The Walmart signs are up at Hillside shopping centre as the retail giant prepares for a potential opening this spring.
The space that formerly housed a Sears store has been under construction for nearly two years, as Walmart prepares to open its third location in the region.
Walmart Canada did not immediately return calls about when the doors will officially open, but a November report in Retail Insider, an online retail-industry publication, said management at Hillside shopping centre was expecting a May opening.
Hillside management could not be reached to confirm the timeline.
Hillside will also be adding a 15,000-square-foot Dollarama store in the spring.
Some plumbing and electrical work continues inside the two-floor Walmart store, and shelving and other finishing materials are now on the site along North Dairy Road.
Walmart had anticipated an opening late last year, but the date was pushed forward.
Walmart Canada leased the 150,000-square-foot space in 2019, following the collapse of Sears Canada in early 2018. Sears had been part of the shopping centre on the Victoria-Saanich border since it opened in 1969.
The Hillside Walmart will be larger than Langford’s store, but the Uptown Walmart will remain Walmart’s largest in the region at 216,000 square feet. That location is also considered one of Walmart’s top-performing stores in Canada, according to Retail Insider.
Other anchor tenants at Hillside include Thrifty Foods, Canadian Tire and Marshalls. The property is owned by the BentallGreenOak Prime Canadian Property Fund, based in Vancouver.
