b"The City of Winnipeg has formed a committee to decide the next phase of the iconic Hudson's Bay location downtown.RETHINKING RETAIL SPACESA new life for department stores and standalone outletsBy Matthew BradfordThe tides are turning for brick-and- August 2020 report at retail-insider.com.its definitely going to be moving up a mortar retail. The steady rise of onlineOthers are restructuring. I was told thatlot faster as we go through the next year, shopping combined with pandemicmost retailers in this country have takentwo years.restrictions has rendered a growingon a bit of restructuring in some form.NEW LIFE FOR OLD SPACESnumber of commercial propertiesIt doesnt mean that theyve necessarilyAs department stores and standalone redundant or difficult to keep afloat.filed, but theyre certainly looking at retail outlets go dark, the question As retailers respond by downsizing ortheir operations. among their municipalities is: what abandoning their physical locations,Smaller retailers are also feeling thecomes next? For many municipal municipalities are left with the challengepinch. A January 2021 study by theplanners, the answer is to find unique of finding new uses for these Canadian Federation of Independentand creative ways to make them abandoned spaces. Business says that one in six smallvaluable to their communities. The downfall of physical retail spacesbusiness owners are seriously is not breaking news. Brick-and-mortarconsidering closing their doors,Considerations for abandoned retail activity has been on a slow declinewhile one in five businesses will likelylocations are being made throughout for decades, but recent pandemicdisappear by the end of the pandemic.Winnipeg. With Sears gone from shopping restrictions have acceleratedGovernment relief programs haveCF Polo Park, for example, property the shift to online transactions. Theprovided some relief to businessesowner Cadillac Fairview is working with impact can be seen in abandonedand landlords. Still, with many ofBird Construction and Number TEN locations throughout Canada's malls andthose programs running outor notArchitectural Group to redevelop the shopping districts. The past year alonesubstantial enough to keep somearea with office space and additional has seen long-time players like Bedretailers afloatit is likely that retailersretail opportunities, including a 43,000-Bath & Beyond, Starbucks, Le Chateau,will either look for smaller spaces orsq.-ft. flagship EQ3 store in the former La Senza, Reitmans, The Gap and othermove out of brick-and-mortar entirely. Sears space. The project is slated for recognizable brands initiate shutdownsAs more people adopt the e-commercecompletion in summer 2021.or all-out creditor protection in online avenue then you dont need asThis redevelopment represents an recent years. large of a store to have all the inventoryincredible opportunity to increase Now were seeing a fairly substantialyou once needed to have in the store,density at the premier shopping district number of bankruptcy filings. Thatsaid Roelof van Dijk, Director of Marketin Winnipeg, especially at a time when doesnt necessarily mean that theAnalytics, Canada at CoStar Group, in acities across Canada will be looking for retailers will be going away, but somerecent interview with Retail Insider. Foropportunities to spark economic activity will, stated Craig Patterson, Editor-in- example, he added, Vacancy is movingas we plan for long-term recovery from Chief and Founder of Retail Insider, in anup. It was moving up prior to COVID, butthe pandemic, Cadillac Fairview states.30 BUILD MANITOBAwinnipegconstruction.ca"