Retailer LOJEL is expanding into the Canadian market with its first store scheduled to open this summer in Vancouver.
Rachel Draper, General Manager, North America for LOJEL, said the brand is building its North American team in Vancouver.
“You could go to New York, LA or Toronto but for us we’re really excited to open our first store in our backyard in Vancouver and specifically it’s a very green city, very diverse, multicultural,” she said.
Beyond Vancouver, Draper said the brand is particularly interested in growing very intentionally.
“We’re very fortunate to be a family business, privately owned. So when we look at growth we look at how do we reach our key audiences. It’s not just west coast Pacific although that is very tied to our audience. It’s getting into the key metro cities, the urban cities where you have people moving every day and travel hubs.
“We’re really excited about growth in North America. We obviously have a big ecom presence that we’re growing but are interested as well getting into the East Coast in some of those key travel hub cities such as Montreal, New York, etc. And that can look different. It could be a pop up or a traditional brick and mortar store like the Vancouver one.”
LOJEL, which stands for Let Our Journeys Enrich Life, is a carry essentials brand.
“We make products that simplify movement whether it’s every day or for travel,” said Kenzo Yoneno, Chief Product Officer. “We have products that range from phone straps all the way through to backpacks, wallets and to luggage.
“We were founded in 1989 in Japan. We are a family-owned business. The current CEO is in fact the grandson of the person who founded it originally. We have a headquarter in Hong Kong and we have a North American headquarter in Vancouver.”
There are 18 stores in Asia Pacific.
The Vancouver store will be opening on West Fourth in Kitsilano. Target opening date for the just over 1,800-square foot store is late summer.
“The landscape and environment on West Fourth has changed so much. A lot of brands have come first to market in North America on West Fourth so there are a lot of reasons for it but a big reason is our office (is close) to the store,” said Draper.
Mario Negris and Martin Moriarty of Marcus & Millichap handled the transaction for the new location.
Yoneno said a big focus of the brand is sustainability.
“I believe that Vancouver has a massive reputation in that respect. The founding of Greenpeace was here. We thought that this would be an audience that would be receptive to our message. We’re very considerate in the way we make products and we build sustainability into it in very many different ways whether it’s through design for repair and other services that we provide. So we wanted to bring it to the Vancouver market in that respect because I think it will be receptive,” he said.
“Also, we’re in Asia Pacific. We see Asia Pacific more as part of a Pacific Rim type of region which encompasses Australia, west coast of North America and all what you would traditionally consider APAC (Asia-Pacific). So there’s kind of a synergy there. There are people moving from Melbourne to Vancouver, Tokyo to LA, Seattle to Seoul. So there’s a tremendous synergy in the Pacific region. Given our heritage is from Asia Pacific it seemed to make sense to also move onto the west coast.”
Yoneno, speaking about the brand’s acronym, said the company sees the word journey as being anything from popping out to the supermarket to get groceries to obviously a larger journey.
“Today’s industry brands are exhibiting a growing disconnection from the deeper purpose of movement, seen in standard-fare products that neither challenge norms nor present new solutions that facilitate better mobility,” said the company.
“LOJEL is about refocusing on how people move, but more importantly, why: connection. Putting the purpose of our journeys at the forefront of the discussion opens up opportunities for innovation. This process of discovery is what lets us empower people to move better and focus on what truly matters.
“Our mission is to spark the human connections that make the world a better place—by empowering people’s journeys with thoughtful carry essentials for travel and everyday movement. We are Driven By Diversity, Intentional By Design and Purposely Positive—core values upholding our ultimate goal to inspire movement within communities and across the globe.”
Sustainability is at the core of its mission.
“By 2026, we aim to achieve B Corp certification, becoming climate neutral, and ensuring that 50 per cent of our products are crafted from recycled or sustainable materials. To achieve these goals, we’re building a team that’s ready to take on this challenge head-on,” it said.
Yoneno said the brand builds in the idea of sustainability beyond just materials.
“You see a lot of surface level noise about ‘we use 15 per cent recycled material, etc’. That’s not good enough for us. While we do work on the material front, one of the key foundational elements of our product design is what we call design for repair. What this means is that everything that’s designed is modular and can be repaired and replaced. Ultimately, entropy being what it is, things break down . . . We acknowledge that and we make it easy to repair. How this ties back to retail is we have repair labs in our stores and we provide that service and we make it very clear whether it’s repair and eventually other things, customization, potentially upgrade, it’s a key part of our pledge to our customers that we stand by our product. We want it to last for a long time. We want people to buy less but better and that’s how we decide what we design and how we present it.”
LOJEL Canadian expansion job postings are available on the official LOJEL Linkedin page.
