Canadian Tire Corp wasted no time acquiring 12 leases from Target Canada for $17.7M, a move the retailer said will give it the opportunity to accelerate sales and market share growth. “We've been tracking certain Target properties for some time," Canadian Tire president Michael Medline said. The locations span the country, from Halifax, to Aurora and Sudbury in Ontario, and out to Victoria.

Canadian Tire says the acquisitions add 400k SF of retail space to its existing portfolio, enabling it to reconfigure its store network through “right-sizing” and replacing some existing stores for better locations. Earlier this week, RioCan REIT, Target’s largest Canadian landlord, said it was negotiating with retailers to take space in 15 former Target locations that have been returned. Other leases are being auctioned off this week.