Fashion retailers Sporting Life, Zara to move into old Target

Fashion retailer Zara and Canadian sportswear chain Sporting Life will open this fall at Calgary’s Market Mall, occupying a total of 70,000 square feet between them and filling space that has been sitting empty since Target Canada’s exit in April 2015.

Mall co-owners Cadillac Fairview and Ivanhoe Cambridge made the announcement Wednesday, adding that Home Sense, which currently occupies a separate building located across the parking lot from the main mall building, will also be moving into a portion of the former Target space. In 2018, fashion retailer Saks Off 5th will open its second Calgary location in the space currently occupied by Home Sense.

The bankruptcy of Target Canada, and subsequent closure of 133 locations across Canada, created headaches for landlords across the country who were faced with a significant amount of excess square footage to fill. Darren Milne, general manager of Market Mall, said while it has taken some time to fill the vacant space, he is confident shoppers will be pleased with the retailers that will be moving in.

“Anytime a retailer goes bankrupt and needs to leave the market, it obviously creates concern — not just for landlords but for shoppers as well,” Milne said.

“For us, we really looked at the vacancy of Target as an opportunity to identify some of those larger tenants we would want to bring to CF Market Mall and how we could accommodate them at Market Mall.”

Market Mall also announced on Wednesday a major expansion that will see Sport Chek expand its existing space into a two-level, 60,000 square foot flagship store, scheduled to open in August 2018. The mall is also adding 83 new underground parking stalls to its parkade.