfied.”

Secondary properties, though, will have to be more creative with that space, he said, and generally in shopping centres a revolution is taking place anyway with more food, more entertainment and more uses that were primarily in the past standalone locations such as gyms and offices.

“So anything that requires physical interaction which is what we’re now seeing in shopping centres,” said Morris.

Michael Kehoe, an Alberta-based retail specialist with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc., in Calgary, said the departure of the Sears department stores may trigger co-tenancy provisions in major tenant leases across the country.

“A co-tenancy provision in a lease may be granted to an anchor or significant shopping centre tenant whereby should an important tenant leave the shopping centre the tenant with the co-tenancy provision in their lease may be entitled to close or have a reduced rent should the anchor or significant tenant space not be re-leased/replaced within a specific time period and in a certain manner such as replaced with retail use,” said Kehoe.

“The uncertainty caused by an anchor store closure can be amplified when the other major tenants in a shopping centre may have an opportunity to depart or reduce their rent thereby further weakening the image and appeal of the property.

It is essential that shopping centre landlords re-lease or redevelop vacant department store space is a timely and effective manner.”

Morris said co-tenancy is not in every lease and it’s not widespread but it is definitely a concept that is negotiated in by some strong tenants.

“It is a protective measure that strong tenants put into their leases,” said Morris.

“The problem for some landlords will be, and they’re evaluating this now I am sure, a cascading effect whereby you have a tenant that can leave because the anchor has left and they exercise that option to leave and then another tenant has their co-tenancy tied to the tenant that’s about to leave because Sears left and another tenant has their co-tenancy based upon the total amount of space occupied in the property and now that’s been triggered and they leave. And then there’s another co-tenancy and it just goes on and on. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Quebec’s Largest Mall Sees Gains as it Continues Overhaul into 2018

By

Craig Patterson

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January 17, 2018

Renovations to Quebec City’s Les Galeries de la Capitale shopping centre have been ongoing for the past couple of years. The centre saw a 7.75% increase in traffic in 2017 as it added new stores and others were renovated. This year will be an important one, as well — renovations to the mall’s common areas will be completed, its Méga Parc amusement park will reopen, and La Maison Simons unveil its first net-zero department store.

It’s all part of a plan for landlord Oxford Properties to attract more shoppers to the centre, explained the mall’s General Manager Stephan Landry. It’s already been a success — the centre’s renovated food court (called ‘Espace Gourmet’) is now one of the most productive in the country, and new stores are being added as retail space is reconfigured.

The modernization strategy commenced about three years ago, with more than $200 million in investments having been announced for the centre’s retail and entertainment components.

Les Galeries de la Capitale (Image: Oxford Properties)

Last year was an important one for Les Galeries de la Capitale. Twelve tenants renovated their stores at the centre, including a full renovation to its 163,000 square foot Hudson’s Bay anchor — Mr. Landry says that it is now the most attractive looking Hudson’s Bay store in the company. As well, 13 new stores opened at the mall last year, including Sephora, Urban Planet, Bijouterie Monaco, Clarks, Rinascimento, Soft Moc, MEC, BonLook and L’Occitane en Provence, among others. As well, Telus opened its first “Connected Experience store” in the province at Les Galeries de la Capitale last year.

Expanded food and beverage offerings at the centre include the newly opened restaurant-pub Le Balthazar — known for its expansive selection of beer, it’s the first location in Quebec City for the Montreal-based chain. Oxford Properties is dedicating more space to food and beverage establishments than ever before, recognizing that it helps attract visitors and retain them for longer.

One of the mall’s most unique features, its Méga Parc amusement park, which closed temporarily in September as part of a $52 million overhaul that will see the 30-year old Méga Parc transformed into a Steampunk themed “entertainment zone inspired by the Industrial Era”. Construction is expected to be completed towards the end of this year and in the meantime, some of Méga Parc’s attractions can be found temporarily placed throughout the centre.

(THE MALL’S FOOD COURT, NAMED ‘ESPACE GOURMET’, SAW A RENOVATION IN 2015 THAT RESULTED IN ITS BECOMING ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE FOOD COURTS IN THE COUNTRY. PHOTO: OXFORD PROPERTIES)

(THE MALL’S MÉGA PARC AMUSEMENT PARK WILL REOPEN TOWARDS THE END OF THIS YEAR, WITH A ‘STEAMPUNK’ THEME)

Further driving traffic to Les Galeries de la Capitale is its popular IMAX theatre, which is the largest in Canada, and the only one in the area.

Les Galeries de la Capitale will continue to see construction into 2018 and beyond, necessitated partly because of the relocation of one anchor, as well as the closure of another. La Maison Simons is relocating its 45,000 square foot store to a new $50 million, 80,000 square foot space that will open in March of this year. The replacement store will be the first in the company to be zero-carbon, in a space vacated by Target in 2015. The remainder of the former Target space will be occupied by nine smaller retailers, with one of them confirmed to be a 2,200 square foot Jean-Paul Fortin shoe store, expected to open in April.

The mall’s former Sears space, which was vacated this month (along with the rest of Sears Canada’s stores) will also need to be repurposed. Plans have yet to be revealed for the 185,000 square feet that Sears occupied in the centre.

An impressive 14 new stores are confirmed to be opening in the centre over the next several months. Coffee retailer Nespresso will open in the mall in February of this year, and footwear brand Sketchers will open its first store in the Quebec City region in March. Michael Kors will open a store in May, and beauty brand MAC Cosmetics is confirmed to be opening a store there in September.

As well, Quebec City’s first location for the Montreal-based Mahée fragrance/fashion brand will be unveiled in August of this year. This will be only the second standalone Mahée location — its other location is at Oxford Properties’ Quartier DIX30 project in suburban Montreal (a downtown Montreal Mahée location, which opened in early 2016, closed several months ago, and currently houses a Swarovski pop-up store).

We’ll update this article as things progress at Quebec’s largest shopping centre. With more than 10 million annual visitors, the 1.5 million square foot mall with 280 stores is a regional leader, and could grab even more market share as visitor numbers and spending continues to grow.

Yorkville Avenue Luxury Retail Development to Connect Neighbourhood

By

Craig Patterson

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January 17, 2018

101 Avenue Site — (AN OVERVIEW OF THE 101 YORKVILLE AVENUE SITE)

A new commercial development is part of a plan to expand pedestrian laneway access in Toronto’s Yorkville area, while also adding new luxury retailers and restaurants to the mix. With an anticipated 2020 occupancy date, the new multi-level 101 Yorkville Avenue project will be unlike anything in Toronto to date, and will solidify Yorkville Avenue as one of the country’s most prestigious retail addresses.

The 101 Yorkville Avenue project is being spearheaded in partnership with First Capital Realty and Greybrook Realty Partners Inc., who jointly acquired the street-front property in mid-2016. New plans have emerged from NEUF architect(e)s presenting a plan for multiple commercial units along Yorkville avenue as well as along an interior corridor and above, in a project being dubbed “The Mews”.

Read more about Yorkville Avenue:

Last week, Urban Toronto first reported on the newly released renderings and after reading their article, we wanted to go into further detail on what’s planned for 101 Yorkville Avenue, with some further details from the developer. Many people are curious about what the 101 Yorkville Avenue redevelopment will look like — the property spans about 120 feet of street-front, and is part of the transformation of Yorkville Avenue into a luxury retail address.

(MAP OF YORKVILLE, INDICATING THE PROJECT’S NEIGHBOURHOOD CONNECTIVITY)

First Capital Realty has been acquiring buildings in the area for several years, and a milestone was reached in November when Chanel opened a magnificent 8,550 square foot flagship at First Capital Realty’s overhauled 98 Yorkville Avenue (across from 101 Yorkville). Other First Capital Realty developments nearby include the 102-108 Yorkville Avenue project that will be completed towards the end of this year, housing flagships for luxury brands Jimmy Choo and Brunello Cucinelli, as well as an upper-level space for Toronto-based Her Majesty’s Pleasure. First Capital Realty also owns other real estate in the area (including the former Hazelton Lanes which has been rebranded ‘Yorkville Village’), and is marketing two properties nearby — a vacant lot at 82-84 Yorkville Avenue that can be custom-built for a tenant, as well as the middle street-level space between Jimmy Choo and Brunello Cucinelli that will be perfect for a leading luxury retailer.

The existing 101 Yorkville Avenue property includes a multi-level, 45,000 square foot circa 1977 brick structure housing several retailers and offices. The current building is dated, featuring a half-floor up/down design that, while common in the area, is considered to be less-than-optimal for international brands seeking street level exposure.

Demolition of the current 101 Yorkville Avenue property is anticipated for the spring of 2019, with a new 48,500 square foot commercial property (with an additional 6,300 square feet of outdoor space) expected to be finished towards the middle of 2020. Current tenant Over the Rainbow Jeans has already secured a replacement location at the Manulife Centre at 55 Bloor Street West, which is seeing an overhaul that will include Canada’s first Eataly.

(LOOKING SOUTHWEST ON YORKVILLE AVENUE, WITH THE CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN BOUTIQUE IN THE RED BUILDING TO THE LEFT)

(LOOKING EAST ALONG YORKVILLE AVENUE PAST 101 YORKVILLE AVENUE AT THE RIGHT)

The overall design of “The Mews” will include three buildings separated by pedestrian walkways, including a south-end courtyard that leads to a connecting laneway that leads towards Cumberland Street. The new buildings’ design includes flexibility — plans show three levels of retail with seven units (some being two-level), though there’s ample opportunity to customize and modify these for individual retail tenants.

The building’s exterior is proposed to be clad in slate, which is the material commonly used on the roofs of historical Victorian homes in the neighbourhood. The historic slate shingles take on a new form as masonry bricks (brickwork is also common historically in the neighbourhood) on the solid façade.

The east component of the complex, adjacent to Christian Louboutin at 99 Yorkville Avenue, will feature four levels of commercial space. The lower two levels will be dedicated to retail (there’s flexibility in their configuration) and the third and fourth levels may be used by food and beverage or other uses, with a third floor terrace and a glazed bridge connecting the east building to the west building (the west building will have three levels). A central pedestrian mews at ground level, which will be a privately-owned public space (PoPs), can be animated for events and will otherwise be designed to be attractive and welcoming with seating and plants. Being privately-owned, city permits for use (such as for patios or events) won’t be required in the same way as a purely public gathering space.

(A CENTRAL COURTYARD AT THE HEART OF ‘THE MEWS’ WILL BE ANIMATED WITH VARIOUS USES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR)

(ANOTHER LOOK AT ‘THE MEWS’, FACING TOWARDS YORKVILLE AVENUE)

The complex’s design will create, in effect, ‘four corners’ for the Yorkville Avenue retail spaces — this will enhance desirability by creating exceptional visibility for each retail unit. First Capital Realty is targeting luxury brands for the three spaces in the floorplans that front directly onto Yorkville Avenue, with the possibility of including second-level as well as basement space for those units. Some of the world’s leading luxury brands have been seeking space in Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville area, and this project will no doubt be of interest to retailers seeking customizable space within close proximity to other luxury brands in the heart of one of the world’s wealthiest high-density residential neighbourhoods.

Spaces in the interior corridor at 101 Yorkville could house a variety of retail uses such as fashion or food and beverage, with commercial units facing onto the privately-owned public space. The third and fourth floor spaces might be utilized for restaurants, and some retailers may also seek some of the space — luxury brands are increasingly seeking-out spaces that include private outdoor areas for their guests, be it a private client meeting or for larger events.

“Working closely with our design, construction, and development teams and in collaboration with our consultants, we have put together a project in Yorkville Mews that exemplifies everything we have learned about the neighborhood, the luxury-minded consumer, and the evolving desires of retail brands and restaurants,” said Eric Sherman, Senior Real Estate Manager at First Capital Realty who handles leasing in the area. “The Mews is an outdoor pedestrian walkway and courtyard that acts as a mid-block connection between Yorkville Ave and Cumberland but ties into a larger network that effectively connects Bloor Street all the way to Scollard Street.”

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Mr. Sherman went on to say, “This not only plays into the unique character of Yorkville that has historically been defined by its quaint network of laneways, but also allows for the integration of an increased number of corner/end-cap retail spaces, more substantial storefront exposure, and an abundance of outdoor terrace space on multiple levels primed for flagship restaurant, café, and retail brands alike. Yorkville Mews allows for discovery and exclusivity but also prominence and animation – it solidifies Yorkville Ave as the most prestigious luxury address in the country.”

As Mr. Sherman described above, “The Mews” at 101 Yorkville Avenue will also act as a connection point that will be part of a pedestrian network extending from Bloor Street West all the way north to Scollard Street — an example of a retail landlord contributing positively to city building. First Capital Realty researched the history of Yorkville and determined that the historical relevance of the neighbourhood’s mid-block connections warranted a design that would include what is expected to be a significantly used pedestrian access, facilitated in part with the construction of 101 Yorkville Avenue.

It’s an exciting time for Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville area, as billions of dollars are being spent on developments that will add a considerable amount of new retail to the area, as well as thousands more over the next several years. The new 101 Yorkville Avenue project will act as an anchor and connection point for the neighbourhood, which is in the process of securing its place as one of world’s leading luxury retail addresses. We’ll follow its progress ahead of its anticipated 2020 completion, and will also continue to report on other developments in the area.

*All renderings are via NEUF architect(e)s/First Capital Realty.

Photo of the Day: Goodbye Forever 21 Robson Street, Hello Indigo

By

Craig Patterson

-

January 16, 2018

attachment-5a5d57129140b7de43a319fe — exc-5a5d57129140b7de43a319fe

Today’s photo of the day is of the Forever 21 store at 1033 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver, which closed on Monday, January 15. Indigo Books & Music has announced that it has subleased Forever 21’s two-level 29,000 square foot space and will open a store there in the fall of 2018.

Indigo’s Robson Street store will reflect the retailer’s updated ‘culture department store’ concept that it launched at Toronto’s CF Sherway Gardens in the spring of 2016 (see photos below). Indigo has opened several of these new stores since then, and the retailer is in the process of aggressively securing new retail spaces, including replacement locations in existing markets, for its updated store format. With Sears Canada’s recent demise, Indigo has accelerated its plans to secure locations for updated stores.

Indigo closed its 53,000 square foot Chapters store in downtown Vancouver in June of 2015, and it was subsequently replaced by a large Sport Chek store. The Chapters name is in the process of being phased out as part of Indigo’s updated branding efforts.

(Photos below are of Indigo’s ‘cultural department store’ at CF Sherway Gardens in Toronto, via Burdifilek)

“Indigo, which also operates the Chapters brand, has had a long and valued relationship with book lovers in downtown Vancouver,” said Heather Reisman, Indigo CEO. “When we made the decision to leave our well-loved Robson street Chapters store, we promised our customers that as soon as we could, we would be back. We are so very excited to reconnect with this community who are among the best and most passionate readers in the country.”

According to a press release, “The new store will have a warm and inviting aesthetic inspired by the city. Customers will explore the best book selection, exclusive Indigo-designed lifestyle products and an outstanding IndigoKids department combining books, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) products and the best in creative play. The store will also have a full cafe and community space for special events.”

Forever 21 opened at 1033 Robson Street in November of 2012.

Robson Street is in a state of transition and good things are on the way. This month we’ll be profiling Vancouver’s Robson Street with some updates from the BIA as well as brokers doing deals in the area.

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Photo of the Day: Goodbye Forever 21 Robson Street, Hello Indigo

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