California-based electric car company Tesla will open its third Canadian shopping centre location this spring. Tesla continues to see strong sales in Canada, according to sources, with plans for more stores in various markets.
Signage went up Friday afternoon for a new Tesla store at the Park Royal shopping centre in West Vancouver. The store will be located in the centre’s outdoor ‘Park Royal South’ component, next to Old Navy. Tesla will replace retail units for Lenscrafters and Pinkberry, and will be just over 2,900 square feet in size. Brodie Henrichsen, Principal at brokerage Northwest Atlantic, acted on behalf of Tesla in lease negotiations with Park Royal landlord Larco Investments.
West Vancouver is one of Canada’s wealthiest communities, with home prices among the highest in the country. The city is also known for its luxury automobiles, with one out of every 142 residents owning a luxury car priced in excess of $150,000. The entire Vancouver region is also considered to be the ‘luxury car capital of North America’, in terms of luxury car density.
Tesla also operates two Vancouver stores — a smaller location at 929 Robson Street that opened in 2014, as well as an 18,500 square foot store and service centre in the Kitsilano area.
Tesla currently operates eight Canadian stores. Besides the two Vancouver locations, Tesla’s stores are in Toronto (x 2), Oakville ON, Calgary, Montreal and Quebec City. The Montreal store/sales centre is the largest in North America, spanning an impressive 45,000 square feet. The Quebec City sales centre is by appointment only. The company’s other two mall-based stores are at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre (Tesla’s first store in Canada), and at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre. More locations will be announced this year as the company continues to penetrate the Canadian market.
