After nearly two years sitting vacant, the largest retail site at Tillicum Shopping Centre will receive $3 million in renovations for a Lowe’s home improvement store slated to open this fall.
Lowe’s applied for the building permit from the District of Saanich on Feb. 17. It was granted last week, said Saanich planning director Sharon Hvozdanski.
The North Carolina-based Lowe’s first announced 11 months ago that it aimed to buy 13 Target Canada leases plus a distribution centre near Toronto for about $151 million.
The first store on Vancouver Island is slated to open late summer in Nanaimo, said Lowe’s Canada spokeswoman Sandy Indig in an email. The 100,000-square-foot store in North Town Centre Mall, which includes 13,000 square feet of adjacent garden centre, is expected to create 125 permanent jobs and an additional five to 10 seasonal positions.
The Tillicum store is expected to create 125 permanent jobs and five to 10 seasonal jobs in 93,000 square feet of retail space on two floors. Lumber, tiles and other heavy construction items will be on the ground floor and items such as paint, electrical and plumbing supplies and home decor will be on the upper floor.
The $3-million construction value was calculated by the project architect, Petroff Partnership Architects of Markham, Ont., Hvozdanski said
“In general, the costs are related to stripping out the old interior and fittings and then kitting it out with their own racking systems,” she said.
The municipality has to ensure the site will be safe for the purposes planned. Once the work is finished, Saanich will inspect it before issuing an occupancy permit, Hvozdanski said.
“I would say it’s positive for the neighbourhood and the retail environment for Saanich and the greater community,” she said. “It’s certainly a substantial anchor retail tenant for that mall and in the region.”
Currently, the only Lowe’s in B.C. operates in New Westminster, with openings soon in Prince George and Abbotsford.
Lowe’s will hold career fairs to facilitate mass hiring for positions such as department managers, cashiers, sales specialists, and receiving clerks. Management teams will be onsite to accept applications and conduct interviews. Those unable to apply in person can go to lowes.ca/careers.
The Victoria career fair is set for July. The Nanaimo career fair is late June. Details will be available at a later date.
“We are looking for passionate people who are ready to help our customers love where they live, and achieve their project goals and dreams,” Fred Pagotto, market director of B.C. stores, said in a statement.
“We’re pleased to see someone is moving into that space,” said Gorge Tillicum Community Association president Rob Wickson. Given that neither Zellers nor Target nor the original Eaton’s on the site did well there, it will be “interesting” to see how Lowe’s makes out, he said. “We hope Lowe’s can do what they didn’t.”
He also said a central Lowe’s will probably bring back some of the home-reno business that goes to the West Shore. Lowe’s usually builds stand-alone big box stores on previously undeveloped land, whereas this time they will rent space, Wickson said. ‘This is a two-storey site which is also problematic because they can’t put any of the [heavy] loads on the second floor,” he said.
“They have some challenges to make this location work, but they seem to be quite excited about trying,” Wickson said, adding that Lowe’s came to the group last summer and has kept the association informed of plans.
“Again, we don’t know what it will look like,” Wickson said.
“It’s always nice to see a company like that move in because you know they’re going to hire people at decent wages, and it’s been empty almost two years now.”
But as an economist, Wickson said he’s a firm supporter of the local economy and trying to find ways to try to keep as much profit here rather than Wall Street. “I do consider carefully where my dollars go,” he stressed, and that doesn’t mean the lowest price is the main consideration.
Canadian Tire is planning to move into 150,000 square feet over two storeys at Hillside Shopping Centre, site of another former Target location. Neither the shopping centre administration nor Canadian Tire head office responded to requests for information. Previous reports had the store opening this spring.
Target closed all of its 133 Canadian stores in 2014 after disastrous sales results.
Lowe’s operates more than 1,800 home-improvement and hardware stores across North America. Competitor Home Depot has 2,200 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Since arriving in Canada in 2007, Lowe’s has opened 40 stores in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C., with 6,000 employees.
