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Saks Off Fifth opening ramps up Winnipeg retail

The 32,000-square-foot location signifies a turn of the tides for the city's retail landscape
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New 32,000-square-foot Saks Off Fifth outlet will open at Outlet Collection mall. | Submitted

 

battle is shaping up for Winnipeg’s fashionistas.

Outlet Collection Winnipeg, a 360,000-square-foot outlet mall that will feature factory-discount prices in the southwest part of town, has signed its first tenant and will welcome its first customers in a couple of months.

Saks Off Fifth, the discount version of high-end fashion retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, will christen a 32,000-square-foot location on May 3, and if the predictions of Ken Yee, senior vice-president in the Winnipeg office of Cushman and Wakefield, are true, the opening will start a seismic shift in the city’s retail landscape.

“It will definitely cannibalize the normal disposable dollar at Polo Park [Shopping Centre] and St. Vital Centre,” he said. “The kill shot is Saks Off Fifth. For the value shopper, that’s a died-and-gone-to-heaven thing.”

Polo Park, the city’s biggest mall at 1.2 million square feet, brings in $900 in sales per square foot, or about $1 billion annually. St. Vital, meanwhile, has a little more than 900,000 square feet and sales of $550 per square foot, or about $500 million in annual revenue.

Yee said factory outlets have been recording sales per square foot in the $500 to $600 range, meaning Outlet Collection could pull in around $250 million a year.

“Where will that come from? It’s got to come from somewhere. Who doesn’t want to buy a nice suit or a pair of shoes at a little bit of a discount?” he said.

No other tenants at Outlet Collection have been made official, but further announcements are expected soon.