Shopping centres have evolved well beyond being places to shop to become community hubs where people also come to dine, access services, work out, socialize and be entertained — all in one visit.

Montreal-based Leyad, the privately owned real estate investment and development firm that’s been aggressively acquiring and repositioning shopping centres across Canada over the past few years, is a big proponent of this transformation.

“Consumers are being more intentional with their time,” Leyad chief executive officer Henry Zavriyev wrote in an email interview with RENX. 

“If they're going to leave home rather than shop online, they expect an experience that can't be replicated on a screen. That’s driving landlords to curate a broader mix of tenants that encourages people to stay longer and visit more frequently.”

Growing importance of experiential uses

Experiential uses have become increasingly important components of successful shopping centres, particularly when redeveloping former department store space or other large-format vacancies, to complement more traditional retail.

“A well-designed entertainment offering can increase dwell time, broaden a centre's appeal and help create a destination that people choose to visit, rather than simply a place to run errands,” Zavriyev said.

Leyad is seeing strong demand across a wide range of concepts, including family entertainment centres, pickleball, bowling, arcades, golf simulators, virtual reality attractions, fitness facilities and children's play zones. Food halls, premium restaurants and event spaces are also becoming increasingly important.

“These transformations are a true partnership between the landlord and the tenant,” wrote Zavriyev. “We will redevelop the entire base building and deliver the space to the tenant's operational requirements, while the tenant invests in their equipment, fixtures and interior finishes.”

St. Catharines' Niagara Pen Centre

Two Leyad-owned shopping centres are good examples of what the company is doing on this front to provide experiences and entertainment for patrons.

Kingpin St. Catharines at the more than one-million-square-foot Niagara Pen Centre in St. Catharines, Ont. opened several months ago. It offers bowling, mini golf, arcade games, food and drinks and has significantly outperformed initial expectations, generating record customer traffic and sales while quickly becoming one of the centre's leading entertainment destinations.

Construction is well underway for Fairgrounds, an indoor pickleball operator, with its 31,000-square-foot facility expected to open in the coming months.

Adjacent to Kingpin, work is expected to begin shortly for Funvilla, a family entertainment company that operates indoor playgrounds offering trampolines, ninja courses, wall climbing, arcade games and birthday parties across Ontario. It will occupy 16,200 square feet.

Leyad is also finalizing agreements with several additional national retailers, which will be announced at a later date, for the mall.

Edmonton’s Londonderry Mall

Leyad has completed a lease with Fun 4 All, an Alberta-based family entertainment operator, at Edmonton’s almost 800,000-square-foot Londonderry Mall. Fun 4 All’s second location will provide play structures, arcade games, trampolines, food and drinks in its 40,000 square feet and should benefit from having a high school across the street.

Construction is also nearing completion on Laser City, an 18,000-square-foot indoor family entertainment venue that offers laser tag, mini paintball, virtual reality escape rooms and event hosting for birthday parties, corporate team-building, youth groups and sports teams.

“As we continue to redevelop large boxes in our portfolio, we plan to incorporate additional entertainment concepts in markets where they complement the existing tenant mix and address the needs of the surrounding community,” wrote Zavriyev.

Londonderry Mall was also where Leyad secured the country's first Zellers location to occupy former Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) space after Canada's oldest retailer went bankrupt last year. It became the first landlord in Canada to successfully backfill an HBC location with the revived Zellers retail brand.

More traditional retail leasing

Leyad, which owns more than 12 million square feet of real estate and employs approximately 500 people nationwide, continues to be active with more traditional retail leasing as it repositions other shopping centres.

This includes a long-term lease with Loblaw Companies Limited for a new No Frills supermarket at the more than 370,000-square-foot St. Albert Centre in St. Albert, Alta. Construction of the store is underway.

Following the closing of Peavey Mart, Leyad quickly secured a replacement tenant at the 132,190-square-foot Kindersley Centre in Kindersley, Sask. by signing a lease with Mark's to ensure the space remained productive with minimal downtime. Construction is nearing completion, with the retailer expected to open in the coming months.

"Successful retail real estate today requires vision, speed and execution," concluded Zavriyev. "Our team has consistently demonstrated an ability to identify opportunities, move decisively and create destinations that outperform. 

“We're excited about what's ahead, and this is only the beginning of what we're building across our national platform."