Shirley Lau

Regional and super-regional shopping centres are the product of hundreds of million dollars of investment in Canada. Due to the limited availability of commercial real estate and the maturation of the large shopping centre format, developers have had to focus on revamping their existing malls in order to retain their current market share and boost overall profits, especially in the face of the new retail trends that are constantly emerging. This study provides insight into how 40 Canadian regional and super-regional shopping centres have evolved from 1996 to 2013, and why they may have done so. Major themes explored include changes to the store sizes, tenant mix, expansions and renovations, and the use of anchor space. The results of this investigation found that shopping centres are beginning to move away from traditional department store anchors and towards a collection of mini – often fashion-oriented – anchors, and that the average store size is continuing to grow, despite the speculation that e-commerce would decrease the demand for physical space.