Very good year at Orchard Park

Photo: Contributed - Orchard Park

Renovations are underway at Orchard Park's food court.

Kelowna's Orchard Park Shopping Centre is a bright spot on the economic map, despite news of others in the retail business pulling up stakes or not doing so well.

Target may be leaving Canada, but across the street at Orchard Park, business is up and looking good.

Photo: Contributed - Orchard Park

Pseudio will open soon at Orchard Park Shopping Centre.

General manager Donna Markin says the mall saw a four per cent growth in retail sales in 2014, on top of a seven per cent growth in 2013.

"It's a good news story," she said. "On the heels of 2013, this is two successive years of sales increases and an important performance indicator about the health of the business."

Markin says Orchard Park, which is the largest shopping centre between Vancouver and Calgary, started to notice an uptick early in 2013.

"We started to see a real change in consumer confidence, and that trend has just continued through 2014," she said.

Markin says electronics and children's wear have been leading the charge, and health and beauty has also been "very strong."

"I think it reflects a commitment on the part of consumers to live a better life and look after ourselves."

Markin said one metric of comparison in the retail world is sales per square foot. Orchard Park is close to the $600 mark, which "is an indicator of where we are in the country in terms of productivity. It puts us close to the bigger shopping centres in larger metro markets."

"In our company (Primaris Management), Orchard Park is in the top tier of assets... We had a very positive year."

Markin says it is that kind of performance that helps attract new retailers. An example is Canadian unisex fashion store Pseudio, which will open up in six weeks near Sears.

"We're pretty excited about it," said Markin.

Also, the mall is in the midst of renovations to its food court, which will improve flow and be completed by spring break.

"It's an indicator of a healthy economy and shopping centre when the landlord and retailers reinvest," Markin added.