Canadian retail sales were up a modest 3.4 per cent during 2018’s first nine months, compared with a year earlier – a rate that was about half of the 6.7 per cent annual growth rate that retailers enjoyed countrywide in 2017.
Trends such as the rise of e-commerce continued to hurt bricks-and-mortar retailers, while mall owners sought to rejuvenate their properties with more experiences for shoppers.
Here are five of the biggest retail happenings in B.C. during 2018:
Over-the-counter cannabis in B.C.
On October 17, after 95 years of prohibition, Canadian retailers were again allowed to sell cannabis. B.C. fared better than some provinces – such as Ontario, which will have no bricks-and-mortar stores until at least April – and had one government store in Kamloops open for business on Day one of cannabis legalization. The province has since authorized the operations of two private stores, both of which are in the southeastern town of Kimberley.
Outlet expansion
The successful 240,000-square-foot McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver Airport mall launched construction of a smaller-than-expected, yet long-awaited, 84,000-square-foot second phase in March and intends to open that space in spring 2019. Operators of the mall, which opened to huge crowds in mid-2015, had originally said that the mall would add a 140,000-square-foot second phase by 2017.
Tsawwassen megamall
Tsawwassen Commons started to take shape in 2018, with many retailers signing leases and launching operations. The big-box strip mall’s 303,000-square-foot first phase was 91 per cent leased by spring 2018 to stores such as Canadian Tire, Rona and Walmart, while construction had started on parts of what was originally intended to be a 217,500-square-foot Phase 2. The mall is across the street from the 1.2-million-square-foot Tsawwassen Mills.
Uplifting lululemon
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Nasdaq:LULU), the largest B.C.-based retailer ranked by market capitalization, had a successful and eventful year, complete with new CEO Calvin McDonald taking the corporate reins in August. The next month, the company’s shares hit an all-time high, and Lululemon’s latest projections were for it to generate US$3.1 billion in sales during the year.
No Bay buyer
Rumours swirled in May that Hudson’s Bay Co. (TSX:HBC) and partner RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:REI.UN) were set to sell HBC’s flagship Vancouver store, at the corner of Georgia and Granville streets, to an Asian buyer for $675 million. The deal, however, fell through, and HBC and RioCan are now said to be considering redeveloping the property on their own.
- Glen Korstrom, Business in Vancouver
