While on the topic of retail, a lot of people are talking about the news that Sears Canada may be on the block. Some are wondering if the door is now open for another big US retailer to swoop in, or if the Target experience up here scared people off. DIG360 retail analyst David Ian Gray (snapped with colleague Raymond Shoolman) says, “Whether or not Sears Canada is a tragic victim of the parent Sears Holdings debacle is a moot point. It’s simply been selling off assets with no real hope for a future.”

Sears will go not with a “bang,” but a “whimper, piecemeal,” David says. In terms of other big US or international retailers coming up here to fill the real estate footprint, similar to what Target did with Zellers, don’t count on it, David says: “More likely landlords might take some back and divide it up. The plum urban locations are already gone.”