Article
CBRE Seeks Saskatoon’s First Downtown Grocery Store
July 13, 2026 4 Minute Read
Last year CBRE Saskatchewan Managing Director Michael Bratvold and his team sold Postmedia Network’s 96,134 sq. ft. head office in Saskatoon to Duchuck Holdings, one of the province’s largest private real estate developers.
Now a massive redevelopment of the building – formerly home to the Star Phoenix newspaper – is underway. The mixed-use project will add three floors to the original building, two new residential towers and, if all goes to plan, Saskatoon’s only downtown grocery store.
“Saskatoon hasn’t seen a downtown grocery store in decades,” says Bratvold, who is working closely with Duchuck to find a taker. “It’s an extremely important part of this development and something residents have been talking about for a long time.”
While downtown Saskatoon has several convenience stores and small markets for basic grocery needs, city dwellers typically must drive out to the suburbs for large grocery hauls.
“It’s a bit of a food desert downtown,” says Bratvold. “So it’s high time we got a grocery store here. It’ll drive the rest of the development and help revitalize our city, as well.”
Chicken and Egg Situation
Developers have been talking about introducing a grocery store in Saskatoon for years. “But there are so many challenges with finding a suitable partner,” Bratvold says. Grocery stores operate on thin margins. The business is driven primarily by volume.”
While the City of Saskatoon has experienced strong population growth in recent years, only 4,002 residents live in the actual downtown.
“We’re stuck in a ‘chicken and egg’ situation,” says Bratvold. “Grocery stores want to have people living nearby, and people want to live near where there are grocery stores.”
As the search for a national-scale grocer to locate downtown continues, Bratvold points out that urban grocers are no longer a novel concept in other Canadian cities and the fundamentals are in place for Saskatoon to also be successful.
“It’s not hard to see that the demand will be there,” he says. “The closest grocery store is probably three or four kilometres away from the city centre right now.”
If You Build It, They Will Eat
Saskatoon currently has approximately 30,000 people working downtown, with another ~30,000 living within two kilometres of the Star Phoenix site, according to CBRE local research.
University of Saskatchewan, an ~18-minute walk from downtown, presents another sizable target market, with 28,000 students living on campus grounds.
“Our prospective grocer would be in an ideal location, benefitting from traffic along the route from downtown to the university,” says Bratvold.
The two residential towers planned for the site – the largest and tallest residential complex in Saskatchewan history – will bring an additional 600 units and 540 parking spots to the area, further increasing traffic and vibrancy in the downtown core.
“The residential component of this project is substantial,” says Bratvold. “It’s going to be a huge source of demand for the grocer onsite.”
Grocery-Anchored Retail FTW
Grocery-anchored retail remains among the hottest assets in Canadian commercial real estate due to its resiliency in all market conditions and the business it brings to adjacent retailers.
“We’re confident in the success of this project,” Bratvold says. “A future grocer at this site will thrive off of the natural traffic in the area, and in return help generate much needed foot-traffic and complementary commerce for downtown Saskatoon.”
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CBRE is looking for Saskatoon’s first downtown grocery store at a major new mixed-use redevelopment at the former Star Phoenix site.
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