Nordstrom Canada stores could become residential units

Canadian mall operators looking to fill spaces left by Nordstrom Inc.’s exit of stores this year could cash in, a retail expert said. the country’s high demand for residential housing.

Last week, Nordstrom said it would close 13 of its Canadian stores by the end of June as it winds down its Canadian operations, nearly a decade after entering the market.

Jane Domenico, senior vice president of retail at Colliers Real Estate Investment Services; said BNN Bloomberg that retail owners have an opportunity to fill department store-sized gaps in their plans, given that Nordstrom had stores in “some of the best malls in Canada,” including the Eaton Center in downtown Toronto.

One option would be to subdivide large vacant lots into smaller shops, and potentially include some residential housing as the country struggles to keep up with housing shortages.

“The demand for residential space across Canada has been extremely high, and so many of our retailers and our landlords working together have adopted a retail and residential friendly footprint to develop,” Domenico said in a television interview Monday.

The concept could fit in with a downtown Toronto mall like the Eaton Centre, he said, because retail landlords are “adaptable” and know how to pivot. as the industry undergoes change.

“They’re looking for the long term,” he said. “What’s best today won’t always be their direction. They’re going to look to the future and see what other types of retail or uses make sense for those locations.”

Some Canadian mall owners have already started thinking about adding apartments to their spaces.

at the end of 2021, Michael Turner, president of Oxford Properties Group, told Bloomberg News About the company’s early-stage plans for residential developments in Toronto’s Yorkdale shopping center and downtown Scarborough on the city’s east end.

Construction has also begun on condominiums around Oxford Properties’ Square One shopping center in Mississauga.

With files from Bloomberg News.