Nordstrom is working with Cadillac Fairview to secure a total of between six and nine Canadian locations. As we previously reported, Nordstrom will open four Canadian stores in conjunction with Cadillac Fairview in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto. A second-wave of searching and negotiating for further Canadian Nordstroms is now underway.

Cadillac Fairview has several top-performing Canadian malls and importantly, many include Sears stores. Nordstrom has the opportunity to open several more Canadian stores via Sears’ leases. We’ll give a quick rundown of some potential locations…

1) Fairview Mall in Toronto: Cadillac Fairview’s Fairview Mall in Toronto includes a 149,552 sq ft Sears store. The mall is one of the most productive in Canada with a sales of $829/sq ft (as of September 27 2012), and Sears is well-positioned as per the floorplan below:

A Fairview Mall Nordstrom could coincide with a mall expansion to make it more competitive with Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

2) Toronto Eaton Centre: Sears Canada currently occupies over 800,000 sq ft of space at The Toronto Eaton Centre. Nordstrom would like somewhere between 225,000 sq ft and 270,000 sq ft of retail in this space. If the deal goes through, some Sears space may be converted to Nordstrom’s Canadian headquarters, or office space may be leased in an adjacent office tower.

3) Polo Park Shopping Centre in Winnipeg: This mall achieves sales of $753/sq ft and has a 263,243 sq ft Sears store. If converted to Nordstrom, some space would become multi-tenant retail while the rest would be Nordstrom (about 130-160,000 sq ft). Floorplan:

4) Richmond Centre, Richmond BC: This suburban Vancouver shopping centre has seen numerous popular retailers introduced, with considerable success. The mall includes a 122,021 sq ft Sears location that could be converted to Nordstrom. Floorplan: 

Several non-Cadillac-Fairview mall locations are also being considered by Nordstrom, including:

-Metrotown Centre in surburban Vancouver, BC (in either a current Sears location or a new-build)
-Southgate Shopping Centre in Edmonton, AB (possibly in a current Sears location)
-West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, AB (possibly in a current Sears location or a new-build)
-Yorkdale Shopping Centre (possibly in a current Sears location or part of another proposed mall expansion)

As always, we’ll keep you updated. Nordstrom is also seeking locations for its discount retail format, Nordstrom Rack.

Nordstrom website: www.nordstrom.com

Cadillac Fairview website: www.cadillacfairview.com

Are you a fan of natural light in department stores? It’s becoming a trend, and a good one if you ask us. A recent visit to Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills was only made better by the fabulous fourth-floor windows and a skylight that bring in the California sunshine.

Canada lacks some of that sun, especially Vancouver. Nordstrom, however, will include some excellent glass-walled exteriors that will bring in whatever natural light Vancouver’s Nordstrom can find. And we’re expecting this will create an even more superior retail experience. 

Check out the above image. The South-facing Robson Street side of the new Nordstrom store will include some serious windows on the second-floor. This means the Vancouver Nordstrom’s interior will likely be brighter than your average mall-based American store. Similar south-facing light can be experienced on the third-floor of Vancouver’s Holt Renfrew store, as well as on the second-floor of Vancouver’s Downtown Hudson’s Bay Company store. Simply put, natural light makes shopping feel a bit ‘better’. At least for us it does. 

It can be expected that Nordstrom’s upscale Collectors department will be part of this sun-flooded second level, on the south-porton of this second floor. Holt Renfrew and The Bay’s ‘The Room’ will have some tough competition, both merchandise-wise and aesthetically.

Check out the next above image. See that glass pod on third-floor in the corner? Expect a new restaurant with a sun-flooded south-facing view of Robson Square. 

East and North-facing windows are nothing to sneeze at, either. And Vancouver’s Nordstrom seems to utilize at least some windows on all three of its future floors. 
And as Genesis once said… LET THERE BE LIGHT! 😉

Nordstrom website: www.nordstrom.com

Genesis website: www.genesis-music.com

We have received confirmation that Nordstrom’s Canadian headquarters will be located in Toronto. Nordstrom and Cadillac Fairview are working out an office tenancy agreement in an office tower connected to the Toronto Eaton Centre.

***Update*** February 1, 2013. Retail Insider cannot confirm at this time if any deals have been reached for Toronto office space for Nordstrom (we received a request for information from a reader).

We initially speculated that Nordstrom’s Canadian headquarters would be located above its 228,000 sq ft Vancouver, BC location. Instead, the 280,000 sq ft of office space will be leased externally.

Nordstrom website: www.nordstrom.com