Ottawa’s CF Rideau Centre, operated by Cadillac Fairview, has added three new retailers to its tenant mix in the heart of Canada’s capital.
Uniqlo, Arc’teryx and Imaginaire are expected to increase traffic to the downtown shopping centre.
“While the retail landscape continues to evolve, one thing that remains constant is Ottawa being a unique and dynamic market for retailers to launch their brands, both regionally and nationally,” said Brian O’Hoski, General Manager of CF Rideau Centre.
“We’re proud of our successful track record of attracting first to market retailers and helping our retail partners succeed, and look forward to building on this positive momentum.
“Bringing an international retailer like Uniqlo to Ottawa gives them an introduction to a new market, people here are familiar (with it) but they have to travel to Montreal or Toronto, and now being in the city is a huge win for us and for the city.”
The Ottawa shopping centre is about 1.2 million square feet with about 180 stores. O’Hoski said the mall is about 90 per cent leased.
Cadillac Fairview said the Imaginaire store is the first outside of Quebec for the retailer and it will open in the fall. It will be the brand’s seventh store, which offers board games, puzzles, books, pop culture items and collectibles (coins, sport cards, trading cards). Imaginaire will be located on Levels 3 & 4 of the centre and occupy over 20,000 square feet.
Global retailer Uniqlo made its highly anticipated debut in the Ottawa market this month with a 15,000-square-foot store on the centre’s third floor. The Japanese fashion brand is known for its casualwear and wide selection of graphic tees. The opening at CF Rideau Centre is part of the brand’s five-year expansion plan across North America.
Vancouver-based lifestyle brand Arc’teryx also opened their first location in Ottawa at the centre this past month. The 3,000-square-foot store is located on Level 2 of the centre and features premium activewear and sports equipment for shoppers of all ages.
O’Hoski said Arc’teryx was a quick backfill on a former Nike location which moved within Rideau Centre to another spot which was triple in size. The Uniqlo store is in the former Victoria’s Secret space. The Imaginaire space is unique where “we actually punched in the escalators and an elevator up into the fourth floor. So the retail entrance will be on the third floor of the shopping mall in the expansion but the bulk of their space is actually above in the fourth floor that was formerly a theatre space from a long time ago. It wasn’t being utilized,” he said.
“We had to make a lot of moves to get these big spaces available,” added O’Hoski. “We’re in really good shape and deals are continuing to roll in.”
The shopping centre is also working on ideas of what to do with the 150,000-square-foot space vacated by the departure of Nordstrom from the Canadian market.
In the past year retailer lululemon also tripled its footprint at the centre.
In December 2022, Cadillac Fairview announced the evolution of CF Rideau Centre with the commencement of construction of the Rideau Registry residences, a 288-unit residential rental building integrated with the shopping centre.
Wholly owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, CF manages more than $42 billion of assets across the Americas and the United Kingdom, with further expansion planned into Europe and Asia. Internationally, CF invests in communities with like-minded partners, including Stanhope in the UK, Lincoln Property Company in the U.S., and Multiplan in Brazil.
The company’s Canadian portfolio comprises 68 landmark properties, including the Toronto-Dominion Centre, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Tour Deloitte, CF Carrefour Laval, CF Chinook Centre and CF Pacific Centre.
CF Rideau Centre is located in the heart of downtown Ottawa, minutes walking distance to the popular Byward Market, pedestrian-friendly Sparks Street, the Chateau Laurier Hotel and the Parliament buildings.
Every major city in Canada these days has been facing challenges with their downtowns with issues around safety, drugs and homelessness a major topic of discussion. Ottawa is no exception.
“Ottawa I think is no different than our other major markets that we operate in. The government worker in the past has offered so much stability in terms of their employment levels and their work and with them being a little later on the return to work we’re a little behind in terms of traffic,” said O’Hoski.
“I think that’s kind of stirring up or popping up what you’re seeing in terms of the social unrest and the homelessness and drug use. We’ve been having to make some (security) changes and updates and do things a little differently to ensure the safety and security of our centre and our shoppers and our tenants. But nobody’s got the answer for this. We’re looking around at ways of fixing these issues and returning downtown to its glory.”
