Don't fall for Sears "Liquidation" scam

Several years ago when Zellers filed for bankruptcy and began its liquidation sales, the company jacked up prices before slapping 40-70% off tags on its items.  This scam was verified by Brentwood Zellers employees themselves that were made to mark up the price tags before placing "marked down" prices on products.  Consumers are now noticing the same with the Sears "Liquidation" sale.  For example, at the Brentwood location, there are shirts with multiple price tags on them with prices starting at $149 down to $50 on a rack that has  "20%" off sign on it.  A $149 shirt?  Really?  To top it off, the same shirt was tagged at $40 a week earlier.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE BIG LIQUIDATION SCAM.  Do your research before following the crowd like sheep and standing in long lines to throw away your hard-earned money into a well-crafted scam.

1st details of SE corner of Willingdon and Dawson

A basic rendering of Aouyan's proposed development at the southeast corner of Willingdon and Dawson has been published in Urban YVR.(excerpt below).  The site of this project is located Along Dawson Street to the north and along Alaska Street to the south between Willingdon and Alpha Ave.

Preliminary rendering of Aoyuan International’s proposal for Willingdon and Dawson in Burnaby. Credit: Aoyuan International

(from Urban YVR)

Aoyuan International is also proposing a major development of four towers at Willingdon Avenue and Dawson Street, south of The Amazing Brentwood in Burnaby.

Renderings just show the tower massing, but the project is said to contain 1,400 condominium units, 50 townhomes and a mix of commercial and retail. IBI Group — in cooperation with PWL Landscape Architects — are on the Brentwood project.

Brentwood One October 2017

Koby's Produce Town to be replaced by Viet Noodle Guy

Koby's Produce Town has permanently closed likely due to it's inability to compete with nearby Save-On-Foods and Whole Foods.  It also couldn't have helped them that they were very inconsistent stocking non-seasonal foodstuffs that should always be available.

Replacing Koby's is The Viet Noodle Guy opening in Spring 2018.

UNIQLO makes Sears look amateur

I had an opportunity to check out the recently opened UNIQLO in Metrotown.  Not only was the 2 level space efficiently used with a variety of styles, colours and options, it was organized like any decent retailer should be.  Meanwhile, the over-sized and overpriced waste of space called Sears can't get out of the business soon enough with competition like UNIQLO entering the market. Shape Properties should be working day and night to get UNIQLO into Brentwood.

Alaska Street industrial building sold

An industrial building at 4455 Alaska St has been sold for more than double its assessed value. The buyer likely purchased the site with the aim of rezoning it for a high density residential development.

The site of the building is situated 

immediately west of the Willingdon Ave overpass.

East of the overpass (below) along Alaska St are more 

industrial buildings and the  rising Milano tower on Alpha Ave.

Western Investor article below

Burnaby manufacturing site sold for double its assessed value

The industrial site has potential for high-density residential development and sold for $12.8 million

Chris McIntyre Lee & Associates for Western Investor

October 4, 2017

The property is a two-storey warehouse and office space with two leasable units, with 25,760-square-feet of gross leasable area. The industrial building is situated on a 33,195-square-foot lot currently zoned for manufacturing use. However, the lot has potential for high-density residential development upon rezoning. The property sold for more than double it’s assessed value of just over $6 million. 

The property is located at 4455 Alaska St., Burnaby. 

Breakdown: 

Price: $12,800,000 

No. of Units: 2

Lot Size: 33,195 SF

Property Type: Industrial 

Zoning: M-1

2016 B.C. Assessment Value: $6,005,800

City: Burnaby  

Province: B.C. 

Name of Brokerage: Lee & Associates

What will become of vacated Sears space?

With the recent announcement that Sears Brentwood will close down, Shape Properties is tasked with deciding what to do with the massive, 3-level retail space at the east end of Brentwood Mall.  Will the  vacated space be taken over by 3 mid-sized retailers or by 1 large retailer.  Will the old structure be torn down to give them more options on the usage of that space?  What kind(s) of retailer(s) will take up that massive space?

Being as large as it it, the lower level of the site would be ideal for a grocery store such as T&T Supermarket and the middle mall level would be a good fit for a larger chain restaurant like Denny's or Red Robin.  I personally prefer a 24 hour Denny's that would satisfy my late-night craving for a breakfast meal. The upper level might be trickier.  An office or school/educational space might be an option for such a location as it would be well serviced by the Millennium SkyTrain line.  Better yet, a large Uniqlo would be a good fit at that end of the mall.  Until that happens, the Metrotown Uniqlo location will have to suffice.

Sears Brentwood closing down

Sears Canada has announced that its Brentwood location will close down.  Whether this is a blow or a benefit to Shape Properties remains to be seen.

Retail Insider story below

Sears Canada Announces 11 Store Closures

September 30, 2017

Sears Canada has announced that it will close 11 of its stores across the country, as the company continues to fight for survival after filing for bankruptcy this summer. Several of the announced locations are in significant shopping centres, providing opportunities for redevelopment. Of the 11 announced locations, 10 are full-line Sears stores, and one is a Sears Home Store. Leases will be returned to their respective landlords. 

The company announced the store closures in a press release on the evening of Friday, September 29, also noting that the company has also entered into an agreement of purchase and sale relating to its Garden City Shopping Centre location in Winnipeg, and has entered into a lease transfer agreement relating to the small-parcel fulfillment centre in Calgary. As part of the store closures, an additional 1,200 people will lose their jobs. 

The 10 full-line Sears Canada stores announced for closure include the following: 

-Nanaimo North Town Centre, Nanaimo, BC
-Brentwood Town Centre, aka 'The Amazing Brentwood', Burnaby, BC
-Orchard Park Shopping Centre, Kelowna, BC
-CF Polo Park, Winnipeg, MB
-CF Lime Ridge, Hamilton, ON
-Oakville Place, Oakville  ON
-CF Fairview Mall, Toronto, ON
-Scarborough Town Centre, Toronto, ON
-CF Fairview Pointe-Claire, Montreal QC
-Avalon Mall, St. John's, NL

As well, a separate Sears Home Store will also close at Kelowna’s Orchard Park Mall. 

Landlords will need to identify opportunities to fill these locations, at a time when some are still struggling to tenant spaces vacated by Target in 2015 -- Target shuttered all 133 of its Canadian stores when it exited Canada after suffering considerable financial losses. Several of the malls announced above are actually very strong centres, according to Retail Council of Canada’s Shopping Centre Study (the 2017 report will be released in November). The following is a discussion of the malls where Sears is closing, including challenges and opportunities. 

Nanaimo North Town Centre, Nanaimo: The 600,000 square foot mall will lose its only major fashion anchor with this closure. Other anchors include Lowe’s, London Drugs, and a freestanding Canadian Tire store. 

Brentwood Town Centre, Burnaby: Now being overhauled and rebranded as The Amazing Brentwood, it was unclear if Sears would have remained as a tenant here regardless — the centre is being positioned as being more upscale, in partnership with LCatterton group, the private equity firm associated with French luxury conglomerate LVHM. While luxury brands will be added to the expanded centre, landlord SHAPE says that there will be retailers at a variety of price-points. 

Orchard Park Mall, Kelowna: Kelowna’s leading mall will lose one of two fashion anchors — Hudson’s Bay will continue to operate in the centre. Sears operates a fashion store and a separate Sears Home store in the mall, which is also anchored by Sport Chek and Best Buy.