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From: www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs...9048863851
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Giant malls lead in sales, draw shoppers from afar
Apr. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM
DAVID BRUSER
BUSINESS REPORTER
It's big-box central around Highways 400 and 7, with about as much square-footage of retail space as Yorkdale, the Eaton Centre and Square One malls all rolled into one neighbourhood.
Brimming with strip-malls and power centres, the Woodbridge section of Vaughan is the top retail area in the country, leading a list of 20 hotspots compiled by researchers at Ryerson University.
In fact, the majority of the top 20 are suburban, confirming the trend evident throughout the Greater Toronto Area, where once-sleepy towns like Milton are new homes to big-box retail.
Meanwhile, in parts of Durham Region, politicians and the public are staking their positions as big-box developers come calling with the promise of jobs, tax dollars and, some fear, the death of Main Street.
The 2002 data show that a cluster including three power centres — shopping venues anchored by three or more major box stores — and 13 shopping centres near Highways 400 and 7 in Woodbridge reported total sales revenue 8.4 times higher than the national average. "The retail landscape has been suburbanized over the last few decades," said Tony Hernandez, director of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson. "It's very much going hand-in-hand with new residential subdivision growth. Around Vaughan or Markham, where you have the 1,500 square foot lot, at the (nearby) major intersections, you'll have some retail and more often than not that format is big-box."
The study culled sales information found in tax records from stores in areas defined by postal code. Each area has on average 7,000 residents, though some downtown core neighbourhoods have a much higher concentration, Hernandez said.
But the origin of the purchasing power driving Woodbridge's performance is not measured the same way. Shoppers don't always stay close to home. Woodbridge's high shows shoppers, regardless of address, take their cash to the suburbs.
"The Highway 7 and 400 area, that has around three million square feet of big box retail. So that's the equivalent of three super-regional shopping centres," each with one million or more square feet of retail, such as Yorkdale or the Eaton Centre, Hernandez said. "It would be the equivalent of putting three of these super-regionals at that one intersection."
In Scugog Township, where developers want to build a major department store near the town of Port Perry, Mayor Marilyn Pearce is not sure whether she aspires to a top-20 ranking.
"Maybe we would be unique if we said no to big-box completely. I don't know that we can do that," she said. "No matter what study has been done on big-box stores, it always comes out 50 per cent of the community wants it, 50 per cent doesn't.
But in the Municipality of Clarington, where a major big-box development is facing opposition from small business owners and others, Mayor John Mutton said he wouldn't mind a place on the list.
That's "because you're not only capturing retail sales within your own community but you're also more of a draw or an anchor for other communities," he said. "Who wouldn't like to have Vaughan Mills mall in your community? As long as you provide the right type of protection for your downtown. Mind you, I don't want to see power centres pop up all over."
Mega-mall Vaughan Mills opened in late 2004, so sales from its stores are not included in the 2002 study.
"You can just imagine what kind of sales numbers you'd be getting now. Probably within a one-mile area, you've got approaching five million square feet of retail," Hernandez said. "It's a pretty dominant retail cluster."
The GTA accounted for seven of the top 20 shopping concentrations in Canada, including Markham/Unionville, and the areas that include Yorkdale, Scarborough Town Centre and the Eaton Centre.
Frank Miele, Vaughan's commissioner for economic and technology development, said the ranking reflects his city's effort to give locals and tourists a reason to shop north of Toronto.
"Vaughan has the highest per family income in Ontario. There is a pretty affluent community," he said. "The power centres are an important component of a community's lifestyle. People have to shop somewhere. We want them to shop locally."
Toronto's central business district, which includes the Yonge St. corridor and the Eaton Centre, ranked ninth on the list of 20, up from 12th the year before. In 2001, Woodbridge ranked 14th.
But a ranking of the top 20 Canadian fashion retail areas shows the downtown core in Toronto and Montreal are in the top five. The study says that underscores the importance of business employees and tourists to the fashion market.
____________
Giant malls lead in sales, draw shoppers from afar
Apr. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM
DAVID BRUSER
BUSINESS REPORTER
It's big-box central around Highways 400 and 7, with about as much square-footage of retail space as Yorkdale, the Eaton Centre and Square One malls all rolled into one neighbourhood.
Brimming with strip-malls and power centres, the Woodbridge section of Vaughan is the top retail area in the country, leading a list of 20 hotspots compiled by researchers at Ryerson University.
In fact, the majority of the top 20 are suburban, confirming the trend evident throughout the Greater Toronto Area, where once-sleepy towns like Milton are new homes to big-box retail.
Meanwhile, in parts of Durham Region, politicians and the public are staking their positions as big-box developers come calling with the promise of jobs, tax dollars and, some fear, the death of Main Street.
The 2002 data show that a cluster including three power centres — shopping venues anchored by three or more major box stores — and 13 shopping centres near Highways 400 and 7 in Woodbridge reported total sales revenue 8.4 times higher than the national average. "The retail landscape has been suburbanized over the last few decades," said Tony Hernandez, director of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson. "It's very much going hand-in-hand with new residential subdivision growth. Around Vaughan or Markham, where you have the 1,500 square foot lot, at the (nearby) major intersections, you'll have some retail and more often than not that format is big-box."
The study culled sales information found in tax records from stores in areas defined by postal code. Each area has on average 7,000 residents, though some downtown core neighbourhoods have a much higher concentration, Hernandez said.
But the origin of the purchasing power driving Woodbridge's performance is not measured the same way. Shoppers don't always stay close to home. Woodbridge's high shows shoppers, regardless of address, take their cash to the suburbs.
"The Highway 7 and 400 area, that has around three million square feet of big box retail. So that's the equivalent of three super-regional shopping centres," each with one million or more square feet of retail, such as Yorkdale or the Eaton Centre, Hernandez said. "It would be the equivalent of putting three of these super-regionals at that one intersection."
In Scugog Township, where developers want to build a major department store near the town of Port Perry, Mayor Marilyn Pearce is not sure whether she aspires to a top-20 ranking.
"Maybe we would be unique if we said no to big-box completely. I don't know that we can do that," she said. "No matter what study has been done on big-box stores, it always comes out 50 per cent of the community wants it, 50 per cent doesn't.
But in the Municipality of Clarington, where a major big-box development is facing opposition from small business owners and others, Mayor John Mutton said he wouldn't mind a place on the list.
That's "because you're not only capturing retail sales within your own community but you're also more of a draw or an anchor for other communities," he said. "Who wouldn't like to have Vaughan Mills mall in your community? As long as you provide the right type of protection for your downtown. Mind you, I don't want to see power centres pop up all over."
Mega-mall Vaughan Mills opened in late 2004, so sales from its stores are not included in the 2002 study.
"You can just imagine what kind of sales numbers you'd be getting now. Probably within a one-mile area, you've got approaching five million square feet of retail," Hernandez said. "It's a pretty dominant retail cluster."
The GTA accounted for seven of the top 20 shopping concentrations in Canada, including Markham/Unionville, and the areas that include Yorkdale, Scarborough Town Centre and the Eaton Centre.
Frank Miele, Vaughan's commissioner for economic and technology development, said the ranking reflects his city's effort to give locals and tourists a reason to shop north of Toronto.
"Vaughan has the highest per family income in Ontario. There is a pretty affluent community," he said. "The power centres are an important component of a community's lifestyle. People have to shop somewhere. We want them to shop locally."
Toronto's central business district, which includes the Yonge St. corridor and the Eaton Centre, ranked ninth on the list of 20, up from 12th the year before. In 2001, Woodbridge ranked 14th.
But a ranking of the top 20 Canadian fashion retail areas shows the downtown core in Toronto and Montreal are in the top five. The study says that underscores the importance of business employees and tourists to the fashion market.
