The Time Out Market is heading to Vancouver with an opening set for late 2024 at Oakridge Park, a massive project that involves the redevelopment of the former Oakridge Centre retail complex.
The Time Out food and cultural market, which officials say will bring “the best of the city under one roof,” will be located across two levels in the shopping centre and span 69,000 square feet. Time Out Market Vancouver will showcase a curated collection of the city’s best culinary and cultural experiences. Visitors will get to taste food from top local chefs and renowned restaurateurs, sip cocktails from award-winning mixologists and enjoy music and entertainment from rising talents.
The first Time Out Market opened in 2014 in Lisbon in a historic market hall, quickly turning into one of the most popular destinations in the city, with over four million visitors in 2019. Following their success in Lisbon, new locations have since opened in Miami, New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and Dubai. More Time Out Market locations are under development around the world in cities such as Porto, Osaka, Cape Town and more.
Oakridge Park will be the second Time Out Market in Canada, following a location that opened at the Montreal Eaton Centre in downtown Montreal in November of 2019.
“For Oakridge Park, we’ve always envisioned seamlessly integrating a world-class culinary experience with a carefully curated collection of brands and services from around the globe,” said Andy Clydesdale, Executive Vice President, Retail, QuadReal Property Group.
“Representing the future of culinary and cultural experiences, Time Out Market literally brings the best of the best to our collective kitchen table. The team at Time Out Market also very much appreciates and embraces our architecture and design vision for the holistic Oakridge Park project and endeavours to work with our architect and design teams to create something that the world has not seen nor experienced.”
Clydesdale said Time Out Market brings together award-winning chefs, renowned restauranteurs, up-and-coming culinary talent and much-loved local gems foodies can’t get enough of.
“In short, Time Out Vancouver at Oakridge Park will be a culinary and cultural experience – a recipe we think will be impossible to resist. Of course, the one million square foot shopping centre, when completed, is already expected to be one of the busiest and most productive in Canada,” he said.
“With over 1,400 seats (including the event space), there will be lots of indoor and al fresco dining options for guests to choose from. Of course, the design for Oakridge Park will feature a number of innovations while staying true to what makes Time Out Market such an exciting destination.”
Ian Gillespie, Founder & CEO of Westbank said Oakridge Park, which has been decades in the making, is becoming the new town centre for Vancouver.
“We have always had great ambitions for the project to become the living room for our community, one of the most diverse cities in the world. For the Food Hall, which will be the heart of the project, we took inspiration from the World Fair, envisioning a community gathering place that celebrates Vancouver’s multiculturalism through food,” he said.
“Time Out Market has created a concept that shares these values, centred around bringing together the best culinary and cultural experiences in their cities. Their values align perfectly with our vision for Oakridge Park and we look forward to collaborating together to make Time Out Market Vancouver into a destination, for the community and the world.”
Oakridge Park will be a highly sustainable, mixed-use, transit-oriented cultural hub that includes residential towers, workspace, a nine-acre public park, a civic centre and library, indoor and outdoor performance venues, and a one million square foot shopping centre expected to be one of the busiest and most productive in Canada.
“Oakridge Park is a visionary development with a strong sense of community making it a great location for Time Out Market, at the heart of which is to bring the best of the city together under one roof. We are delighted to partner with QuadReal Property Group and Westbank to bring Time Out Market to the beautiful city of Vancouver,” said Chris Öhlund, CEO of Time Out Group plc.
Officials said the first level will feature a curated mix of 17 live cooking kitchens, three bars, a coffee shop, a stage, art and cultural spaces and an open-air patio. The mezzanine will include a signature cocktail lounge, an event space and a demonstration kitchen. With approximately 1,400 seats (including the event space), guests will have a variety of indoor and al fresco dining options.
Time Out Market is the world’s first editorially curated food and cultural market, bringing a city’s best chefs, restaurateurs and unique cultural experiences together under one roof. From cooking classes with top chefs to installations from local artists and live entertainment, Time Out Market captures and celebrates the best of the city.
Currently, there are seven Time Out Markets globally, featuring over 120 chefs and restaurateurs from James Beard award winners and Michelin-starred chefs to much loved local gems; there are also almost 30 bars plus a variety of cultural spaces.
Oakridge Park is a pivotal project to the Vancouver market according to Retail Insider’s Publisher Craig Patterson, who has authored studies on shopping centres in Canada.
“The redevelopment of Oakridge Centre will result in a new urban node for the Vancouver market, which will be a draw for the region with a flashy design and mix of attractions. The retail component of Oakridge could become one of the most productive in Canada in terms of sales per square foot, given the mix of tenant types that are said to be leasing and in discussions”.
“It appears that a number of luxury brands will be opening stores at Oakridge, which means that a new luxury retail node will be created in the Vancouver market that will compete with downtown. I expect Oakridge will even pull shoppers living in downtown Vancouver with the new retail offerings in a climate-controlled environment. Oakridge is also not nearly as likely to be impacted by some of the social issues seen in downtown Vancouver, including vagrancy and crime”.
Patterson said that retailers not able to find space downtown may end up opening stores at Oakridge instead.
“Downtown Vancouver is constricted by land and by the fact that various landlords own the buildings. QuadReal has an advantage with Oakridge in that it’s able to create desired spaces for brands while offering strong co-tenancies. I’m expecting to see new first-to-Vancouver and first-to-Canada retail announcements for Oakridge that would in the past have been downtown in areas such as Robson Street.”
