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Sephora Expands Operations with ‘Takeover’ Initiative

SEPHORA AT CF TORONTO EATON CENTRE. PHOTO: RETAIL INSIDER

Paris based beauty retailer Sephora (operating under the LVMH corporate umbrella) is in the process of expanding its Greater Toronto Area (GTA) operations in an effort to dominate and gain market share. Sephora’s ‘Toronto Takeover’, as it’s being called, includes new store openings as well as store renovations and expansions. 

Last week we revealed Sephora’s relocation plans for its Toronto ‘Mink Mile’ Bloor Street flagship. Bloor Street is one of Sephora’s five Toronto ‘headquarter doors’, according to a source familiar with the company. Each of these ‘headquarter’ stores is or will be in the 8,000 square foot to 10,000 square foot range when completed. The four other GTA headquarter doors include Sephora’s CF Toronto Eaton Centre, CF Sherway Gardens, Mississauga Square One and Yorkdale Shopping Centre stores. The 8,985 square foot CF Toronto Eaton Centre Sephora (which sources say is the second-highest selling Sephora location in North America) recently saw renovations, with a grand ‘re-opening’ event held last week. The CF Sherway Gardens store is seeing a 3,000 square foot expansion this summer that will bring it to about 9,000 square feet, with sales expected to increase substantially as a result. Square One’s Sephora recently saw renovations and is receiving minor retrofits, and the Yorkdale Sephora is seeing an expansion from 5,730 square feet to about 9,220 square feet that should be completed within several months, as part of Yorkdale’s expansion that will see a new Nordstrom-anchored wing open this October. 

Sephora will open a further four new GTA locations in 2016 as part of its Toronto Takeover. A location at Vaughan Mills opened on Friday of last week, and this summer Sephora will open stores at RioCan’s Yonge-Eglington Centre (one of its largest in Canada at 10,459 square feet), RioCan Oakville Place in Oakville, and at Bramalea City Centre in Brampton. 

INSIDE THE VANCOUVER ROBSON STREET FLAGSHIP THAT OPENED IN LATE 2014. PHOTO: SEPHORA

Aurora Realty Consultants represents Sephora as brokerage in Canada.  

In July of 2015, Sephora launched its Canadian ecommerce site, sephora.ca, to facilitate its growing Canadian business. Prior to that, online purchases were routed through the United States. As part of its new Canadian ecommerce initiative, Sephora retained a third party logistics provider out of Mississauga to facilitate order fulfillment in Canada. Sales have been stellar on the website, surpassed only by annual revenues at the CF Toronto Eaton Centre Sephora flagship, according to the source (the same source provided but asked us not to publicly disclose Sephora’s current/projected store sales numbers in this article).

Sephora expects about 50% of all its Canadian revenue to come out of the GTA by 2017 as part of this initiative, according to the source. Sephora now accounts for approximately 20% of the prestige beauty market in Canada, and it’s looking to gain market share from competitors as diverse as Holt Renfrew and Shoppers Drug Mart. Sephora’s Toronto Takeover is also targeted towards Millennial consumers — a hot market being courted by many companies including cosmetics brand NYX, which we will discuss soon in a separate article. 

As we mentioned last week, Sephora Americas’ President and CEO Calvin McDonald (formerly head of Sears Canada) is speaking today at this year’s Retail Council of Canada STORE Conference 2016, being held May 31 and June 1. Mr. McDonald’s presentation is titled ‘Winning in a Digital Landscape’. For details, visit: www.storeconference.ca/agenda.

Dior Opens 1st Canadian Saks Concession [Photos]

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Christian Dior has opened its first concession within a Canadian Saks Fifth Avenue store. The shop-in-store is located on the ground floor of Saks Queen Street at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, featuring a variety of Dior handbags, jewellery, eyewear and other accessories. 

The beautiful new space features Dior’s new store design, inspired by Dior’s Peter Marino-designed Paris flagship, from walls to flooring to chairs. Toronto’s Dior features a salon at the back that features some exclusive pieces, including bags and jewellery. 

In September, Dior will open a women’s ready-to-wear boutique on the third floor of Saks’ Toronto flagship. It will be a first for Saks in Canada, and Dior’s second Canadian ready-to-wear location, following the opening of Dior’s first freestanding Canadian store last summer in Vancouver. 

Dior also operates accessory concessions within four Holt Renfrew locations. These include Holt’s Vancouver, Toronto Bloor Street, Toronto Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Montreal locations. Dior’s Montreal shop-in-store is expected to relocate inside an expanded/combined Ogilvy/Holt Renfrew location in early 2018. 

Dior joins other luxury boutiques on the ground floor of downtown Toronto’s Saks. Prada recently opened an accessory concession on the same floor, and Louis Vuitton opened its Saks concession when the 170,000 square foot main store opened on February 18 of this year. A Piaget jewellery boutique occupies one of the spaces at the south end of the main floor. Other non-concession ground floor accessory shop-in-stores include names such as Céline, Givenchy, Bottega Veneta, Chloé, Valentino, Saint Laurent Paris, Chopard, De Grisogono and Boucheron

Although it opened in February, Saks’ Queen Street flagship still has more to be finished. A beauty salon will be opening soon on the store’s second level and this summer, Oliver & Bonacini‘s new 11,000 square foot three level restaurant concept ‘Leña’ will open with its own Yonge Street Entrance. Also opening this summer will be a 25,000 square foot Saks Food Hall operated by Pusateri’s Fine Foods on the store’s concourse level. 

Real-Time Communications Drives Relationships & Business

By: Eric Nykamp, CEO, RAANGE Inc.

Customers are demanding more from your relationship – experiences, personalization and real-time information. 

This throws all of our learned notions and tactics into the garbage. We need to look past traditional, clunky communications and marketing tactics, and focus on refined personalized communications. 

Let Customer Relationships Drive Your Business

Retailers and brands can build a full-cycle relationship with customers on the foundation of Personalized Everyday Communications.

Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) is a strategy for managing relationships and interactions with customers: from consideration, to purchase, to loyalty. It increases the success rate of starting, growing and fostering long-term relationships. Placing Personalized Everyday Communications and Consumer Preferences at the heart of the CLM process will convert consumers into your next generation of trusted brand ambassadors. 

Connect Brick-and-Mortar to Online Channels

CLM is an omnichannel experience providing retailers and brands with quick and easy tools to attract new clients. Motivate customers to take action with real-time incentives. Build relationships with new acquisitions by connecting brick-and-mortar to online channels. Give consumers a reason to return with purposeful personalized communications and offers and deals shared in real-time. 

It’s about getting consumers the information they want, using their preferred channel of communication and delivering it at the right time. 

CLM Elements

Reach – Get Their Attention.
Communicate – Secure Them As A Client.
Engage – Build A Relationship.
Retain – Keep Them Interested & Loyal
ReCapture – Recover Opt-ed Out Contacts

The Results

Database Growth Potential
Upswing in Sales
Reduction in Opt-Out Rate
Higher Conversion Rates

RAANGE’s robust technology and offerings can implement core CLM elements into your customer experience, to improve communication touch points from consideration to purchase to loyalty.

Attending STORE 2016? Register for your sweet surprise and demo at the conference

For more information contact matt@raange.com

Nordstrom on Track for 2 Fall Store Openings

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Seattle-based Nordstrom is preparing to open its next two Canadian stores this fall, and the retailer has launched social media accounts for each location. As well, one of the two new stores has removed mall hoarding, revealing three separate store entrances and the facade to Nordstrom’s popular coffee bar. 

Hoarding at the mall entrance at the 220,000 square foot CF Toronto Eaton Centre Nordstrom was recently removed, revealing two store entrances as well as a facade for Nordstrom’s coffee concept, Ebar. Although hoarding is up on the exterior of the building, some parts of the store’s interior construction can be seen at night through some openings — revealing an interior that looks very similar to Nordstrom’s CallisonRTKL-designed Vancouver flagship which opened last September. Vancouver’s Nordstrom store features bright interiors with wood ceiling treatments in some areas, exposed ceilings in selected departments, and smooth white ceilings in most main areas. Both the CF Toronto Eaton Centre and Vancouver CF Pacific Centre flagships are located in former Eaton’s retail spaces (more recently occupied by large Sears stores), resulting in soaring ceiling heights, particularly on each store’s ground level. Because of the configuration of Toronto Eaton Centre along sloping Yonge Street, Nordstrom’s ground floor is technically on the mall’s third, and top retail level. 

The three level CF Toronto Eaton Centre Nordstrom flagship is scheduled to open on September 16 of this year, with a charity gala hosted by the retailer two days prior. Nordstrom’s 196,000+ square foot Yorkdale Shopping Centre location will open on October 21, and progress continues on the three level retail space that will also see a charity gala hosted two days prior to opening.

In anticipation of these store openings, and keeping consistent with social media accounts at other Canadian locations, Nordstrom has launched social media accounts for each of its CF Toronto Eaton Centre and Yorkdale stores. The CF Toronto Eaton Centre has the Twitter handle @NordstromEaton, as well as its own Facebook page (www.facebook.com/nordstromeaton) and Instagram page (www.instagram.com/nordstromeaton). The Yorkdale store also has its own social media accounts, including Twitter handle @NordstromYKD as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/nordstromykd) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/nordstromykd). 

For those interested, Nordstrom has also begun accepting employment applications for positions at both of its new Toronto stores. For more information and to apply, visit this link. The company is hiring for about 1,600 positions in both stores, and will begin interviewing qualified candidates at the end of June. 

Nordstrom will open a third Toronto location in the fall of 2017, at CF Sherway Gardens. The store will be smaller than Nordstrom’s other two Toronto stores, measuring about 138,000 square feet. The Sherway store will anchor the mall’s south wing, which will see improvements to create clearer sight-lines from the mall’s centre court. Nordstrom will join anchors Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue in the mall, which recently saw the addition of a new retail wing which today, is hosting the grand opening of a new concept Indigo store. The same retail wing will see more construction later this year after Holt Renfrew closes, as part of its relocation to Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre this summer. 

MEC to Open 1st Tri-Cities Location

Vancouver-based large format outdoor membership-based consumer cooperative MEC is continuing its Canadian store expansion with a new location in Kitchener, Ontario. The 18,000 square foot store will open at Fairway Plaza at 10 Manitou Drive in the spring of 2017, a property owned by First Capital Realty. Construction has already begun, and is expected to take about nine months to complete. 

The store will be centrally located near CF Fairview Park Mall and a future ION rapid transit station, and it will feature key elements of MEC’s renewed architectural brand, including a floating canopy at the store’s entrance. Ample wood and other natural materials will be used in the new space, which will feature a full-service bike repair and ski-tech shop as well as an equipment rental program for boats, skis and camping gear. A community meeting room will be available for use by local outdoor clubs and environmental organizations.

“The Tri-Cities is one of the fastest growing regions of Ontario, with many millennials among the area’s newcomers,” said MEC CFO Sandy Treagus. These are young, active tech-savvy individuals who we believe are well-disposed to MEC’s unique retail offering. We are keen to welcome new and existing Tri-Cities members to MEC’s ‘tent’,” he added.

Kitchener will be MEC’s seventh Ontario store location, following the opening of a large location in Toronto’s North York. The company is also relocating its London, Ontario store to a larger premises. MEC’s downtown Toronto location will also be relocated to busy Queen Street West in 2018. 

MEC is seeing considerable success in Canada. Sales topped $350 million for the first time in 2015, while more than 225,000 new members joined its membership fold. Formerly known as ‘Mountain Equipment Co-op’, MEC boasts over 4 million Canadian members and 18 storefronts. The company donates 1% of revenues ($3.4 million donated in 2015) to Canadian non-profit organizations that help conserve ecologically and recreationally important areas.

2016 International Retail Design Conference (IRDC) to be Held in Montréal on September 13-15

Registration is now underway for VMSD Magazine’s 2016 International Retail Design Conference (IRDC), taking place September 13-15 at Le Westin Montréal in Montréal. It’s the 16th year for the very popular event, and there’s a $350 savings off the regular individual registration rate available through June 1. 

Montreal is the third Canadian city to host IRDC, following successful events in Toronto in 2010 and Vancouver in 2013. “One of the many interesting dynamics we’ll explore during this year’s conference is the mutual desire on the part of both Canadian and U.S. retailers and designers to learn from each other’s expertise,” said conference chair Jennifer Acevedo, Editor-in-Chief, VMSD. “We will navigate consumer trends, shopping behaviour and desires in their home countries. And, though we are close in proximity, the distinct cultures of these two nations are critical to comprehend for those hoping for success in either (or both).”
 
IRDC 2016 includes several sessions related specifically to Canadian retail, including: 
 
Breakout Session: “Trading spaces: Crafting a seamless experience that blurs the lines between the physical store and the online retail”

This panel discussion, moderated by Aedifica’s Stéphane Bernier, will compare how two local Montreal-based retail brands–Aldo Shoes, a 40-year-old retail brand with stores in 57 countries, and Bon Look, a young startup online brand–have each crafted an omnichannel retail experience that blurs the line between virtual and physical. Discussion will include how it has impacted their new store designs, and what role the physical retail store can play in building customer relationships and gaining the consumer’s trust in an omnichannel environment.
 
Breakout Session: “Maison Birks: How can a luxury retail brand engage with Millennials?”

Founded in 1879, Maison Birks is an iconic Canadian luxury jewelry brand. Under the leadership of CEO Jean-Christophe Bedos, the retailer has undertaken a vast reengineering of its brand, its collections and its identity to develop a new modern, young and refreshing expression while staying true to its long-standing heritage of luxury and craftsmanship. Hear about the process that was developed to define the brand’s new retail approach. Learn what luxury retail can offer to a vastly younger demographic, leveraging their need for interaction, storytelling and authenticity.

IRDC 2016 will also feature keynote speakers and other presenters, as well as a wide range of sessions, from professional development and management  to technology. 
 
Opening Keynote Speaker, riCardo Crespo: riCardo Crespo is best known in the creative/design+branding industries as a creative ronin, driven by the applied ethos of intelligently provoking and delivering against a brand’s promise through innovative thought leadership and compelling communication. As a globally seasoned and celebrated executive creative, he continues to deliver his passion for excellence to many high-profile retail brands through his integrated strategic plans and one-voice branded communications. 
 
Closing Keynote Speaker: Welby Altidor, Executive Creative Director, Cirque du Soleil, titled: “Creative Courage: Challenge the Status Quo and Make Big Ideas Happen”: Welby Altidor is a firm believer that, whether we realize it or not, we all have access to a unique creative genius in all of us. It takes courage—creative courage—to welcome and unleash that inner force. Drawing on his experiences as Director of Creation for Cirque du Soleil’s hit Las Vegas show Michael Jackson ONE, Altidor focuses on engagement, motivation, focus, authenticity, and leadership. There are no dumb ideas, he says, just platforms to build upon. We have to give everyone a voice, and collaborate to access an idea’s full potential. We should seek feedback early—essentially scheduling failure—to improve. Businesses and organizations need to be more creative and innovative, he argues—and a creative mindset can help us solve problems, challenge the status quo, and be more successful than ever.

For more information on IRDC 2016 and to register, please visit: irdconline.com

Canada Goose to Open 1st Freestanding Store

YORKDALE STORE. RENDERING VIA CANADA GOOSE

Popular Canadian cold weather outerwear brand Canada Goose will open its first permanent freestanding store in October at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The Toronto store will be one of two initially for the brand, with another location set to open in New York City’s Soho area in November. 

Canada Goose will occupy almost 4,500 square feet at Yorkdale’s new Nordstrom wing, which is scheduled to open on October 18 of this year. Nordstrom, itself, is scheduled to open on October 21, with an in-store charity gala to be held two days prior. 

Canada Goose will be located next to Nordstrom’s mall entrance in the expansion wing, as per the lease planS below, via Oxford Properties

Yorkdale’s Canada Goose store will join a number of other recently revealed retailers for the 300,000 square foot, $331 million expansion wing. Japanese retailer Uniqlo will occupy about 24,000 square feet at the north end of the new wing, alongside locations for Muji, Mackage, Strellson, Wolford and others. 

Farla Efros, President of leading retail consultancy HRC Advisory, praised the new store location but cautioned about potential brand over-saturation. “Clearly Yorkdale continues to amaze with the lineup of new stores, and they keep coming” she said, noting that Canada Goose’s location in the mall is strategic, given its proximity to Nordstrom which is expected to drive considerable traffic. She noted that Canada Goose owner Bain & Company has grown and differentiated the Canada Goose brand through capital investment, carving out a niche both in Canada as well as internationally. Ms Efros noted that the new store might best serve Canada Goose as a marketing and testing tool for the brand — though unless product is somehow differentiated from wholesale accounts, Canada Goose could risk saturating/cannibalizing its own sales, particularly as it’s also carried at nearby retailers such as Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen and possibly Nordstrom when it opens at Yorkdale this fall. 

Toronto-based Style Democracy first reported in February that according to one of its tipsters, Canada Goose will open at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. They confirmed the tip via an application to the city of Toronto. We were asked not to report on the matter at the time, though it now appears to be public information as Canada Goose provided an interview to the Globe & Mail and Women’s Wear Daily on the new Toronto store. According to the Globe article, more locations could follow in markets “where there are large concentrations of Canada Goose fans”, according to CEO Dani Reiss. 

Salvatore Ferragamo to Open 3rd Freestanding Canadian Store

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Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo will open its third freestanding location in July at Square One in Mississauga, Ontario. The new 4,425 square foot store will be in the mall’s recently opened ‘Luxury Wing‘, which will be anchored by a Holt Renfrew location scheduled to open this summer. When it opens, Mississauga’s Ferragamo will be the largest in Canada. 

Mississauga’s Ferragamo location joins already existing stores in Vancouver and Toronto. Vancouver’s 3,000 square foot Ferragamo store, located at 918 Robson Street, has operated at that location since the 1980’s and was fully renovated in 2012. In the summer of 2013, Ferragamo’s second freestanding store, measuring 3,830 square feet, opened in the luxury wing at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre

A source at Ferragamo in Toronto said that Mississauga’s new store will feature accessories and footwear for men and women, as well as ready-to-wear collections. 

Square One’s luxury wing opened in March of this year. Harry Rosen was the largest tenant to open in that space, measuring 19,730 square feet, according to lease plans. Other nearby retailers include Club Monaco, Kate Spade, Ben Sherman and Wolford, which opened its third Canadian store in the centre this spring. Coach, and Jamie’s Italian restaurant are set to open next month, and Holt Renfrew will soon announce the opening date of its 130,000 square foot flagship, which appears to be very impressive from supplied renderings.

Lease plans show three more available retail spaces at Square One, located between Ferragamo and Rolex by Raffi Jewellers, which is scheduled to open in September of this year. The three retail spaces are between 3,530 square feet and 6,640 square feet. 

Ferragamo accessories and footwear are also carried at selected Canadian retailers such as Holt Renfrew (for men and women), Harry Rosen (men’s items only), and at Saks Fifth Avenue, which opened its first two Canadian stores in February of this year in Toronto. 

Thank you Daniel Saint Anthony for providing information pertaining to this article. 

Hugo Boss Launches First Hudson’s Bay HUGO Shop-in-Shops

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Upscale German fashion brand Hugo Boss has launched its first HUGO shop-in-shops at Hudson’s Bay. Seven HUGO shops will open at Hudson’s Bay this year, and more to follow in 2017, according to Lanita Layton, Managing Director for Hugo Boss’ Canadian operations.  

Last week, separate men’s and women’s HUGO shop-in-shops opened within Hudson’s Bay’s Toronto Queen Street flagship. The HUGO Man boutique on The Bay’s fifth floor measures almost 1,800 square feet, and is a first in North America for HUGO Man. The shop is located in the centre of Hudson’s Bay’s renovated 100,000 square foot fifth floor men’s store, which opened in early 2015. HUGO Man features fashions that “flirt with 90’s street style and ultra-modern, sport-influenced menswear” according to Hugo Boss. The open-concept shop itself features black metal finishes and neatly displayed product, featuring clothing as well as an assortment of accessories and footwear. 

A smaller women’s HUGO boutique on Hudson’s Bay’s third floor is a first in the world for the new boutique concept which Ms. Layton noted has soft, feminine colours on its walls. The lighter aesthetic includes beige branded display showcases that showcase HUGO Woman’s spring collection. Floors in the shop-in-store are light hardwood, contrasting with Hudson’s Bay’s shiny stone floors. Hugo Boss describes the women’s HUGO fashions as being “sharp, tailored and pure” with summer clothing of “essential dressing with a minimal aesthetic”. 

Ms. Layton revealed that Hugo Boss will open five more Hudson’s Bay HUGO partner shop-in-stores in 2016, with another confirmed for early 2017. The 2016 openings will include three men’s HUGO shops at Hudson’s Bay’s downtown Vancouver and Montreal stores, as well as at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre Hudson’s Bay location. Two women’s HUGO stores will also open in 2016 — at Hudson’s Bay’s downtown Vancouver and Yorkdale stores. In 2017, Hugo Boss will open a HUGO Woman shop-in-store at downtown Montreal’s Hudson’s Bay flagship, she said. 

Must-Attend Retail Executive Education Program, July 10-15, 2016

Retail executives looking to enhance their expertise are encouraged to attend this year’s Retail Executive Education Program, being hosted by the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing and Services at Saint Mary’s University in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia. The intensive six-day program runs between July 10 and July 15, and will include retail-focused interactive lectures, simulations, personal leadership assessment with personalized feedback sessions, case discussions and a group project.

The program is tailored to those in director level and in senior executive roles, particularly those at mid-to-large retailers. High-potential managers may also register to participate. 

The program will provide participants with a deep understanding of major current and emerging trends. Participants will be exposed to concepts and case studies by subject matter experts. The program will also provide participants the hands-on learning and tools to develop the competencies needed to succeed in today’s dynamic retail environment. You will experience immersive enriched learning with peers, subject matter experts and leading practitioners, and you’ll emerge a more confident, skilled and effective retail executive and leader as a result. 
 
Key benefits to this program include the following: 

  • Discover best practices, gain new perspectives and insights into emerging retail trends, business models and innovation
  • Develop your strategic thinking and tactical decision-making skills through action-based learning involving collaborative activities, simulations and projects
  • Learn to leverage analytics to improve your business performance in all areas
  • Develop personal leadership skills that will greatly enhance your impact
  • Network with and learn from peers, make connections and form meaningful collaborations
  • Develop a personal and organizational action plan by the end of the program

The program begins at 1:00 pm on Sunday, July 10th and ends at 3:00 pm Friday, July 15. Topics covered will include: 
 
Sunday: Strategic Thinking in a Changing Retail Landscape
Monday (a.m.): Retail Innovation
Monday (p.m.) and Tuesday: Effective Leadership in a Retail Environment
Wednesday: Customer Engagement via Compelling Brand Experiences
Thursday: Driving Value from Retail Analytics
Friday: Alignment & Executing Winning Retail Strategies and Personal Reflection
 
A more comprehensive description of each of these can be found here.
 
Internationally-recognized faculty from the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University form the Program’s central core. Two industry experts supplement the instructional team. Read about them here
 
Cost to attend includes meals and all learning materials. Taxes, travel and accommodations are extra. You may contact Client Services at the David Sobey Centre for information on hotel rates or university accommodations.
 
There’s still time to register for the early bird rate, which ends on May 31. Group enrolment is also available. To apply for or more information, contact Client Services at the David Sobey Centre:
Email: DavidSobeyCentre@smu.ca
Telephone: 902.496.8272