The ICSC has been tracking Canadian mall productivity for over a decade, and its 2025 rankings are out.
The annual study covers 111 shopping centres based on sales per square foot as of December 31, 2025. Numbers reflect in-line retailers and typically exclude anchors. Not every landlord participated, and as always the list captures a single point in time in what is a constantly moving industry. A mall’s productivity number reflects where its reporting retailers landed on one specific date. It does not capture occupancy rates, total revenue, or the full arc of what happened at that property across the year. With that context in mind, here is what the numbers are showing.
Yorkdale Is Still First. But Watch the Gap.
Yorkdale posted $2,368 per square foot in 2025, its tenth consecutive year at the top of the national rankings. The number speaks for itself. What is more interesting is the trajectory: $2,402 in 2023, $2,301 in 2024, $2,368 in 2025. A dip and a partial recovery, while CF Toronto Eaton Centre put together three straight years of growth at $1,457, $1,500 and $1,642. The gap between Canada’s top two malls was roughly $945 per square foot in 2023. It is $726 today. Yorkdale’s luxury corridor, with Brunello Cucinelli, Dior, Loewe, Loro Piana, Moncler, Versace and Gucci, is not going anywhere. But the field is moving.
Eaton Centre is not the only mall closing ground. CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver posted $1,324 in 2023, $1,454 in 2024 and $1,593 in 2025. That three-year gain of $269 per square foot is the largest of any mall in Canada over that period. CF Richmond Centre grew consistently from $1,323 to $1,359 to $1,466 over the same three years. Two Vancouver malls now sit above every Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto suburban mall outside of Square One. That is not a one-year result. That is a trend.
The one BC number that stands out for the wrong reasons is Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby. Three years, three essentially identical results: $1,142, $1,138 and $1,148 per square foot. One of the largest shopping centres in Canada, in one of the country’s strongest retail markets, and it has not moved in three years. Every property has its own story. But that flatline is a number worth watching.
The 2024 Dip and the 2025 Bounce
A number of properties had a soft 2024 and came back strongly in 2025. The combined disruption of Nordstrom’s exit, Hudson’s Bay demise and the broader challenge of re-tenanting large-format anchor space hit different properties at different times depending on where they were in that process. The malls that absorbed the disruption in 2024 are showing up clearly in the 2025 data.
CF Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke dropped from $1,233 per square foot in 2023 to $1,160 in 2024, then jumped to $1,354 in 2025, one of the larger single-year gains in the study. CF Rideau Centre in Ottawa dipped from $1,062 to $1,038 before recovering to $1,141. Both posted strong rebounds and both sit in meaningfully better positions heading into 2026 than where they stood a year ago.
Scarborough Town Centre crossed $1,000 per square foot for the first time in 2025, posting $1,073 after growing from $926 in 2023 to $966 in 2024. Oxford Properties notes the result represents an 84 per cent increase since 2021. For a mall of STC’s size, 1.57 million square feet, the per square foot number has historically lagged its potential. Crossing that threshold is a meaningful signal. The property is also in the early stages of a significant long-term mixed-use redevelopment, which means the numbers and the story at STC are likely to look very different in the years ahead.
Bayview Village in Toronto tells a more cautious story. It grew from $815 per square foot in 2023 to $826 in 2024 before declining to $802 in 2025. The property is navigating its own evolution and redevelopment, with the 2025 number likely reflecting that process.
A Closer Look at Toronto
The GTA has eight malls in the national top 25, more than any other region in Canada, and the broader Toronto picture is largely one of stability and measured growth. That stability matters. Sales per square foot is a productivity measure, not a complete picture of asset health. A mall running at strong occupancy with a stable tenant mix can post modest per square foot growth and still be performing very well. The number reflects what reporting retailers sold on December 31. It does not capture everything that makes a shopping centre a successful business.
CF Fairview Mall in North York grew from $997 per square foot in 2023 to $1,063 in 2024 to $1,145 in 2025, now sitting 15th nationally. CF Markville in Markham grew from $991 to $1,003 to $1,066. Vaughan Mills grew from $966 to $997 to $1,043. All three crossed or are approaching the $1,000 threshold with consistent year-over-year growth. Oshawa Centre grew from $731 to $748 to $809. Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill grew from $657 to $678 to $744. CF Shops at Don Mills grew from $553 to $603 to $616. Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga grew from $503 to $510 to $575. Across the board, Toronto’s mid-tier malls are growing steadily.
Dufferin Mall sits at $679 per square foot in 2025, up from $662 in 2023. In isolation that looks modest. But Dufferin Mall is a small-format urban property in one of Toronto’s densest neighbourhoods, operating in a fundamentally different context than a regional destination mall. Stability at that number, in that format, in that market, is its own kind of result.
The properties moving in the other direction are worth noting. Bramalea City Centre in Brampton slipped from $729 to $736 to $725 over three years. East York Town Centre held essentially flat at $522, $547 and $521. Quinte Mall in Belleville declined from $566 to $563 to $550. Each of those properties has its own circumstances behind the number.
Alberta and Manitoba Are Having a Moment
The prairie numbers in 2025 deserve more attention than they typically get in the national retail conversation.
CF Chinook Centre in Calgary grew from $1,308 per square foot in 2023 to $1,336 in 2024 to $1,469 in 2025, now fourth nationally. CF Market Mall in Calgary grew from $1,055 to $1,090 to $1,213 over the same three years. Southcentre Mall grew from $725 to $771 to $863. CrossIron Mills north of Calgary climbed from $831 to $888 to $947. Alberta now has multiple malls above $1,200 per square foot, a threshold only a handful of Canadian properties have ever consistently reached.
Southgate Centre in Edmonton grew from $1,159 per square foot in 2023 to $1,211 in 2024 and $1,322 in 2025, now sitting in the national top ten. It is worth noting the property changed ownership between the 2024 and 2025 studies, moving from Ivanhoé Cambridge to Primaris REIT and IMCO.
CF Polo Park in Winnipeg may be the most quietly impressive story in the entire dataset. It grew from $1,030 per square foot in 2023 to $1,120 in 2024 to $1,214 in 2025, a gain of roughly $90 to $95 per square foot every single year for three consecutive years. It now sits ninth nationally. For a market the size of Winnipeg those are numbers that deserve attention.
Two Numbers That Deserve Attention
Place du Centre in Gatineau grew from $435 per square foot in 2023 to $507 in 2024 to $674 in 2025. A gain of $239 over two years, consistent at every step, from a mall that most people in the industry would not have been watching. Every property has its own story behind those numbers. This one clearly has one worth telling.
CF Promenades St-Bruno on Montreal’s South Shore grew from $709 in 2023 to $785 in 2024 to $893 in 2025. Three straight years of meaningful growth putting a suburban Montreal mall within reach of $900 per square foot and in the same conversation as some of Ontario’s more established regional destinations.
The Rest of the Country
Ottawa’s CF Rideau Centre, Bayshore Shopping Centre and St. Laurent all grew over the three-year period, making Canada’s capital one of the more consistently performing multi-mall markets in the country. Halifax Shopping Centre posted $1,081 per square foot, above several Ontario suburban malls and a reflection of the city’s growth as a retail market. Champlain Place in Dieppe grew from $765 to $896 over two years, one of the stronger regional gains in Atlantic Canada. Quebec’s Carrefour Laval at $1,159 and Le Centre Eaton de Montreal at $1,152 both posted solid three-year growth. Primaris REIT’s portfolio outside the GTA, including Orchard Park in Kelowna, Galeries de la Capitale in Quebec City and New Sudbury Centre, grew consistently across all three years.
Properties Not in This Study
The 2025 ICSC study covers 111 shopping centres but does not represent the full picture of Canadian mall retail. Participation is voluntary, and a number of notable properties are not included.
West Edmonton Mall, owned by Triple Five Group, does not participate. The landlord has historically reported sales per square foot figures that would place it among the country’s top performers. Royalmount in Montreal, developed by Carbonleo, opened in September 2024 and does not yet appear. The mixed-use luxury destination was still ramping up occupancy through 2025 and will be a property to watch when it eventually participates. Oakridge Park in Vancouver, co-developed by QuadReal and Westbank, is targeting a Spring 2026 opening and is not yet in the study. Its confirmed luxury tenant lineup suggests it will be a significant addition to the national rankings when it does appear. RioCan, one of Canada’s largest retail landlords, participates selectively. Georgian Mall in Barrie is the lone RioCan property in the 2025 study, with properties including The Well in Toronto, a joint venture with Allied Properties REIT, not represented in the data. Park Royal Centre in West Vancouver, owned by Larco Investments, has also not participated in recent years.
The study does not capture open-air centres, strip malls, power centres or street retail. It is a valuable benchmark for enclosed and semi-enclosed shopping centres, but it is one lens among many.
The full ICSC Canadian Mall Productivity Study, including historical data, is available to ICSC members.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.