Vancouver has two of Canada’s three most productive malls

CF Pacific Centre is Canada's third most productive mall, ranked by sales per square foot, according to the Retail Council of Canada | Chung Chow

Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre and CF Pacific Centre malls rank No. 2 and No. 3 as the most productive in Canada, according to a new Retail Council of Canada report.

Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre was the most productive in the country with tenants racking up $1,650.85 in sales per square foot, according to the country’s retail advocacy and research organization.

Oakridge ranked No. 2 with $1,537 per square foot while CF Pacific Centre ranked No. 3 with $1523 per square foot in the year ended August 31.

All of the Retail Council’s data came from mall owners, according to the report.

The study also contrasted Canadian malls with American counterparts and found that Canadian malls were generally much more productive even though the top-producing U.S. malls racked up considerably higher sales per square foot.

Overall sales per square foot in Canadian malls averaged $744, which is up from $733 in 2015 and $680 in 2014.

In the U.S., the average mall’s sales per square foot was US$466, or $605.8 given an exchange rate of about US$1.30. That is down from US$474 per square foot in each of the past two years.

One rationale for why Canadian malls overall outperform U.S. ones is that there is significantly less per-capita mall space in Canada.

Another potential rationale for why Canadian malls generate much higher sales per square foot is that products in Canada tend to cost more because of taxes and duties.

Four other B.C. malls ranked in the study’s top 30 malls in the country, ranked by sales per square foot.

They are:

•Metropolis at Metrotown, which ranked No. 8, with $1,035 per square foot;

•CF Richmond Centre, which ranked No. 13, with $928 per square foot;

•Guildford Town Centre, which ranked No. 21, with $844 per square foot; and,

•Coquitlam Centre, which ranked No. 27, with $785 per square foot.





“Despite median household income being lower than other regions of the country, Vancouver boasts a considerable number of tourists as well as luxury retailers in two malls: CF Pacific Centre and Oakridge Shopping Centre,” the report noted.

The 10 most efficient malls in North America are all in the U.S., however.

The report ranked Miami luxury mall Bal Harbour Shops’s US$3,185 per square foot as the most productive in North America.

Many other malls in the U.S. have higher sales per square foot than any Canadian mall when currency rates are factored in.

Some of the most productive of those malls include:

•Los Angeles’ The Grove, with US$2,200 per square foot;

•Boston’s The Mall at Rockington Park, with US$2,170 per square foot; and

•Las Vegas’ Forum Shops at Caesar’s, with US$1,615 per square foot.

To download the report, click here.

gkorstrom@biv.com



@GlenKorstrom

