Cushman & Wakefield senior managing director John Crombiehosted at session this morning at RECon called Doing Business In Canada, featuring leading US retailers who've set up shop here. The buzz: Canada was the little darling in 2009 and 2010, John says. That was thanks to the strength of our banking system during the recession, good quality landlords and properties, the fact that housing prices continued to escalate during that period, plus the fact that Canada still had a buoyant consumer base. HoweverCanada isnt as hot as it was, compared to when Target first announced it expanding up here. While Canada is still a viable option, more and more companies are looking at South America or Asia. (If you thought high school ended, it didn't. Popularity is just as fickle.)

Several companies like Kohls Department stores and Dick's Sporting Goods kicked the tires on expanding up here but turned around and went home, John notes. Issues were the lack of available space to move into aggressively andhigh leasing andconstruction costs, even though consumer spending here remains higher than the US. They were very bullish in terms of the number of stores they wanted to open, he says. They were used to the US model. Theyd want to do 20 in the next year, but we are lucky if we can do four or five. It simply takes much longer to develop new properties in Canada. (Patience is a virtue, but no one has time for it.) However, while the US retailers start to look elsewhere, John says he's seeing more of an interest from European retailers.