From:
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs...9048863851
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Core sees big-box boom
Jul. 28, 2006. 06:56 AM
DANA FLAVELLE
BUSINESS REPORTER
Where condos are built, stores are soon to follow.
The condo boom in downtown Toronto is fuelling a renaissance in retailing. And that's attracting the attention of some big retail chains more commonly associated with suburban shopping centres.
Canadian Tire and Best Buy both plan to open stores this fall a stone's throw from the Eaton Centre.
Home Depot has long coveted a site in the downtown core and is considering several, including one near Queen St. W. and Portland Ave.
And grocery chain Loblaw Cos. Ltd. has two downtown locations on hold, one in the former Maple Leaf Gardens hockey shrine, the other near Bathurst St. and Lakeshore Blvd.
But while there's no lack of retailers who want a presence downtown, the trick for many of them is finding the right site at the right price, experts said.
"Downtown Toronto is a very successful market — there's a huge number of people living here and a huge number of people working here — if you know how to capture it," said John Archer, a retail consultant with JC Williams Group in Toronto.
Compared to the typical suburban power centre, downtown rents are higher, square footages are smaller and often there's little or no parking space, which can be a problem if you sell things like lumber or 50-inch plasma screen TVs.
Garden tool and hardware retailer Lee Valley Tools has adapted its business model in several ways since opening its first downtown store, on King St. W., near Bathurst St., last April.
A few customers complained about the lack of parking, said Mark Williams, vice-president of retail operations for the small Ottawa-based chain.
But many more were grateful the small 13-store chain had opened a store that was closer than Steeles Ave. or Morningside Dr., he said.
A "surprising" number of customers arrive on bicycles, he said, which prompted the retailer to ask the city to install more bike racks.
As well, the store tends to sell more small hardware items and fewer large gardening tools than its suburban counterparts, he added.
The retailer is also reconsidering its operating hours to accommodate the higher demand for early-evening shopping, he said.
Lee Valley's experience isn't unusual.
The downtown market is different, said Tony Hernandez, director of Ryerson University's centre for the study of commercial activities.
"It's a much more complex market than the suburban mall," Hernandez said.
People tend to live in smaller quarters. There's also a larger commuter population, which tends to shop more on their lunch-hour or right after work.
Best Buy said its new store, on the southeast corner of Bay and Dundas Sts., will offer more delivery services and stock more small items than a typical suburban location.
"We're well aware that with an urban store, you've got some different customers," said company spokesperson Lori DeCou. "You have commuter customers who may be making smaller purchases, or using the store to research purchases they will make on the weekend at their local store.
"They're on a tighter schedule. Maybe they're on their coffee break. So, there are issues around how easy we make it for them to navigate the store and get through the checkout line," she said.
The company plans to open one of its largest stores in the city in the "Ryerson Project" now under construction. The building, which is being co-developed by Eaton Centre owner Cadillac Fairview Corp., will house Ryerson University's new business school, as well as retail and residential units.
Canadian Tire said it's opening an 85,000 square foot store in that location, also one of its largest, as well as a 10,000 square foot Marks Work Wearhouse, this fall.
The push is also coming from the retailers themselves, he said. Many American retailers who came to Canada in the early '90s did what they had done at home and set up shop in the booming suburbs.
Now, some of those markets are saturated while downtown Toronto has witnessed a building boom.
"Unlike a lot of other North American cities, Toronto has a lot of residential development," said Hernandez.