Bloor-Yorkville Scene

[vatche]

Yorkville has 3 problems vis-a-vis Yorkdale (maybe more):
1) Yorkdale has a permanent PR, marketing team behind it. The BIA doesn't compare...
2) Yorkdale also has a national leasing team which can curate retailers. Because each building is owned individually the BIA has no say over which tenants, wheras Yorkdale can actively push out tenants if it wants to
3) Yorkville can't compete with overall square feet of Yorkdale. There's an interesting aritcle about the old mac spot - its only 1000 square feet and the owner doesn't want a food retailer (ie Starbucks)... large "european brands" or even the J. Crews of the world want 5,000 square feet plus. The Tory Burch in Yorkdale is almost 3000 square feet.

That being said - its remarkable to think of how Bloor has changed in a decade. I remember the Grand and Toy location where Burberry was... etc...

One of the things Bloor hasn't seen (yet) has been the development of malls to add additional square feet. Chicago has numerous small malls which feed into Michigan Ave. Newbury Street has Copley Place too (for example their Tiffany location is in Copley Place). The game changers will be: 1 Bloor East, the renovation of the old Four Seasons and whatever Oxford does to Cumberland Terrace. We should see over 300,000 square feet of premiere retail added to the district (50,000 Yorkville Plaze, 100,000 at One Bloor East + whatever happens at Cumberland Terrace), this is key to the problem - look at the Top Tier retail that was added where Diesel and Anthropologie is... the demand is there for large format retail - I suspect there's a real shortage of space.

I'm sure that the new 4S is also going to be a game changer. It's gonna push the high end stores more towards that direction. With the new restaurant ur gonna have a lot more traffic. Let's face it should be an awesome place to hang out at.
In Montreal the old ritz that is being renovated just had a Tiffany's move in. Opened just a week ago.

 

[androiduk]

Louis Vuitton slowly coming along

 

[vatche]

R they working on Tiffany's too, or have they not started yet??

 

[ardwold1]

a source has informed me that Strellson will be moving into the corner space at the Park Hyatt at Avenue and Bloor? Weird, no?

 

[vatche]

Y weird??

 

[ACT7]

They recently opened their largest North American showroom (according to the sales rep anyway) at the Bay Queen Street. So not overly wierd I suppose but a reasonably aggressive expansion strategy I would say.

 

[gabe]

a source has informed me that Strellson will be moving into the corner space at the Park Hyatt at Avenue and Bloor? Weird, no?

No not all, there is a lot of clothing stores on Bloor.

 

[androiduk]

^ Last time I checked, rent on that space was $35,000 a month.

 

[vatche]

We keep saying there's no space for new stores and there goes that space with a mid range product. It's good though, keep em coming it'll increase foot traffic, hence visibility. Wonder who's gonna take over the old Tiffany's and LV spots??!!!!!

 

[marsh]

I wish JCrew would open up on Bloor - you'd think Bloor would be good fit for them if they could find the space

 

[prosperegal]

I wish JCrew would open up on Bloor - you'd think Bloor would be good fit for them if they could find the space

They probably will...eventually.

 

[ACT7]

They probably will...eventually.

Maybe the Escada space when they move...?

 

[vatche]

The escada, LV and Tiffany's spaces should ideally go to major labels .

 

[ACT7]

The escada, LV and Tiffany's spaces should ideally go to major labels .

Ideally, yes. Here's hoping.
My prediction, based on nothing, other than rumours with no specific locations, is Dior on the old LV space, Dolce and Gabanna in Escada, and Emporio Armani in Tiffany.

 

[vatche]

We had an emporio Armani, but they closed during the recession. We need a Giorgio Armani...I don't know if d and g would open a store here. They're in a few select cities.