Nordstrom closing in Canada. What will fill the big mall vacancies left behind?

Nordstrom's departure from Canada's retail landscape will leave significant holes in shopping malls, and some analysts say landlords will need to get creative to fill the space.

Nordstrom’s departure from Canada’s retail landscape will leave significant holes in shopping malls, and some analysts say landlords will need to get creative to fill the space.

If malls want to find similar tenants to Nordstrom, they might look to department store rivals Hudson’s Bay, Simons or Saks Fifth Avenue, said Tamara Szames, executive director and industry adviser of Canadian retail at the NPD Group research firm.

But with such companies heavily engaged in the apparel business _ the only industry NPD Group tracks that has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic – she thinks it’s more likely that Nordstrom’s landlords will think outside the box to fill the Seattle department store’s spaces.

“Consumers are going back into stores and we’ve seen they’re really looking for an entertainment experience (along with) shopping, so being creative with the leases and rentals of these properties is something that mall owners will have to look at,” she said.

She pointed to pop-ups, food properties and experience-based spaces like the World of Barbie- an interactive, ticketed version of Barbie’s Dreamhouse at the Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, Ont., as potential Nordstrom replacements.

Kate Camenzuli, vice-president of retail at real estate firm CBRE, echoed those sentiments.

“The world is our oyster,” she said. “These (landlords) travel globally, to see everything that’s available, and so it may be something that we haven’t even seen yet in the Canadian market, and that might not be a department store. It may not even be a food hall.”

Nordstrom’s largest Canadian landlord, Cadillac Fairview, has yet to outline specific plans for the departing chain’s spaces, which are often anchor tenants at its malls.