Service Industry & Retail

Penticton Service and Retail Industries

From agricultural and mining roots, Penticton has grown to become a regional service centre. There are high quality professional and medical services, a range of government offices, a wide variety of retail stores, and training, education and health care facilities. These features, together with the best year-round climate in Canada, are creating a new regional industry – the provision of services for a large and growing retirement community.

Pensions and investment now account for over one-third of the total income from all sources in Penticton, making it the third largest retirement centre in BC on an income per capita basis. BC’s excellent health care system combined with the Okanagan’s selection of housing options and excellent climate are drawing retirees from across the country.

Downtown

The downtown area, located at the northern end of the city, has a gross leasable area of almost one million square feet. It is presently undergoing a period of transition due to the growth of shopping centers and big box retail outlets in the central and southern portion of the city. The downtown comprises retail, financial, and professional offices together with restaurants, institutional facilities, specialty retail outlets, and entertainment venues. Front Street has an interesting mixture of retail and professional services with store fronts finished in an historic theme. A large segment of the downtown area is now part of a business improvement area (BIA). The BIA is a management tool which assists in marketing, administrating and promoting the area.

www.downtownpenticton.org

Retail

The retail sector is the largest employment sector in the Okanagan and has grown over the past five years. Most of the jobs tend to be part time (25%), require shift work and be paid on an hourly basis. The retail service industry in greater Penticton employs over 3,000 persons representing 14.4 percent of the total labour force. Within Penticton, there is over two million square feet of commercial space suitable for retail purposes. In the Okanagan, there is about 17.5 square feet of shopping center space per person compared to the national average of 11.5. This figure demonstrates the high level of retail outlets available to the regional market.

Penticton’s malls and plazas offer more than one million square feet of space for lease. The 300,000 square foot Cherry Lane Shopping Centre boasts over 60 stores and services with Save On Foods, London Drugs and The Bay being the major tenants. A wide assortment of fashion, gift, and specialty shops complete the tenant mix. A 140,000 square foot Wal-Mart is located at Peach Tree Square which also has an additional 58,000 square feet of retail space. The Penticton Power Center, at Warren and Main, is home to Zellers, Staples, Sleep Country, Winners and other retailers and services. The centre has 202,000 square feet of retail space.

In addition to its major shopping centers, Penticton offers a wide variety of smaller strip malls and plazas. The largest of these is the Penticton Plaza, home to a full-service Safeway store with 56,000 square feet. The entire Plaza frontage has been refurbished and the parking increased. In 2009, the Riverside Village shopping center opened with more than 2.77 acres of space.

Rona, the home supply company, has an outlet on Duncan Avenue with retail space of approximately 50,000 square feet plus outdoor storage. The Canadian Tire store has nearly 63,000 square feet of indoor retail space as well as a large outdoor garden centre. Home Hardware has significantly increased the size of their store and lumber yard by 42 percent to 57,000 square feet of covered space.

Questions? Contact Penticton Economic Development

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