Charles Mandel
Sun
RICHARD LAM/VANCOUVER SUN FILES Vancouver’s high-rent Robson (above) and Toronto’s Bloor ‘a tribute to their strong urban cores.’
Rents for retail space on Toronto and Vancouver‘s priciest shopping streets are tied as the 24th most expensive in the world, according to global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield’s annual survey, Main Streets Across the World 2005.
Toronto‘s Bloor Street and Vancouver‘s Robson Street placed in between shopping areas in No. 25 Sao Paulo, Brazil and No. 23 Helsinki, Finland. This is Vancouver‘s first appearance on the list.
The price commanded by New York retail space topped the list at $13,993 US per square metre annually. Toronto and Vancouver‘s top retail locations came in at $1,752 per square metre. In the Americas, Toronto and Vancouver were ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.
The price of retail space in the two Canadian cities is a tribute to their strong urban cores, according to analysts.
“These are the vibrant downtowns,” said Ken Jones, dean of business at Toronto‘s Ryerson University. “Typically, rent in the better downtowns is higher than in the better malls.”
John Archer, a retail consultant with Toronto-based JC Williams Group, said Robson is able to support the high levels of rent because of the street’s pedestrian traffic and the working population downtown.
In contrast, Bloor draws expensive rents because of the number of flagship retailers along the street. “This is where [a new] Chanel is going to locate, where Louis Vuitton will locate when they come to Canada, and so they’re going to make a presence,” Archer said.
“They’re willing to pay rent for that symbol.”
Although Calgary‘s economy is booming, the western city failed to make the list because the majority of its shopping takes place in malls in the south and northwest of the city.
“Some of these cities have strong downtowns and others have strong suburban shopping outside city centres. Calgary is one of those,” said John Talbot, president and director of Toronto-based Talbot International.
Talbot said Ottawa might be expected to make such a list with all of its wealthy diplomats. But because high-end shopping is centred within the city’s Rideau Centre mall, it doesn’t appear on the list.
The report tracks retail rents in the world’s top 237 shopping locations across 47 countries. The global rankings are rated by taking the most expensive location in each of the ranked countries.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
