Robson a bargain for retail

Toronto's Bloor Street and Montreal's Ste-Catherine Street are the most expensive spots in Canada to lease retail space, both averaging about $300 US per square foot annually, according to a report released Monday.

Still, those rates pale in comparison with other trendy retail locations in places such as Paris and New York, where leases top $1,000 per square foot, global real-estate firm Colliers International showed in its latest survey of global retail space costs.

The most wanted retail locations in Toronto and Montreal were tied for 32nd overall in Colliers' global rankings, both with average lease rates of $294.12. The next most expensive Canadian spot was Robson Street in Vancouver with a lease rate of $196.08, placing it 51st overall.

Colliers said Vancouver's standing was "surprisingly" low, given its recent prominence from the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Champs Elysees in Paris was the most expensive retail corridors in the world at $1,255.90, followed by New York's Fifth Avenue, which averaged $1,250, Hong Kong's Russell Street at $1,205.46 and London's Bond Street at $1,174.24 per square foot. Lease rates for the most prominent locations globally, and even in Canada, far exceed what's charged elsewhere. For example, a search on Colliers website shows a number of retail spaces in suburban Ottawa going for between $15 and $25 per square foot.

"Regardless of what is happening in suburban shopping malls and on secondary streets, there'll be strong demand for the No. 1 retail street in most markets," said Jim Smerdon, Collier's director of retail and strategic planning.

"When you look at who the retailers are on these streets in Canada, for the most part, they're many of the same stores we see in regional shopping centres, but with a higher volume of sales . . . they are willing to pay significantly more rent to be [in prime locations]."

Smerdon said some of the elements that make for a great shopping location include "a blend of the size of the market, things like accessibility and parking, and a host of intangibles such as the history of the street as a commercial destination."

Colliers said its survey showed retail lease rates declining in most regions of the world for the second year in a row as a lingering effect of last year's global recession.