This week, Montreal-based Browns Shoes launched an online version of its discounted footwear store, Browns Outlet. The new website features discounted footwear from its regular stores and website.
The ‘Outlet’ has its own tab on the company’s main website. Apart from men’s and women’s footwear, handbags are also featured.
The new website compliments the company’s two two bricks-and-mortar Browns Outlet store locations. One is at Vaughan Mills in suburban Toronto, and the other is at Place Vertu in suburban Montreal.
Harry Rosen will expand and renovate its Montreal flagship, adding approximately 11,000 square feet to the store. The expanded store will become the company’s second-largest, following its 54,000 square foot Toronto flagship. New features for the Montreal location will include multiple shops-in-store as well as the company’s largest shoe department.
According to CEO Larry Rosen, the ‘new’ Montreal Harry Rosen store will be state-of-the-art. Its current 22,000 square foot store will be enlarged by 50%, bringing it to an impressive 33,000 square feet. When completed in the fall of 2015, it will boast the company’s largest shoe department. Expanded areas for men’s accessories will be rolled out, including a shop-in-store for Robert Tateossian cufflinks and accessories. A fragrance bar will be launched. Boutiques for Brunello Cucinelli, Giorgio Armani Black Label, Ermenegildo Zegna, Canali, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana and others will be featured. Valet parking will be provided and a new streetfront entrance will be created by annexing adjacent retail space.
Montreal’s Harry Rosen store, located at Les Cours Mont Royal, originally opened in 1999 and at the time, was the second-largest in the chain (following the then-32,000 square foot Bloor Street location in Toronto). Since its opening, Harry Rosen stores have become larger. In the fall of 2008, its Bloor Street flagship expanded from 32,000 to 54,000 square feet, making it one of North America’s largest upscale men’s stores. In 2010, its Calgary store expanded from about 18,000 square feet to just over 30,000 square feet. Its Yorkdale Shopping Centre location is completing an expansion that will see it grow to occupy almost 31,000 square feet. Given the increase in store sizes, Montreal’s Harry Rosen store expansion was to be expected.
LES COURS MONT ROYAL, HOME TO MONTREAL’S FLAGSHIP HARRY ROSEN STORE. IMAGE SOURCE
Les Cours Mount Royal is an upscale Downtown Montreal retail centre that was once a large hotel. Built in 1922, the then-Mount Royal Hotel was the largest in the British Empire, with 1,100 rooms. In 1988, about 200,000 square feet of the hotel’s lower portion was converted to retail. It now houses Canada’s largest DKNY store, and is home to one of Montreal’s most luxurious womenswear retailers, Ursula B.
INSIDE THE ELEGANT LES COURS MONT ROYAL. HARRY ROSEN’S EXPANSION WILL SEE THE STORE OCCUPY 33,000 SQUARE FEET OVER THREE FLOORS. IMAGE SOURCE
TOM FORD IS ONE OF SEVERAL SHOPS-IN-STORES THAT WILL FEATURE PROMINENTLY IN THE NEWLY EXPANDED HARRY ROSEN. OTHER SHOPS WILL INCLUDE GIORGIO ARMANI, BRUNELLO CUCINELLI, DOLCE & GABBANA, ZEGNA, CANALI AND OTHERS. IMAGE SOURCE
Thank you to Harry Rosen’s CEO, Larry Rosen, for providing us with an interview from which we gathered this information. In the coming weeks we’ll provide more exciting news on what’s happening with Harry Rosen as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Retail Insider was started two years ago today. As we enter our third year, we want to thank our readers, sources, and our team who continue to make Retail Insider possible. We’re also looking to grow our business, possibly with your help.
On April 8th, 2012, we started Retail Insider with a blog post about Nordstrom’s struggles with its intended entry into Canada. We continued posting articles as we realized that there were readers interested in the Canadian retail industry.
Moving forward, we’re looking to further grow Retail Insider. We’re now entertaining advertising opportunities, as well as possible business ventures. If you’d like to advertise with Retail Insider or if you have a project or business idea you’d like us to be involved with, feel free to contact Craig Patterson, Editor-in-Chief, at: craig@retail-insider.com.
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Thank you again, everyone, for reading and supporting Retail Insider.
Yorkdale’s new Miu Miu store is similar in size to the Bloor Street location, which is about 450 square feet. As with Bloor Street’s Miu Miu, Yorkdale’s carries only accessories and handbags, and no women’s clothing.
There are currently 17 leased Miu Miu boutiques in the United States. Ten are free-standing shops that carry women’s ready-to-wear. The other seven are accessory boutiques like those in Canada, and six of those are within Saks Fifth Avenue stores while one is within Manhattan’s flagship Bloomingdale’s store. No word yet if Saks Fifth Avenue will attempt to secure Miu Miu leases when it opens in Canada.
St. John is an upscale American womenswear label with prices into the hundreds and even thousands. It’s carried in Canada at selected Holt Renfrew stores. Most Nordstrom stores also feature large in-store St. John departments, and we expect this to be the case for Nordstrom’s future Canadian stores as well.
The Hotel Vancouver’s retail component, owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge, will see significant changes as substantial renovations are about to commence. We’ll periodically announce new tenants slated to open in its newly configured, two-level retail spaces.
*Photo at the top of this article is by ‘dreambrother808’ of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum.
Designing a world-class, award-winning store takes creativity, vision and research. La Maison Simons at West Edmonton Mall has won several design awards including, most recently, the prestigious EuroShop RetailDesign Award. We interviewed its designer, Chris Wright of Toronto-based design firm figure3, to get his insight into the designing of the West Edmonton Mall store.
MEN’S FURNISHINGS DEPARTMENT. PHOTO BY BEN RAHN/A-FRAME STUDIO
We first wanted to see the award-winning store for ourselves. In January of this year, we visited West Edmonton Mall’s Simons store for the first time. It surpassed our expectations, both in its design and its merchandise. The store was big, bright, visually interesting, quirky, and it engaged the shopper with digital media. It featured extensive collections of trendy womenswear, menswear, accessories and home furnishings, spanning about 118,000 square feet. The store’s high ceilings created a sense of drama, and its pervasive lighting contributed to a positive environment, highlighting the store’s merchandise. Artwork was featured throughout the space. Expensive designer clothing and accessories mingled with value-priced in-house designer labels, a signature of Simons. Sales staff were friendly, professional, well-dressed and plentiful. Overall, it was a positive store experience that is generally lacking in Canadian retailing.
Designed by Toronto-based design firm figure3, West Edmonton Mall’s La Maison Simons opened in October of 2012. It was the seventh location for the Quebec City-based retailer, its first outside of the province of Quebec. A few months after its opening, the store won the Chain Store Age Retail Store of the Year Award. And in February of this year, it won the prestigious EuroShop RetailDesign Award in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was the first Canadian design firm to win the award: a very proud moment for figure3.
FITTING ROOMS PUNCTUATE KEY DEPARTMENTS AND INCLUDE: SERPENTINE WOOD-SCREENED AREAS IN THE WOMEN’S DEPARTMENT. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE TSAI PHOTOGRAPHY
In our conversation with figure3’s Chris Wright, it was revealed that research was key to the store’s design and execution. Edmonton shoppers were interviewed at length to ascertain what they wanted in a store. Research showed that the Edmonton market lacked exciting and innovative retail, both in merchandise as well as in store design. Figure3 set out to create a retail environment that was ‘high fashion’ as well as exciting and artistic, in close collaboration with the store’s CEO and visionary, Peter Simons.
POD-LIKE FITTING ROOMS THAT DESCEND FROM THE CEILING COMPLETE WITH PHOTOSTAR BOOTH. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE TSAI PHOTOGRAPHY
Initial research pointed to the Edmonton customer as being more ‘casual’ than the Quebec shopper. The high-income Edmontonian also has a tendency towards buying expensive designer jeans. With this in mind, Simons initially limited its designer clothing options for this store, instead concentrating on its moderately-priced in-house labels and some casual designer lines. Not long after the store’s opening, however, the unexpected was discovered: the Edmonton shopper had a taste for luxury fashion. More top-tier and ‘edgy’ designers were thus introduced into the Edmonton store. Racks of high-priced designer clothing from designers such as Balmain, Mary Katrantzou, Versace, Jil Sander, Kenzo and Jean Paul Gaultier now feature prominently at La Maison Simons in Edmonton.
To make the store spectacular, figure3 worked hand-in-hand with Simons’ CEO, Peter Simons. Mr. Wright explained to us how Mr. Simons is a brilliant visionary who seeks to incorporate art into his fashionable stores. What transpired in Edmonton was a store featuring artwork throughout, complementing its fashion. The store’s largest piece is a massive installation occupying a double-height portion of the northwest corner of the store. Inspired by the aurora borealis, Canadian artist and architect Philip Beesley created ‘Simons Aurora‘, a stunning canopy of crystalline columns that form a gently swelling and rippling ocean of light. Smaller memorable art pieces are also featured throughout the store including our favourite, sweater-covered ‘trophy’ deer heads in the men’s fitting room area. The store’s exterior facade is also unique, featuring vertical, sinuous titanium blades that lighten the surface while a 30-foot cube of glass cuts into the corner of the building, illuminating the entrance and drawing people inside.
CANADIAN ARTIST AND ARCHITECT PHILIP BEASELY CREATED ‘SIMONS AURORA ‘,A STUNNING CANOPY OF CRYSTALLINE COLUMNS THAT FORM A GENTLY SWELLING AND RIPPLING OCEAN OF LIGHT. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE TSAI PHOTOGRAPHY
Digital media also enhances the shopping experience by ‘plugging-in’ the store. A ‘Photostar’ booth, for example, allows shoppers real-time social media photo sharing. A video gaming wall was installed to entertain non-shoppers. And in-store digital tablets interface with the store’s e-commerce site.
SWEATER-COVERED ‘TROPHY’ DEER HEADS IN THE MEN’S FITTING ROOM AREA. PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE TSAI PHOTOGRAPHY
Edmonton’s luxury retail has traditionally been limited to a handful of stores, with conservative merchandise and rather lacklustre store interiors. Most of these are located downtown within Edmonton’s Maulife Place, a retail complex at the base of an office tower by the same name. Holt Renfrew operates a two-level, dated-looking 43,000 square foot store within Manulife Place. Although Holt’s features a Louis Vuitton shop and carries some luxury designers, it pales in comparison to the substantially larger Holt Renfrew stores in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Upscale menswear retailer Henry Singer operates a store across the hall from Holt’s, and upscale womenswear retailer Blu’s is upstairs in the same complex. Outside of the downtown core, upscale menswear retailer Harry Rosen operates a 12,000 square foot store at West Edmonton Mall. La Maison Simons has created a bright and innovative shopping environment unlike any of these stores.
While Edmonton’s luxury retailers lean towards the conservative, Simons now stocks parts of its Edmonton store with trendier designer items, at a variety of price points. The response from Edmonton consumers has been surprising – they’ve taken to the store in a big way, making it one of Simons’ best performing locations. When asked whether Simons underestimated the Edmonton customer or if the Edmonton customer warmed up to Simons’ high fashion, Mr. Wright said that it was likely a ‘little of both’. Edmontonians are certainly more well-dressed these days, and Simons is partly to thank.
Mr. Wright’s design firm, figure3, is also designing La Maison Simons’ stores at Ottawa’s Rideau Centre, as well as at Mississauga’s Square One. These stores will feature artwork and similar fixtures and interiors to the Edmonton store. The Edmonton store has acted as a forerunner for which other store fixtures may be replicated. Thanks to figure3 and La Maison Simons, Canada can now boast some world-class retail environments.
Vancouver-based Ronsons has opened its flagship shoe store at 734 Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver. It replaces footwear retailer Shoe Warehouse, formerly located in the space.
For those unfamiliar, Ronsons is a retailer, manufacturer and designer of ‘comfort shoes’. It is owned by a father-and-son team, and it was founded in 1988. It has 14 store locations, both under the Ronsons name as well as its discount store Ronsons Rack. Its Rack stores sell clearance footwear at prices typically at least 50% off.
The new Vancouver Ronsons boasts high ceilings and also features the discounted Ronsons Rack area in the back of the store. The new store replaces a smaller, 1,000 square foot Ronsons across the street on the lower level of Pacific Centre.
Formerly only available in the United States, Shopify‘s credit card reader technology is now available in Canada. Its card reader is a free device that allows merchants to process credit card payments on-the-go using the Shopify Mobile iPhone app, or in-store using its iPad-based point of sale system, Shopify POS.
For those unfamiliar, Shopify is an Ottawa-based commerce platform that allows anyone to sell online, at a retail location, or pretty much anywhere. Shopify offers an online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, a point of sale system to power retail sales and, now, a card reader to accept payments through mobile phones. The company currently powers over 80,000 online stores around the world, including: Tesla Motors, Budweiser, Gatorade, Amnesty International, Wikimedia Foundation, CrossFit, and others.
Shopify’s card reader was launched about eight months ago in the United States. It has only now launched in Canada, due to delays in Canadian bank approval.
The card reader allows merchants to accept all major credit cards including Visa, MasterCard and American Express all at one rate, based on the merchant’s Shopify plan. The rates on credit card transactions are 2.7% for the basic plan, 2.4% for professional plan, and 2.15% for the unlimited plan.
One can order the free Shopify mobile card reader by logging into the app, navigating to the ‘Accept Payments’ screen and confirming one’s mailing address. Shopify Mobile is free for all existing Shopify merchants, and can be downloaded in the Apple App Store.
Shopify has also opened its Canadian hardware store where one can order Shopify POS hardware kits and other optional accessories like receipt printers and barcode scanners. A pop-up store in Toronto will be open until April 4th, where one can obtain a free mobile card reader or buy Shopify POS hardware kits in person.
The Dollar Tree store in Downtown Vancouver’s luxury retail complex ‘The Carlyle‘ will close on April 12th. It’s the latest tenant to move off the Alberni Street stretch that is being positioned as Vancouver’s luxury shopping district.
The 12,000 square foot Dollar Tree store has an entrance on Thurlow Street, with an escalator providing access to its below-ground retail space. The entrance, as per the photos in this article, sits directly beside the new 4,700 square foot corner retail space. We don’t yet have word who might replace Dollar Tree.
Alberni Street is being positioned as a luxury shopping area, both by brokers and planners. Several world-famous brands are scouting and negotiating for spaces on the street, and proposals are in place to upgrade Alberni Street’s sidewalks and street fixtures. We’ll be reporting more on Alberni Street as it prepares itself to become Vancouver’s equivalent to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or East Oak Street in Chicago.
Canadian retail, overall, has changed more over the past few years than it has in generations. National institutions, including some of our largest grocers and drug stores, have been taken over by larger competitors. Canadian consumers are purchasing more online than ever before. It’s no secret that the way we purchase goods and services isn’t just changing; it has changed. And one of the first sectors to experience this change was brick-and-mortar book stores.
Sony is credited as being the first major tech company to release an electronic reader, with its 2006 release of the Sony Reader. Not long after, Amazon revolutionized such devices and brought them into the mainstream with its Kindle reader. Consumers quickly picked up on this trend. By 2010 and for the first time in history, more books were purchased online through devices such as Kindle than paper books. Since then, virtual book sales have continued to grow. Sales have grown so much, in fact, that the sustainability of the world’s largest brick-and-mortar book stores is in jeopardy.
Chapters in Downtown Toronto. Yesterday it was announced that this store will close on May 30th, 2014.TORONTO’S ICONIC ‘THE COOKBOOK STORE’ CLOSED LAST MONTH. IMAGE SOURCE
In Canada, there are two major players in the brick-and-mortar book retailing: 1) Indigo and 2) everyone else. The former is the nation’s largest book seller with hundreds of locations from coast to coast under the Indigo, Chapters and Coles banners. Coles represents the company’s collection of smaller, independent book stores while Chapters and Indigo stores are typically much larger. The Indigo retail group boasts a loyal and passionate fan base. Despite this, the number of shoppers at the company’s brick-and-mortar stores has decreased as online book sales eat into its revenue and reduce its customer base.
In the last few years, the book industry has been rocked by a force that is now becoming commonplace: the boom of online sales. Across the country, some of the most beloved independent book stores have shuttered their operations or have announced their intentions to do so. The Cookbook Store in Toronto, arguably Canada’s best-known place to learn the latest in culinary trends, announced in February that e-book sales were a major factor in its decision to close. A few days ago, Indigo-owned ‘World’s Biggest Bookstore’ in Toronto closed its 64,000 square foot store to make way for a new restaurant development.
In 2010, Indigo introduced a tablet called Kobo to counteract online competition. The tablet, originally sold exclusively at Chapters/Indigo/Coles stores, has become the Canadian industry leader. Research conducted by pollster Ipsos Reid determined that more than 35% of electronic books read in Canada are done so on a Kobo.
Image: KOBO
Indigo has also taken a page out of the book of other national retailers, by diversifying its product offerings. Gone are the days when the book giant was solely the place for the latest autobiographies, short stories and children’s literature. Today, a Chapters/Indigo store typically devotes thousands of square feet to items such as toys, household items, gifts and even clothing. This summer, popular doll retailer American Girl will open shops-in-stores within Chapters/Indigo’s flagships in Downtown Vancouver and at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Diversification may be the key to keeping these stores alive.
Brick-and-mortar book retailers may be relieved that the pace of online sales is slowing. Nevertheless it’s still growing, while sales at physical bookstores decline. Slower growth may be due to market saturation, or possibly because the past year hasn’t seen blockbuster book releases such as The Hunger Games or Fifty Shades of Grey. There is still a possibility that the industry, after years of tumultuous activity, has finally started to stabilize. Those bricks-and-mortar book retailers that have weathered the storm may now be able to succeed, possibly with the help of product diversification. The the next chapter of Canada’s bricks-and-mortar book industry will no doubt be a very interesting read.
