By  Dr. Tony Hernandez, Tansel Erguden and Philip Bermingham

The most striking change to the retail structure of Canada over the last fifteen years has been the growth and associated impact of big box format retailing.  Groupings of these big box format retailers into a range of 'power retail developments' have provided Canadian consumers with alternatives to traditional shopping mall, plaza and retail strip destinations.  The purpose of this research letter is to provide an update on the evolution and growth of big boxes, power centres and power nodes in Canada, with particular focus on the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  It should be noted that due to the rapid development of the big box format across Canada the definition and classification of power retail developments are subject to periodic updating to reflect their role and function in the retail economy.  This research letter provides a snap-shot of power retailing across Canada at the end of 2004 based on in-house data collected by the CSCA.