US retailers looking at Canada for expansion
U.S. retailers are beginning to look at Canada as a viable location for expansion. However, space might be an issue. Canadian news sources are reporting that Bloomingdale's could possibly be in negotiations with Hudson’s Bay Co., a Toronto-based firm that currently owns Lord & Taylor, as well as the popular Canadian department store Zellers.
According to the Globe and Mail, if Bloomingdale's does expand into Canada, it will not be a stand-alone store. Instead, the major U.S. retailer will be located within select Bay locations.
"The Bay now has to protect itself because they've got a strong competitor on the lower end with Target, so they might as well get in on the upper edge with Bloomingdale's," said Don Gregor, Aurora Realty Consultant’s national vice president, in an interview with Globe And Mail.
This could be a winning move for Bloomingdale's. Rental space for a stand-alone store ranged from $30 to $120 per square foot in 2010 and has seen a 6 percent increase over the last two years, according to Cushman & Wakefield research.
“Even though there is a lot of retail development under way, in most Canadian markets there is very low vacancy and there has been an increase in lease rates,” said James Smerdon, director of retail and consulting with Colliers, a Vancouver-based firm, told Global Edmonton.
In the event that U.S. retailers do expand their operations to Canada, they might benefit from retail solutions, such as the POS software offered by Retail Pro.
