By Randy Selzer

On a recent visit to Square One Shopping Centre, in Mississauga, Ontario, we stopped by to check out the ongoing construction for the new Holt Renfrew outlet on the south side of the mall. Although Square One has been undergoing massive renovations and expansion over the last several years, which has resulted in new food courts, new store areas, and a large expansion on the north side (soon to host Quebec City-based department store La Maison Simons), it is the south side where some of the most anticipated construction is taking place.

On the extreme southwest end of the mall, an approximate 120,000 square foot addition is being built to house a new Holt Renfrew location. Architects for this Square One Holt Renfrew expansion are Janson Goldstein LLP, who are based out of New York. You can see from the renderings and today’s construction photos, that there will be an interesting “scalloped” effect on the glass facade, a nice added touch in keeping with the luxury branding of Holts.

The new Holt Renfrew is expected to open in the spring of 2016, and will undoubtedly be a flagship for the luxury Canadian retailer, being part of its strategy to counter the entry of Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom, into the Canadian retail scene. Square One itself has been rebranding itself in a big way over the last several years, with luxury retailers gradually squeezing out many of the lower priced stores. The mall itself is looking pretty good these days – brighter, cleaner, and with many new additions. It’s pretty clear that Oxford Properties, the managers of Square One, have spent a lot of time and money doing all the recent renovations, and the results are a definite step towards an “upscale” shopping experience. The addition of Holt Renfrew will be another major addition to this upscale rebranding.

We will keep you posted with updates on the many changes taking place at Square One Shopping Centre. It’s such a central fact of life for those of us living in the city centre area of Mississauga. And for people who love shopping at Holt Renfrew, it looks like you will soon be able to get their Missoni teddy bears, and much more, at Square One.

As mentioned, Oxford Properties manages Square One, and they are overseeing the ongoing development. Municipal address for the mall is 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON. L5B 2C9. 

Randy Selzer is an award-winning realtor with substantial experience serving customers in Mississauga and Oakville. When not busy selling houses, he enjoys writing about life in Mississauga. Randy can be reached at rselzer@sutton.com or 416-433-3556.

You can also read his blog here: http://randyselzer.wordpress.com

J.C. Williams Group and the Ebeltoft Group have been formally tracking trends in retail innovation around the globe for nearly a decade. Enormous change has occurred within society, consumers, and ultimately, in the retail stores that serve them during this period.  

As a member of the Ebeltoft Group, J.C. Williams Group contributes to Retail Innovations, an annually released publication that includes the latest compilation of leading edge innovation, highlighting individual ideas and the key themes that emerge from studying the whole. 

In this year’s edition, Retail Innovations 10, seven global innovation trends and sixty of the best cases from twenty-one countries are featured.  The seven trends include: curated collections, customization, experiential retailing, “hyper local,” online offline mashup, “retailvention,” and technology intervention. These same global trends were featured at last week’s STORE 2015 conference, June 2–3, in two inspiring sessions presented by J.C. Williams Group’s Senior Advisor Lisa Hutcheson and Ebeltoft partner’s McMillanDoolittle. Let’s take a closer look. 

Innovation Trend #1: Curated Collections

The heart of successful retailing lies in creating a coherent and compelling assortment for customers. It is the job of any retailer to be an effective merchant, selecting the best products they can to create a relevant offer – having the right product in the right place at the right time.

Sample Case (from Retail Innovations 10): Bento Store (BRAZIL – São Paulo)

A contemporary and inspiring design retail store focused on urban mobility, offering a variety of lunchboxes, lunch bags, and bottles. The store reinvents the traditional lunchbox by driving sophistication, life-style, fashion, technology and functionality, while also creating solutions.

Innovation Trend #2: Customization

This trend is reaching critical mass. Customers can now create a product that is truly their own. Retailing and manufacturing was once predicated on scale, and now we are mass producing goods to achieve efficiency.

Sample Case: Birchbox (USA – NYC)

Birchbox, the subscription-based beauty product service model stepped up from online and recently opened a store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. The first bricks-and-mortar location for the brand provides a new way to reach consumers and brings their products and experience to life.

Innovation Trend #3: Experiential Retailing 2.0

With e-commerce growing in sales and popularity on a global basis, retailers are forced to ask more often, “what is the role of the store?” The quick answer is that it can no longer just be an efficient place to buy commoditized products. Stores are social gathering places, centers for knowledge, learning and information, a place for fun, or relaxation. They are the ultimate showcases for merchandise, exciting customers with possibilities. They are motivators to love better, eat better or beautify one’s home. In short, experiential stores are wondrous places that can deliver experiences in a way that a website can’t.

Sample Case: Selfridges Fragrance Lab (UK – London)

Selfridges’ Fragrance Lab is an immersive fragrance experience showcasing retail at its most indulgent and hedonistic best. From May 1st to June 27th 2014, customers of the prestigious Selfridges flagship department store in London paid £65 to go on ‘a journey to explore the outer reaches of scent, to discover the essence of one’s self’—as described by its creators. Participants began by completing a personality test conducted on an iPad to determine their tastes and habits, and were then given headphones and an audio guide to begin their journey through a series of ‘sensorial chambers’.

Innovation Trend #4: Hyper Local

There is real power in truly being local. Having the right products sourced from the community speaks to powerful macro trends around freshness, sustainability, and supporting the local community, while attempting to keep prices low. It also compellingly speaks to safety, and the consumer’s desire to become better educated and more demanding about the products they are consuming. 

Sample Case: Begendik Cayyolu Store (TURKEY – Ankara)

Begendik created the new Cayyolu Store in Turkey’s Capitol, Ankara. The main drivers of the new store concept are the focus on freshness and customer experience. The Cayyolu Store produces their products right before serving them to customers and are sold right away. The store offerings include, but are not limited to, noodles, pastries, chocolates, fresh yogurt and cheeses. Furthermore, the store’s indoor greenhouse grows vegetables and fruits that are cultivated through soilless agriculture and freshly served to customers.

Innovation Trend #5: Online Offline Mashup

A new retail era is emerging. It will seamlessly blend the online and offline retail experience together, allowing customers to shop where and how they want, at any time. Online tools are being adopted for in-store use to bring the immediacy of online into the brick and mortar world. We are at our infancy in truly seeing the impact of these efforts.

Sample Case: JeansOnline, Easy Fit & Return (THE NETHERLANDS)

JeansOnline introduced a new fitting service, Easy Fit & Return—a service that lets you try-on online purchases, without having to leave home. An express courier will announce its arrival with a text message an hour to half an hour in advance and will return after fifteen minutes of fitting time to take all the unwanted items back.

Innovation Trend #6: Retailvention

Cases in retailvention break new ground creating new business models. From savvy start-ups to some of the world’s largest companies, these new models force one to rethink the very nature of what retailing can be.

Sample Case: Bilder & de Clercq (THE NETHERLANDS – Amsterdam)

Instead of being an ordinary supermarket, Bilder & de Clercq differentiates itself by offering meal solutions. The idea behind this concept is simple: a store, arranged by dishes, where all of the ingredients for that particular dish are offered in the exact amount required for either one or two people—think of the store as a 3D cookbook. Visitors can choose between 14 different dishes, divided over seven presentation tables. Recipes are tasty and healthy and developed by professional chefs with an emphasis on easy, fresh, and homemade meals.

For demonstrating outstanding innovation, Bilder & de Clercq was the winner of the 2014 Ebeltoft Retail Innovations Award.  

Innovation Trend #7: Technology Intervention

Technology itself is not an innovation; it is what the technology enables customers to do that provides a glimpse of true innovation. Retailers are integrating the use of technology to provide consumers with more choice, more access, and more information than ever before. 

Sample Case: Sport Chek–West Edmonton Mall Flagship Store (CANADA)

The rise of e-commerce is causing retailers to push the boundaries of in-store experiences and provide next-level customer service. As a result, Sport Chek opened its first flagship store that offers a tremendous, digitally immersive retail experience. With more than 180 stores nationwide, Sport Chek is Canada’s #1 sporting goods retailer.

Want to see more exciting examples of retail innovation around the world? DOWNLOAD your copy of Retail Innovations 10 today.  

About J.C. Williams Group

J.C. Williams Group is a well-known, full-service retail and marketing consulting firm. It offers clients practical, creative, and in-depth knowledge of retailing and marketing, including up-to-date know-how and techniques to make retail operations better and more profitable. www.jcwg.com

About Ebeltoft Group

Ebeltoft Group is a global alliance of 23 consulting companies with a common high level of expertise and focus on retail. Since 1990, Ebeltoft Group has helped retailers, as well as suppliers to the retail sector, remain competitive by blending global retail expertise with each member’s local insight. www.ebeltoftgroup.com

About Retail Innovations 10th Edition

Retail lnnovations 10 is Ebeltoft Group’s latest compilation of leading-edge retail innovation, highlighting individual ideas and the key themes that emerge from studying the whole.  This year’s edition includes 7 global innovation trends and 60 of the best innovation cases from 21 countries. 

Criminal fraudsters continue to make news headlines breaching millions of consumer credit cards and private data files. Meanwhile, mobile payment systems are evolving with new technology and capturing consumer spending habits. Attend this live event to discuss the most pressing issues in payment and fraud today.

The Fraud 360™ World Tour will be landing in Toronto on June 11 at the Hyatt Regency, located at 370 King Street West. Complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided. Register quickly because seating is limited. 

Schedule:

8:30 am – Registration / Breakfast

9:00 am – Welcome – Session 1 & 2

10:30 am – Break

10:45 am – Session 3 & 4

12:15 pm – Lunch / Q&A

Sessions will provide an overview on timely topics and best practice standards that you can adapt to your business.

 1) Mobile Fraud

Speaker: Rich Stuppy, Chief Operations Officer, Kount

Nothing is changing the face of ecommerce faster than the mobile channel. Customer expectations, new apps, mobile wallets and continued regulations are just a few of the issues outlined during this presentation. We’ll also review highlights of the 2015 Mobile Payments & Fraud Survey. *Full report available on request.

2) Cross Border – Out of the country, Out of control

Speaker: Steve Casco, Chief Executive Officer, CardNotPresent.com  

Steve Casco explores the opportunities and challenges inherent in selling globally. Hear about the rise of Asia and an opportunity gap your business could exploit, how mobile is driving cross-border sales and how finding the right partners can grease the rails of international expansion.

3) Staying Out of Chargeback Hell

Speaker: Don Bush, Vice President of Marketing, Kount

Chargebacks are the number one indicator of a fraud problem, but the way chargebacks are reported to merchants makes it difficult to determine how and why they occurred. We’ll review common symptoms of fraud that can cause chargebacks and best practices to avoid them in the future.

4) Case Study: Fraud in the Omni-Channel

Speaker: Greg Coles, Director of E-Commerce Operations, The Source Electronics

For almost 23 years, Greg has been a part of The Source, working with fraud detection for the last 8 years. Greg has seen his company adapt and innovate to the changing environments, including the migration to E-Commerce and Mobile purchasing. His breadth of knowledge and experience is beyond reproach and will provide a unique insight into the fraud landscape for a successful heavily targeted Omni-Channel retail business.

Given the usefulness of the topics and the fact that it’s free, available spaces will fill up quickly. Register now and reserve your space at Fraud 360™ in Toronto. 

As it rolls-out its unique new retail concept, popular headphone and consumer electronic accessory brand Skullcandy is looking to open multiple Canadian locations. Skullcandy is seeking retail space within outlet malls, and it has ambitious expansion plans for both the United States and Canada. 

Founded by Rick Alden in Utah in 2003, Skullcandy is known for its unique array of headphones, earbuds, wireless speakers and other consumer electronic accessories. It is considered to be a lifestyle and performance audio brand, inspired by the creativity of youth culture. 

Publicly traded Skullcandy is partnering with Massachusetts-based Brattle Retail Partners to launch the direct-to-consumer Skullcandy Factory Store concept. Last fall, Skullcandy opened a store at Las Vegas South Premium Outlets, and the company is pursuing plans to open in excess of 20 U.S. locations within the next four years. 

Within each store, consumers may sample and interact with products in a space that “reflects the integrity and passion of the Skullcandy brand”. Customers are encouraged to peruse its listening stations to sample its products, using personal mobile devices or the interactive Skullcandy app on in-store iPads. Big screens play custom Skullcandy videos featuring endorsements from top athletes, and an in-house video gaming section encourages customers to hang out and test Skullcandy’s wireless gaming headphones.

Skullcandy is involved in the sponsorship of various sports, from skateboarding to wakeboarding, motocross, snowboarding, skiing and biking. As well, Skullcandy has an NBA-inspired collection and relationships with various basketball teams. Not to mention, Skullcandy recently partnered with Jay-Z to design its popular Roc Nation Aviator headphones. 

Skullcandy’s net sales hit $247.8 million in 2014, up 18% from 2013. 

Skullcandy has partnered with Canadian brokerage Think Retail to launch its Canadian stores, and is seeking retail space between 600 and 1,000 square feet, with an initial focus on British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. The plan is to finalize three or four Canadian locations within the next 12 to 15 months, and to open up to a dozen Canadian outlets over the next three years. Ideally, co-tenants will share a passion for youth culture, active lifestyle, and setting trends such as surf, skate and snowboard brands, as well as sunglasses and active apparel for men.