A new international competitor is about to enter the Canadian discount retail market, with the announcement Monday that Panda Mart has leased a vacant 120,000-square-foot big box store along Toronto’s Golden Mile.

Panda Mart is a South African-based retail chain which, according to broker Avison Young, operates 40 stores across 12 countries including other African nations, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and now Canada.

The Toronto store at 768 Warden Ave., just south of Eglinton Avenue, is to open Friday, Sept. 26, Avison Young states in its release.

“This Toronto store provides a key entry for Panda Mart into the Canadian market, and Avison Young was honoured to help select this location that will attract customers and remain highly visible for years to come,” Semmi Liu, who was the advisor and agent for Panda Mart in securing the lease, said.

RENX has reached out to Panda Mart for additional details but a spokesperson for the company could not immediately be reached.

No information has been released about the potential format for the Panda Mart store, nor the products it might offer. The company’s existing stores offer a range of electronics, home and consumer goods according to Panda Mart’s website.

The Warden Avenue retail property

The Warden Avenue location offers a number of features which made it “highly desirable” according to the Avison Young release, including its accessibility to public transit, the nearby Don Valley Parkway and Highway 401, and “ample” on-site parking for shoppers. 

“This is a thriving, busy mixed-use neighbourhood full of shopping, dining, and residential – making it an ideal spot for Panda Mart to call home,” the release states.

The building sits on a 9.62-acre property and has 18 to 22-foot ceilings. The former retail building centre location also has truck-level loading doors and exterior areas which accommodated a lumber yard and garden centre.

It’s at the edge of an extensive industrial and commercial district on one side, and the retail Golden Mile along Eglinton Avenue, on the other. Among its neighbours are the Eglinton Corners, Riocan Warden, Riocan Scarborough Centre, Eglinton Square, Eglinton Town Centre, the Golden Mile Plaza and SmartCentres Eglinton East retail sites.

Ongoing change and strength in retail sector

Canada’s retail landscape has undergone a series of high-profile department store failures in recent years - from Eatons to Zellers to Target to Sears and finally to Hudson’s Bay Company earlier this year.

This has led to significant turnover in many big box store locations, and many have been repurposed, demised or leased for other uses. In the wake of the most recent bankruptcy of Hudson’s Bay, however, the Zellers brand is to return with a store in Edmonton - which is now reportedly to open in October - and Panda Mart will become the second new chain to open a large-scale department-type store in Canada.

“With Panda Mart’s exciting new entry, and Zellers’ re-entry into the Canadian market, we are certainly viewing this as strong response to Canadian shoppers’ appetite for discount department stores," Liu told RENX in an email exchange. "We are in a landscape where shoppers expect choice, quality, and deals - and Panda Mart will bring a competitive, new retail experience to Toronto.”

One big question remains, however: are the Zellers and Panda Mart openings one-off events, or do their owners plan significant growth in the country?

Questions and upheaval aside, retail leasing and transaction activity overall in the Greater Toronto Area has been “booming,” according to Avison Young’s latest stats.

“In Q2, investment volume increased by 73 per cent quarter-over-quarter and 60 per cent year-over-year, as retail continues to demonstrate itself as an attractive, necessity-based asset in turbulent times,” it states.