CF Chinook Centre prepares new retail announcements as major leasing deals advance

Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre is preparing a new wave of retail announcements as the shopping centre continues to reshape major department store spaces and accommodate growing demand from retailers.

Cadillac Fairview is nearing deals for much of the former Hudson’s Bay space, with two fashion retailers expected on the upper level and a lease already executed for the lower level, while redevelopment plans for the former Saks Fifth Avenue space are also advancing, said Darryl Schmidt, Vice-President National Leasing, Cadillac Fairview, in an interview.

The leasing activity comes as Chinook Centre prepares to fill its former Nordstrom space with several major retailers, including a 66,000-square-foot flagship SportChek that will incorporate a Pro Hockey Life, a 35,000-square-foot Winners and a 15,500-square-foot Old Navy. Dolce Salon will also relocate into the former Nordstrom footprint, while Anthropologie is moving into the adjacent former Microsoft space.

CF Chinook Centre Calgary. Photo by Mario Toneguzzi — Darryl Schmidt

Additional announcements in the coming months

Schmidt said additional announcements are expected over the coming months as the shopping centre responds to strong retailer demand and works through a series of major space reconfigurations.

He said most of the upper-level Hudson’s Bay space is at the lease stage, while the former Saks space has attracted interest from five or six prospective tenants as Cadillac Fairview works through redevelopment layouts and leasing requirements.

“The primary driver for Cadillac is always to get retail into the boxes, and we feel it’s the most synergistic with the rest of the small-shop retailers,” said Schmidt of filling the Nordstrom space.

“Really, it was assessing what the demand looked like in the market. We spent a lot of time talking to retailers, trying to figure out who could best fit into the different spaces and also being cognizant of the adjacencies and where the price points are going to be for some of those adjacencies.

“We’ve got the more premium run of Chinook on the lower level, and there was a lot of internal debate: Is Winners a good fit on that run? And we came to the conclusion that it was far enough away from the true luxury brands, and the shopper who was, like, that female shopper primarily, who was going to go to those luxury boutiques also shopped high-low.

“She was a Winners shopper trying to find those designer brands at a deep discount, but she was also a Louis Vuitton shopper who was going to go get a Louis Vuitton handbag at full price. So, that’s the kind of consideration we put into the mix and where we’re positioning the different boxes.

“And the same kind of thought process is going into how do we merchandise the Saks box, how do we merchandise the HBC box, who are the best fits. And then it does become a bit of a jigsaw puzzle in that each of the brands has a requirement in terms of certain minimum sizes, maximum sizes, access to loading, external signage, internal signage, and that drives a lot of the design and thought process as well.

“So, it’s never a linear progression. It’s kind of two steps forward and one step back, trying to accommodate everybody and their footprints.”

Schmidt said the lease on the lower level of the Bay space has been executed and it will be announced in the next few months.

“Saks is the same thing. Saks is probably not as far along. It’s proving to be a more challenging box to re-demise because the lower-level portion is exclusively below grade, even though it’s fronting onto the main mall. So, we’ve got good demand.

“We’ve got five or six different users. We’re not as far along iterating the layouts and the connectivity to the loading docks. We’ve got some excellent brands. It’s just managing that demand, managing the layouts, and trying to come up with a configuration that’s going to work for everybody.”

Schmidt said the popular shopping shopping saw the recent opening of Hollister and New Balance is set to open too.

“We’re continuously seeing really, really strong demand,” he said.

“We’ve got a tenant to be named that should open prior to the holiday that is repositioning in the market. And, ‘27 will be more of what we saw in ’26. You’re going to see a lot of tenant movement, a lot of existing retailers expanding their footprints to make room for net new brands coming into the marketplace.

“Those newer brands might not come in until ’28, though, because it’s just a slower construction process right now.”

Plans for CF Market Mall

As for CF Market Mall, Cadillac Fairview’s other shopping centre in Calgary, Schmidt said: “We’ve had a couple of new brand openings. We’re more taking a pause while we finish off some deals.

“You’ll see more new retailers in ’27. Nothing definitive on the HBC box. Where you get a two-level box on a one-level shopping centre, it’s not as obvious how to re-demise it and how to position it.

“We’ve got solid demand for the lower level. We’re still sorting out how do we activate the upper level, what are the right uses.

“We hope to take that into market in the next 30 days, and we’ll prove it out. We know certain brands that are not in northwest Calgary that want to be there, and we’re hoping to advance discussions with them through the fourth quarter.”