Alex and Ani Enters Canadian Market

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December 7, 2015

American jeweller Alex and Ani enters Canada this month with two confirmed freestanding locations. The company says that more will follow as it evaluates the Canadian market.

Founded in Rhode Island in 2004, the brand is known for its “eco-conscious, positive energy products that adorn the body, enlighten the mind and empower the spirit”, according to its website. Designer Carolyn Rafaelian founded the company, and the brand’s name comes from a combination of the first names of Ms. Rafaelian’s two daughters.

Designs include bangles, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings. Remarkably, bracelets feature a patented sliding mechanism that replaces the traditional clasp, making each bracelet ‘one-size-fits-all’. All Alex and Ani products are made in the United States.

The company first came to national attention in 2004 when it produced a necklace featuring an apple for Gwyneth Paltrow, following the birth of her daughter, Apple, leading to a large number of orders of similar merchandise.

Alex and Ani has recently seen substantial growth. Between 2010 and 2012, the brand increased sales from U.S. $4.5 million to U.S. $80 million, with its labour force increasing from just over 20 to more than 600. The brand boasts 55 freestanding U.S. locations, and wholesales in hundreds of retailers internationally. In Canada, Alex and Ani can be found in a variety of smaller retailers as well as at selected Hudson’s Bay locations and at Nordstrom.

This month, Alex and Ani opens its first two Canadian locations, both in the Toronto area. Its first location just opened at Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket, and a location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre will follow in a few days.

According to Colleen Lewis, Vice President of Global Retail, Alex and Ani is opening Canadian stores after recognizing that the brand had a substantial number of Canadian customers shopping at its U.S. locations. When asked if Alex and Ani would expand beyond Toronto, Ms. Lewis said that the company will “continue to explore opportunities for growth”, and that when searching for store real estate, it seeks “the best and most compelling shopping districts to have the brand available for our clients”.

The company currently has a mix of street and mall locations, she noted.

SQUARE ONE MISSISSAUGA FLOOR PLAN, VIA OXFORD PROPERTIES

A floor plan on the website for Mississauga’s Square One (above) indicates that Alex and Ani will open in 2016 in the mall’s new southwest expansion wing, which will be anchored by Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen. Square One, along with Upper Canada Mall and Yorkdale Shopping Centre, are all owned/managed by Oxford Properties Group.

Ms. Lewis also noted that for the first time in Canada, the entire Alex and Ani collection will be available not only in its brick-and-mortar stores, but also through its website (www.AlexAndAni.com), which now ships to Canada.

Dx3 Opens Retail Collective Zone Applications For All Retail Technology Companies

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Retail Insider

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December 3, 2015

Dx3 and Retail Prophet are pleased to announce that, for the first time ever, public applications will be considered for The Retail Collective at Dx3 – Canada’s leading technology, digital marketing and retail event.

Now entering its third year, The Retail Collective is a collection of technology curated by one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists, Doug Stephens, and presented in a specially built zone on the show floor at Dx3 2016.

On March 2 – 3, 2016, seven of the most disruptive and innovative retail technologies will demonstrate to Dx3 attendees how technology is impacting the behaviour of shoppers both online and in-store, and enhancing the retail experience.

Past Retail Collective companies include ChangeRoom, RetailNext, Perch, Blippar, Pinch, Nomi and Hointer. As a result of their participation in the Retail Collective at Dx3, these companies have been featured in the Toronto Star and numerous other trade publications.

The Retail Collective will aim to demonstrate the extent to which physical stores are at a historic turning point and are no longer mere distribution points for product but rather powerful experiential media points.

Dx3 and Retail Prophet are currently seeking applications from technology companies that build retail solutions to:

help retailers or brands promote their products through multiple sensory touch points
provide cutting-edge in-store experiential/interactive technology
employ advanced in-store analytics

Interested companies can fill out the application here for the chance to be hand picked by Doug Stephens for this exciting exhibit.

For more information, contact Reilly Stephens at Dx3 Canada: 647-317-3890 or email: reilly@dx3canada.com

Saks OFF 5TH Announces Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg Locations

By

Craig Patterson

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December 3, 2015

Saks Fifth Avenue‘s off-price retail concept, Saks OFF 5TH, has revealed four more Canadian locations, adding to seven already announced. These four stores will open between 2016 and 2018, and will be located in Montreal, suburban Quebec City, suburban Vancouver and Winnipeg. Saks says it plans to operate up to 25 Canadian OFF 5TH locations by the year 2018. All four stores will locate in Ivanhoé Cambridge shopping centres.

The suburban Vancouver Saks OFF 5TH, opening fall 2016, will measure 32,687 square feet and be located at Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Tsawwassen Mills. The mall will be about 1.2 million square feet, and this will be OFF 5TH’s first Vancouver-area store.

The suburban Quebec City store, opening spring 2017, will replace a former Holt Renfrew store at the Place Ste-Foy shopping centre. This Saks OFF 5TH will measure 32,943 square feet.

The Winnipeg location, also opening in the spring of 2017, will be at Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Outlet Collection Winnipeg. The store will be 32,191 square feet.

The Montreal Saks OFF 5TH, located downtown at Montreal Eaton Centre, will open in the fall of 2018 in part of the space formerly occupied by department store Les Ailes. The Saks store will likely be one of OFF 5TH’s largest Canadian stores, spanning an impressive 44,840 square feet. In 2016, Montreal Eaton Centre will merge with the space currently known as Complexe Les Ailes to form a single property, welcoming a combined 34 million visitors a year.

Last spring, Saks announced that it would open locations at Tanger Outlets in Ottawa, Vaughan Mills in Toronto and Outlet Collection at Niagara in Niagara-on-the-lake, ON — all opening spring 2016. It subsequently announced the fall 2016 opening of a store at CrossIron Mills in Calgary. Last month, Saks announced three more OFF 5TH locations — at Toronto Premium Outlets (spring 2016), downtown Ottawa (Hudson’s Bay building, fall 2016) and at Premium Outlets Montreal, opening date to be determined.

Van Cleef & Arpels to Open New Vancouver Boutique

By

Craig Patterson

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December 3, 2015

NEW VAN CLEEF & ARPELS ENTRANCE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. PHOTO: HELEN SIWAK

Paris-based luxury jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels will open a new downtown Vancouver boutique this month at Maison Birks, with its own dedicated streetfront entrance. The new Van Cleef replaces a 300 square foot shop-in-store that opened inside Birks in September of 2006.

Located at 698 West Hastings Street, at the corner of Granville Street, Vancouver’s Maison Birks is the country’s largest with its retail space spanning 20,220 square feet over two levels. The beautiful store is located in a former bank building, and the new Van Cleef & Arpels boutique’s new doorway required modifications to the historical building’s facade.

WINDOW AT VANCOUVER’S MAISON BIRKS (BY FALL, THEY MEAN DECEMBER). PHOTO: HELEN SIWAK

Van Cleef & Arpels’ only other Canadian location is at Maison Birks in Toronto’s Manulife Centre. That Birks store also saw Van Cleef & Arpels open in the fall of 2006, though a replacement shop-in-store reflecting the brand’s updated image opened in March of 2013. Manulife Centre is expected to announce a major retail expansion that could include modifications to Maison Birks.

Founded in 1906 by Alfred Van Cleef and his brothers-in-law Charles and Julien Arpels on the Place Vendome in Paris, Van Cleef & Arpels is considered to be one of the world’s most prestigious jewellery brands. The company has store locations worldwide and in the United States, it operates freestanding locations as well as concessions within selected Neiman Marcus stores.

RYU Opens Global Flagship, Reveals Substantial Growth Plans [Photos]

By

Craig Patterson

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December 3, 2015

RYU Flagship at 1745 W. 4 Avenue in Vancouver (Image: RYU)

Vancouver-based multi-discipline performance training and fitness brand RYU has opened its first freestanding location in Vancouver’s Kitsilano area. According to Chairman and CEO Marcello Leone, more will follow as the company plans to open 163 North American locations over the next nine years. The company’s e-commerce site also launches this month.

Founded in Portland, Oregon, RYU or ‘Respect Your Universe’, is an athletic tech-style apparel brand engineered for the fitness, training and performance of the multi-discipline athlete. Marcello Leone, son of the founders of Vancouver-based multi-brand luxury retailer Leone, took the company over in 2014 and spearheaded an overhaul which saw its headquarters moved from the United States to Canada, choosing his hometown of Vancouver to be its new corporate address. RYU’s intention is to become the world’s top multi-discipline performance training and fitness brand, according to Mr. Leone.

RYU Flagship at 1745 W. 4 Avenue in Vancouver (Image: RYU)

The Vancouver flagship, located at 1745 W. 4 Avenue in the city’s ‘athletic apparel strip’, spans 5,600 square feet over two levels. According to Mr. Leone, the store sold 1,300 product units in its first three days of business, with exceptional Black Friday sales despite product not being discounted. He described the store, designed by award-winning AA Roberts Architects, as being spacious, relaxed and clean. He also described how consumers are speaking favourably about RYU’s innovative products that include a range of athletic fashions and accessories, including how the company’s athletic bags have received a “tremendous response”, for example.

Between now and the year 2025, Mr. Leone said that RYU plans to open 163 stores in North America, including approximately 15 to 17 in Canada. At least two more Canadian locations will open in the fall of 2016, with a further six expected for 2017. RYU isn’t wholesaling its products at the moment, though Mr. Leone said that there’s a possibility that the brand could open shop-in-stores at some point, given the right opportunities.

All photos are courtesy of RYU.

Petition Launched to Provide Fashion Designers Same Cultural Grants as Other Artists

By

Craig Patterson

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December 2, 2015

Toronto-based fashion lawyer and trademark agent Anjli Patel has launched a petition to the Ontario government, requesting that fashion designers be given access to the same cultural grants as other artists. It only takes moments to sign, and it can be found here: www.fashionfunding.ca.

Ms. Patel is specifically petitioning the Ontario government to:

List fashion under Culture on the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport website, and
Introduce funding for fashion designers.

Ms. Patel says that recently, some of Ontario’s leading museums and galleries have hosted fashion exhibitions of equal quality to traditional exhibitions in fine art and natural history, including the following:

–Christian Louboutin at the Design Exchange,
–Viktor & Rolf Dolls at the Royal Ontario Museum,
–Marimekko, With Love at the Textile Museum of Canada,
-Roger Vivier: Process to Perfection at the Bata Shoe Museum,
–A Bit of Clay on the Skin: New Ceramic Jewellery at the Gardiner Museum, and
–David Bowie is at the Art Gallery of Ontario, which celebrated “the groundbreaking artist’s collaborations in the fields of fashion, sound, theatre, art and film”.

Given that these institutions recognize the cultural importance of fashion, the Ontario government should do so, as well, said Ms. Patel. The Culture on the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport website features the following:

aboriginal communities
archaeology
arts and artists
cemeteries
creative cluster
cultural planning
heritage
libraries, and
museums.

It is the opinion of Ms. Patel, as well as many others, that fashion designers should be able to apply for government funding alongside artists. Without proper funding, Ontario fashion designers cannot be expected to develop successful fashion businesses and museum-quality fashion exhibits.

Please take a moment and register your vote here: www.fashionfunding.ca

As well, you can also register a separate ‘thumbs up’ to the initiative here: https://talk.ontario.ca/culture/idea/fashion-funding.

Canada’s Largest Online Luxury Resale Store Launches

By

Craig Patterson

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December 2, 2015

image-asset - 2021-02-01T222510.338 — The Upside

Last week, Canada’s largest online luxury retail boutique launched, featuring over 250 premium designer brands. Named The Upside (www.the-upside.ca), the store features new and gently used product from top brands such as Hermes, Chanel, Azzedine Alaia, Fendi, Prada and others. We spoke with founder Lauryn Zhukrovsky, who is based out of Calgary.

Ms. Zhukrovsky explained that she started the online store after recognizing a lack of luxury consignment in the market. While living in Paris several years ago, she learned the importance of becoming a smart shopper and finding luxury for less. She also had personal experience with consignment and wanted to make the process more convenient and enjoyable than what she’d experienced.

Furthermore, an online store provides the ability to see individual pieces profiled and organized, as opposed to a brick-and-mortar consignment store that may be crowded and disorganized.

Ms. Zhukrovsky said: “We are raising the bar for Canadian online consignment. In light of Canada’s current economic climate, shoppers are looking for ways to spend less while still maintaining their designer style; the Upside is a conduit to the most coveted brands minus the typical price that accompanies. We are also attracting international buyers who love our selection and are drawn in by the low Canadian dollar.”

Securing premium brands through consignment can be a challenge, and Ms. Zhukrovsky explained how she has elevated the experience and simplified the process for consigners and shoppers. The company’s ‘white glove’ service will pick up consignment orders in the Calgary area, and the company pays shipping for those consigning goods from other parts of Canada. Ms. Zhukrovsky noted that all consignment product must either be new with tags attached, or gently used. Designer product authenticity is confirmed by experts during a strict multi-point inspection system.

Ms. Zhukrovsky explained how consignment has become increasingly popular in Calgary, particularly with recent economic challenges. The Upside’s consigners can earn up 70% back on the sale price, approximately 30% higher than competitors.

With the rise of fast fashion, Ms. Zhukrovsky sees consignment as a way for people to buy quality fashions in a manner that is ethical, sustainable, and economical. She already has plans to expand her site to include menswear in the new year, as The Upside currently only features women’s fashions and accessories.

The site features some impressive designer fashions, footwear and bags. You can see them at: www.the-upside.ca

Hugo Boss Discusses Continued Canadian Store Expansion

By

Craig Patterson

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December 2, 2015

Upscale German fashion brand Hugo Boss is continuing with its Canadian expansion plans. We spoke with the retailer’s Canadian Managing Director Lanita Layton for details.

The Hugo Boss brand was founded by a man of the same name in 1924 near Stuttgart, Germany. The company has grown substantially to include various product categories, including men’s and women’s fashion, accessories, footwear and fragrances. The company sells in excess of 2.5 billion Euros annually, and employs over 12,500 people worldwide. It operates corporately-owned stores,concessions, and outlets, and also sells through franchises and wholesale channels. Hugo Boss recently made Interbrand’s top 100 brands for 2015 for the first time, reflecting Hugo Boss’ increasing popularity and respect in the industry.

Although franchised Hugo Boss stores operated in Canada in the past, it wasn’t until recently that the brand opened corporately owned locations outside of Vancouver. In 2007, the company opened its first Toronto location, featuring only womenswear, at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. That store was subsequently replaced by a dual-gender location in an expansion wing in November of 2012. In 2008, the company opened a location at West Edmonton Mall and in late 2009, Boss opened its massive three-level freestanding Canadian flagship at 83 Bloor Street West in Toronto. A location at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre followed in the summer of 2013 and in the spring of 2014, a CF Richmond Centre unit opened in suburban Vancouver. Last spring, Hugo Boss opened at CF Toronto Eaton Centre and soon after, at Vancouver’s CF Pacific Centre below Nordstrom. The company also operates a concession at Montreal’s Ogilvy department store. The company’s oldest Canadian location is at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre, which opened in September of 2005. Two previous Yorkville shops, and one downtown Vancouver location, have since closed.

The company also operates 15 shops-in-stores in retailers such as Harry Rosen, as well as six Boss outlets. The Bloor Street Harry Rosen Boss location is particularly remarkable, measuring an impressive 2,940 square feet.

Hugo Boss Canada Managing Director Lanita Layton explained that the company is looking to renovate and expand some of its more successful Canadian locations, particularly smaller stores that lack some of the brand’s new store design features. Boss’ updated store design is reflected in its recently opened CF Pacific Centre Vancouver location, which features Bauhaus-inspired interiors that are high-quality, bright, and feature an openness ideally enhanced by overheight ceilings.

Hugo Boss is also entertaining the possibility of opening new Canadian stores. Ms. Layton explained that the company would seek retail space in the 6,000 square foot range, ideally in top enclosed malls, with exceptional traffic and co-tenancies. Larger stores allow the brand to feature full men’s and women’s fashion/accessory/footwear collections, as opposed to smaller locations such as CF Richmond Centre and West Edmonton Mall which only feature men’s categories.

Ms. Layton explained that sales of Boss’ womenswear has grown considerably since Taiwanese Canadian designer Jason Wu took over as creative director. The young Mr. Wu, who also designs his own popular fashion line, is a favourite of Michelle Obama and many affluent women worldwide. Mr. Wu’s handbags and footwear lines for Hugo Boss have proven so popular that the retailer recently expanded the third floor of its Bloor Street flagship for more shoes and leathergoods.

Several years ago, Hugo Boss’ Canadian sales were approximately 40% retail and 60% wholesale. Those numbers have since reversed as Hugo Boss opens more corporately-owned stores, though Ms. Layton stressed that Boss’ wholesale accounts are extremely important and highly valued by the brand.

Although Ms. Layton wouldn’t provide an estimate as to the number of Canadian locations that Hugo Boss is ultimately looking to operate, she did explain that the brand is looking to grow some current locations and open in selected markets, while continuing to foster strong relationships with its wholesale vendors. Hugo Boss has had a relationship with some of Canada’s top retailers for a number of years, including top names such as Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen, Henry Singer and Hudson’s Bay.

Jamie Oliver Restaurant Chain Enters Canada This Month in Oxford Malls

By

Craig Patterson

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December 1, 2015

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver‘s Italian restaurant concept, Jamie’s Italian, launches its first Canadian location this month at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. A second location will follow in late 2016 or earlier at Mississauga’s Square One, with more Canadian locations expected to follow.

The Yorkdale Shopping Centre restaurant will measure about 8,000 square feet, and is located in retail space former occupied by TD Bank at the north end of the mall. The Square One location will measure about 6,500 square feet, and will be located in the mall’s southwest ‘luxury wing’ expansion which will also include Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen, Kate Spade, Wolford and other upscale tenants.

Jamie’s Italian launched in 2008 in Oxford, England. The concept has proven popular and now boasts dozens of locations worldwide, including Great Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceana.

Stan Vyriotes and David Wedemire of DWSV Remax Ultimate Realty Inc. acted on behalf of Jamie’s Italian in negotiations with Oxford Properties, which manages both Yorkdale and Square One.

Gravitypope Opens Stunning Flagship [Photos]

By

Craig Patterson

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December 1, 2015

Edmonton-based footwear and fashion retailer gravitypope (spelled lowercase) has opened a new Calgary flagship. Under the same roof is an apothecary, music retailer Blackbyrd Myoozik (the second location for the popular Edmonton record store) and Edmonton-based chocolatier Sweet Lollapalooza Confections — also opening its second location. We spoke with gravitypope founder and owner Louise Dirks for details.

Located at 1126 17 Avenue S.W., The new 9,000 square foot Calgary gravitypope occupies an impressive building designed by noted Calgary Architect, Harold Hanen, who was most known for his development of the city’s Plus 15 walkway system. The store’s design reflects his love for Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and features staircases surrounded with glass in an all open concept.

The store’s brutalist-inspired interior was designed and built by Peter and Wendy Turner (The Artworks-Edmonton), combining 1970’s furniture and design elements including brass, smoked mirror, glass and colour with contemporary fixtures and furnishings. The store’s central atrium is filled with Bocci blue glass bubble lights, massive Jason Miller Modo chandeliers adorning the footwear gallery, silver veneer space age display cases imported from Paris, a 1970’s brass and green glass mirror from Southern France, recycled stained glass from the Trippen headquarters (previous Bulgarian Embassy) in Berlin, and a custom art installation by Russian Canadian visual artist Kristi Malakoff.

Blackbyrd Myoozik’s 600 square foot space is located on the lower-level of the new gravitypope. Sweet Lollapalooza’s roughly 500 square foot shop-in-store will soon sell wine and champaign by the glass, according to gravitypope owner Louise Dirks. Sweet Lollapalooza will also serve coffee and is already internationally known for its chocolates, having won multiple awards.

Ms. Dirks said that she has no immediate plans for any more locations, though down the road she may look at new markets and replacement locations.

Founded in 1990 as a single shoe store on Edmonton’s trendy Whyte Avenue, gravitypope soon expanded its offerings to include designer ready-to-wear. Its first Calgary store opened in the year 2000 and in 2004, a Vancouver location opened on West 4th Avenue in the Kitsilano area. In 2007, two ready-to-wear clothing boutiques, called gravitypope Tailored Goods, opened in Edmonton and Vancouver. In late 2012, gravitypope opened a large location on Toronto’s hip West Queen West, featuring footwear, fashion, and an apothecary.

The Calgary store features more than 100 brands, including:

Footwear: Acne Studios, Adidas, Aigle, Alexander Wang, Alice & Whittles, Ami, Arche, Asics Onitsuka Tiger, Audley, Birkenstock, Bosabo, Camper, Chausser, Chie Mihara, Church’s, Clae, Clarks, Coclico, Comme des Garçons, Common Projects, Converse, Cydwoq, Diemme, Dr. Martens, Fiorentini & Baker, Jil Sander Navy, John Fluevog, Kodiak, Fly London, Frye, Gidigio, gravitypope, Grenson, H by Hudson, Keen, Manitobah Mukluks, Marcel, Marni, Megumi Ochi, Melissa, Merrell, Michael Kors, Moma, Native, New Balance, Objects in Mirror, Officine Creative, Paul Smith, Rachel Comey, Rag & Bone, Rosa Mosa, Red Wing, Repetto, Saucony, See by Chloe, Sorel, Superga, Swims, T & F Slack, TN-29, Toms, Trippen, Ugg, Veronique Branqhino, Vic Matie, Vans, Wolverine 1000 Mile, Zinda and more.

Clothing: A.B. Punto, Acne Studios, Alex Mill, Alexander Wang, Ami Paris, APC, Antipast, Barena, Canada Goose Black, Carhartt WIP, Comme des Garçons, Engineered Garments, Filippa K, Forte Forte, Fortnight Lingerie, Isabel Marant, Ivan Grundahl, Jil Sander Navy, Maison Kitsune, Margaret Howell, Marni, Naked and Famous, Pomandere, Rag & Bone, Sophie D’Hoore, Stephan Schneider, Yoshi Kondo and more.

Accessories: Arielle De Pinto, Pearls Before Swine, Ming Yu Wang, Rada, Marni and Milena Zu, and Jill Platner jewelry; Antipast, Falke, Happy Socks, Marcoliani, Paul Smith, Hansel From Basel socks and hosiery; and APC, Alexander Wang, Comme des Garçons, Il Busetto, Marni, Officine Creative, Repetto, Want Essentiels, Paul Smith handbags and wallets.

All photos courtesy of gravitypope, with more below. Some are saying that photos don’t do the store justice, and that it should be seen in person.