Cobs in Toronto's Annex Neighbourhood (Image: Cobs Bread)
Fresh from opening three new locations, COBS Bread has big plans to further expand its brand across the country.
Brad Bissonnette, VP Marketing & Franchise Recruitment for the company which first opened in North Vancouver in August 2003, tells Retail Insider that it plans to grow to 250 locations in Canada by the end of fiscal year 2022.
“We have a vision to be your favourite bakery within every community that we do business in. Currently, we see an opportunity to really ignite a passion for fresh bread and the freshest baked treats,” says Bissonnette.
“We’re looking to strategically expand across Canada.”
COBS Bread opened its 100th Canadian bakery in Chestermere, Alberta at the end of November. Since then it opened its 101st location in Grande Prairie, Alberta and 102nd location in Ottawa. COBS Bread will also be expanding into Manitoba in early 2018, opening in Winnipeg at St.Vital Square with a local franchisee.
“We’re really excited to be opening our first location in Winnipeg around the end of February and we’re currently recruiting franchisees to share our values and our vision for the Atlantic provinces,” says Bissonnette.
“We’re still considering what our strategic plan will be to enter the Quebec market.”
It has bakeries throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. It also has one location in the United States in Stamford, Connecticut, which opened about three years ago.
“One of the strengths of this national network, and why we are hitting such a milestone, is due to the strong business systems we have in place,” says Bissonnette. “COBS Bread has a strong commitment to building the brand through the financial health of our franchises, a strong commitment to customer experience and a focus on quality products.”
COBS Bread has been awarded the Franchisee’s Choice Designation by the Canadian Franchise Association for seven consecutive years.
COBS Bread features hand-crafted bread and fresh treats baked every day. It is part of Bakers Delight Holdings Ltd, established in 1980 and operating as Bakers Delight in Australia and New Zealand and COBS Bread in Canada and the United States.
Together they have grown to become the world’s most successful bakery franchise with more than 700 bakery locations worldwide.
Canadian-based e-commerce retailer Simpli Home is seeking to revolutionize the furniture retail space, with a high-tech business model that is growing rapidly.
The company specializes in affordable, fashion-forward furniture, which is sold in Canada and the U.S. through major e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Wayfair, Walmart, Costco and Home Depot. Simpli Home also recently launched its own e-commerce website, which allows consumers to buy products directly.
The company is growing by between 25-35% per year, according to Yoram Weinreich, chief growth officer at Simpli Home. Currently, the company sells approximately 400,000 pieces of furniture per year, and Weinreich expects that volume could double in the next two to three years.
“We’ve experienced very, very rapid growth,” he says.
Simpli Home caters primarily to consumers between the ages of 25 and 54 who are in search of stylish home furnishings at an affordable price. The company focuses on casual contemporary furniture, with styles that evolve as trends change. Currently, industrial and mid-century styles are among the company’s top selling items, Weinreich says.
Although the vast majority of consumers buy furniture in stores, Weinreich says consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable buying items online. As that trend continues, he says demand for buying furniture online is “unlimited and growing.”
“You still have 90% of the population buying furniture in stores,” he says. “But, the advantage online is you have unlimited variety, whereas in stores, you have very limited variety.”
In fact, Weinreich notes that Simpli Home currently has 1,200 different products available. Next year, the company intends to increase its selection to 2,000 products. The online sales channel makes it easy to continually release new products to gauge consumer appetite, Weinreich says.
“It’s easy to experiment online,” he says.
Weinreich believes that the digital transformation currently underway in the retail business is only just beginning. As e-commerce companies embrace tools such as augmented reality to support the online shopping experience, he suspects that a much higher proportion of consumers will eventually make purchases online rather than in stores.
Retailers that fail to keep up, he says, could find themselves out of business.
“E-commerce is a massive transformation that’s happening in the retail marketplace,” Weinreich says. “Either retailers are going to adapt and change, or they’re going to lose giant market share.”
Simpli Home has embraced technology into nearly all aspects of its business and supply chain in order to provide rapid shipping turnaround and responsive customer service. Utilizing technology has also helped the company to run an efficient global operation, with offices in Canada, U.S., China, Macau, Vietnam and India.
“We take every technology available to us and apply it in order to automate,” Weinreich said.
“We work as a global operation in the real sense of the word, utilizing people in remote locations, using technology to work together.”
GLASS SPHERE AT ERIN MILLS TOWN CENTRE. (PHOTO: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD)
An innovative and creative use of space in a Mississauga shopping mall may well be the wave of the future in the retail and real estate industries.
Recently, Erin Mills Town Centre became what’s believed to be Canada’s first shopping centre to create a co-working office space in the mall.
The MindShare WorkSpace is the brainchild of founder and CEO Robert Martellaci who was inspired by a desire to fill a space void in Mississauga, to accelerate innovation and promote a healthy and vibrant 21st century city ecosystem.
The MindShare WorkSpace is a state-of-the-art innovation space designed to inspire people to work hard, connect with a diverse group of professionals, and have fun.
GLASS SPHERE AT ERIN MILLS TOWN CENTRE. (PHOTO: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD)MindShare WorkSpace at Erin Mills Town Centre
“I’ve been researching this for the last year and a half, two years or so,” says Martellacci. “The MindShare WorkSpace was inspired by our work in the education space and really redefines the future of work and learning, providing opportunities for Mississauga startups and small business leaders from all sectors to live, work, and play in their own backyard.”
The growth of online shopping and the growth of co-working created a perfect storm for Martellaci to create a space in a shopping mall.
“We’re re-defining the future of work and learning. Our tag line is innovate, connect and grow,” says the founder of MindShare Learning Technology. “We’re working with individuals, consultants, startups, small businesses to inspire them to innovate, connect and grow. Those are our three pillars that we have.”
“The original plan was to go into the downtown core but when I presented to the mall management group . . . they immediately got into ‘we want you in here’. They were very, very supportive. Our research showed that Mississauga was under-served when it came to collaborative, innovative work spaces.”
MindShare WorkSpace at Erin Mills Town CentreMindShare WorkSpace at Erin Mills Town Centre
The MindShare WorkSpace special features include:
4,000 square feet of flexible co-working space with state-of-the-art technology, modern dedicated desks, private offices and meeting rooms;
Podcasting/video studio;
Classroom Innovation Space for leadership training, community outreach programs and lifelong learning workshops;
Professional development and educational workshops;
Weekend Robotics, Coding, DIY workshops for kids and adults; and
Mall Amenities.
Martellaci says MindShare WorkSpace is designed for community members to inspire cross-sector collaboration – from individual consultants, to startups and small business.
MindShare WorkSpace at Erin Mills Town CentreMindShare WorkSpace at Erin Mills Town Centre
Susan Amring, Director of Economic Development for City of Mississauga, says the concept “is a great asset for our new and expanding business community looking for office space. With modern design, flexible work areas and current technologies, MindShare creates a great atmosphere for business development and growth.”
Francesca Bourré, Marketing Director for Erin Mills Town Centre, says the idea “will add great value to our customer offering and to the community” as a first-of-its-kind offering in a shopping centre.
“I’ve had since we announced a developer who owns multiple malls in North America approach us about a joint venture because of what they see as being the future,” says Martellacci.
“So it’s been a bit of a shock and a surprise to me just how much interest there is. So it’s really exciting and a little daunting by the same token. We’re really filling a void in many ways.”
French luxury bakery and sweets maker Ladurée opened its first Toronto location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre on Thursday at noon and as was expected, there were lineups to get in. Yorkdale marks Ladurée’s third Canadian location, following the opening of its first two in Vancouver.
The 1,185 square foot Yorkdale Ladurée is in the mall’s ‘luxury wing’, across the hall from Saint Laurent, and next to Links of London as per the mall floor plan below. Ladurée features a retail area as well as a 26-seat tea salon.
The menu includes Ladurée’s signature macarons in a variety of flavours, as well as chocolates, specialty teas, jams, branded honey, Ladurée accessories (including candles, room fragrances) and other merchandise such as key chains and shopping bags, as well as gift boxes. The tea salon features a variety of tea and other drinks, as well as popular menu items such as French toast, salads, sandwiches and Afternoon Tea. For a limited time only, Ladurée is offering a Maple Syrup-flavoured macaron at its Canadian locations.
The interior design was inspired by the colonial style of the 18th century — the pastel pink tea room is decorated with a white marble sales counter that is beautifully accentuated with gold lattice details. Gold Lattice is also present on the walls of the salon, providing a cohesive and luxurious backdrop. A Classic crystal chandelier contrasts with contemporary madeleine lights hanging from the ceilings, as well as the geometric marble tile flooring and velvet-accented furniture. The store’s soaring ceilings are dramatic with plaster ceiling treatments — it’s the first Ladurée store to feature the brand’s updated look.
Overall, it’s a beautiful setting that brings a bit of Paris to bustling Toronto. The Yorkdale Ladurée was built by Vergo Construction’s Commercial Interiors Division, which provided complete construction management including the planning (drawings, etc), procurement and project management of the entire project. Ladurée worked directly with landlord Oxford Properties on the Yorkdale deal. “We had a shared vision,” said Olesya Krakhmalyova, Canadian licensee for Ladurée. She said that Oxford presented a retail space opportunity that was just too good to pass up.
Ladurée entered Canada in March of 2016, when it opened a 1,100 square foot boutique and 23-seat tea salon at 1141 Robson Street in Vancouver. That was followed by a second Vancouver location in March of 2017 with the opening of a 500 square foot Ladurée concession (including an 18-seat tea salon) at Vancouver’s Holt Renfrew flagship, adjacent to the store’s recently overhauled 8,500 square foot women’s designer footwear salon.
Ms. Krakhmalyova said that she expects the new Yorkdale location will be able to serve alcoholic drinks in the spring of 2018. Ladurée ice cream is also expected around that time, as well.
Ms. Krakhmalyova explained how each Ladurée location requires detail-oriented precision and because of this, the Canadian rollout will be carefully executed. The two Vancouver locations opened almost exactly a year apart, she noted, and the company’s focus for Toronto will initially just be on the Yorkdale location.
The Vancouver locations will see an expanded assortment of fresh pastries next year — Ms. Krakhmalyova explained that she will be opening a ‘pastry laboratory’ kitchen in the city in the spring of 2018, and that a pastry chef is being moved to Vancouver to supply locations with a full range of Ladurée pastries — until now, only a limited selection has been available in Canada.
Founded in Paris in 1862, Ladurée is best known for its double-decker macarons, selling over 15,000 of them daily. Many Ladurée locations also sell ice cream, sorbets, jams, chocolate and candy, as well as branded accessories. Ladurée was purchased by French business group Groupe Holder in 1993, expanding Ladurée from a handful of locations to dozens of boutiques in 27 countries, including several in the United States.
Hallmark Canada has discovered an innovative way to reach out to consumers with a new strategy that entails opening up smaller stores within other big retail stores across the country.
The multi-focus store initiative was designed to address the challenges of operating in the current retail market. The company now has 14 mini Hallmark Gold Crown locations in Canada – with many more to come.
Michelle Smye, General Manager, Canada Retail for Hallmark, says the company wants to continue to grow its bricks and mortar network.
“It’s really important to us to have stores out there in the community that are carrying our brand and particularly the Gold Crown brand which is an expanded breadth of product than what you might find Hallmark selling in mass points of distribution,” says Smye.
Image: Hallmark Canada
“In the current marketplace, it’s very hard to grow our traditional Hallmark store network given rising rents, especially in A and A minus, B, location malls. With our individual average transaction value being in the paper business, it’s very hard to remain profitable at the rents that are being charged in these locations. So we really wanted to think out of the box and get back to being the stores of the community.”
Currently, 126 stores across Canada carry Gold Crown products. There are 111 stores in Canada that have Hallmark on their bulkhead.
“There’s all kinds of people out there who are familiar with the Hallmark brand and would like to bring the Hallmark brand into their households but they just don’t have access,” says Smye
“What we’ve started to do is look at where do we have a lack of distribution. Where’s that white space and what stores may exist and be operating profitably and would like to team up with us and carry their brand and our brand in their stores. We started doing this at the end of last year – in the fourth quarter of 2016.”
Image: Hallmark Canada
Because of the success of the initial launch, Hallmark has decided for 2018 to be aggressive in its approach to grow its market.
“We’re really looking at growing exponentially. But in our plan we’ve got at least a group of another 25 locations opening in 2018,” says Smye.
The new store within a store concept is primarily located now in larger independent drug stores and some specialty gift shops.
“There’s definitely some potential for other places but we’re trying to focus in on stores of the community. So for example, it could be a hardware store if it was in a rural area and that was the store where everybody came to get their general merchandise needs and there was a real call for Hallmark products in that area,” says Smye.
She says consumer reaction has been great to the new concept.
Holt Renfrew has partnered with Toronto’s Chase Hospitality Group to rebrand five of Holt Renfrew’s in-store restaurants. In early 2018, Holt’s restaurants will be renamed Colette Grand Café.
Colette Grand Café opened at Toronto’s Thompson Hotel in the summer of 2014, and the French-inspired restaurant has been a hit ever since. Holt Renfrew’s restaurants in Edmonton, Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto’s Yorkdale and 50 Bloor Street West locations, will all be converted to the Colette Grand Café, taking the restaurant concept national.
“Colette Grand Café embodies the French-style and is the perfect fit for Holt Renfrew to offer clientele the full luxury experience,” said Mario Grauso, President, Holt Renfrew. “Well-known for culinary excellence and creating beautifully designed spaces, we are excited to have Chase Hospitality Group restaurants as a valued partner.”
THE CAFÉ AT HOLT’S IN VANCOUVER’S CF PACIFIC CENTRE OPENED AS PART OF A STORE EXPANSION IN THE FALL OF 2016. PHOTO: HOLT’S
MONTREAL HOLT’S RESTAURANT — NO WORD YET WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH THE NEW ‘HOLT RENFREW OGILVY — PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLT’S
“We are very happy to be partnering with such an iconic luxury brand as Holt Renfrew, and to be expanding Colette Grand Café across Canada,” said Steven Salm, President, Chase Hospitality Group. “The French-inspired aesthetic and menu are a natural fit for the stylish destination and we are so pleased to bring the two together.”
The Ladurée café at Holt’s in Vancouver will be unaffected by the announcement — Ladurée has operated a 500 square foot space adjacent to the store’s women’s shoe department since the spring of 2017, and is opening this morning at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
THE COLETTE GRAND CAFÉ IN TORONTO
Chase Hospitality Group develops, manages, and operates restaurants in Toronto under several nameplates including The Chase Fish & Oyster (downtown) Kasa Moto (a contemporary Japanese restaurant and lounge in Yorkville), Planta (offering a 100% plant-based menu in Yorkville), Planta Burger (offering a 100% plant-based menu featuring burgers, downtown), Palm Lane (emphasizing whole-meal salads and bowls at Yorkville Village), as well as Colette Grand Café.
It’s not the first time that an external restaurant provider has opened restaurants in an upscale, large Canadian store — both of Saks Fifth Avenue’s Canadian stores, located in Toronto, feature Oliver & Bonacini-operated food establishments. Hudson’s Bay, under the same ownership umbrella as Saks, also features Oliver & Bonacini restaurants in a handful of its flagships. Nordstrom, on the other hand, operates a collection of in-house branded restaurants in its Canadian and American stores.
Off-White to Open Vancouver Store in Early 2018: Pricey streetwear brand Off-White will open its second Canadian retail space in Vancouver towards the end of January. The boutique is in a rather unique retail space in the laneway of ‘The Carlyle’ luxury retail complex, located between Alberni Street and Robson Street’s 1000 block as per the map below. The laneway is expected to eventually see improvements to make it more pedestrian friendly and look less utilitarian.
Known for its edgy fashions that are a cross between “streetwear and high fashion”, featuring thick diagonal stripes, Off-White was launched by designer Virgil Abloh (also Kanye West’s creative director) in 2013 and held its first Paris showroom presentation in January of 2014. In the summer of 2015, Off-White expanded from exclusively menswear into womenswear and remarkably, made it onto the shortlist of the 2015 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. The company is owned by Milan-based New Guards Group.
Off-White currently operates 17 stores globally including in Asia, Europe, the US and Australia. In Canada, Off-White is available in a handful of retailers, including selected Holt Renfrew stores.
MINISO Expands Into Alberta: Value-priced Chinese variety retailer MINISO is launching its Alberta expansion on Saturday, December 16, with a store at Edmonton’s ‘Village at Griesbach’. MINISO says that it plans to open as many as 500 stores in Canada in the coming years, and is negotiating for retail space nationwide.
MINISO entered Canada via Vancouver in the spring of 2017, where it now operates several stores in the Lower Mainland. MINISO entered the Ontario market in October of this year at Pickering Town Centre, and a source confirms that a downtown Toronto deal is currently in discussion.
MINISO has confirmed that it will soon be opening stores in New Westminster, Surrey, Coquitlam and on Robson Street in Vancouver, as well as stores in the GTA in Richmond Hill and Oshawa.
The retailer’s product offerings are also extensive, including home goods, kitchenware, underwear, cosmetics, toys and even electronics. Products are branded by name and are considered to be of exceptional quality for the price. The company was co-founded in 2013 by Japanese designer Miyake Junya and Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guo Fu, and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China. MINSO’s goal is to open 6,000 stores globally by 2020, averaging 80 to 100 store openings per month.
Shumaker Picks Pickering: Homegrown footwear brand Shumaker has expanded its Canadian store base with a new location at Pickering Town Centre, east of Toronto. It is the company’s 12th store location, following the opening last march of an impressive flagship location in Kingston, Ontario.
Shumaker was founded in 1948 as a footwear manufacturer and distributor, and is now based in Mississauga. Known for its moderately priced contemporary casual footwear for men and women, Shumaker also boasts wholesale distribution in over 1,600 points of sale across Canada.
IWC Schaffhausen Opens 2nd Stantalone Canadian Boutique in Vancouver: Swiss luxury goods holding company Richemont has opened an IWC Schaffhausen boutique in Vancouver at 1071 Alberni Street — and luxury brand Van Cleef & Arpels is about to unveil a large two-level space next to it.
IWC’s first Canadian boutique opened at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in June of 2017 — Yorkdale is home to other Richemont brands including Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin and Officine Panerai. A Panerai boutique opened in Vancouver in the fall of 2017, as well.
IWC, which stands for International Watch Company is a luxury Swiss watch brand headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and was founded by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868. The brand has seven stores in the United States, including New York City (Madison Avenue), Beverly Hills (Rodeo Drive), Costa Mesa CA (South Coast Plaza), Miami (two stores: Miami Design District, Bal Harbour Shops), and Las Vegas (two stores: Wynn Encore and Palazzo).
Lululemon Opens Men’s Store at West Vancouver’s Park Royal: Vancouver-based athletic apparel brand Lululemon has opened a standalone men’s store adjacent to its women’s store at West Vancouver’s Park Royal.
Lululemon is focusing efforts on its men’s offerings, and is seeing tremendous growth. The company opened a standalone men’s store called ‘The Local’ on Ossington Avenue in Toronto in December of 2016, and the company has since expanded the concept while catering to individual markets. In New York City for example, Lululemon operates a men’s store in the city’s Soho area, branded as ‘Lululemon NYC Men’s’.
Lululemon continues to open new stores, as well as replace and renovate some of its existing locations. This week, the retailer unveiled an updated location at Toronto’s Scarborough Town Centre, and there will be no doubt more for 2018.
Nespresso Opens at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre: Nestlé-owned Swiss coffee brand Nespresso has opened a permanent retail space in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre — it’s the second Alberta location for the retailer, following a West Edmonton Mall store that opened last month. Nespresso appears to be confident in the Alberta economy.
Nespresso has been expanding into Canada over the past several years — Quebec and Ontario were the first markets for standalone locations, while Western Canada was home to Hudson’s Bay shop-in-stores as well as pop-ups. Nespresso opened its first permanent location in the spring of 2017 at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre.
Nespresso opened its first freestanding Canadian location on Montreal’s Rue Crescent in 2009, followed by a spectacular 14,000 square foot Toronto location (designed by Italian firm Goring & Straja) in the fall of 2013, in a former theatre on Yorkville’s Cumberland Street. Both of these are ‘boutique-bars’, according to Brand Manager Caroline Delvaux in an interview last year, with both locations serving food as well as drinks and coffee makers/pods.
Parasol Co. Launches in Canada: The “softest diapers in the world” have come to Canada, courtesy of Parasol Co. The brand is known for its diapers and wipes, with a fashion twist — diapers are artfully decorated in various patterns.
On Tuesday December 12, Parasol held a launch event with CEO Jessica Hung. For now, the line is being distributed in Canada online at well.ca and westcoastkids.ca and distribution is expected to grow as the brand gains awareness.
Last chance to download barcoding e-book: Retail Insider is distributing a free, six-page e-book created by experts that discusses the challenges that retailers face with barcoding systems. It’s brief and to the point.
DNA TEA AT WEST EDMONTON MALL. PHOTO: IQ INTERACTIVE INC.
After opening its first location in West Edmonton Mall several days ago, DNA Tea is looking forward with plans to aggressively grow the brand across numerous North American locations.
“We are not selling tea as a beverage. What we’re selling is more of something that impacts your health and has a tea form,” says Dr. Rahul Kushwah, founder of DNA Tea.
“If someone cares about their health and they want something which tastes good, is aromatic, is completely natural and has the clinical basis behind it, then that’s when they come to DNA Tea. That’s what we’re selling. It’s more a health store where the product has a tea form.”
The store opened in West Edmonton Mall in just over 1,000 square feet.
“We really want to roll it out all over North America,” says Kushwah. “Our aim in Canada we are talking about all the major metropolitan cities and the U.S. the same thing. We are envisioning maybe up to 200 locations all over North America.”
He says the company is learning from the retail experience at West Edmonton Mall and tweaking some things regarding its operation. From there, expansion into other markets could begin early 2018.
The company logo has a strand of DNA in the middle which symbolizes the health benefits and the scientific basis of its tea.
Kushwah says each of the store’s tea blends has extremely high content of anti-oxidants and if people are consuming many anti-oxidants that’s DNA protective.
The Edmonton store is selling 28 different kinds of teas. It has divided teas based on their health impact and have nine categories: Pure Leaf Teas; Women’s Health; Men’s Health; Relax/Comfort; Digestive Health; Detox; Yoga; Energy; and Feel Better.
“Over 90 per cent of those blends are purely organic and none of them have any chemicals. They’re completely natural,” says Kushwah, adding it took about one-and-a-half years of research and development to come up with the blends.
When he was a professor, he had a very severe adverse reaction to an antibiotic. He lost a lot of weight, had no energy and had to undergo many blood transfusions. From there, he travelled all over Asia, talking to health practitioners and by using clinical research he came up with formulas using certain herbs combined with teas to develop different blends for medicinal and health purposes.
Kushwah says the company is working with Robert Luciano a former executive with Starbucks Canada and now head of consultancy decisionSMART, to help DNA Tea expand into the Ontario market.
“We are looking for franchisees in Ontario at the moment,” says Kushwah.
New York City-based luxury jewellery and watch brand David Yurman is expanding its Canadian concession network through partner retailer Holt Renfrew. A David Yurman boutique opened earlier this month at Holt’s in Calgary and today, David Yurman will unveil a boutique in Holt Renfrew at Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre.
Both concessions, designed by David and Sybil Yurman, are open-concept without traditional walls — they include tambour casework, bronze metal vitrines, as well as hand-crafted fixtures including solid live-edge American walnut slabs and Italian travertine counter tops, which are features typically incorporated in standalone David Yurman boutiques. Both shops carry the full assortment of Women’s and Men’s collections, as well as the David Yurman Wedding collection.
The Calgary boutique, which opened on December 1, spans about 960 square feet on the ground floor of Holt Renfrew’s 150,000 square foot four-level flagship in The CORE shopping centre. The Calgary Yurman shop includes a white gold leaf decorative panel featuring a hand applied pattern of Alberta’s Provincial flower — the Wild Rose.
The Square One boutique, being unveiled today, measures about 820 square feet in the jewellery area of Holt’s 140,000 square foot Mississauga store which opened in the summer of 2016. Square One’s Yurman shop also boasts a private viewing room.
David Yurman operates one standalone store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 1,625 square foot store opened in December of 2013. Yurman also has concessions at Holt Renfrew in Toronto (50 Bloor Street West) as well as in Montreal — the Montreal Yurman is expected to eventually move into an expanded Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, which will coincide with the closure of the city’s Holt’s.
Nordstrom in Vancouver also houses a David Yurman concession, as does Holt Renfrew in Vancouver — the Vancouver Holt’s Yurman boutique, which opened in the fall of 2016, is the largest of its kind in the world at 1,226 square feet. Interestingly, the Holt Renfrew Vancouver concession is the only location in Canada (and one of only five in the world) to carry Yurman’s ‘High Jewellery’ collection, with some pieces featuring precious metal and rare gemstones costing in excess of $100,000 with viewings available by appointment.
In Canada, David Yurman jewellery is also carried in a handful of upscale jewellers, as well as in selected Nordstrom locations, as well as Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto.
Designer David Yurman founded his eponymous company in 1980, and in 1983 introduced his signature bracelet which propelled the brand. The bracelet features a twisted helix adorned with gemstones on its end caps, available at different price points depending on materials. Designs now include pieces for women and men that range from earrings to necklaces to gift items such as pens, as well as a line of timepieces and even engagement rings. David Yurman collections are available at 47 retail and concession locations throughout the United States, Canada, and France and at over 350 locations worldwide, through their exclusive authorized fine jewelry and timepiece network of retailers, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, UK, Russia and the Middle East.
A Toronto-based businessman has launched a unique bespoke retail concept in Toronto’s up-and-coming Liberty Village. The store is named Carnabys Bespoke Jewellery, and its customization and personalization capabilities could be a window into the future of retail, according to its founder.
Carnabys is the brainchild of entrepreneur Geoffrey Black, who has been involved with the diamond import business for more than 10 years. He saw an opportunity to open a retail space where customers could personalize the design settings of diamonds and other stones, and chose vibrant Liberty Village for Carnabys first retail location. The store opened last month in suite 135 of the unique Liberty Market Building, located at 171 East Liberty Street.
Customization is facilitated by Carnabys’ unique proprietary Dream Engine Software — a video screen in the store can be used by visitors to create their desired designs in real-time. Customers are first asked a series of visual questions to determine their aesthetic tastes, which is followed by the program generating design images for consideration.
Designs can then be further personalized — be it settings style, or materials (such as gold/platinum). Choosing a stone is also a part of the process, and the Dream Engine Software is able to locate and price gems from a wide range of sources.
There’s an element of social to the process as well — customers can share their designs via social media to gage feedback from others, making the process particularly attractive to a younger demographic.
The experience is meant to be pressure-free and eclectic, putting the customer in control of their desired purchase. Visitors are encouraged to linger for the full experience, which could include having a cocktail and enjoying some music. The store has been open for several weeks now, and customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Carnabys’ gems are 100% conflict free, notes Mr. Black, and all are certified by the Gemological Institute of America. All of Carnabys’ pieces are designed and handmade in Toronto by local craftsmen.
Custom-made jewellery is particularly hot this fall — Meghan Markle, ho until recently was living in Toronto and is now engaged to Prince Harry, worked with a jeweller to customize her engagement ring design.
For those seeking ready-made jewellery pieces, Carnabys also offers a selection of about 100 pieces ranging from classic to trendy. Prices are also kept reasonable, ranging in price from $199 to $5,000 — Mr. Black explained that he wants Carnabys to be accessible to a wide range of clients and incomes. Ready-to-wear pieces focus on white, rose and yellow gold that is adorned with delicate and brilliant white diamonds.
Mr. Black, who has extensive ties to the United Kingdom, explained why he chose to open his first store at Toronto’s Liberty Village. He revealed that he had the opportunity to open a store almost anywhere in the world, and that he chose Toronto because it has “come into its own” — the city is growing quickly and is developing its own culture and tastes, and Toronto’s profile continues to be amplified by popular culture, including the music scene.
Liberty Village was chosen because of its character and demographics — the neighbourhood is a mix of restored heritage buildings, and newly-built commercial and residential buildings. Thousands of people work in the area in industries such as tech, and thousands more live in the area, contributing to what is becoming a significant and vibrant neighbourhood. With a young and upwardly mobile population (including some looking to get married), Liberty Village made sense for Carnabys to bring its own tech to the neighbourhood.
When asked if the Carnabys retail concept could be rolled-out to other places, Mr. Black explained that his first priority is to perfect the concept of his Liberty Village store, to ensure that it’s the best that it can be, and best serves clients at large. As consumers continue to demand product customization options, there could be room for further growth and expansion for the Carnabys concept.
