VANCOUVER'S OAKRIDGE WANTS BLOOMINGDALE'S, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE OR NORDSTROM AS ITS 3RD ANCHOR

/ 650 West 41st Avenue, Oakridge Centre, Vancouver, BC V5Y 2X3, Canada/
Floorplan: Henriquez Partners Architects. Red Lettering by Retail-Insider.com


































The landlord for Vancouver's Oakridge Centre is courting high-end American department stores including Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom. We've highlighted part of a report noting this, in a new space estimated to be about 155,000 square feet. 

 The image below is part of page 51 of the 74-page Oakridge Centre Retail Impact Assessment, prepared for the City of Vancouver by Coriolis Consulting Corporation. Oakridge Centre will substantially expand and is seeking the City's permission to add new retail space, including three newly built anchor stores (and an adjacent grocery store).












These three department stores aren't just random examples chosen for the report, according to source Van23H of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum. Oakridge wants one of these stores. We'll do a quick analysis of the three possible anchors: 

 Saks Fifth Avenue at Oakridge Centre: 

 Saks Fifth Avenue will open its first Vancouver store within the current downtown Hudson's Bay store. A second location at Oakridge might seem redundant, given its close proximity to Downtown Vancouver. It should be noted, though, that Oakridge's expansion won't be finished until after 2020 and Saks wants to be in Vancouver by late 2014. Given competition in Downtown Vancouver from Nordstrom and Holt Renfrew, it is possible that Saks could eventually exit Downtown Vancouver's Bay to open a large Oakridge store by 2021. 

 Nordstrom at Oakridge Centre: 

 In our opinion, Nordstrom is the least likely of the three potential department stores to move into Oakridge. Nordstrom's Downtown Vancouver store is simply too close to Oakridge, despite the somewhat differing demographic that shops at Oakridge versus Downtown Vancouver. We're not saying 'no' to Nordstrom at Oakridge, but we'd be surprised if Nordstrom opened two stores within a few minute drive/Skytrain ride from eachother. 

 Bloomingdale's at Oakridge Center: 

 We expect Bloomingdale's to be the front runner for Oakridge, despite the new anchor only being about 155,000 square feet. Bloomingdale's has already been looking at opening in Canada and its new stores are getting smaller. Three new American Bloomingdale's stores will be 120,000-150,000 square feet each, making the 155,000 square foot Oakridge space large enough. 

 See Also: 


Van23H of Vancouver Skycraper Forum tells us that Oakridge's landlord Ivanhoe Cambridge isn't interested in having La Maison Simons as the mall's third anchor. We've gotten word, however, that Simons may have finalized a lease in another Metro Vancouver location. We'll discuss this more in the next couple of weeks. 

 Thank you to 'jlousa' of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum for directing us to Coriolis Consulting's report for the City of Vancouver (.pdf)

 [Oakridge Centre website]