I was surprised that Plum left. It's such an urban style store. Same goes for Urban Barn.
I'll give you Urban Barn. Plum is a small time clothing retailer in a big'ol sea full of low margin, homogenous clothing retailers. I am never surprised when clothing retailers or restaurants go under.
I honestly can't think of any place that has closed/relocated that has surprised me. Reckless bicycles moved down Yates St and their old place hasn't been filled. Maycock Optical moved to a bigger location down Blanshard St where it looks like they put quite a bit of money into, their old place is still vacant. Zambri's moved and their old space is vacant....there has to be more but here are three I can think of off the top of my head.
I totally agree that things have slowed down and vacancies are definitely up. I just don't agree with the sentiment that's out there that more vacancies means the downtown apocolypse is upon us. If we start to see major tenants leaving, then I'll be worried. Plum closing...meh!