Cherry Lane losing three stores

[onestop67]

And you wonder why I meet my tax clients in the library parking lot...

[Static]

I walked through there this morning. What a sad place. But, at least developers are building more commercial properties.

[twobits]

I walked through there this morning. What a sad place. But, at least developers are building more commercial properties.

I was thru there on Friday as well. Not being a retail shopper type of person (my other half thankfully covers that), I was shocked at how dead it was and all the vacant stores. It was reminiscent of the old Peach Tree Mall. When car dealerships start to display vehicles in what should be a retail store to give the illusion of occupancy, you know there are some serious problems with the retail sector. Despite some serious anchors in The Bay, Save On, and London Drugs, for the first time ever I have some serious concerns about Cherry Lane's viability. That commercial model may very well be dead for a market area of the South Okanagan when one considers the real estate footprint it occupies and possible alternate uses.
The anchor tenants have discounted triple net rates that barely cover costs. They are there to create the foot traffic for the margins that are in the rest of the high dollar retail space. When that is gone, rents are negotiated down and the whole business model collapses and becomes nothing more than a real estate play for best ROI. Likely residential towers with a commercial fronting on Main Street.