The longtime Winners store in downtown Vancouver will be relocating to a larger space about one-and-a-half north of its current location.
Through multiple sources, Daily Hive Urbanized can confirm that Winners will take over the former Steve Nash Fitness World space at 660 Granville Street, which is within The Hudson building — immediately north of the Granville Street entrance into SkyTrain Granville Station and the Hudson’s Bay department store building, and just across the street from H&M’s street entrance.
The new Winners location will be within the second and third levels of The Hudson, which is a 32-storey mixed-use condominium and retail building.
It will take over roughly 40,000 sq ft of space previously occupied by Fitness World’s flagship fitness gym location, which closed in 2022.
The new Winners utilizes a ground-level retail space for its main entrance and bank of up and down escalators and the elevator to reach the store in the upper levels. Escalators have also been built to link the second and third levels.
This new location is larger than Winners’ existing location at 798 Granville Street (at the northeast corner of the intersection of Granville and Robson Street), where the retailer has had roughly 30,000 sq ft of space on the third level of the building for the past two decades — just above the second level’s Best Buy.
The walking distance between the existing Winners location at 798 Granville Street (left) and the future new Winners location at The Hudson at 660 Granville Street (right). (Google Maps)
Construction progress on the future Winners as of April 10, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Construction progress on the future Winners as of April 10, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Construction progress of the new two-storey retail space at the former Fitness World location at The Hudson at 610 Granville Street, Vancouver, as of March 14, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Significant construction has occurred to date on the new space, but there is still more work to be done ahead of its anticipated opening in late spring or early summer. A partial occupancy permit for the retail shell space was obtained last week.
In response to a Daily Hive Urbanized inquiry, a spokesperson for Winners did not confirm nor deny the specified location but said they have not made any formal public store change announcements at this time and that the company’s practice is “not to announce store openings until closer to an intended opening date.”
Bonnis Properties owns both the 2006-built The Hudson at 610 Granville Street and the 2002-built Best Buy/Winners building at 798 Granville Street. The developer recently listed 798 Granville Street for sale as part of its wider strategy of disposing of select longtime assets, including several along and near the Granville strip, to free up capital for their future multi-family residential projects elsewhere in the city.
“A lot of the tenants at 798 Granville Street have renewed their leases. It’s quite amazing, and quite a testament to the success of that particular block on Robson and Granville streets that several tenants now are going into their third decade of tenancy. Many of these businesses are renewing their leases for the long term,” Kerry Bonnis, whose family owns and operates Bonnis Properties, told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview last week.
“And with the expected change that’s going to happen at the [former space of] Nordstrom, a lot of them are quite eager to see increased growth in the coming years.”
Winners at 798 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Winners at 798 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
The former Nordstrom space adjacent to 798 Granville Street spans 230,000 sq ft of prime retail space over three levels of the CF Pacific Centre shopping mall.
Daily Hive Urbanized recently reached out to Cadillac Fairview for more information on the future tenants of the former Nordstrom space. The mall owner indicated they do not have any updates to share at this time.
With that said, there are currently some changeovers at 798 Granville Street, including a vacant unit previously occupied by an eyewear store and the closure of skater clothing and shoe retailer VANS by the end of this week.
It also remains to be seen what will replace 798 Granville Street’s large third level space currently occupied by Winners.
A recent leasing brochure by commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap for a nearby retail unit on the 800 block of Granville Street provided an optimistic outlook for the area by noting that a national brand operated by TJX Companies will soon be opening a 35,000 sq ft flagship store in an unspecified nearby area.
TJX’s brands within Canada entail Marshalls, Winners, and HomeSense, and they have been steadily expanding the number of locations of all three brands in recent years.
Marshalls and Winners are both off-price discount stores offering brand-name clothing, apparel, and home goods. There is also already a HomeSense location nearby on the second level of 493 Robson Street, directly above the IGA grocery store.
Winners at 798 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
In an earnings call earlier in 2024, TJX reported a very strong financial performance for its 2023/2024 fiscal year, which will bolster its forthcoming expansion plans, which include “opening new stores, remodels and relocations as well as investments in our distribution network and infrastructure to support our growth.” For the 2024/2025 fiscal year, they expect to spend up to US$2 billion for about 140 new additional stores, bringing the total number of stores to 5,100 worldwide, including 10 additional stores within Canada.
Currently, there is just one Marshalls location in Vancouver at 8137 Ontario Street (on Southwest Marine Drive), with the other locations in Metro Vancouver being at Central at Garden City in Richmond City Centre, Tsawwassen Mills, and Langley Centre.
There are three Winners locations within Vancouver: downtown Vancouver, The Rise at 491 West 8th Avenue (near Cambie Street and West Broadway), and Marine Gateway. Other nearby locations include Park Royal, Brentwood Town Centre, Metropolis at Metrotown Mall, Richmond Centre, and Park & Tilford Gardens.
Off-price/discount retailers have flourished and expanded in recent years due in part to challenging economic conditions, such as the continued expansions of Dollarama and various S0beys and Loblaws’ discount grocery store brands.