Canada’s sixth ranking among countries attracting new retailers back in 2012 no longer stands – this year the country did not have a city place among the top 20 most targeted markets.
“Once the darlings of the retail world, Canadian cities now have to compete more aggressively for retailer expansion dollars,” says a report from CBRE Ltd., a commercial real estate company.
The cities that ranked as the top spots for attracting new retailers were Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Berlin. The U.S. was also another notable absentee.
Retail analyst Doug Stephens told CTVNews.ca that, “The problem is most retailers don’t bring a unique experience. They find themselves slugging it out in this increasingly competitive market and usually defaulting to the things retailers default to most of the time, and that’s price promotion and price cutting.” CJ
