Pacific Centre goes luxe
New tenants cite Nordstrom’s imminent arrival as major attractant
Smartly dressed mimosa-sipping, canape-nibbling retail looky-loos invaded downtown Vancouver Wednesday as the Pacific Centre officially opened eight new upscale stores.
The new retail outlets are part of a 44,000-square-foot mall expansion that should benefit from substantial customer traffic expected to be generated when Nordstrom opens a new three-level department store in the mall in September.
U.K. fashion retailers AllSaints and Ted Baker London — both opening their first Canadian stores outside Toronto — head the list of new mall tenants, while others include Hugo Boss, Kate Spade New York, Pandora, Tumi, B2 and Weekend MaxMara.
Rockport, Microsoft, Abercrombie & Fitch and The Disney Store will also open new stores in the expanded mall later this year.
The space for the mall expansion became available after Sears left the shopping centre in 2012. The new stores and Nordstrom can be accessed through a new entrance at Granville and Robson.
“We continue to look at ways to improve and refresh and give people a reason to come to Pacific Centre,” Cadillac Fairview vice-president of development Josh Thomson said in an interview. “This is a top-performing asset in North America and the retail sales here show that.”
According to industry publication Retail Insider, the Pacific Centre leads all Canadian shopping centres with annual sales of $1,498 a square foot, compared with $1,420 a square foot for Toronto’s Eaton Centre and $1,395 a square foot for the Oakridge Centre in Vancouver.
Offerings at the new Pacific Centre stores include $100 T-shirts at AllSaints, sparkly $398 Chiara Ferragni slip-on shoes at B2 and $1,295 blazers at Hugo Boss, but Thomson said the mall doesn’t cater only to high-end buyers. “( Value- priced fashion retailer) H&M is very successful here and Disney and Abercrombie & Fitch will open later this year, so it’s not totally highend,” he said. “We look for every Vancouverite to come to our shopping centre.”
Hugo Boss Canada managing director Lanita Layton said the arrival of Nordstrom was a significant factor in her company’s decision to open a new 5,500-square-foot Pacific Centre store.
“They’re one of the reasons we’re here,” she said. “We’ve been in Oakridge for many years and opened in Richmond Centre a year ago, but we knew we had to have a presence in the downtown core and this is a great location.”
Dig360 senior retail consultant Raymond Shoolman said the luxury-brand retail sector has never been stronger in Vancouver, with planned expansions and upgrades set for Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen and upscale brands such as Versace, Strellson and Brunello Cucinelli expected to open new outlets on Alberni Street.
“There are huge changes taking place downtown,” he said. “Everybody seems to want to be close to Nordstrom and it’s going to be a very, very competitive market for that luxury market.”
Shoolman said the new highend retailers are counting on significant sales from tourists to complement sales to local residents.
Meanwhile, a new luxury outlet mall under construction near Vancouver International Airport will open on July 9, airport officials confirmed Wednesday.
The McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Centre near the Templeton Canada Line station will feature brand names such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach and Armani.