Toronto’s proposed Oxford Place mega-project has been put on hold. It would have included a substantial retail mall that could have rivalled the Toronto Eaton Centre in size. Oxford Properties’ CEO made this revelation to The Globe & Mail in this article.
One of the reasons the project was put on hiatus is because the City of Toronto voted against allowing a casino on the premises. A casino was considered to be key for Oxford Place’s success.
We first reported on Oxford Place in October, 2012. The ~1 million-square foot retail project could have housed multiple anchor tenants as well as a massive shopping centre. We subsequently provided renderings of the project, raising optimism that a substantial luxury retail component could be included.
For those unfamiliar, De Beers is a diamond company that also retails its wares in a few select cities around the world. De Beers stores are beautiful, product is pricey, and having a De Beers store is considered a prestigious addition to any retail location. De Beers currently has 8 North American locations, all in the United States (9 if you include Hawaii). The company has 46 stores world-wide, 26 of which are located in Asia.
Tory Burch location on Alberni Street in Vancouver. Photo: Colin Arber
Tory Burch has opened its third Canadian store at 1092 Alberni Street in Downtown Vancouver. It’s located next door to luxury diamond retailer De Beers, which also opened over the weekend. Two more luxury retailers are expected to join them.
The store is over 3,000 square feet and spans two retail floors.
Tory Burch is a popular New York City-based designer brand that is also carried in Canada at Holt Renfrew. The label includes women’s clothing, shoes and accessories.
De Beers will open its second Canadian retail location within Yorkdale Shopping Centre’s Holt Renfrew. Construction hoarding is up, and it opens this fall. It will be the first De Beers in North America to be located within a department store.
For those unfamiliar, De Beers is a diamond company that also retails its wares in a few select cities around the world. De Beers stores are beautiful, product is pricey, and having a De Beers store is considered a prestigious addition to any retail location. De Beers currently has 8 North American locations, all in the United States (9 if you include Hawaii). The company has 46 stores world-wide, 26 of which are located in Asia.
Thank you to source ACT7 of Urban Toronto for notifying us of this story.
We’ll keep you updated if De Beers decides to open further Canadian locations.
Prada-owned Miu Miu will open its second Canadian location within Yorkdale Shopping Centre’s Holt Renfrew. Canada’s first Miu Miu store opened in January at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship in Toronto. No word yet on the Yorkdale Miu Miu stores’s size, though we’re told the Bloor location is about 450 square feet.
As with the Downtown Toronto Miu Miu, Yorkdale’s Miu Miu will carry only accessories and handbags, and no women’s clothing.
There are currently 15 leased Miu Miu boutiques in the United States. Nine are free-standing shops that carry women’s ready-to-wear. The other six are accessory shops like those in Canada, and five of those are within Saks Fifth Avenue stores while one is within Manhattan’s flagship Bloomindale’s store. No word yet if Saks Fifth Avenue will attempt to secure Miu Miu leases when it opens in Canada.
Thank you to source ACT7 of Urban Toronto for notifying us of this story.
We’ll update you on any further Miu Miu store openings in Canada, as it’s speculated that a Vancouver location could be next in the works.
The Yonge Street Mission, located at 381 Yonge Street, has been sold to a private equity real estate company. The sale’s closing date will be some time in September 2016, allowing the Mission to move and reorganise its operations. The Yonge Street building is adjacent to other buildings already owned by investors Kingsett Capital and the Canada Pension Board.
In April of 2013, Kingsett Capital and the Canada Pension Board purchased several adjacent properties from Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust. Sources tell us that there could be a proposal for a substantial shopping mall on the site, possibly connected to Ryerson University and also possibly including a large anchor retailer. We’re not sure what exactly is proposed for the site, though the Ryerson University Master Plan might give some clues. The rendering at the top of this article shows a proposed commercial podium topped by a taller tower.
The immediate area has seen extensive development including an expanding Ryerson University, Canada’s tallest residential building (Aura at College Park) as well as the newly-branded Eaton Chelsea Hotel (formerly known as the Delta Chelsea Hotel). The area is enjoying a growth in popularity as well as a substantial increase in its residential population as Toronto continues its condo boom.
381 Yonge Street
We’ll continue to keep you updated on this topic, as it could lead to a substantial retail development that could house a Downtown Toronto Target, Walmart, or even La Maison Simons.
Vancouver’s Park Royal Shopping Centre is set to expand in a manner unique among Canadian malls. Its first phase expansion opens later this month. It will integrate elements of both enclosed mall retailing as well as outdoor ‘urban streets’ on the property for externalized retail. We interviewed Rick Amantea, VP of Park Royal. We’ll provide a summary of the interview’s key details.Â
“The World’s Largest Community Centre”:
Mr. Amantea referred to Park Royal as being the world’s largest community centre. Interestingly, those who visit the mall tend to do so very frequently. In metro Vancouver, shoppers visit malls at an average of 1.47 times/month. At Park Royal, it’s an average of 6.7 times/month for a total of about 15 million annual visits.
Park Royal ‘Village’ Expansion: Short-Term:
This fall Park Royal will open its new ‘Village’ retail in Park Royal South (the mall is separated by West Vancouver’s Marine Drive) and will feature stores such as LOFT by Ann Taylor, Michael Kors, Anthropologie, J. Crew, Aritzia (the largest in BC at over 7,100 square feet), Sephora, and others. The new Zara store location will be one of Canada’s largest, at almost 21,000 square feet. Watch for these to open in the next few weeks.
Floor Plan: Park Royal Shopping Centre
Expansion details: Long-Term:
The mall’s landlord, Larco Investments, will spend over $150 million into expanding and renovating the interior and exterior of Park Royal. About 300,000 square feet of new and reconfigured retail space will be created. Additions will include a further expanded outdoor retail village, and in the fall of 2015, BC’s first La Maison Simons will open in an area of the mall currently occupied by Extra Foods. New food court: A new food court will created upstairs in Park Royal South, replacing a current food court space that will be reconfigured into upscale retail adjacent to the new 105,000 square foot Simons store .
Parking:
About 1,000 new parking spaces will be built over four levels, including a state-of-the-art management system to make finding parking easier. Parking opens later this month.
Overall increased accessibility:
Each day, about 9,000 transit riders pass through Park Royal along Marine Drive. Interestingly, the mall will install two traffic lights at two new intersections as part of an extended streetscape, all on its own property. The mall will even name its new streets.
Photo: Park Royal Shopping Centre
Residential Addition:
New residential will be part of this project. We’ll leave out details as it doesn’t pertain directly to retail, beyond adding shoppers to the site.
For those unfamiliar, White House | Black Market is a popular, moderately-priced American womenswear retailer owned by Chico’s FAS Inc. It is known for its ‘slimming’ clothing (some were featured on Oprah) and targets females in the 30-55 age range. It plays on variations of white-and-black clothing styles.
We first reported on the company’s Canadian entry last March.
White House | Black Market is expected to open more Canadian stores in 2014, and we’ll update you when we learn the locations.
The store is located on the second level of the mall’s “Phase III”, between Coach and a new Stuart Weitzman shoe store which will also open soon. We first mentioned Tiffany’s arrival at West Edmonton Mall last February when we got word that the mall’s owner is spending a fortune to renovate the property.
Tiffany & Co.’s other Canadian locations are in Metro Toronto (3 locations), Vancouver (3 locations), Calgary (2 locations), Montreal (2 locations) and Ottawa.
Along with its multi-million-dollar renovation, West Edmonton Mall has seen several recent retail announcements. There are also rumours that the mall could possibly open Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue stores, though this is still currently speculation.
The photo above was taken by Darrell Bateman. He’s also known as user ‘darrellinyvr Flickr. He’s done some excellent Canadian retail photography. To check out more of his photos, click here.
We’d like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving weekend. We’d also like to thank you for reading Retail Insider. We’re enjoying reporting on Canadian retail, and we’re working on more exciting stories.
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Thank you, again, and have an excellent Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll be back with more articles on Tuesday morning.
