Why investors can’t get enough of grocery-anchored retail

Like many large, mixed-use developments, plans have changed numerous times for a site adjacent to a future SkyTrain transit station in Vancouver. A recent amendment includes consolidating the property’s ground-level retail units into a large-format space for a grocery store – a transformative anchor in today’s multipurpose complexes.

When it came to making room for a supermarket, the developer, Onni Group, came to a decision based on past successes leasing its other Metro Vancouver developments with grocer-anchored plazas. Some of these include the fully leased Suter Brook Village shopping centre in Port Moody, where grocer Thrifty Foods is the largest tenant, as well as two master-planned communities – Ora in Richmond and Gilmore Place in Burnaby – that feature a T&T Supermarket, with the Burnaby one set to open this summer.