Construction workers are starting to prepare the former Target space at Hillside Centre for a new Canadian Tire store expected to open in the spring.
Meanwhile, retail watchers said a new Lowe’s home improvement store will open in the first half of 2016 at Tillicum Centre, the other local location which once had a Target store.
U.S.-based Target opened 133 stores across Canada starting in 2013 and closed them all last spring in the wake of massive financial losses.
The Target at Hillside Centre filled 150,000 square feet on two levels.
Canadian Tire announced in May that it was taking over 12 retail leases that Target had held.
“We are certainly excited about the addition of Canadian Tire to our already strong merchant and merchandise mix at Hillside,” Tony Segaric, spokesman for Bentall Kennedy Canada, said Wednesday.
“Their merchandise offering and selection, particularly in the hard goods, homeware and sporting goods will compliment very well.”
The 589,000-square-foot Hillside Centre is managed by Bentall Kennedy Canada and owned by Hillside Centre Holdings Inc.
Although the Canadian Tire’s opening date has not yet been confirmed, it is expected to be in March or April, Segaric said.
Canadian Tire is also moving into another Bentall Kennedy managed property in the Driftwood Mall Courtenay, as well as into the Village Green centre in Vernon and the Tamarack centre in Cranbrook.
Details were not available from Canadian Tire on Wednesday. The company said earlier that moving into former Target sites would create a more cost-effective retail store network, lead to increased sales and market share, and provide room to display more merchandise.
A Lowe’s official did not comment on Wednesday, but the North Carolina-based firm has confirmed it will open in the 122,000 square feet of available space in the Tillicum Centre.
