Higher retail and office vacancy rates helped keep foot traffic below pre-pandemic levels in much of downtown Vancouver last year, according to the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA).
It released its State of Downtown 2023 report this morning to give a snapshot on the state of business activity in the approximately 90 blocks of real estate that it oversees.
The DVBIA tracks visitor volume on its four retail corridors: Alberni Street’s luxury-retail corridor; the Granville Entertainment District, Robson Street and West Hastings Street.
“Since November 2021, 22 retail stores have opened and 33 have closed leading to a net loss of eleven,” the DVBIA’s report reads. “Most notably, Nordstrom (Inc. [NYSE:JWN]) announced on March 2 that the company will close all Canadian locations due to poor sales across Canada.”
That stores’s closure is set to leave 230,000 square feet of space vacant at the heart of the downtown core.
“We’ve had significant interest from multiple parties considering leasing all of the space, and a portion of the space,” he said.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to put together a retail offering that the general public will once again be excited about.”
Knoepfel said he expects the space to remain a retail hub, although some non-retailers have contacted him.
He is considering redeveloping the space to accommodate “three to five” retailers, he said.
Getting new tenants in the space will be key to driving a recovery in downtown foot traffic.
The pandemic led to a 71-per-cent drop in monthly visits to the downtown, according to the DVBIA’s report.
In 2022, visits to downtown recovered significantly compared with the previous two years, but they remain down about 14.5 per cent compared with 2019, the DVBIA said.
In 2021, foot traffic downtown was down 36.2 per cent compared with 2019, according to the DVBIA.
Retail and office vacancy likely contributed to less foot traffic in the area.
As of February 2023, downtown storefront vacancy was 13 per cent – up from 12.8 per cent one year earlier, according to the DVBIA.
Other data crunchers are seeing a similar slow recovery in office occupancy.
SAP SE (NYSE:SAP), Kabam and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) are some of the companies subleasing space.
Job cuts at Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN) have led to speculation that it may not fully occupy the 1,050,000 square feet that it is pre-leasing at the soon to be complete two-tower Post building in the city block bounded by West Georgia, Hamilton, Dunsmuir and Homer streets.
The DVBIA noted that one bright spot was that food and beverage businesses have recovered better than other downtown storefront businesses.
Restaurants were the first businesses to be required to limit operations, when indoor dining was banned in mid-March 2020.
“As pandemic restrictions ended, they were also the first businesses to return,” the DVBIA’s report notes. “Since November 2021, 34 food and beverage establishments have opened downtown and 22 have closed, leading to a net gain of 12 businesses. Quick-service dining restaurants, defined as restaurants where customers order at a counter, saw the most openings.”
The DVBIA also noted in its report that downtown Vancouver hotel occupancy increased in 2022 to be 72 per cent of 2019’s pre-pandemic level. That compares with those hotels being at only 40 per cent of 2019’s level in 2021.
TORONTO – Cineplex Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year ago as it was hit by a fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed by the Competition Tribunal.
The movie theatre company says it lost $24.7 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $29.7 million or 40 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The results in the most recent quarter included a $39.2-million provision related to the Competition Tribunal decision, which Cineplex is appealing.
The Competition Bureau accused the company of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they purchased seats online, a view the company has rejected.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $395.6 million, down from $414.5 million in the same quarter last year, while theatre attendance totalled 13.3 million for the quarter compared with nearly 15.7 million a year earlier.
Box office revenue per patron in the quarter climbed to $13.19 compared with $12 in the same quarter last year, while concession revenue per patron amounted to $9.85, up from $8.44 a year ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
