Shopping malls and retailers throughout Canada are reducing their hours of operation in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Over the weekend, some mall owners announced they would cut back shopping hours by as much as 30% for at least the next two weeks. As of Sunday afternoon, Canadian health officials had not advised retailers to shutter, but some businesses are limiting their operations on their own initiative.
Starting Monday, Cadillac Fairview, which owns 70 malls across six provinces, will limit operating hours at all its locations to between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Ivanhoe Cambridge, which owns almost 30 malls across six provinces, is reducing operating hours to its tenants, although mall doors will remain open according to their usual schedules.
Some Canadian consumers started exhibiting hoarding behaviour in the past two weeks, especially with toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other cleaning products.
