MEC breaks ground on flagship store
Completion of three-storey outlet near Olympic Village expected in mid-2019
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) has broken ground on its new Vancouver flagship retail store at the northeast corner of Quebec Street and 2nd Avenue on the edge of the Olympic Village.
The three-storey, 60,000-squarefoot building is going up on land owned by the Beedie Development Group since 2007.
When construction of the store is completed in mid-2019, MEC will operate the LEED Goldstandard building on a lease from Beedie for 20 years.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson joined Beedie president Ryan Beedie and MEC’s chief financial officer Sandy Treagus at a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site on Oct. 24.
Treagus told Postmedia at the event that he had been in discussion with Beedie about finding a location for the new store for about 10 years.
He said the building will feature timber construction, a green roof, and will replace the existing Vancouver store at 130 West Broadway. The new location will be 21 per cent larger than the existing store.
MEC got its start in Vancouver 46 years ago and has four other B.C. locations, in Victoria, North Vancouver, Kelowna and Langley. The outdoor gear retailer is continuing to invest in its bricks and mortar outlets, Treagus said.
The 2,000-staff company is amid a rapid nationwide expansion, including opening a second Calgary store, a Kitchener store, and expansions of their Toronto, Quebec and Edmonton footprints.
“Retail has become a lot more experiential,” Treagus said. “People are not just coming in for the product, but they’re coming for the service and the experience of being in a retail location. So much of retail can be so ubiquitous. It’s important to differentiate and offer something that is not available at other retailers.”
He said the building will include two-and-a-half levels of underground parking, a lock-up area for staff bicycles, two floors of retail and a third level of office space that will include MEC workspace as well as extra offices that will be leased out.
“This is where it all started,” he said.
“We have 450,000 local members and growing, and there’s just so much to do here in terms of the propensity to get outdoors and do stuff.”
Proscenium Architecture and Interiors is designing the building, the same firm that designed MEC’s Vancouver headquarters that opened at nearby 1077 Great Northern Way in 2014.
“This site is a special site to us,” Beedie said at the event. “We wanted to do something unique, something for the benefit of the city and there’s no better example for that than what this building is going to be. MEC is the perfect partner for us.”
Robertson said the city is thrilled to be able to support the project.
“MEC is really at the core of Vancouver’s identity and known across the country as one of our great retailers and great co-ops,” he said.
“We’re going to see a lot change next door here at False Creek flats as well. A lot more development coming,” he said. “A mix of residential and a lot of job space. It’s fantastic to have this commercial job space here as well.”
“The Olympic Village was certified a LEED-platinum neighbourhood, which was the greenest neighbourhood in the world at the time it was built,” Robertson said. “We’ve seen an enormous growth of green jobs and the green economy in Vancouver over the last decade.”
He said the greening of Vancouver’s economy is one of the reasons the city is one of the top economic performers in North America.
“We love to see that further and deeper investment in those green credentials and pushing the pace with green building technology and products,” he said.
The mayor also paid condolences to Beedie over the recent death of his father and the founder of Beedie Development, Keith Beedie. The elder Beedie died on Sept. 20 at the age of 91.
Retail has become a lot more experiential. People are not just coming in for the product, but they’re coming for the service and the experience.