*terra 20, pinecrest mall. image: terra 20*

By Mario Toneguzzi

The Pinecrest Shopping Centre, in suburban Ottawa, has leased a 78,000-square-foot space, formerly occupied by Sears, to a home furniture brand based in Quebec.

Alanna Cantkier, National Director, Retail Leasing, Real Estate Management Services, and Lee Lacombe, Sales Representative, for Colliers International, led the leasing strategy. Cantkier told Retail Insider that the new tenant is well-known Maison Corbeil, which will be opening its first store in Ottawa.

”The retailer has other retail stores in Montreal, Laval, Brossard, and Toronto with a warehouse store as well in Laval and two Distribution Centres (pick-up) in Laval and Quebec City.

*maison corbeil, laval. photo: yellopages*

The Pinecrest Shopping Centre is anchored by furniture store giant IKEA. Colliers manages and leases the property on behalf of IKEA which owns it.

By January 2018 all Sears Canada stores were closed in the country.

Pinecrest Shopping Centre has total space of 600,000 square feet. The IKEA store itself is 429,500 square feet. Other major retailers include Linen Chest, Michaels, terra20, Milestones, and Scotiabank.

“We’re also working on finalizing another deal on the site for a restaurant space that has been vacant for the last number of years,” said Cantkier.

Maison Corbeil was founded in 1973 by Colette Corbeil and her husband Raymond.

*click for interactive map of pinecrest mall*

“For more than 45 years, we have been lifestyle creators, serving our customers with our expertise and vision rich in character and elegance. With our unique approach, we offer a cutting-edge selection of furniture by local and international designers, as well as accessories that capture the current trends. Our goal is to join you in creating timeless and inviting settings that reflect who you are,” says the company on its website.

“At Maison Corbeil, we believe that design is within everyone’s reach, making it accessible without compromise. Our visionary spirit and commitment to current design is all thanks to Colette Corbeil, who founded Maison Corbeil in 1973 alongside her husband, Raymond. An avant-garde woman, she is the inspiration behind the countercurrent personality and pioneering spirit that sets us apart. Today, Colette’s sons Éric and Stéphane Corbeil join her in bestowing the company’s precious heritage to the family’s third and youngest generation. Thanks to the family’s know-how and intuition, the company continues to ensure a supply of sought-after, accessible design.”

Cantkier describes the Ottawa retail market these days as being “fairly robust.”

“It depends where we’re talking about. Because of this area’s access to the highway (the Queensway), there was a lot of demand for the Sears space and we had to turn down a number of different offers. We finally made a recommendation to the landlord based on what we believed was the strongest option for the site,” she said.

“Some of the different offers on the table were for different retail concepts, which we’ve noticed are entertaining former Sears spaces due to their expansive size, but we felt this retailer was best for the space, the site, and the consumer market.”

“Despite big-box retailers like Target, HomeOutfitters, and Sears not-so-quietly exiting the market in recent years, their former spaces are being targeted by a lot of the newcomers entering the market and see the potential. The current retail climate is not all doom and gloom.”

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.

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