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Brief: More Target Spaces Filled, Miniso Continues Expansion, Artemano Files for Creditor Protection

By
Craig Patterson
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Retail Insider is expanding its reporting content to include briefs with several topics, in addition to our regular reporting. Below is our second Brief, which includes retailers that are opening, as well as a retailer that recently filed for creditor protection. 

MINISO Announces Opening of 1st Ontario Store

Value-priced Chinese variety retailer MINISO is launching its Ontario expansion on Saturday, October 21, with a location at Pickering Town Centre, east of Toronto. The store will span 1,500 square feet, and will be the first of many for the Greater Toronto Area.  

MINISO opened its first Canadian stores in the spring of 2017 in Vancouver, where it continues to rapidly open locations. The company says that it plans to open as many as 500 stores in Canada in the coming years, with 15 of those planned to open over the next 15 months (we expect more, given its current pace). The company’s Canadian flagship is located on Vancouver’s Granville Street, and signage went up last week for a subleased location on the 1000 block of popular Robson Street. 

MINISO’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. 

Vancouver’s Meat & Bread Looks to Expand into Toronto

Vancouver-based sandwich shop Meat & Bread is looking to expand into the Toronto market. Meat & Bread opened its first location in Vancouver’s Gastown area in 2010, and has since expanded into other locations in Vancouver, Calgary and Seattle. 

The changing menu comprises of three meat-focused options such as organic carved-to-order lamb, beef/veal and bison that are slow braised or roasted. It’s signature offering, porchetta rubbed fennel, chilli salt and garlic, is available daily, along with a souped-up cheese toastie for non-meat eaters. 

Meat & Bread is working with The Behar Group’s Kelly Farraj & Robert Eklove for the Toronto expansion, seeking spaces in the 1,000 to 1,500 square foot range with strong daytime and lunch traffic in areas such as Liberty Village, King and Bathurst, Queen and Spadina, Entertainment District, Front and Jarvis, Yonge and College, Yonge and Dundas, The Annex, Yonge and Eglinton, and Yonge and Sheppard. 

Contact: Kelly Farraj, Vice President of Tenant Services, Sales Representative, kfarraj@thebehargroup.com, 416.636.8898 ext. 249. or Robert Eklove, Sales Representative, reklove@thebehargroup.com, 416.636.8898. ext. 249.

Kingsway Mall Unveils Target Space Redevelopment

Edmonton’s Kingsway Mall has unveiled renovations to its former Target space, which include the addition of anchor retailers Marshalls, HomeSense, and a replacement location for H&M. 

Marshalls occupies 26,000 square feet on the second level, with HomeSense occupying 23,540 square feet downstairs. H&M’s relocated store spans 23,500 square feet, growing from 16,275 square feet in its former space. 

The mall also recently saw a renovation to its Hudon’s Bay anchor store. Michael Hill jewellers will open in the mall in November, and Aritzia is relocating to a larger 5,042 square foot space in December. The mall’s Coles bookstore was recently repositioned as an IndigoSpirit location. 

Landlord Oxford Properties will have more space to fill once the mall’s 242,000 square foot Sears store closes towards the end of 2017. 

Centre Laval Also Secures New Target Space Tenants

The Centre Laval in suburban Montreal will see its vacated Target space filled by several new retailers — TJX’s Marshalls and HomeSense will both move in, occupying about 41,000 square feet of space, according to La Press. The rest of the space includes a recently opened 70,000 square foot location for sports retailer Sportium, as well as a 32,000 square foot location for Avril Health Food Supermarket, which will open in the spring of 2018. 

The La Presse article also notes that According to Paquin Recherche et Associés, 80% of the former Target spaces in Quebec are now occupied by Walmart, Winners, Old Navy, Surplus RD Furniture, Sportium, April, Canadian Tire, Urban Planet, Simons, Super C, Réno-Dépôt, and Ardene — the latter which might open more large stores as part of its newly launched ‘superstore’ concept. 

Yorkville Village Hosts OCAD Art Festival

Toronto’s renovated Yorkville Village shopping centre continues to host rotating art shows as part of its repositioning. From November 3 to November 8, Yorkville Village and OCAD University will host the fourth annual Yorkville Village Arts Festival at the centre. The festival will showcase over 50 original contemporary art pieces created by 28 OCAD University students and recent graduates. 

Artists selected to exhibit at the festival were chosen through a rigorous jury process, and all artworks on display will be for sale to the general public for the duration of the festival. Proceeds from the sale of the piece will be directed towards supporting educational programs at the nearby Jesse Ketchum Public School. 

Sponsors Sought for Retail Council of Canada Shopping Centre Study

Retail Council of Canada is launching its second Canadian Shopping Centre Study, which ranks Canada’s top malls on sales productivity, size and number of visitors, as well as examines trends seen among leading centres. There are a variety of advertising options available, with opportunity for considerable exposure — more than a million people viewed last year’s study, which is still being quoted in the press. Landlords, retailers and those providing products and services to the industry may wish to get involved. For more information on sponsorship, contact Mary Markou at: mmarkou@retailcouncil.org.

Artemano Files for Creditor Protection

According to Insolvency Insider, Laval QC-based home furnishings company Artemano filed a Notice of Intention (NOI) to file a proposal pursuant to Section 50.4 (1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act last month. KPMG has consented to act as Trustee under the proposal, and the NOI provides a stay of proceedings against the Debtor until October 29th, 2017. 

Artemano was founded in October of 2002 and its merchandise is sold through 12 retail branches located throughout Quebec and Ontario, as well as online. Liquidation sales have commenced. 

The company owes creditors more than $13 million: Notice of intention to file a proposal [PDF 3.4 MB] – 2017-10-03 [Subscribe to Insolvency Insider]

As well, check out today’s stories on Retail Insider: 

Mypixel Enables Small Businesses to Launch Creative Ad Campaigns: A Canadian company has launched a self-serve programmatic advertising platform designed for independent businesses: “We want to level the playing field for small businesses and give them access to similar advertising opportunities as bigger companies.”

Cadillac Fairview Launches Innovative CF for Campus Program: The eight-month program, designed exclusively to target post-secondary students, will include offers and experiences to encourage them to frequent CF’s centres. 

Retail Insider will now be regularly including these briefs as part of our expanding reporting mandate. For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Craig Patterson at: craig@retail-insider.com. 

Brief: Bulgari to Open in Vancouver, Bailey Nelson Launches Expansion, Prada Mink Mile Overhaul

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: Brief

Retail Insider is expanding its reporting content to include briefs with several topics, in addition to our regular reporting. Below is our first Brief, which includes retailers that are opening, as well as a retailer that recently filed NOI under the Bankruptcy and Involvency Act. 

Bulgari to Open 1st Vancouver Boutique

Bulgari (AT HOLT RENFREW, CF PACIFIC CENTRE VANCOUVER. PHOTO: CRAIG PATTERSON)

Italian luxury jeweller Bulgari will unveil its first Vancouver boutique this fall at Holt Renfrew in CF Pacific Centre. The concession will be located on the ground level of the store’s accessories hall, alongside brands such as Links of London, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton. Vancouver’s Holt Renfrew is undergoing an extensive renovation that will be completed in 2018. 

Bulgari opened its first (and currently only) standalone Canadian boutique at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in the winter of 2014. The Vancouver location will be the second official boutique in Canada, and the brand is also carried in a handful of upscale jewellery retailers nationally. 

COS Opens at Mississauga’s Square One

COS (PHOTO: DAVID A PIKE)

H&M‘s upscale fashion brand COS, which stands for ‘Collection of Style’, has opened a 5,060 square foot store at Square One in Mississauga. The store is located in the mall’s ‘luxury wing’, alongside Tory Burch, Rolex and Ferragamo stores, and across the hall from the mall’s 140,000 square foot Holt Renfrew store, which opened in the summer of 2016. 

It’s the fifth Canadian location for COS, and more locations are in the works. COS opened its first Canadian store in September of 2015 at 85 Bloor Street West in Toronto, and it also operates stores at 1310 Ste-Catherine St. W. in Montreal, at 18 Water Street in Vancouver, and at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. 

Bailey Nelson Begins Canadian Corporate Store Rollout

Bailey Nelson (PHOTO: MARTIN MORIARTY, VIA LINKEDIN)

Australian eyewear retailer Bailey Nelson is in the midst of its corporately-run Canadian store rollout. Its first Canadian location opened earlier this year at 1135 Robson Street in Vancouver, followed by a second location at 2169 W. 4th Avenue in Kitsilano. A third store also opened last week at 202 Carrall Street in Gastown. Martin Moriarty and Mario Negris of CBRE Vancouver negotiated the Vancouver deals. 

Toronto is next for Bailey Nelson, with a first location confirmed to be opening this fall at 732 Queen Street West. Bailey Nelson is working with CBRE Toronto Urban Retail Team under the direction of Jackson Turner, Arlin Markowitz, and Alex Edmison for the Toronto rollout. 

Prada Mink Mile Flagship Overhaul Nears Completion

The Prada store at 131 Bloor St. W. in Toronto is nearing the completion of a substantial expansion and renovation. The 5,889 square foot store recently gained a second level, resulting in a 13,600+ square foot space which is now being renovated with Prada’s latest design, including glossy black-and-white checkered flooring on the main level, and luxe furnishings throughout — similar to Prada’s impressive 8,200 square foot Vancouver flagship that opened in the spring of 2016. 

Prada also continues to expand its Canadian operations with shop-in-store concessions — the Vancouver Holt Renfrew accessories concession was recently revamped, and plans are in the works for Holt’s on Bloor in Toronto, as well as an eventual new location in Montreal when Holt Renfrew merges with Ogilvy. Prada also opened a concession at Saks Fifth Avenue’s Canadian flagship in downtown Toronto in the spring of 2016.

West Edmonton Mall Secures Tenants for Target Space

West Edmonton Mall (PHOTO: CRAIG PATTERSON)

North America’s largest mall is getting a few new tenants, following Target’s exit from the mall in the spring of 2015. According to signage, the ground floor of West Edmonton Mall’s former 126,000 square foot Target will feature a combined Winners/HomeSense store, spanning more than 62,000 square feet. On the second level of the former Target space, retailer buybuyBABY will open a 23,300 square foot store — the remaining 36,260 square feet on that level is currently occupied by a temporary location for Halloween Alley. 

The mall’s current Winners location will be replaced with a Marshalls store, according to West Edmonton Mall. Both Winners and Marshalls are owned by TJX Companies. West Edmonton Mall is also seeing other tenants which will be discussed at length in a separate article.

Mountain Warehouse Continues Rapid Canadian Expansion. Next Stop: West Edmonton Mall

North America’s biggest mall is also going to become home to UK-based outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse this fall, which has been quietly and rapidly opening stores nationally. The company has opened six stores in Canada this year under the direction of broker Patricia Scrivener of Northwest Atlantic, for a total of 32 stores nationally — not bad, considering that Mountain Warehouse opened its first Canadian store in 2013. 

Frank and Oak Opens 2nd Women’s Store

Image: Frank and Oak

Montreal-based fashion retailer Frank and Oak opened its first standalone women’s store in September in Montreal’s ‘Mile End’. Last week, a second one opened on Toronto’s trendy Queen Street West. The Toronto store is about 1,000 square feet, and Oberfeld Snowcap handles its real estate. 

Frank and Oak, which launched its women’s collection in 2016, began as an online men’s clothing retailer and subscription service in 2012, focused on providing “elevated basics” for millennial customers. The company has since opened more than a dozen brick and mortar stores throughout Canada and the U.S.

(See slideshow above for multiple images of the new Toronto store) 

Spareparts Files NOI

SPAREPARTS (YORKDALE STORE: VINCENZO PISTRITTO FROM BRANDON BARRE PHOTOGRAPHY)

According to newsletter Insolvency Insider, Saskatoon-based accessory/sunglasses/watch retailer Spareparts has filed a Notice of Intention after incurring substantial debt. Two of its companies filed NOI’s on October 2 and 3rd, respectively listing $6.3 million and $7.1 million in liabilities, including $3.9 million owed to RBC. Other creditors include Fossil, Oakley, Matt & Nat and The North Face, according to Insolvency Insider, which also notes that BDC is the second position lender, while KPMG is the proposal trustee. Law firm McCarthy Tétrault is acting as legal counsel for the company, and Torys LLP is acting on behalf of the proposal trustee. 

Spareparts rapidly expanded to 21 stores in Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, Manitoba and Ontario, with some beautiful retail spaces in some of the country’s top malls. 

From KPMG: On October 2, 2017, 1031084 Alberta Ltd. filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal (the “NOI”), pursuant to Section 50.4(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. On October 3, 2017, 623735 Saskatchewan Ltd. filed an NOI pursuant to the same legislation. 1031084 Alberta Ltd. and 623735 Saskatchewan Ltd. are herein referred to together as the “Company” and KPMG Inc. (“KPMG”) has consented to act as Trustee under the proposals.

The NOI provides a stay of proceedings against the Debtors for 1031084 Alberta Ltd. until November 2, 2017 and for 623735 Saskatchewan Ltd. until November 3, 2017. [Subscribe to Insolvency Insider]

Tailoring The Customer Experience to Boost Online Sales

By
Retail Insider
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exc-59e4241580bd5ea63fc901ab

By Michael J. Armstrong, Brock University and Narongsak (Tek) Thongpapanl, Brock University

Annual online retail or “e-tail” sales now exceed $19 billion in Canada, AUS$21 billion in Australia, US$410 billion in the United States, and US$1 trillion in China.

In the United States, conventional retail is growing but e-tail is growing four times as fast. Amazon already captures 43 per cent of American online retail sales, and it continues to expand into new retail categories, such as groceries, and new countries, including Australia. Other e-tailers such as Wish are also growing rapidly.

In response, brick-and-mortar retailers are enhancing their online offerings. For example, Walmart and Loblaws now allow customers to “click-and-collect” by buying online and picking up their purchases in-store.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are encouraging their customers to buy online and pick up their purchases in-store.
Clark Young/Unsplash, CC BY-SA

But e-tail isn’t easy. One challenge is foreign competition. Statistics Canada reports that 40 per cent of Canadian online sales come from foreign sources. That could increase if the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement winds up raising online duty-free limits.

For e-tailers, growth is not simply a matter of advertising more through Facebook or Google keyword searches. The fundamental problem is that only 2.5 per cent of retail website visitors purchase something.

Converting those browsers into buyers is difficult. To succeed, retailers need to tailor their websites and strategies to their target customers, whether they’re across town or across oceans.

Confident and trusting consumers?

The foundation for successful online retail is consumer confidence and trust. A multi-nation study, carried out by researchers from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University, found that consumers who feel confident using the internet generally view e-commerce more favourably. Likewise, consumers are more likely to buy from e-tailers they trust. If consumers lack confidence or retailers have bad corporate reputations, those must be fixed first.

With that foundation in place, companies can then turn their attention to the way their websites are designed. To encourage online shopping, websites should be useful: Do they have the products customers want? They should also be user-friendly: Is it easy for customers to find products and place orders?

For consumers with ample internet experience, usefulness has a greater impact on purchasing. For those with less experience, user-friendliness is more important.

Fun or functional designs?

Beyond those basics, web designers must make many other decisions. Another study shows the “best” choices depend on customers’ needs and wants.

For example, some consumers want to experience a sense of growth and accomplishment. These shoppers prefer web pages with colourful pictures and emotional language. They also like descriptions of the product’s performance or the pleasure it offers. Their favourite e-tail sites combine these features to make shopping fun.

The movie section of the Google Play store is a good example of pleasure-oriented design. Shoppers can watch previews, read and write reviews and rent movies.

By contrast, some shoppers say they want their shopping experience to feel secure and responsible. They want to avoid negative outcomes, such as accidentally ordering the wrong size or version of a product.

These negative-avoiding shoppers prefer pages with practical layouts and clear menus. They also like descriptions that emphasize product functions and reliability. Their favourite sites make shopping efficient.

Amazon’s site fits into this category. It offers many ways to search for products and suggests additional related products the shopper may like.

The best retail websites focus on one shopper type or the other — they don’t try to please both. Some customers dislike seeing the other type’s features, or get confused by the contradictions between them. For example, negative-avoiding shoppers not only prefer seeing more functional features, they also prefer seeing fewer fun ones.

Retailers wanting to reach both groups may need multiple sites. For example, Dell has different designs for its business and consumer web pages.

Available or habitual?

Online retailers should also support shopping via smartphones and tablets to build their business. Mobile or “m-commerce” offers consumers even more access or “ubiquity,” allowing them to shop for anything, anywhere, anytime. But research published earlier this year indicates that the best way to promote these services depends on customers’ previous m-commerce experience.

Online retailers are using coupons and membership programs to turn mobile shopping into a habit.
Photo Mix/Pexels, CC BY-SA

Some customers are relatively inexperienced with mobile shopping. To reach them, retailers’ advertising should explain the availability and convenience this service offers.

Retailers should engage with experienced mobile shoppers more directly, so that it becomes a habit. These consumers take availability as a given and respond to nudges like coupons, memberships and reward programs. Amazon Prime is a great example of this approach. The goal is to keep people coming back often, and inspire their friends to shop too.

Basic marketing, updated

While online shopping behaviours do vary from country to country, what matters more to e-tailers are the features of the individual market segments. For example, some developed countries, such as Canada, still have consumers with little e-commerce experience. Likewise, some consumers in less developed countries, such as India, are sophisticated online shoppers.

The ConversationEven with the latest trends and technology, retailers still need to know their customers to be successful. But e-tail requires the retailer to know a different set of things about their customers and to use different methods. The winning e-tailers will be those that use targeted offerings — whether through design or incentives — to capture consumers’ hearts and minds.

Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Brock University and Narongsak (Tek) Thongpapanl, Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation, Brock University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Art Shoppe Retail Space for Lease at Yonge & Eglinton in Toronto

By
Craig Patterson
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Art Shoppe Lofts Rendering

Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton area is growing rapidly, with thousands of new condominium units in the pipeline that are helping transform the area into one of the highest-density nodes in the country. With it comes new retail opportunities, and a block south of the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue is The Art Shoppe Lofts + Condos at 2131 Yonge Street, which at its base has an offering of top-quality retail space for lease.

Located at street-level, The Art Shoppe’s 25,890 square feet of available retail space boasts over 200 feet of frontage along Yonge Street, a complete city block. The space is divisible into numerous options, including restaurant and junior anchors up to 2,800 square feet, with frontages between 27 and 93 feet and ceiling heights soaring to over 20 feet. There are some exceptional patio opportunities along a widened Yonge Street sidewalk, including a highly visible corner at Yonge Street and Hillsdale Ave. East, as well. New BIA streetscape along Yonge Street from Davisville Avenue to the Art Shoppe is to be installed in 2020.
 
Foot traffic in the immediate area will be substantial when the project is completed — on the second level of the Art Shoppe retail podium, a 52,000 square foot grocery retailer will be accessed from a ground-level lobby adjacent to the available retail space that also includes direct elevator access to one and a half levels of commercial parking below grade. As well, located above it all will be 624 residential condominium units in the Art Shoppe Lofts + Condos, with its two lobbies designed by the world’s best-known fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld. 

The Yonge and Eglinton area consists of many young, well established, urban professionals with exceptionally high incomes, as well as a remarkable number of corporate headquarters in several nearby office towers. The area includes amenities such as nightclubs and pubs, as well as extensive retail offerings that will increase as development continues in the area. Notable, as well, is the fact that the Yonge and Eglinton intersection is the second-busiest pedestrian intersection in the city, with about 68,000 commuters entering and exiting the Eglinton Subway station daily, and over 75,000 vehicles passing by the intersection daily. 

The area will become even busier with the completion of a new transit station for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line — the multi-billion dollar project is forecasted to be completed in 2021, and it will make the area even busier while adding enhanced connectivity, conveniently a block north of The Art Shoppe. 
 
The ground level retail space at the base of The Art Shoppe is currently for lease, and can be demised and customized to suit various tenants. The 20-foot ceiling heights offer flexibility of uses, making this project highly desirable for a variety of retail uses. For more information on this retail space, contact Arlin Markowitz, Senior Vice President at CBRE, at: arlin.markowitz@cbre.com or by phone: 416-815-2374. 

*Retail Insider occasionally profiles commercial real estate listings. For more information, contact: craig@retail-insider.com.

Mixed-Use Development The Plant Raises Sustainability Bar and Takes on Urban Agriculture

By
Mario Toneguzzi
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The Plant (Photo credit: William Suarez)

A unique mixed-use project in Toronto’s Queen Street West neighbourhood is raising the bar on sustainability and taking urban agriculture to a new level.

The Plant, a joint development between Windmill Development Group and Curated Properties, will be a 10-storey building with street front retail, second floor office space and eight residential condo floors. Construction will begin next week and completion is expected in the fall 2019.

“Windmill has been particularly known for its focus on sustainability. We’ve done probably the most sustainable buildings and communities in Canada, if not North America,” says Alex Speigel, partner with Windmill Development Group.

“The site has an interesting food history and also the area has a strong employment history. When we started the project we didn’t want to simply make another residential building but we really liked the idea of first of all being a mixed-use building and of it having some non-residential component. That’s the retail and the office. And second of all in addition to the sustainability features that we always build into our projects, we wanted to kind of the raise the bar even further on sustainability with an urban agriculture focus. Urban agriculture is a big part of the building.”

The Plant (Photo credit: William Suarez)

Speigel says the area was once an employment node with jobs in factories. But over time it became gentrified and turned into a much more residential neighbourhood.

The site also has a strong historical connection with food, having housed in the past Dufflet Bakeries and Real Food for Real Kids.

“We’re really focused on the theme of healthy living because the whole building is very sustainable, very healthy, focused on urban agriculture. So we’d really like to curate the tenants so they support and turn the whole building into kind of a vertical village. It epitomizes how you can live in a healthy way in an urban environment,” says Speigel.

The eight storeys of residential above the retail and office floors are set back from the podium. The third level has a large outdoor terrace with a community garden, amenities and a greenhouse.

The retail space is about 9,000 square feet and there is about 11,500 square feet for office space.

A total of 74 condo units were all sold very quickly after the sales launch in the Spring. Speigel says most of the units are two bedrooms with some three and four bedroom units. They have very large outdoor balconies which are designed so people can have gardens and plants where they can grow food.

The goal of the retail and office space is to support and enhance the rest of the building. Ideally for retail, Speigel says the developers are looking for independent brands focused on healthy living. The ideal mix would include a small food market with a bakery, cheese store and cafe; a bike store; a plant store; and a small restaurant.

The building will also have a large communal kitchen where people can host dinners, do vegetable canning or have guests chefs for a party.

“It’s partially so people can grow food to feed themselves but  . . . it’s really a way of building community within the building because it gives people a chance to meet their neighbours. Urban agriculture is about community building. It’s about education as well as about growing food,” says Speigel of the concept.

To become a part of The Plant business community, register at theplantqueenwest.com or e-mail info@theplantqueenwest.com.

Retail Insider to Launch Multi-Topic Briefs

By
Retail Insider
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exc-59e3f369a8b2b0193314cbfe

Retail Insider is expanding its reporting to include briefs that will discuss several topics in one post, and these will be published in addition to our regular daily articles. We’re doing this because there’s a lot happening in Canadian retail, and this gives us an opportunity to efficiently report on topics that might be too short to warrant their own article, or might otherwise not have enough information to be lengthy. 

We will continue to publish our daily articles with original content as well as our daily ‘News From Around the Web’, in addition to the new Retail Insider Briefs. 

In the new Retail Insider Briefs, as well, we’ll be expanding our content to include more quick service restaurant reporting, as well as happenings, events, and other relevant topics that might be of interest to readers.  

We welcome pitches for our new multi-topic Briefs. For more information and to provide suggestions, feel free to contact Retail Insider’s Editor-in-Chief, Craig Patterson, at: craig@retail-insider.com. 

As well, if you haven’t already, consider subscribing to our daily e-newsletter — it’s free and comes out each weekday, and will keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in Canadian retail. [Subscribe Here]

Landlords Strategize to Fill Vacated Anchor Retail Spaces 

By
Mario Toneguzzi
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Photo: Sears

As major retailers exit the Canadian landscape leaving behind large spaces, shopping centres across the country are responding by filling those vacancies with multiple tenants.

With news that retail giant Sears Canada will be liquidating and closing all its stores, speculation has begun on what will happen with that vacated space.

“I can’t speak to Sears specifically, but first and foremost, gone are the days of traditional large format retailers, occupying big box stores,” says Shawn Hanson, general manager of Southcentre Mall, which houses the largest Sears store in Calgary.

Photo: Target (PHOTO: ARCHITECTUREANDBRANDING.WORDPRESS.COM)

“Developers that re-demise traditional anchor space can curate opportunities to add value through the differentiation of the merchandising mix, with uses and space that may not have been available otherwise.”

Martin Moriarty, Associate Vice President of Retail Leasing and Investment at CBRE Vancouver, says there’s an increasing opportunity for certain landlords with large amounts of space in their shopping centres.

“They can now segment it off and they can increase the productivity of the experience within the malls,” he says. “There’s the opportunity to take one big retailer, segment that space and create far more of an experience whether it’s entertainment, dining, fitness, education, and service.”

For example, Calgary’s CF Market Mall took vacated Target space on two levels, which was about 120,000 square feet, and filled it with three different tenants.

Darryl Schmidt, vice-president, national leasing with Cadillac Fairview’s Western portfolio office, says the backfill retailers are Sporting Life for 40,000 square feet, all on the lower level fronting from the main mall to the street, Zara for 33,000 square feet on a two-level mall access only store, (11,000 square feet on main and 22,000 square feet up) and HomeSense for about 33,000 square feet (all upper level exterior access only).

(RENDERING OF THE NEW SPORTING LIFE STORE THAT OPENED AT CF MARKET MALL IN CALGARY LAST WEEK)

The leftover space is a combination of service corridors and storage.

“The benefits to repurposing an anchor box to smaller mid-size boxes is really threefold. First, the gross rental structures are much higher than what Target or a Sears would pay,” says Schmidt. “Second ,we typically see higher overall sales productivity from multiple users versus a single user. In the case of CF Market Mall, we should double the productivity to around $45-50 million in sales from all three boxes versus the old Target which was around $22 million. Finally, the higher sales are a by-product of higher foot traffic so the additional traffic and multiple banners has synergistic benefits for the rest of the retailers in the shopping centre by increasing overall traffic and increasing the opportunity for greater cross-shopping.  Overall it’s a win, win, win.”

“This practice is becoming more popular but less by design and more as a reflection or function of market forces. With underperforming anchors failing and traditional anchors such as The Bay, Nordstrom or Saks standing pat with their current fleet size, an array of mid-size box retailers is really the logical replacement strategy. The costs to carve up the space and in the case of CF Market Mall add multiple units of vertical transportation are expensive but the financial and non-financial benefits outweigh the added expense.”

ABOVE AND BELOW: HUDSON’S BAY WILL CLOSE AT MONTREAL’S LE BOULEVARD NEXT YEAR, AND THE LANDLORD IS ALREADY PREPARING TO SPLIT IT UP FOR MULTIPLE TENANTS. IMAGES VIA CROFTON MOORE)

In September, Retail Insider reported that one of Canada’s first shopping centres, Le Boulevard, in eastern Montreal, will undergo a major redevelopment of 100,000 square feet which anchor Hudson’s Bay will vacate in the fall of 2018.

Mitchell Moss, president of Crofton Moore, which manages the mall, told Retail-Insider the redevelopment is slated for completion in 2019.

“It is 100,000 square feet on two levels. We could do one 100,000-square-foot tenant on two levels which is possible or most likely there will be multiple tenants. Probably one or two on the second floor and three to five on the ground floor,” said Moss.

Le Boulevard, a 400,000-square-foot enclosed shopping centre,  is located at the corner of Jean Talon Street and Pie IX Boulevard.

“In the recent past the vacant Target stores across Canada provided shopping centre landlords with an unprecedented opportunity to re-lease the large format spaces to smaller commercial tenants thereby broadening the offering to consumers and enhancing their properties. The Sears spaces will offer similar challenges and rewards,” says Michael Kehoe, an Alberta-based retail specialist with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc., in Calgary.

New E-commerce Brand Grayes Caters to Working Women

By
Megan Harman
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A new Toronto-based e-commerce retailer, called Grayes, is on a mission to provide women with professional clothing that has personality, while supporting Canadian manufacturing.

Launched in 2016 by Stephanie Ray, Grayes specializes in trendy and flattering workwear essentials for women, all of which is designed, cut and sewn in factories in the Greater Toronto Area.

“I wanted to create pieces that allow women to express their personal style but that are still appropriate for the office,” says Ray. “Most importantly, I wanted to create workwear that women could feel like themselves in and be excited about wearing off duty too.”

A law school graduate, Ray was inspired to launch Grayes during her studies. When shopping for clothing to wear to interviews, presentations and networking events, she found that the majority of items were stiff and uncomfortable, and failed to reflect her personal style.

“I struggled to find work-appropriate pieces that I loved,” Ray says. “I felt forced into awkward suits with no personality when I wanted chic dresses, blazers and pants that could work in the office and after hours too.”

After graduating, Ray decided to launch Grayes to address this gap that she had identified in the womenswear market. The brand offers a variety of office-appropriate dresses, tops, pants and blazers, which incorporate trendy styles and can transition from day to night. The collection features predominantly neutral tones such as black and grey, and utilizes high-quality, durable fabrics.

“The inspiration for many of our designs comes from my own personal style and what was missing in the women’s workwear market – workwear with a point of view,” Ray says.

Grayes works exclusively with factories in the Greater Toronto Area.

“As a company based in Toronto, we really wanted production to be local so that we could ensure quality and oversee every part of the process,” says Ray. “Having our factory in such close proximity allows us to work directly with them to ensure quality and ethical conditions. It also means faster turnaround times.”

Ray admits that local manufacturing comes at a higher cost compared to other regions of the world. However, she says the advantages are well worth the additional cost.

“The higher cost of producing locally in Canada can definitely be challenging, but it’s something that we acknowledged from the start,” she says. “We firmly believe that you pay for the quality that you receive, and we think our customers agree that supporting Canadian-made is just as important to them as it is to us.”

Grayes pieces range in price from $175 to $395, and are available through its website at www.grayes.com. The company offers free shipping and returns, which resonates with its customers, according to Ray.

“Our target customers are professionals with busy lives who see the value and ease in having clothes sent to their home or office for them to try on,” she says. She expects the e-commerce industry to continue to grow as more Canadian consumers are embracing online shopping.

Grayes also engages its customers face-to-face through occasional events, such as pop-ups, trunk shows and female-oriented networking events. Currently, the company doesn’t have plans to expand its distribution to include brick and mortar stores.

“For the time being we are focusing on our online business and activating with pop-ups, trunk shows and other events,” Ray says. “But who knows what the future holds!”

**Photos featured on Grayes website. Additional photos of their current fashions can be found below. 

Still Time to Register For PRSM Retail Facility Management Events in Toronto on October 19

By
Retail Insider
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exc-59dfc15ce5dd5b04cc084801

There’s still time to register for PRSM‘s (Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association) autumn meeting event on October 19 in Toronto, which will include education as well as networking [Register Here]. As well, the conference is accepting on-site registrations. 

Two (2) Continuing Education Credits are available towards your RFMP Designation Renewal by attending this event.

The ‘Canada East’ event will be held at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre. Speakers will include opening remarks by Bill Yanek, CEO, PRSM Association as well as Keynote and Facilitator: Jennifer Spear, President & Creative Strategist, Clean Slate Strategies. 

There will also be a networking lunch and in the afternoon, Quick Connect will place retailers at their own exhibit tables during a dedicated two-hour speed-networking event. That will be followed by a networking reception that ends at 3:00 p.m.

Due to the overwhelming positive response to last year’s events, PRSM is bringing back its ‘Quick Connect’ networking component to this year’s event. Quick Connect replaces a traditional trade show event and places Retailers at their own exhibit tables where Suppliers can visit during the allotted time. Suppliers are urged to bring flyers, information and promotional items to the event.

Time’s running out, so act fast. For more information, schedule and to sign up, visit: https://www.prsm.com/p/cm/ld/fid=435.

*Partner content. For more information, contact craig@retail-insider.com.

Canadians Shopping Less at Department Stores and Fashion Retailers: Study

By
Mario Toneguzzi
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CF Toronto Eaton Centre (Image: CF)

A new national study finds that department store and fashion shopping are in decline overall in the retail industry in Canada.

The DIG360 – Leger Canadian Department Store Fashion Shopper Study determined that 31 per cent of Canadians 18 years and older are shopping for fashion less often in the past two years, while only 14 per cent are shopping more.

And the declines correspond to income as 37 per cent of those with under $40,000 household income are shopping less, compared with just 22 per cent of those with over $100,000.

The study was based on a survey conducted by Leger of 1,566 adults Canadians between May 15 and May 18.

“There’s so much going on in the Department Store space right now,” says David Ian Gray, of Vancouver-based DIG360 Consulting Ltd. This week, for example, Sears Canada announced it would be liquidating and selling all its stores.

HUDSON’S BAY, YORKDALE SHOPPING CENTRE. (PHOTO: HUDSON’S BAY CO.)

“We see the continued shift to value shopping . . . It’s a collective psyche we noticed kicking in around 2010. Not 2008 when we heard about the economic crisis in the States but for us it was about two years later. After many years of people just spending on credit cards and ‘retail therapy’, suddenly budgeting was becoming a mainstay.

“The frugality isn’t just about shifting to Walmart. It also means just buying less.”

The report says 18 per cent shopped at a Canadian discount outlet mall in the past year.

“We expect this to grow with the addition of more of the concepts in the Canadian retail landscape,” says the study. “Originally, Department Stores were a modern solution to the shopping convenience demanded by a growing urbanite population. They housed a wide range of products in one building and were a beacon of traffic. Then came the explosion of enclosed shopping centres, then global specialty retailers, power centres and now high streets and ecommerce.

“Notably, 72 per cent of Canadians wait for sales to shop at Department Stores, reflecting the national propensity to more budget conscious households and the fiscal challenge facing these stores. And there are the naysayers: 35 per cent of us feel the Department Store concept is tired and dated, and 35 per cent say they are too big and a waste of time.”

(LA MAISON SIMONS AT GALERIES D’ANJOU IN MONTREAL. PHOTO: SIMONS)

Gray says where that retail therapy has picked up has been in the personal care sector and the cosmetics category within Department Stores “is going through the roof right now.”

The study also found:

  • fashion shopping continues to be a young person’s sport, as 31 per cent of those 18-24 are increasing their fashion shopping in the past two years (compared to 23 per cent of this age group shopping less);

  • there is a significant drop in fashion shopping around age 45, with just seven per cent of those 45 and older reporting an increase in fashion shopping and 36 per cent a decrease;

  • That 37 per cent  of women reported shopping less for fashion should alarm retailers of women’s apparel, particularly at a time of greater competition and choice.

    The report said 54 per cent of Canadian adults shopped Department Stores for clothes in the past 12 months and of those shopping more for fashion in the past two years, 76 per cent shopped Department Stores in the past year.

Two-thirds of Canadians like the variety and brands carried by Department Stores and only 25 per cent prefer shopping brands’ own standalone stores over the fashion they sell in Department Stores.

“As a reminder that many shoppers reside outside the downtown cores of our major cities, the highest shopping incidence is for those with the broadest regional coverage of stores.

Hudson’s Bay Company leads at 31 per cent of adult Canadians buying in the past year. Sears was a close second at 28 per cent, with the advantage of substantial store coverage in Quebec. Over half of adult Canadians (55 per cent) shop Walmart for at least some fashion in the past 12 months,” says the study.

(SEARS CANADA ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK THAT IT PLANS TO SHUT ITS ENTIRE OPERATIONS. PHOTO: SEARS CANADA)

“For many, Sears was a very important part of their shopping lives – closures here will leave a void.”

The study also says Nordstrom is introducing younger shoppers back to Department Stores.

“Those who are generally shopping less are favouring Walmart, Sears, Winners and other value-priced department and specialty stores. While not a full-range fashion department store, the regular traffic Walmart generates for other merchandise has led two-thirds (66 per cent) of Canadians with household income under $40,000 to report a clothing purchase in the past year. Notably, almost half (46%) of those with income over $100,000 also report purchasing clothes at Walmart,” it says.

“Another notable player is Winners with 39 per cent of shoppers buying. This is far ahead of other specialty chains and certainly elevates it to a department store-like impact. Of chain retailers, Winners had 48 per cent and H&M captured 34 per cent of those Canadians who increased their fashion shopping.”

*David Ian Gray of DIG360 and Leger will be discussing the study as part of a presentation today at Retail Council of Canada‘s Retail West conference in Vancouver. 

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