European retail outlet centre developer McArthur Glen is to develop its first new outlet mall outside Europe, the company said at Mapic retail property fair in Cannes this week.
The company is to build a scheme in Vancouver in a joint venture with the Vancouver Airport Authority and will be close to Vancouver International Airport.
The centre will offer 18,580 m2 of retail space in a first phase, and 34,374 m2 when all phases are open, across 150-175 stores.
“The location is unique, the city is unique, and our Designer Outlet will be entirely different from any other outlet centre in North America,” managing director development Gary Bond said.
Site preparation works have already started; the centre is due to open in late 2014.
Although MacArthur Glen was originally a US company brought to Europe in the 1980s by developer Joey Kaempfer, the brand had disappeared there until now. However, the company may also start work on a scheme in California and is one of eight developer/operators invited to pitch to the Port of Los Angeles authority.
Nevertheless, Macarthur Glen’s emphasis on Europe continues and it will open three more projects on the Continent by 2016. Two centres are also underway in France, at Vernon close to Paris and Miramas in Provence, and a further scheme is being developed in Ghent, Belgium.
Meanwhile, the company has recently opened sales and marketing offices in Brazil, China, South Korea and Russia in order to target the travel trade in those countries, which have experienced a 60% increase in sales to shoppers from outside the EU in the first nine months of this year.
The goal is to ensure that tourists include a visit to an MG outlet on their itineraries before they leave home, a spokesman said.
