Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a lineup of customers at your door each morning, eagerly waiting for you to open for business?
Some great brands experience this every day; does yours?
As District Managers, HQ holds you responsible for a lot of key deliverables: staffing, inventory, sales and more. You can be rewarded for hitting sales targets or punished for failure.
What is the secret sauce used by successful brands that require them to schedule extra staff in the mornings?
After speaking with many brands in Fashion and Automotive, communication always comes up. They work for well-known brands, with great products at competitive prices that everyone seems to want.
So why do your stores only need one part-time staffer to unlock your doors? – They can even show up late, and no one would notice.
Is the brand (Marketing) listening to your customers? You know, the people who spend their hard-earned money on your goods. The people who wear or drive your products and share comments and posts with their community. The people who refer friends to your business.
Yes, Social/Digital Marketing is fantastic. One can reach millions of people with a simple click. But is your audience listening to your unique offer or are they simply grouping you with all of the competing offers and noise on their newsfeed?
For the past two years, we’ve found that SMS has been extremely successful in getting shoppers to line up at our merchants’ front doors.
SMS is completely Ubiquitous. Doesn’t matter what phone or software you have. No App needed. 100% open rate.
You can experience the old Black Friday lineups almost every week.
Is this a problem you wish to have more often?
Eric Nykamp is CEO of Raange, Inc., Founder at Mamoth-Group, TAARGA, RAANGE and Mamoth-Labs! Internet Strategist, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Investor, Husband, Father, Insomniac
My goal is to elevate traditional brick & mortar retailers to quickly and easily transition to the latest marketing concepts and communication channels, to rebuild trusted dialogue with their past, present, and future customers.
I want to hear about your business. Email Me @: Contact_Me@raange.com; Text Me @: (514) 613-3324 with Keyword ‘Lineup’
Affordable, fast-fashion retailer Ardene has launched a new era of experiential retail in Canada with the first in a series of new large-format stores it says will reinvigorate its retail footprint while elevating the in-store shopping experience for its core ‘Generation Z’ consumer.
The first new concept 15,000-square-foot store is located at the Carrefour du Nord shopping mall in Saint-Jérôme, Québec.
“Ardene’s new concept store design has been over a year in the making – with countless hours of R&D, planning and construction,” said the retailer in a statement to Retail-Insider. “Given the shopping habits of our core Generation Z consumer, we wanted to create a space that was the ‘ultimate hangout’ – a destination for our highly-visual customers to immerse themselves and interact with rich, vibrant brand content.
“The store features brand-new fixtures and dedicated product zones that make our merchandise displays more engaging than before. For example, there are giant LED screens; phone charging stations; a social hangout section; Instagrammable moments; and a social media photo booth.”The Saint-Jérôme store, which opened this month, is the first in a series of new concept stores that were designed to elevate the in-store shopping experience.
The retailer said all new concept stores will have an open-concept design, and greater square footage than previous stores. For example, the previous store at Carrefour du Nord was 4,770 square feet.
The company said three more new concept stores – Terrebonne, Québec; St. Albert, Alberta and Grande Prairie, Alberta – are scheduled to open this year with more planned for 2018.
“We believe that there is a future for brick and mortar retail in Canada and internationally, which is why we are investing to ensure that our physical stores blend seamlessly with our digital platforms – now and going forward,” said Ardene.
Ardene currently has 351 stores in Canada, and 13 internationally. Here is the breakdown by province of its Canadian stores: Alberta, 40; British Columbia, 38; Manitoba, 16; New Brunswick, 10; Newfoundland & Labrador, seven; Nova Scotia, eight; Ontario, 118; Prince Edward Island, two; Québec, 99; and Saskatchewan, 13.
“We want to offer a fresh and elevated shopping experience that engages our customer. In today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape, with brands struggling to stay relevant and authentic, it’s been important to listen to our customers,” said Ardene. “That’s why one of our redesign priorities was to focus on Gen Z – our fastest growing customer segment – while remaining loyal to our broader customer base. We’re still the Ardene that people know and love; our prices are affordable, we receive a vast assortment of new arrivals every week, and our customers can dress themselves from head-to-toe in one visit.
“We’re also evolving with the expectations of an increasingly digital world. What the redesign has pushed us to do is modernize. The result has been a space that’s experiential and customer-centric – it’s a whole new way for customers to shop with us.”
Two of Canada’s most popular malls – CF Chinook Centre and CF Market Mall in Calgary – are undergoing major changes as the city embarks on a modest economic recovery following two years of a recession.
“I think we’re seeing some positive steps in retail right now,” says Darren Milne, general manager of CF Market Mall. “Sales are getting a little bit better. We’re starting to see sales growth happening in Calgary.
“The struggle still remains that while we’re starting to see sales stabilize in Calgary you certainly are still seeing some more space coming onto the market . . . While we’re really finally starting to see some positive signs, I think retailers are still quite cautious about how things are going to be moving forward in Alberta.”
He says the redevelopment of the vacated Target space in the shopping centre has been a major project.
HomeSense has moved from a standalone building on the mall’s site to the second level of the former Target space in about 30,000 square feet. The lower level of the space will include a 40,000-square-foot Sporting Life store with its second location in Calgary which is scheduled to open in early October.
The balance of the vacated Target space is a 30,000-square-foot Zara store, spanning two floors and scheduled to open in early October as well.
Another major project there includes an expansion of the existing Sport Chek store where a two-level, 25,000-square-foot building is being added to the back of the current store.
“That project is going to be quite a ways out from being complete because they’re doing a full store reno at the same time,” says Milne. “You’ll start to see changes happening here slowly over the next six months for sure.”
CF MARKET MALL. PHOTO: CADILLAC FAIRVIEWCF MARKET MALL, WITH SPORTING LIFE HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE. CLICK FOR AN INTERACTIVE CF MARKET MALL FLOOR PLAN
The underground parkade is also being expanded to add about 100 extra stalls, bringing the total to about 770. That will be completed in about a month.
A standalone building on the west side of the mall, which has housed HomeSense and Staples for a number of years, will also face a major redevelopment.
Milne says construction will start in late September with part of the site becoming a Saks OFF FIFTH store scheduled to open in late 2018. The other half of that site will be a new retail venture that has not been announced yet. The current Staples store will be closing towards the end of September.
“Certainly we’ve added a lot of new tenants to CF Market Mall over the last four years and we still have a few more to go,” says Milne. “Levi’s is going to open here next month.”
PHOTO: CADILLAC FAIRVIEW
Paige O’Neill, general manager at CF Chinook Centre, says foot traffic at the mall has dipped a little but it’s still averaging more than one million visitors per month.
She says the mall is experiencing a lot of movement with retailers and it is looking at specialty leasing opportunities with independents or specialty retailers to fill some vacated spaces due to company bankruptcies.
And CF Chinook is “working diligently to backfill them with permanent lease deals,” she adds.
“Victoria’s Secret completely renovated their store to its newest concept,” says O’Neill.
“We’re just gearing up for some more moves and some more renos.”
CLICK FOR INTERACTIVE CF CHINOOK CENTRE MALL MAP
The full luxury Saks Fifth Avenue store is expected to open in early February 2018 in the 115,000 square feet of space, on two levels, vacated by Target a few years ago.
“They will have a full-service restaurant in their store and a salon,” says O’Neill. It will be the third Saks Fifth Avenue store in Canada and the first outside of Toronto.
Despite its success over the years, CF Chinook Centre has always undergone changes in its retail mix.
“For the past 15 to 20 years, the owners continue to re-invest in the property because it is such a powerhouse and it’s still a huge testament to City of Calgary and even in poorer economic conditions in Alberta there’s still this want to re-invent CF Chinook Centre. It’s such an amazing property,” says O’Neill. “There’s always ways to improve the property whether it be through our retail mix or whether it be through building the pedestrian bridge (over Macleod Trail), updating tile, updating food court, updating everything.”
Retail-Insider readers receive a $250 USD savings off the full-conference rate just by using the discount code RETAIL2017 during the registration process. This promo code is effective through September 5th.
Presented annually by VMSD (Visual Merchandising + Store Design) magazine, this one-of-a-kind conference is three days of design dialogue centred on best practices, evolving trends and fresh strategies for engaging shoppers and maximizing resources, and is recognized as the premier educational and networking event for the store design and visual merchandising community.
(PHOTO: NEW ORLEANS CONVENTION & VISITOR’S BUREAU)
There will be more than 400 attendees from around the world, and Canadians are encouraged to come down to New Orleans to attend the IRDC event. Book a flight and visit the city, affectionately known as ‘The Big Easy’, that offers a unique mix of African, Native American, Spanish and French cultures that are reflected through its people, music, art and food, and makes for a destination filled with energy and inspiration. It also has terrific architecture, unlike any other place in the United States.
Canadians have provided kudos for past IRDC events, including:
“As a retailer attending for the first time, I found the educational sessions very worthwhile and definitely left me with lots of great ideas. The opportunity to network with movers and shakers in the industry was hugely beneficial and I made some great connections.”– RBC Royal Bank, and
“IRDC was an excellent opportunity to meet with other retailers and share what we’re all working on, what challenges we’re having and where we’re having success. The large variety of seminars was excellent, as it gave everyone the option of choosing what was more pertinent to them.”- Kit & Ace
(PHOTO: RITZ CARLTON HOTEL NEW ORLEANS)
The 2017 conference program also features sessions on such timely topics as designing the brand experience; creating experiential spaces; selling innovation through the organization; designing for a sustainable future; international retail design; and many more cutting-edge issues. Additionally, this year’s event will feature more interactivity, including more panel discussions, more engagement with IRDC presenters, and added networking opportunities to connect with retail design peers.
Speakers at IRDC 2017 include retail design leaders from Hudson Jeans, Cadillac, REI, Whole Foods Market, Capital One, CB2, The Kroger Co., SoulCycle, Hallmark, Indochino, The Source, Vino Volo, Ariat, and more. IRDC Speakers will share perspectives and strategies for creating disruptively good brick-and-mortar experiences.
To REGISTER, as well as for more information on speakers, sessions, networking events, sponsors and the conference hotel (The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans), visit: www.IRDConline.com and remember, Retail-Insider readers receive a $250 USD savings off the full-conference rate just by using the discount code RETAIL2017 during the registration process. This promo code is effective through September 5th.
Cadillac Fairview will soon unveil its new 250,000 square foot Nordstrom-anchored expansion wing at Toronto’s CF Sherway Gardens. This week, we toured the space ahead of its August 29 official public grand opening. The dramatic expansion will feature a roster of impressive retailers, which will be joined by Nordstrom when it opens its third Toronto location in the mall on September 16.
The new wing is the latest development for CF Sherway Gardens, which over the past several years has seen over $550 million in expansion and renovation. Sherway’s redevelopment commenced in early 2013 when it was announced that the centre would see a new 210,000 square foot expansion to the north, which opened in September of 2015. Following that, the centre’s former 225,000 square foot Sears space also saw a redevelopment, adding an impressive 143,200 square foot Saks Fifth Avenue store that opened in February of 2016, and an 80,000 square foot Sport Chek flagship that opened in July of 2016.
The new Nordstrom-anchored wing, which will be unveiled to the public on August 29, includes the re-merchandising of 90,000 square feet of existing retail space. Soaring ceiling heights will allow for dramatic 30-foot facades, and the removal of a former stairway and elevator has resulted in clear sight-lines to Nordstrom at the end of the wing.
Housed in the new wing will be 12 best-in-class retailers. The largest of these (excluding Nordstrom) is Zara, which spans almost 30,000 square feet over two levels, making it one of Canada’s largest. Other retailers in the new wing include Saje Natural Wellness (relocation), Loding (relocation into a larger space), Squish Candies,Nike, BonLook (the Montreal-based optical retailer is expanding), L’Intervalle (Montreal-based footwear brand that is also expanding) and the Danish Pastry House. Toronto-based luxury jeweller European Boutique, as well, will see an overhaul that will be discussed in a separate article.
“Along with a revitalized merchandise mix, CF Sherway Gardens is demonstrating an intensified commitment to delivering a unique shopping experience,” said Finley McEwen, Cadillac Fairview’s Senior Vice President of Development. “We started with interior enhancements, introduced new lighting and public amenities, and are now providing a range of upscale dining options and new digital offerings – delivering on our commitment to providing guests with an immersive, premium shopping environment.”
CF Sherway’s iconic white tent roof structure (designed by Eb Zeidler, also responsible for the ‘sails’ at Vancouver’s Canada Place) has been restored, providing ample light into the new wing.
General Manager Andy Traynor explained that Cadillac Fairview is the only Canadian shopping mall operator with three properties housing both Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue stores (CF Toronto Eaton Centre and, next year, CF Chinook Centre in Calgary). “CF is very proud of the partnerships we have nurtured with these high-end global brands and we’re delighted to welcome them to CF Sherway Gardens,” he said. CF Sherway Gardens is also one of the country’s most productive, according to Retail Council of Canada’s Shopping Centre Study, which will be updated with a new study this fall.
“Beyond the physical expansion and upgrades, our revitalization is about adjusting our retail mix to mirror the expectations of our shoppers. This means building on our roster of best-in-class brands, which includes much sought-after premium and luxury retailers,” he said.
Norstrom opens to the public on Friday, September 15 and two days prior, on the evening of Wednesday, September 13, Nordstrom will host a charity gala that is 100% underwritten by the company. Nordstrom will span about 140,000 square feet over two levels, and will be the third Nordstrom in the city of Toronto, and the sixth for all of Canada. Nordstrom’s coffee concept Ebar will have its own mall entrance in the new wing, not unlike at Nordstrom’s CF Toronto Eaton Centre location.
Following the wing’s grand opening on August 29 and extending to September 19, CF Sherway Gardens will be featuring activities that will include a rotating exhibit of specially curated art pieces, a refreshing juice bar and “a highly immersive and share-worthy carousel experience”. We plan to be at the opening of the new wing, and will be reporting on it as well as Nordstrom’s gala and grand opening next month.
*The top rendering via Cadillac Fairview has since been modified.
Popular Canadian sportswear brand Moose Knuckles will open its first permanent standalone store this fall at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Prior to opening in October, Moose Knuckles will open a pop-up at Yorkdale that will also be used to test out a new customization app.
Moose Knuckles is a fairly new brand — it was founded in Montreal in 2007, by Mark Peros and Will Poho, and much of its manufacturing is done in Winnipeg. The company endeavours to make “the leanest, toughest and most luxurious sportswear in the world,” and its product lines include a range of weatherproof coats, lightweight jackets, knitwear, shirting, and accessories.
Quality is key, with special attention paid to tailoring, materials and hardware — luxury-grade fox fur from Finland is used as trim, and 725 to 800-fill powder gray duck and goose down is used as a thermal insulator. Moose Knuckles products are available in some of the world’s top retailers and in North America, the brand’s clothing is available at Holt Renfrew, Sporting Life, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and other leading retailers, and it’s also available globally at prestigious retailers such as Globus in Switzerland, KaDeWe in Berlin, and at Harrod’s in London.
(CLICK FOR INTERACTIVE YORKDALE MALL FLOOR PLAN)
(CONSTRUCTION SIGNAGE AT YORKDALE. PHOTO: CRAIG PATTERSON)
Prices are towards the high-end, with men’s fall/winter jackets ranging in price between $475 for a bomber jacket to $1,795 for a fur-lined canvas parka, with women’s jackets a similar price point. Moose Knuckles features a selection of men’s and women’s ready-to-wear — shirts are priced between $125 and $250. There is rain gear, hats and vests, and the website also features summer items such as men’s swim trunks (regularly priced at $148) and $38 flip-flops in a variety of designs. A selection of branded accessories is available, including a ‘Moose on the Go Duffle Bag’ priced at $288, and a flask priced at $88. Children’s jackets are also available, priced between $395 and $450 on Moose Knuckles’ ecommerce site.
Moose Knuckles’ first permanent freestanding store is scheduled to open in October of this year, spanning more than 2,750 square feet store in Yorkdale’s Nordstrom-anchored expansion wing (which opened in October of 2016). Moose Knuckles will be located in the retail space between technology brand Samsung and Canadian outdoor clothing and sporting goods brand Arc’teryx.
On Thursday, August 24, Moose Knuckles will open a roughly 3,000 square foot pop-up location at Yorkdale, in Lululemon’s former retail space (Lululemon relocated to Yorkdale’s Nordstrom wing in October). Located across from Holt Renfrew and Anthropologie, and adjacent to Diesel and Wilfred, the pop-up will remain open until the unveiling of the permanent retail space. The pop-up will coincide with the launch of a Moose Knuckles customization app, which can be used to customize different coat styles.
(PHOTO: MOOSE KNUCKLES)
Yorkdale’s Moose Knuckles location will be designed by award-winning firm Burdifilek, which has been involved in creating some of the world’s most attractive retail spaces. Burdifilek recently won the prestigious International Store of the Year Award from the Retail Design Institute for its Mackage store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
Renowned for designing modern and unexpected spaces that defy conventions, each Burdifilek retail concept embodies a unique brand identity and experience. The flagship for Moose Knuckles will be located in the expansion wing almost directly across the hall from Canada Goose, which opened its first freestanding store in the world at Yorkdale in October of 2016. The 4,500 square foot Canada Goose store is on track to be one of the top-selling stores at Yorkdale in terms of overall annual sales. Canada Goose recently opened its second location in the world in New York City, and it has announced locations to open in Chicago, and in London UK.
While Yorkdale will be Moose Knuckle’s first freestanding corporate store, the company also has 16 concessions in South Korea.
Premium outerwear and accessory brand Nobis was one of the first Canadian competitors to open a freestanding store. In August of 2015, Nobis debuted a 3,000 square foot store at 360 Queen Street West in Toronto, and the brand continues to wholesale extensively in upscale retailers in Canada, as well as worldwide.
Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre launches more first-to-market retailers than anyplace in Canada, and the trend will continue into 2018 with a number of new, exciting retail concepts that will be announced periodically over the next several months. First-to-market tenants will include fashion, food, and even a unique technology concept that recently launched its own stores. Yorkdale is a special centre indeed — it ranked as the country’s most productive mall in terms of annual sales per square foot in Retail Council of Canada’s Shopping Centre Study, and it also boasts the highest concentration of luxury brands within a single Canadian shopping centre. In fact, Yorkdale now rivals Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville, as well as downtown Vancouver’s ‘Luxury Zone’, as the most comprehensive ‘luxury node’ in the country.
While declining store traffic continues to dominate the headlines and remains the most frequent reason cited for lackluster store performance, the fact is, it’s only part of the story. If it’s true that store traffic has experienced a permanent and intractable decline, then what are brick-and-mortar retailers to do?
In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000’s, online marketers realized that they couldn’t merely focus on generating website traffic, rather they needed to focus on conversion – that is, get more visitors to buy. The same is true in brick-and-mortar retailing. As Jeff Gennette, CEO of Macy’s stated in a Bloomberg interview, “the key will be for us to convert – we’ll get the traffic.”
Today many brick-and-mortar retailers track store traffic and measure conversion, but the question is, what do they actually do to optimize their in-store conversion rates? The answer for many is, not much.
In the online world, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) has become an industry unto itself, spawning a global community of consultants and service providers, formal methodologies and over a hundred books dedicated to the topic on Amazon alone. There is only one book on brick-and-mortar conversion listed on Amazon.
Given the difficult business conditions so many brick-and-mortar retailers are facing, it’s baffling that CRO hasn’t become more of a focus if not an obsession.
There are a number of factors that may be preventing CRO from taking hold with brick-and-mortar retailers, but just like online marketers discovered after the dot-com bust, focusing on conversion can not only help them survive, but even thrive despite traffic declines.
Tracking Conversion vs. Optimizing Conversion
Most major tier-one retailers today track traffic and conversion rates in all their stores, so the basic data needed to conduct CRO already exists. For the retailers that misguidedly use sales transaction counts as a proxy for traffic – sorry, beyond being a grossly inaccurate measure for store traffic, they don’t even possess the basic data needed to calculate conversion rates, so optimization is a non-starter.
But just because a retailer has the data, doesn’t mean they’re doing much with it or as much as they could be. CRO is defined as a system for increasing the percentage of visitors that convert into customers. The key word in this definition is “system.”
In the online world, conversion rates are influenced by a website’s page layout, colors, buttons, call-to-action and checkout among other factors. All these variables contribute to conversion and CRO is the systematic process of tweaking and adjusting these factors in a way that leads to measurable and sustained improvements in conversion rate.
In physical stores there are a large number of variables that impact conversion rates including store layout, inventory levels, merchandising mix, promotional activity and most importantly the front line associates and managers who run the store and serve customers. And herein lies the challenge with CRO for brick-and-mortar retailers – variability. This variability in physical stores not only makes applying conversion improvement initiatives across stores consistently a challenge, but it also makes measuring results more challenging too.
Testing and Measurement to Prove Results
A vital tenant of CRO is testing and more specifically A/B testing. In the online world this is easily accomplished by setting up two variations of a webpage and then directing an equal amount of traffic to each site. Conversion results of website A are compared to website B and the winner is declared.
But A/B testing is much more difficult for brick-and-mortar retailers since, unlike websites, every store is unique – store layouts, inventory levels, geographic location including proximity to competitors and demographics of shoppers in the trading area, weather conditions, microeconomic factors and variations in the skill, experience and effort of the store staff all create variability which make comparisons challenging.
So unlike online conversion rate optimization where changes can easily be made and consistently applied with a few keystrokes, in brick-and-mortar stores adjusting variables like staff levels for example must be applied at the store-level.
There’s another important difference between online and brick-and-mortar conversion optimization tests: traffic. In an online experiment, traffic can be precisely controlled so each website version receives the same amount of traffic.
In brick-and-mortar stores, the amount of traffic each store receives can’t be controlled and can vary significantly by store. Since conversion rates tend to be inversely related to traffic (i.e. when traffic goes up, conversion rates tend to decline), extra care needs to be applied when interpreting brick-and-mortar conversion optimization test results.
But just because the conversion variables are harder to control in physical stores doesn’t mean that conversion rates can’t be optimized or measured using A/B testing.
Here’s an example to illustrate.
The Test: Simplified Reporting and Conversion Coaching
The challenge store personnel have with improving conversion rates is twofold: first, they can’t easily see where the conversion opportunities are being missed and second, they struggle with how to adjust behaviors in-store to improve conversion. A series of A/B experiments were conducted with a group of 600 brick-and-mortar stores across four different retail segments.
In each case, a sample set of stores was identified and clustered into A and B groups. The group A store managers received a simplified daily conversion scorecard indicating where conversion rate sags were occurring along with a series of brief conversion coaching sessions conducted by phone to discuss the conversion patterns and behaviors they should consider undertaking to improve conversion rates. Group B store managers did not receive the simplified reporting or coaching.
The result: group A stores consistently outperformed group B stores. You can read more about the findings at headcount.com/ROIstudy.
Start with the Biggest Conversion Driver – People
While there are many variables that impact in-store conversion rates, staff scheduling and deployment are at the top of the list since front-line associates and managers play a critical role in converting store traffic into customers. An effective CRO system for brick-and-mortar retailers must begin with ensuring staff schedules are aligned to store traffic patterns. But aligning staff schedules to traffic is only the first step.
Second, retailers need to examine how staff are deployed – tasking versus servicing customers. Aligning staff schedules to traffic will not improve conversion rates if staff are focused on tasking instead of serving customers.
Third, retailers need to measure associate and manager productivity by analyzing conversion rates by hour attributed to each employee. This will enable retailers to identify top performers, create benchmarks and identify employees who may require additional coaching or training.
Conversion Rate Optimization can Mitigate Traffic Declines
In today’s rapidly changing and difficult environment, brick-and-mortar retailers can ill afford to squander the sales opportunities that they do have. Stemming the tide of store traffic declines may be difficult if not impossible for retailers to do, but that doesn’t prevent them from focusing on the traffic opportunities they do have and applying CRO strategies.
Conversion rate optimization is not a panacea, but it can go a long way in helping brick-and-mortar retailers deliver better business results, despite the traffic declines.
And just like the online survivors of the dot-com bust, brick-and-mortar retailers need to realize that it’s not just about the amount of traffic in their stores, but what they do with the traffic that matters most.
Montreal-based Squish Candy, North America’s first artisanal candy store specializing in over 100 flavours of gourmet gummies, is in expansion mode.
Sarah Segal, the company’s chief executive officer, told Retail Insider that it will be opening two more stores in the Toronto area (Square One in Mississauga and CF Sherway Gardens in Toronto) before the end of this month and one in St. Bruno, Que., bringing its total store count to 14.
And it has plans to expand across Canada to about 30 stores in the next two to three years as well as exploring moving into the U.S. market.
“We’re a gummy specialist company. We’re extremely creative and we try to have the widest assortment of innovative and fun gummy gifts and unique flavours. We’re really playing in that gifting market,” says Segal.
“We want to have an original twist on our packaging. We have a lot of fun with it. Trying to break the traditional mold of gifting and trying to get it to reflect our not-so-serious approach to gifting. We do that with our concepts, with our candy shapes, with our names. It’s really a very creative experience because we really respond to our customers.”
The first store opened in 2014 in Montreal. Currently, there are six stores in Quebec, four in Ontario and one in Vancouver (at Hudson’s Bay). The first venture outside of Quebec was in Toronto in 2015.
“As part of our expansion, we’re really trying to fill out Canada. We’ve done very well in suburban markets as well as downtown. So we see a real reception in all kinds of areas. A wide variety,” says Segal.
“There’s a lot of potential in Vancouver and in the whole Western area. That’s exciting. And also the East. We’ve got a ton of interest from the Maritimes.”
The Scarborough store was a new approach with a co-tenancy with two other stores but this Squish is re-locating to its own space.
“We’re doing a similar concept in Square One where we have co-tenancy (with two other stores). We’re really excited because it really shows the flexibility of our concept,” says Segal.
“We’re trying to move away from a traditional retail approach of here’s our 600-square-foot location and we need big space. We do fantastic numbers at about 250 square feet and also at 1,200. I find that’s the most exciting, especially in this retail landscape to have that flexibility with our concept. We’re very responsive. We try to maximize the opportunity with where we see the traffic with our customers. We want to be there.”
Segal says Squish also has an “incredible” vegan product which has helped the store stand out in the market.
Vancouver MINISO at 550 Granville Street (Image: Lee Rivett)
Value-priced Chinese variety retailer MINISO, which positions itself as a ‘Japanese lifestyle brand’, has initiated its Canadian expansion in the British Columbia Lower Mainland with plans to expand nationally in the coming months. The company confirms that it plans to open as many as 500 stores in Canada in the coming years, and its initial target markets will be Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
Yi Ma, vice-president of business development for MINISO, discussed MINISO’s entry into Canada, which initially has involved opening corporately-owned stores. On April 15 of this year, the company quietly opened its first Canadian store at 1256 W. Broadway in Vancouver, followed by a store at Tsawwassen Mills in May. On Saturday, August 12, MINISO unveiled its Canadian flagship — a 4,900 square foot location at 550 Granville Street, which is across from Holt Renfrew and once housed a retail location for Grand & Toy.
Stores will continue to open in the Lower Mainland, according to Mr. Ma, including stores in Richmond (at 8010 Saba Road) and at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus (8920 University High Street), with intentions to open about 15 stores over the next 15 months. At the same time, MINISO is working on lease deals in Toronto and Montreal, and has already secured two Ontario locations that will open in October of this year — one in the heart of downtown Toronto, and another at Stone Road Mall in Guelph.
Vancouver MINISO at 550 Granville Street (Image: Lee Rivett)Vancouver MINISO at 550 Granville Street (Image: Lee Rivett)
He noted that MINISO is seeking a strong joint venture partner as part of its Canadian expansion, utilizing a licensing model in order to assist with growth. That will assist MINISO with its plans to open between 30 and 50 Canadian locations over the next 12 months. After establishing operations in Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal, MINISO will examine other markets and is seeking retail spaces that are ideally in the 1,300 square foot to 5,000 square foot range.
The company’s goal is to eventually operate about 500 locations in Canada, potentially providing stiff competition to several homegrown retailers including Dollarama. MINISO might be compared most closely to Japanese retailer Daiso, which currently operates one store location at Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, BC. MINISO’s price point is slightly higher than Dollarama and Daiso, however, with the majority of items priced between $3 and $5.
Vancouver MINISO at 550 Granville Street (Image: Lee Rivett)Vancouver MINISO at 550 Granville Street (Image: Lee Rivett)
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. MINISO’s signage and branding appears similar to that of fast-fashion Japanese chain UNIQLO — which isn’t a surprise, considering that MINISO openly names itself as a competitor to UNIQLO as well as Japanese variety retailer MUJI. All three are now present in Canada, with UNIQLO and MUJI set to debut their first Vancouver/Lower Mainland locations this fall.
*Photos in this article are of the new Vancouver MINISO flagship at 550 Granville Street, and were taken by Lee Rivett on August 15, 2017.
A new Asian-style mall in the Calgary region is set to be completed by March of next year with about 95 per cent of the more than 500 stores already sold out.
Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which is developing the New Horizon Mall with the MPI Property Group, told Retail Insider that great progress is being made in the construction of the unique shopping centre, located directly across from CrossIron Mills in Rocky View County just north of Calgary city limits.
“We are almost sold out. More than 95 per cent,” said Swirsky, of the concept where business owners buy space, as opposed to renting it, in the shopping centre.
“It’s a great concept. It’s a proven concept that’s unique and it appeals to the small investor. This is a project for the ma’s and pa’s, not for the big chains. It’s something that is hard to find and people are really liking it – to be able to control their own destiny and have their own store . . . The concept is unique. In Alberta, there’s nothing like it.”
It will have more than 500 retail stores in 320,000 square feet on two floors. On the main floor, stores will range from 285 square feet to 855 square feet and are priced between $169,000 and $700,000.
“It will be a window shopper’s wonderland with thousands of ever-changing displays showcased behind generous glass storefronts. This floor will also be home to the main stage which will host numerous events during the year, including cultural events, holiday celebrations and fashion shows. For the first time ever in Alberta, each retail store is purchased not leased,” say the developers in information posted on the mall’s website.
The second level will feature 26 sold out units and will seat over 300 shoppers. The second level will also have a traditional Chinese stage that will serve as a cultural venue.
There are more than 350 underground parking stalls as well.
“It’s a great destination as far as location. It’s a proven retail destination. People know they’re going to succeed,” says Swirsky. “So they just have to open their store and people will flood in.”
