As the dust begins to settle from an eventful holiday season in Canadian retail, properties across the country are starting to be a hive of leasing activity.
CF Toronto Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto is a prime example.
The shopping centre is about two million square feet of space with around 250 tenants. In total, with four office towers and a total of 4.5 million square feet of office and retail, the mixed-use property is one of the busiest and most recognizable hubs in all of Canada.
There are a number of tenants that will be exiting the property, including long-term brands like Old Navy and Williams Sonoma. Retailer Guess will be shuttering its first floor storefront in the coming month and Starbucks will be moving from its single centre court kiosk footprint to open two new locations.
With all of these moves comes news of what will be taking the spaces of these soon-to-be-empty storefronts.
The brand that has been discussed widely in the national media was Old Navy, which has confirmed that two of its stores, CF Markville and CF Toronto Eaton Centre, will be closing by the end of the month. Closing signage was installed at the end of December.
“Old Navy is always evaluating its real estate portfolio to ensure a healthy fleet of stores that can provide the best possible experience for our customers,” a store spokesperson said. “Because of this, we have made the difficult decision to close two locations in Ontario. Local customers can continue to shop other nearby Old Navy locations in Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Scarborough.”
Gap-owned brands have a large presence in the downtown Toronto mall, including The Gap, which has a combined Gap/Gap Kids location after a standalone kids’ store shuttered in 2020.
Banana Republic has two stores in the mall, with an 8,584 square foot women’s store on level three and a 7,091 square foot men’s store on level two. The most recent Gap-owned store to open at CF Toronto Eaton Centre was a 4,825 square foot Athleta in February 2023 on the third floor, located between Ted Baker and Coach.
As Old Navy winds down operations, multiple sources have shared with Retail Insider that TJX-owned Winners will be taking the 25,000 square foot space for an expanded presence in the downtown market.
Williams Sonoma has also confirmed to be closing its third floor 4,099 square foot location and is in full liquidation mode at this point, with sales at 50% to off-load its remaining stock.
The California-based home goods specialty retailer operates stores in Canada under multiple banners, including West Elm, Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids.
Retail Insider reported in 2019 on Williams Sonoma’s exit from the Quebec market. The brand opened its first store in Quebec in November of 2012 at CF Carrefour Laval, and opened several more before exiting the province in November 2019.
Williams Sonoma will be left with four Canadian locations after CF Toronto Eaton Centre closes, including CF Chinook Centre in Calgary, Granville Street in Vancouver, CF Sherway Gardens in Toronto and Yorkdale in Toronto.
There is no confirmed replacement for the Williams Sonoma space at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, and we’ll update when Retail Insider learns more.
Retail Insider is also able to confirm that world-renowned Japanese coffee brand % Arabica will be opening in CF Toronto Eaton Centre, which is part of a larger expansion for the coffee brand.
“After a successful first launch into the Canadian market in 2022 at Yorkdale Shopping Centre and the launch of our first Downtown Toronto location at Union Station in July, % Arabica is excited to continue our expansion in Canada,” said the brand with an exclusive report to Retail Insider. “We have plans to continue opening stores in the Toronto market with expected store openings in the Eaton Centre, Sherway Gardens and Queen St. We also look forward to bringing the world’s best coffee to the wider Canadian market with upcoming store openings in Whistler, Vancouver and Montreal.”
Michael Betel of Cushman & Wakefield represents % Arabica for its real estate selection in Canada.
The new % Arabica location will be replacing Starbucks on the first floor atrium, across from adidas and The North Face pop-up.
Starbucks will be opening two new locations at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, with the first being a 1,702 square foot store in between GEOX Respira and Jack & Jones by the Queen Street entrance of the shopping centre. The second new Starbucks location will be at the former Shoo by Steve Madden, which closed its only concept location back in January 2023. The future 1,692 square foot Starbucks will be across from DAVIDsTEA and beside Lindt.
And finally, Retail Insider has learned that Guess By Marciano will be closing its 5,474 square foot store at CF Toronto Eaton Centre by the end of January.
Guess relocated its Yorkdale location in 2023 to the former Victoria’s Secret, taking a unit beside Canada’s first Mango store. This was as a result of Vancouver-based Aritzia expanding its storefront to the corner unit across from Sport Chek and H&M. The retailer grew from an original 5,000 sf unit to 10,000 sf and eventually to its current 20,000 square feet corner location, which resulted in the relocation and downsizing for Guess.
The CF Toronto Eaton Centre location is prime real estate, as the soon-to-be-former Guess unit is in the infamous bottleneck of traffic that’s often showcased in Black Friday & Boxing Day holiday shopping images. Alongside TNA, Bath & Body Works, B2 by Browns Shoes, Levis, Nike and Under Armour.
We’ll be reporting more on CF Toronto Eaton Centre in 2024 as new retailers open in the mall.
