The ICSC recently released a report ranking Canada’s top shopping centres by sales per square foot. Some notable findings include a dominant landlord, a region punching above its weight in mall productivity, productive downtown retail centres, and the fact that Canada’s malls are performing strongly despite the economy.
Numbers for the ICSC study were collected from participating landlords as of the end of 2023. Productivity numbers are for reporting retailers and typically excludes anchor retailers. The study builds on numbers collected by Retail Insider’s Craig Patterson, who was the author of Retail Council of Canada’s Shopping Centre Studies between 2016 and 2019 (studies were halted due to the pandemic and lockdowns impacting sales).
The full 2023 ICSC study ranks 117 shopping centres in Canada by sales per square foot. For the purpose of this article, Retail Insider will primarily discuss the top 25 shopping centres ranked in the study. It should also be noted that not all landlords in Canada participated in the study — that includes Triple Five, which owns West Edmonton Mall. In years past, sales along the centre run in West Edmonton Mall have exceeded $1,200 a square foot, according to the landlord.
Landlords in the 2023 ICSC Study Top 25, by Number of Properties
Cadillac Fairview owns more than half of the top 25 shopping centres in the ICSC productivity study, speaking to the strength of the landlord’s overall portfolio in Canada. Cadillac Fairview owns 13 of the top 25 shopping centres in Canada in terms of sales per square foot, including the second, third, fourth and fifth most productive shopping centres in Canada (CF Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver, CF Richmond Centre near Vancouver, and CF Chinook Centre in Calgary).
Yorkdale in Toronto, as reported in Retail Insider last month, blew all of the other malls in Canada out of the water in terms of sales per square feet. Owner Oxford Properties has three of the top 25 most productive malls in Canada, all of which are in the Toronto area. That includes Yorkdale, which shattered Canadian records with sales per square foot of $2,402. The massive Square One shopping complex in Mississauga ranks 6th for Canadian malls and has maintained strong sales, as has the Scarborough Town Centre which recently added Decathlon and Ikea, and ranked 23rd in the ICSC mall study.
Montreal-based Ivanhoé Cambridge owns six of Canada’s top 25 shopping centres in terms of ranked sales per square foot. Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) manages the properties on their behalf. Southgate Centre in Edmonton is the top mall in the portfolio in terms of sales per square foot (ranking 8th for Canadian malls), followed very closely by the massive Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, next to Vancouver, which was the 9th most productive shopping centre in Canada in terms of sales per square foot.
Primaris REIT owns two of the top shopping centres on the ICSC productivity list, after acquiring the Halifax Shopping Centre in Halifax (ranked the 14th most productive mall) and the Conestoga Centre in Waterloo (with a ranking the 24th most productive mall by per square feet). Landlord Morguard made the top 25 list with its Coquitlam Centre asset, which is set for future residential intensification.
Scroll to the bottom of this article to see the list of the top 25 shopping centres in Canada ranked by sales per square foot.
City Regions and the Top 25 Shopping Centres by Sales Per Square Foot
Not surprisingly, the Greater Toronto Area has the most number of the top 25 most productive shopping centres in Canada, with 8 malls making the cut. The Greater Toronto Area is the fastest growing region in North America, and is home to over 7 million people.
The Greater Vancouver area punches above its weight, with 5 of the top 25 most productive malls in the study being there (and a population of less than 3 million). And in 2025, the formerly high-ranking Oakridge Centre will reopen in an overhauled format, rebranded as Oakridge Park — given its luxury offering and overall tenant mix, the centre is expected to become one of the top in the country in terms of sales per square foot. Also, it appears that landlord Larco didn’t participate in the study — its Park Royal Centre in West Vancouver ranked 4th in the Retail Council of Canada study in 2019, with sales per square foot of $1,342.
The Montreal area had 3 of the most productive 25 centres in Canada in the ICSC study. The region has over 4.3 million people and its retail hasn’t generally been quite as productive as the two cities above. Montreal still has some exceptional shopping centres, and will be getting another one on August 15, 2024, with the opening of Royalmount. It remains to be seen how Royalmount will perform with its mix of luxury brand stores, big brand retailers, and food and beverage offerings.
Calgary has 2 of the top 25 shopping centres ranked in the study, not surprisingly being Cadillac Fairview’s CF Chinook Centre (ranked number 5 in the study) and CF Market Mall (ranked 13 on the list). Trailing at number 29 in the study is The CORE in the city’s downtown, speaking to Calgary’s retail strength with its metro population of about 1.665 million.
Several other cities in Canada had one mall that ranked in the top 25 in the ICSC study. Those places included Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Halifax, London, and Waterloo. As mentioned before, West Edmonton Mall could in theory have scored highly if it had participated in the study. Also, another Ottawa Mall, Bayshore Centre, almost made the top 25 which would have given Ottawa 2 of the top 25 most productive malls ranked in the study (see the full list at the end of this article).
Top Shopping Centres in Downtown Cores
Suburban shopping centres are primarily responsible for decreased retail commercialization in the downtown cores of cities in Canada and the United States. Suburban shopping centres are also partly responsible for the demise of the famed downtown department store in North America. Despite the fact that most downtowns in Canada generally lack the retail significance seen in decades past, 4 of the top 25 most productive shopping centres in Canada are located in downtown cores.
That includes the CF Toronto Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto, which before the pandemic was possibly the busiest mall in the world. Because of its transit connectivity, the shopping centre was seeing more than 50 million visitors annually, which is similar to Times Square in New York City. Foot traffic numbers are still very high, upon observation.
Vancouver’s CF Pacific Centre also made the top 25 list of most productive shopping centres, as it has for years. The shopping centre boasts an impressive roster of big-name tenants, including Holt Renfrew’s top-selling store and a very strong Harry Rosen location. Nordstrom’s exit from Canada means that new tenants will be moving into its former space in the centre — a similar situation for CF Toronto Eaton Centre as well (details to follow). It might be noted that in 2019, sales per square foot productivity at CF Pacific Centre was $1,865, while in 2023 the ICSC number was $1,324.
CF Rideau Centre in Ottawa ranked highly in the study, housing retailers such as Apple, Tiffany & Co., Harry Rosen, and La Maison Simons. Nordstrom vacated the mall last year when it exited Canada, and a new tenant hasn’t been announced.
In downtown Montreal, the Centre Eaton Montreal is often crowded with people, whether they are shopping at the new Nike flagship store or heading up the escalators to the Time Out Food Hall. The Eaton Centre Montreal has seen an overhaul that includes Canada’s largest Uniqlo store, a two-level Decathlon store, a flagship B2 footwear store, and various other retailers. Downtown Montreal will be beautiful in a few years once construction is completed along Ste-Catherine Street, McGill College and Peel Streets — the public real on these streets is expected to be world-class, making Toronto and Vancouver envious.
The full ICSC Canadian Shopping Centre Productivity List of 117 malls can be downloaded on the ICSC membership page. For non-members, retailers are welcome to join ICSC and receive this study, in addition to more valuable industry insights.
“The Greater Toronto Area is the fastest growing region in North America, and is home to over 7 million people.”
Fastest growing region in North America? Even within Canada, metro Calgary and metro Edmonton outgrow the GTA, at 6% and 4.2% YoY respectively.
I was speaking to the total number of people, not the percentage increase (there are obviously places in Canada seeing higher year-over-year percentage growth, but are considerably smaller in population compared to the GTA)
Sure, then let’s call Iqaluit North America’s fastest growing city if that’s the way you want to play.
(Data above is according to new estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.)