Crombie REIT

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Type	Real Estate Investment Trust
Established	Feb 4th, 1964
Countries Operated	Canada
HQ	New Glasgow, NS
Parent Company	Empire Company
Website	https://www.crombie.ca/

Crombie REIT is an unincorporated real estate business owned by Empire Company. They are based Atlantic Canada, however, they own most Sobeys, Freshco, and Safeway properties across Canada. They currently have properties in all 10 provinces.

History

On February 4th, 1964, Atlantic Shopping Centres Ltd was founded. One of their first enclosed malls was West End Mall, originally, they only operated shopping centres and shopping malls. But this changed later on.

In 1989, Atlantic Shopping Centres was bought by Empire Company, who are known for owning Sobeys. After the acquisition, Atlantic Shopping Centres began operating various properties owned by Empire Company such as Sobeys, Empire Theatres, and Lawtons Drugs.

In the early 2000s, Atlantic Shopping Centres name was changed to Crombie Properties, and later on, Crombie REIT. This name change reflected that Shopping Centres was no longer their priority.

In the 2000s and 2010s, many of Crombie REIT's enclosed malls were becoming dated and neglected, during this time, some of their malls were sold off, and some, like Penhorn Mall or Sydney Shopping Centre were permanently closed and demolished.

In 2012 and 2013, Zellers was liquidated because of the Target buyout, and all stores closed. Since many Crombie REIT owned malls had Zellers as an anchor, this negatively impacted the properties, most Zellers spaces were turned into other tenants or Target Canada. However, malls like County Fair Mall (New Minas) continued to have their Zellers vacant, which caused the malls to lose many tenants.

In the 2020s, many Crombie REIT malls continue to be neglected, some exceptions include Avalon Mall and Scotia Square, both of these malls have received renovations within the last decade. However, Scotia Square has lost many national tenants within the last few years.

In present day, Crombie REIT continues to be a successful entity, their priority has changed a lot within the last 20 years, they now focus on standalone properties and shopping centres instead of their enclosed malls. However, they own many properties and will continue to operate for many years to come.

Properties

Main article: Crombie REIT/Properties