The Amazon Effect is a term used to describe the ongoing evolution when it comes to most things retail and an ever-increasing e-commerce landscape.
On Thursday afternoon, the 2018 HM Commerical Report was presented to developers and property owners at the Innovation Centre.
Authors of the report, Jeff Hudson, Marshall McAnerney and Meghan O’Mara of HM Commercial Group see a positive impact of the Amazon Effect in the Okanagan.
Photo Credit: KelownaNow.
“The theme of this year’s report is the Amazon Effect, “There’s a pretty strong belief retail is evolving and changing”, McAnerney explained.
Cannabis also came up in the report. In the Industrial portion of the report, it’s written that “The emergence of the cannabis sector is spilling over into the industrial market as well, with large format growing facilities and research and development facilities looking for space.”
Along with inquiries about space to grow cannabis, comes requests for space to sell. Despite the fact that no retail cannabis stores will be open until Spring 2019, it seems potential business owners are eager. "As it relates to the retail side, most of the transactions have been leases," O’Mara says “We get three to five calls a week from people that want to open retail locations.”
