Malls could use residential units to fill Nordstrom gaps: Expert

A retail expert says Canadian mall operators looking to fill spaces left behind after Nordstrom Inc. stores depart this year could cash in on the country’s strong demand for residential housing.

Nordstrom said last week it would shut down its 13 Canadian stores by the end of June as it winds down operations in Canada, nearly a decade after entering the market.

Jane Domenico, senior vice-president of retail at Colliers Real Estate Investment Services, told BNN Bloomberg  that retail landlords have options to fill the department-store sized gaps in their floorplans, given that Nordstrom had stores in “some of the best shopping centres in Canada,” including downtown Toronto’s sprawling Eaton Centre.

One of the options could be to break up the large vacant spaces into smaller shops – and potentially include some residential apartment units as the country struggles to keep up with a housing shortage.