The Canadian retail environment has been undergoing a great deal of change recently, perhaps at the greatest rate in the country’s history. An influx of American retailers is transforming the retail landscape and eliciting reactions from their Canadian counterparts.

Running in parallel are structural changes to retail brought on by an evolution in the way people shop and where they live. As the downtown cores of major cities see a continued substantial growth of mainly younger and higher income households, the retailers have had to react. That has implications for retail locations in the future.

Population change

Housing starts continue to grow in Canada, reaching more than 214,000 units in 2012. The makeup of this new construction has dramatically shifted toward apartments during the past 15 years. Apartments now make up close to half of new dwelling construction in Canada, reaching two-thirds of new construction i