Shocking amount of retail vacancies

[Geyser]

It's clearly a difficult time for marginal businesses. It will be interesting to see how long the new "low end" stores last if the economy picks up. Of course if we get an NDP government they will probably be the only ones with a chance at survival. Let's hope that doesn't happen but right now it doesn't look good.

[thirdlittlepig]

"thirdlittlepig

If Vancouverites are spending more like 80-90% on income on housing, that leaves very little for Whatever they might like to buy.

let's not get dopey TLP...no-one is pending 80-90% on housing.
It's not possible to get a mortgage any more than 32-36% GDS

pre-tax, no?

And that's just mortgage. Housing costs include property taxes, utilities, insurance, etc.

Probably not 80 - 90% but sometimes an exaggeration is good to get a point across.

Vancouver has least affordable housing in Canada
Yes, I did exaggerate somewhat, but not that much if you consider disposable (after tax) income, it's closer to 75% according to RBC (before tax,in spring of 2011). If this was presumably an average, then some people were spending less and some more. So those who are spending more would almost certainly have very little left over after housing, to pay for Everything Else.(which was my point).
Source: (since ETB will no doubt ask for that next)
Home ownership became less affordable during the first quarter, especially in Vancouver where it took nearly three-quarters of family income to pay for mortgages, property taxes and utilities, according to an RBC Economics report.


Read more: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-has-leas ... z20Ki0rux2

Oh, look at that, it's even worse for 2012, 89% and 93% for vancouver:(i knew i read it somewhere);

Vancouver's overall affordability measure reached a stratospheric 88.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012 with qualifying income hitting $155,900, by a wide margin, the highest in Canada. A standard two-story home would suck up 93 percent of a household's income and a bungalow would require 88.9 percent of a household's income. This has to be an unsustainable situation, particularly if interest rates bump up by even one or two percentage points.

[jimtan]

Some good news. The landlords have dropped rents. Vacancies are being filled. Including a large store in Yaletown vacant for over a year.

[Geyser]

Yes, that's good news. CTV also announced that Nordstrom is moving in to the old Sears space at Pacific Centre. I guess they see a future for high end retail in the Downtown core.

True to form, Taipan put his negative spin on things by trumpeting this line which he cut and pasted from his new hero's uberbear forum over at "The Greater Fool".

Today – anecdotal evidence of how business is in D/T Vancouver. The ONLY place I saw that was busy is Sears – going out of business – a new tenant is rumoured to be Target. The rest of the stores in the area are DEAD as Stephen Harper’s eyes.

Hearing about Yaletown and also Nordstrom must really hurt.

[jesse1]

Target

Big city lights! Wow Vancouver has officially arrived. BTW it's pronounced "tar-zhay". Try it out at parties and ooh-la-la the guests.

[Geyser]

More optimistic news about Downtown retail space.

Posted by Vancity Buzz | 4 Comments
We were first to leak the image of what the new Nordstrom will look like after it takes over the ugly white building currently occupied by Sears. The addition of Nordstrom is expected to bring a lot of shoppers to downtown and Pacific Centre (already the 2nd highest grossing mall per square foot in North America and 1st in Canada). It’s now rumoured that Cadillac Fairview intends  to bring in more high end retailers into the mall as part of a new Pacific Centre expansion plan at the corner of Georgia and Howe.

Here is what we know so far:

Sears will shut its doors in October 2012. This will open up 600,000 square of retail space.
Nordstrom construction and renovations to the existing faced will take close to three years to complete. So shoppers don’t expect Nordstrom to come right away.
Nordstrom will occupy around 225,000 square feet.
The bottom floor, currently the electronics and mens department at Sears will be opened up to mall expansion, opening up vital downtown shopping space.
Close 200,000 square of the existing sears building will be leased as office space. Speculation is that Nordstrom will take some of that space and open up a Canadian head office in Vancouver. The rest of the office space will be leased to yet to be named tenants.
Part of the renovation will include a Robson Street entrance to the City Centre Skytrain station.
Luxury expansion of Pacific Centre

Plans for Pacific Centre expansion have been kicking around since 2008. Originally, Victoria’s Secret was to take over the mall expansion at Georgia and Howe. However, those plans changed as the whole Nordstrom and Sears situation played out and subsequently Victoria’s Secret will have a new home, its first in Vancouver at the corner of Robson and Burrard. According to a retail insider, there are now plans for a two level luxury retail expansion next to the Four Seasons. In the mall map below, highlighted in red, is the new rumoured luxury addition to the mall. That corner is already home to Michael Kors and Stuart Weitzman. However, the Hudson’s Bay Company is looking to take Michael Kors away from Pacific Centre, thus possibly opening up even more luxury retail space.

[smazzi]

Just heard the Book Warehouse http://www.bookwarehouse.ca/ is closing all locations as their lease expires. Pretty sad ...

It looks like they're keeping the one on W. Broadway open. Everywhere else is closed.

Regarding the main topic, I'm in the process of opening my own store and I'm having a heck of a time looking for an affordable retail space in Vancouver. Landlords want eg. $40 per sq ft, PLUS another $20 or so per sq ft of additional property cost that they don't want to pay. As a small business, I can't afford $5000/month! So I'll either luck out and find some place reasonably priced, or open my shop elsewhere (outside of Vancouver). At the moment, Vancouver doesn't seem like a small business friendly place

Side rant: What irks me about commercial leasing is the deceptive ads. Why can't they just tell us the size of the property and the total monthly price - like housing rentals? What's with the "price per sq ft" and "triple net" BS?

Feel free to contact me if you know anyone who has commercial space available in Vancity

[jimtan]

It looks like they're keeping the one on W. Broadway open. Everywhere else is closed.

Regarding the main topic, I'm in the process of opening my own store and I'm having a heck of a time looking for an affordable retail space in Vancouver. Landlords want eg. $40 per sq ft, PLUS another $20 or so per sq ft of additional property cost that they don't want to pay. As a small business, I can't afford $5000/month! So I'll either luck out and find some place reasonably priced, or open my shop elsewhere (outside of Vancouver). At the moment, Vancouver doesn't seem like a small business friendly place

Side rant: What irks me about commercial leasing is the deceptive ads. Why can't they just tell us the size of the property and the total monthly price - like housing rentals? What's with the "price per sq ft" and "triple net" BS?

Feel free to contact me if you know anyone who has commercial space available in Vancity

Good luck