CentreCourt, Cowie Capital and Salthill Capital’s retail asset known for decades as Pickering Town Centre will undergo a massive redevelopment in coming years. A number of multi-family buildings will be developed alongside the shopping centre. As part of the redevelopment project, the shopping centre is being rebranded as The Shops at Pickering City Centre. A special celebration of the rebranding will be held Saturday inside the shopping centre.

In this interview, Eva Chapman, The Shops at Pickering City Centre’s general manager, discusses the rebranding effort and what it will mean for the property.

What will your role be in the transformation of the property?

As the general manager of the retail component, I specialize in the retail picture of this development. For the shopping centre itself, we are looking at revitalization through various projects, including the rebranding, signage, as well as other updates for the centre – including new finishes and revitalization of the food court.

Why is the shopping centre being rebranded?

It’s funny, we’ve been asked this and I’ve met with various people throughout Pickering to discuss the change. Pickering has been a city for a very long time, so to call our shopping centre the Town Centre doesn’t accurately depict our role as a community hub in the city. The shopping centre has already been growing, and with further growth to come, the Shops at Pickering City Centre is a much more suitable name for us and our role as a part of the masterplan development, Pickering City Centre.

How much of a difference can a rebrand make?

With the residential component that is being developed with our partner CentreCourt and Cowie Capital, I really do think it’s going to be a significant transformation. Over the next decade, we will see a real multi-faceted community where you can live, you can play and shop, and you can work. It’s really something spectacular. The shopping centre is the first piece of it.

The students come here after school, people come visit throughout the day, they do all their shopping here, they dine, etc. It’s really an important piece of Pickering. And, I think that the rebranding follows suit with our ideas to really transform this space.

What is the status of the redevelopment now?

It’s still in the works. The first condo tower has sold out. We’re working on the second. We can provide more details as to when we plan to break ground in coming months. But the plan is in place.

What’s going to be done on the mall side?

All of the signage will be The Shops at Pickering City Centre, showcasing our new logo and branding. We’re also looking at improvements with our wayfinding and our digital directories. We’re adding screens. The carpeting has just been replaced. And then, of course, we looking at the food court and re-envisioning it to make it more modern and adaptable for today’s customer. These are the small changes that we started so far. We hope to make some announcements about the retail curation mix in the coming months.

The shopping centre itself is staying within its current footprint. The residential developments will have shops at the ground level. But we’re looking at that curation of the shops that are inside already. JD Sports, a large-format store, just joined us and we’re working with the national and international brands that are true to Pickering. So, we do have a really nice curation.

The development aspect is really more of a revitalization of the centre itself.

Can you tell me a bit about Saturday’s event?

We’re inviting the public and, especially, the community of Pickering to come and join us for various activities throughout the centre. We will have Mayor Kevin Ashby joining us, and there’ll be some speeches, some fun giveaways, not to give away too much. We just want to encourage people to come. We will be having various activities throughout the center that people in the community can participate in.

Salthill Capital’s retail asset known for decades as Pickering Town Centre will undergo a massive redevelopment in coming years. A number of multi-family buildings will be developed alongside the shopping centre. As part of the redevelopment project, the centre is being rebranded as The Shops at Pickering City Centre. A special celebration of the rebranding will be held all day Saturday at the shopping centre.

In this interview, Eva Chapman, The Shops at Pickering City Centre’s general manager, discusses the rebranding effort and what it will mean for the property.

What will your role be in the transformation of the property?

As the general manager of the retail component, I specialize in the retail picture of this development. For the shopping centre itself, we are looking at revitalization through various projects, including the rebranding, signage, as well as some updates for the centre — new finishes and some revitalization of the food court.

Why is the shopping centre being rebranded?

It’s funny, we’ve been asked this and I’ve met with various people throughout Pickering. It’s been a city for a very long time. It’s such a community hub and it’s such a place where everyone can be, but I do feel like we need to grow with the city. It’s already been growing and I think that Pickering City Centre is just a much better name for the city of Pickering and where we’re at.

How much of a difference can a rebrand make?

With the residential component that we’re including with our partner CentreCourt and Cowie Capital, I really do think it’s going to be a significant transformation. Over the next decade, we will see a real community hub where you can live, you can play and shop, and you can work. It’s really something spectacular. The shopping centre is the first piece of it.

The students come here after school, people come in, they do all their shopping here and it’s really important piece of Pickering. And, I think that the rebranding follows suit with our ideas to really transform this space.

What is the status of the redevelopment now?

It’s still in the works. The first condo tower has sold out. We’re working on the second. We can provide more details as to when we plan to break ground in coming months. But the plan is in place.

What’s going to be done on the mall side?

All of the signage will be The Shops at Pickering City Centre with some new logos, some new branding. We’re also looking at improvements with our wayfinding and our digital directories. We’re adding screens. The carpeting has just been replaced. And then, of course, we looking at the food court and re-envisioning it to make it a little bit more modern and adaptable for today’s world. These are the small changes that we started so far. We hope to make some announcements about the retail curation mix in the coming months.

The shopping centre itself is staying within its current footprint. The residential developments will have shops in the bottom. But we’re looking at that curation of the shops that are inside already. JD Sports, a large-format store, just joined us and we’re working with the national and international brands that are true to Pickering. So, we do have a really nice curation.

Can you tell me a bit about Saturday’s event?

We’re inviting the public and, especially the community of Pickering, to come and join us for various activities throughout the centre. We will have Mayor Kevin Ashby joining us, and there’ll be speeches and some fun giveaways and more. We can’t wait to celebrate with the community.