Lime Ridge mall expansion

Massive holes left by Sears stores across the country have malls trying to figure out what to do with the empty space, including Hamilton’s largest shopping centre.

Last month Lime Ridge Mall made a request to the city about plans for their vacant Sears space. A week later, they asked the city to put a hold on the application while they reviewed them, which involves tearing down and replacing the now-closed Sears store and building a mix of new restaurants and box stores.

“We’ve learned with Target, when it left, with these gigantic stores they are very hard to rent as they are and you need to do something.” Marvin Ryder with the DeGroote School of Business says that involves breaking up the vacant space into smaller chunks and including more restaurants.

Just last week Toronto’s Eaton Centre announced they were upping their restaurant game and getting a rooftop patio. Sherway Gardens is looking at doing the same. Eastgate Square is also considering several options for their vacant Sears space, but have no firm plans in place.