Advertisement
Advertisement
Home Blog Page 1228

Construction begins on Yorkdale’s ‘Nordstrom wing’ as the mall turns 50 today

By
Craig Patterson
-
Image: Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre opened 50 years ago today. To mark the occasion, construction will commence on the mall’s 298,000 square foot, $331-million expansion that will include a 188,000 square foot Nordstrom store as its anchor. A series of events will also be held as part of the celebrations. 

The mall recently saw its sales exceed $1 billion per year and it’s forecasted that by the year 2018, it will be North America’s top-selling mall with sales of $2 billion. 

Interestingly, the CN Tower will be lit in gold this evening to commemorate the occasion. Yorkdale has used gold colour as part of its most recent advertising campaign which includes Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha. 

“When Yorkdale first opened its doors in 1964, we were the largest shopping centre in the world,” said Claire Santamaria, General Manager of Yorkdale Shopping Centre. “Fifty years later, we can say that Yorkdale has helped transform Canada’s retail landscape by being the number one destination for international retailers entering the Canadian market. We want to celebrate our golden anniversary as we continue growing to meet with the demand of shoppers and international retailers.”

Some of the anniversary events include (directly from the mall’s press release):

The past celebrated. Your future styled: On February 26th, fifty years to the day since the shopping centre first opened its doors, Yorkdale will unveil an exclusive portrait series shot by iconic photographer and musician Bryan Adams. The series features Toronto’s top Style Makers, including former Fashion Television personality and fashion icon in her own right Jeanne Beker, Breakfast Television personality Dina Pugliese, actress Lisa Ray, Jagmeet Singh, philanthropist Suzanne Rogers and her daughter Chloe, TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey, bloggers Caillianne and Samantha Beckerman and fashion designer Lucian Matis.

Yorkdale Gold Collection: To celebrate Yorkdale’s Golden Anniversary, several retailers have contributed special edition commemorative products to the Yorkdale Gold Collection. The collection features items from Michael Kors, Ted Baker London, MAC Cosmetics, The Body Shop, Town Shoes and Purdy’s Chocolatier, developed exclusively for Yorkdale and available only at Yorkdale.

Anniversary Gown: Lucian Matis, one of Canada’s top luxury fashion designers, has created a golden anniversary evening gown exclusively for Yorkdale. Made of silk chiffon and French lace, the gown was delicately hand-sewn by Matis and took more than 85 hours to complete. Inspiration for the exquisite piece came from Yorkdale shopping centre itself. The gown was photographed on Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha, the face of Yorkdale Style, for a special campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The gown will be on display at Yorkdale’s Guest Services.

CN Tower: In light of Yorkdale’s Golden Anniversary: Yorkdale isn’t the only one getting into the spirit. The CN Tower, one of Toronto’s leading attractions, will be lit gold on the evening of February 26th to celebrate Yorkdale’s golden anniversary. As with every night, a standard light show will also occur for eight minutes at the top of every hour.  

SOURCE: Yorkdale Shopping Centre press release

Roots to renovate and expand its Vancouver flagship: interview with Roots co-founder Michael Budman

By
Craig Patterson
-
Roots in Vancouver (Image: Colin Archer)

We interviewed Roots Canada co-founder Michael Budman about his company’s proposed renovation and expansion to Root’s Downtown Vancouver flagship store. Roots recently re-signed a long-term lease for the Vancouver retail space as part of its renovation and expansion plans.

Vancouver’s Roots flagship is one of the chain’s highest-selling stores. Mr. Budman noted that the store has recently seen double-digit growth yearly (he wouldn’t provide exact numbers). 2013 marked Root’s 40th anniversary and overall sales were the highest in the company’s history, fuelled by domestic growth, online sales and an expansion of Roots stores in Asia. Roots has over 120 stores in Asia and Mr. Budman says that his brand has become very popular overseas. As the Vancouver flagship enjoys tremendous sales, and Vancouver is Canada’s ‘gateway to the Pacific’, Roots has decided to enlarge the store’s interior and upgrade its appearance.

Roots will completely renovate the interior of its Vancouver store as well as annex an adjacent retail space at 789 Burrard Street, formerly occupied by a currency exchange business. Budman estimates the current Roots store to be about 4,000 square feet in size, and the expansion will enlarge the store slightly though not nearly to the size of its largest store known as ‘Roots Central’ at the Toronto Eaton Centre. Roots Central measures 7,665 square feet according to lease plans provided by landlord Cadillac Fairview. We had heard from sources that Roots wanted to add a second level to its current one-level Vancouver Roots flagship. Mr. Budman confirmed that to be only a ‘pipe dream’ for the company at the moment.

Future Roots Expansion in Vancouver

Vancouver’s Roots flagship store sits prominently at the north-west corner of Robson and Burrard Streets. The same intersection boasts the world’s second-largest Victoria’s Secret store, as well as a Lululemon flagship store that is currently under construction. The last of the intersection’s four corners is currently occupied by a 5,000 square foot Bebe store which will be closing at the end of this month. The space is currently for lease and anticipation is growing as to who might replace Bebe.

Construction on Root’s Vancouver flagship is expected to begin in April of 2014, with completion estimated to be some time in the summer.

All photos in this article are by Colin Arber.

 

Yorkdale: Canada’s first mall to feature Google ‘walk-through’

By
Craig Patterson
-
Yorkdale Google Walk-Through

Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre is the first mall in Canada to feature a Google ‘walk-through’ on Google Maps/GPS, where viewers can take a virtual stroll through the interior of the mall on desktops, tablets and smartphones. It went live November 4th, 2013 and was developed by Wisdek Online Marketing via Google Business Photos. Wisdek plans to roll-out this feature in about 40 Canadian malls over the course of 2014.

We interviewed Wisdek representative Courtney Dale, who explained the process as well as the concept. A fish-eye camera is used to take a series of 360-degree photos (214 panos for Yorkdale, to be exact). These photos are combined to create an interactive ‘walk-through’ experience where viewers can move frame-by-frame through the mall as if they were actually there. The virtual tours are designed to replicate what a tour of the mall would be like on foot. Floor maps allow visitors to look at a multi-layer blueprint of the mall and navigate using GPS. Zooming in on the floor map takes them to the more detailed virtual tour. Wisdek was the first Canadian agency to combine indoor floor maps technology with Google Business Photos, and Yorkdale was its first project. Wisdek was also the first business in Canada to become a Google Certified Business Photos Agency, in addition to being a Google Partner for online advertising.

According to Wisdek, this concept can further improve search engine rankings when a business actively develops its Google+ profile (which is where you will find the tour). It also increases website visitation by bringing internet traffic from Google Maps as well as from Google Streetview. It may ultimately generate more walk-in traffic for businesses and can facilitate more online reviews for those companies featured.

Wisdek is also looking to photograph 360 degree store interiors inside Yorkdale and may even start coordinating walk-throughs of larger stores, including department stores. This could be a brilliant way for Hudson’s Bay, for example, to promote its Toronto flagship, not to mention allow the viewer to learn the store’s layout before entering to make purchases.

You can take a virtual tour of Yorkdale Shopping Centre at http://goo.gl/maps/3QWN9. 

Canada’s top 20 malls by Twitter followers

By
Retail Insider
-
West Edmonton Mall Twitter Account

By Melissa R.

We’ve put together a list of Canada’s top 20 malls, ranked by number of Twitter followers. Interestingly, one of these is a parody twitter account dedicated to a small, dated East Vancouver mall. Also, few malls in Quebec appear to utilize Twitter.

Besides Facebook, Twitter is an excellent source of information on malls and their new stores, promotions, sales, new merchandise, events and guest appearances. Some malls even include fashion tips and outfit ideas in their Twitter posts.

Here is our list of the top 20 malls by Twitter followers as of February 23rd, 2014:

  1. West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, AB: 12.7K followers (Twitter rounds once an account reaches over 10,000 followers)
  2. Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, ON: 8,762 followers
  3. Chinook Centre, Calgary, AB: 8,485 followers
  4. Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto, ON: 7,612 followers
  5. Core Shopping Centre, Calgary, AB: 6,398 followers
  6. Kingsgate Mall (parody account), Vancouver, BC: 6,001 followers
  7. Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby, BC: 5,392 followers
  8. Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket, ON: 5,352 followers
  9. Mic Mac Mall, Dartmouth, NS: 3,614 followers
  10. Conestoga Mall, Waterloo, ON: 3,603 followers*
  11. Oshawa Centre, Oshawa, ON: 3,563 followers
  12. The Bay Centre, Victoria, BC: 3,442 followers
  13. Vaughan Mills, Vaughan, ON: 3,086 followers
  14. Mapleview Centre, Burlington, ON: 3,036 followers
  15. Guildford Town Centre, Surrey, BC: 2,583 followers
  16. Square One Mall, Mississauga, ON: 2,535 followers
  17. Crossiron Mills, Calgary, AB: 2,492 followers
  18. Coquitlam Centre, Coquitlam, BC: 2,479 followers
  19. Bayshore Shopping Centre, Ottawa, ON: 2,435 followers
  20. White Oaks Mall, London ON: 2,358 followers

*CORRECTION: We missed Conestoga Mall in an earlier version of this article. We’ve therefore updated to include Conestoga as #10 on this list. 

If you exclude the parody Twitter account for Vancouver’s Kingsgate Mall, #20 would be Toronto’s Sherway Gardens with 2,180 followers. Humour appears to play a role in getting Twitter followers: Kingsgate’s Twitter account surpasses any mall in the Greater Vancouver area, far above Canada’s most productive mall (Pacific Centre with 1,061 followers) and Vancouver’s popular Oakridge Centre, with 1,416 Twitter followers. 

An honourable mention goes to Central CityShopping Centre in Surrey BC with 2,289 Twitter followers, which would have been #20 on our list (ahead of Sherway Gardens). However, since it also houses an office tower and a campus for Simon Fraser University, which could contribute towards the number of followers received, we left it off the list.

As with our list of top Canadian malls by Facebook followers, West Edmonton Mall and Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre are tops for Twitter followers. Both malls are extremely active on social media and post up-to-the-minute happenings on both Twitter and Facebook.

There don’t seem to be any trends when it comes to how many Twitter followers a particular mall has. Very few of these malls made our Top malls by Facebook likes list and some post on Twitter multiple times a day, while others only update a few times a week. While most of these malls are in major cities or located near tourist attractions or border crossings, a few of these malls (Upper Canada Mall, White Oaks Mall and Mapleview Centre) are located an hour or two drive away from the closest major city.

Interestingly, few malls in Quebec have Twitter accounts. While reseraching this article, we were only able to locate a handful that have Twitter accounts. These include Carrefour Laval, Laval (1,807 followers), Centre Rockland, Montreal (839 followers), Place Montreal Trust, Montreal, (402 followers), Les Promeades Gatineau, Gatineau (279 followers), Carrefour Angrignon, Montreal (229 followers) and Les Galeries de Hull (45 followers). We may have missed a few but overall, it’s surprising how many large Quebec malls lack Twitter accounts.

While we’re on the topic of Twitter, Retail Insider has a busy Twitter feed where we tweet and re-tweets Canadian retail news. Feel free to follow us on Twitter as well. 

We’re looking for someone to write about the Canadian car industry

By
Craig Patterson
-
Retail Insider Logo

As we continue to expand the scope of Retail Insider, we’re looking for someone who can write about the Canadian automobile retailing industry. If you’re passionate about car retailing and its related bricks-and-mortar store space, feel free to email Editor-in-Chief Craig Patterson at: craig@retail-insider.com 

Loblaw will launch online grocery sales in Canada, as well as in-store juice bars

By
Craig Patterson
-
Photo: Loblaw

Loblaw will run a test on “click-and-collect” online grocery sales at three of its stores in the Toronto Area. Click-and-collect will allow customers to purchase groceries online, and pick up their order in-store. Click-and-collect is generally considered to be a more profitable way for grocers to sell food online, as opposed to delivering door-to-door.

Grocery Gateway, the home delivery service owned by the Longo’s chain, will no doubt see competition from Loblaw’s click-and-collect initiative. In October of 2013, Amazon began selling dry groceries over the Internet. Walmart may start selling groceries online as well. 

Loblaw also plans on continuing to expand its in-store fresh food offering (including organic greens and produce), as it generates higher margins than other food categories. Loblaw will also introduce fresh juice bars into its stores. About 100 of its supermarkets in Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Quebec will have these stations beginning this spring. Several recently renovated Loblaw stores already have these juice bars.

[Loblaw website]

Year seven of IRIS Visual Group’s campaign to improve vision health to those in need

By
Craig Patterson
-
Photo: Iris

IRIS The Visual Group has launched its seventh annual fundraising campaign for the non-profit organization IRIS Mundial. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Jean-Pierre Tchang, optometrist, IRIS Mundial aims to improve the vision health of disadvantaged people in developing countries such as Haiti and Peru.

The video above shows IRIS Mundial’s 2013 mission in Île Gonâve, Haiti. 

The campaign is running throughout the month of February in the 164 IRIS stores across Canada. As the leading financial partner of IRIS Mundial since 2008, the IRIS network of stores actively participates by donating $10 to the organization for each pair of glasses sold. IRIS also encourages the public to give their preowned eyewear a second life by bringing them into one of their 164 locations Canada-wide. Their generosity enables disadvantaged individuals to obtain eye exams, eyewear and cataract surgery, thereby improving their quality of life. To date, IRIS stores have raised over $600,000 for IRIS Mundial, including $85,000 in 2013. Their goal for 2014 is to reach $100,000 with the help of their  loyal customers and employees. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 285 million people have a visual impairment. Among them, 39 million are blind. 80% are from avoidable causes. Furthermore, nearly 90% of people with a visual impairment live in a developing country. 

Financial aid made it possible to implement the Program for the Prevention and Fight against Blindness (PPFB) in the FODES-5 area of intervention in Haiti. This initiative has given nearly 10,000 adults and children access to comprehensive eye health care. The program helped in hiring staff and providing the equipment needed to establish an ophthalmology clinic in the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Health Centre in Labrousse, Haiti. The success of this three-year program led to a similar initiative in 2013 in Limbé, a small town in Northern Haiti.

While promoting greater autonomy in the provision of eye care in developing countries, IRIS Mundial seeks to establish permanent eye care services through partnerships with local organizations.

In addition to these two permanent programs in Haiti, IRIS Mundial has already carried out over 20 projects primarily in Haiti,  Peru, Mexico, Benin, Mozambique and India. Under the leadership of Dr. Jean-Pierre Tchang, hundreds of volunteers have participated in these humanitarian projects, which offer free preventive and curative services in regions where eye care is 
non-existent. IRIS Mundial projects have provided aid to over 60,000 people, and over 700 people have benefited from surgical treatments.

Generally, some thirty Canadian volunteers (optometrists, opticians, ophthalmologists and other professionals) take part in these projects and work in collaboration with local professionals, providing eye health care to 2,000 to 3,000 people. These short-term missions offer disadvantaged populations a first experience of eye care services, including prescription glasses and medication to those in need and even eye surgery to treat cataracts, for instance. The goal of these projects is to identify the most common vision problems, as well as assess needs and the possibility of establishing a permanent program providing access to eye care year-round.

[IRIS The Visual Group website]

North America’s first Loding store opens today in Toronto’s Yorkville area

By
Craig Patterson
-
Image: Loding

Upscale French menswear retailer Loding opens its first North American store today in Toronto’s Yorkville area. It features men’s shoes, shirts, ties, belts and other accessories, as well as shoe care. It replaces an art gallery in a 1,100 square foot space located at 133 Avenue Road (just south of Davenport Road) in an area surrounded by luxury residences. 

The store is unique in how it prices its products: the company doesn’t participate in promotions or sales/discounts, so prices in the store will be the same year-round. The company also practices the idea of ‘one price by typer of article’. For example, in Canada all men’s dress shoes cost $315 while all shirts are $95 and socks are $20. The full price list for the store is provided below. 

Image: Loding

According to Loding’s website: “Our original concept is based on giving our customers the highest quality at the most competitive price.” It was founded in 1998 in Paris and has grown to over 70 stores worldwide. 

Loding Contact information: 133 Avenue Road, Toronto: 416-962-0133
Hours: M-W 10-6,  Th 10-7, F-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-6

Source: bAuHaUs, Urban Toronto

*Note: top image is not the Toronto store but looks similar – Image Source*
 
[Loding website]

Joe Fresh Launches Massive International Expansion, opening over 140 stores in 23 Countries

By
Craig Patterson
-
Rendering: Joe Fresh

Inexpensive Canadian clothing brand Joe Fresh will open over 140 stores in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and South Korea. It will do so through three partnership agreements that will see Joe Fresh stores open in 23 countries. This is the company’s first store expansion outside of North America.

These new Joe Fresh store locations will offer comprehensive collections of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, in addition to Joe Fresh Beauty cosmetics.

Joe Fresh has more than 340 retail locations across Canada. It boasts six freestanding stores in New York City including a flagship location on Fifth Avenue. It also has over 650 shop-in-store locations within J.C. Penney stores across the United States. It was founded in 2006 by Joe Mimran, who continues to be Creative Director of Joe Fresh. 

We think Joe Fresh is doing it right: it’s partnering with local companies familiar with their respective retail markets. Mario Grauso, chief operating officer of Joe Fresh Apparel Canada, an affiliate of Loblaw, said the following about the partnership: “In order to best tap these vibrant new markets, we have partnered with companies possessing deep local knowledge and wide expertise of the retail dynamics and consumer preferences in their respective geographies. Together, we are committed to bringing the Joe Fresh formula of sophisticated style and compelling value to a broad overseas audience. International markets are an important avenue of growth for Joe Fresh, combined with our own retail stores, in-store shops and burgeoning Canada e-commerce business.”

Below is a summary of Joe Fresh’s international business partners and related store details: 

Fawaz A. Alhokair & Co., based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is the partner for the Joe Fresh expansion into 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Armenia, Serbia and Spain. The company plans to open at least 96 stores by 2018 in those markets, including 40 in Saudi Arabia alone. The first stores are scheduled to open in the summer of 2014 in Saudi Arabia.

Retail Arabia International, based in Dubai, is the partner for five countries in the Middle East including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. The company plans to open at least 15 stores by 2018 including nine in the United Arab Emirates. The first stores are scheduled to open in the United Arab Emirates later this year.

Origin & Co., Ltd., based on Seoul, South Korea, is the partner for South Korea. The company plans to open up to 30 Joe Fresh retail locations in high-traffic shopping districts, malls and department stores over the next five years. One of the first locations will open in the Lotte World Mall this spring. The company plans to open a flagship store in Seoul later this year.

Source: Press release

[Joe Fresh website]

London Drugs rated #1 brand in British Columbia

By
Craig Patterson
-
Photo: London Drugs

Richmond, BC-based London Drugs has been rated the best brand in British Columbia, according to Ipsos Reid and BC Business magazine. Ipsos Reid created a top 10 list while BC Business Magazine polled readers for their ‘most loved’ brands. Impressively, London Drugs won both. 

“London Drugs almost tripled the average BC brand score when it came to consumers referring to a ‘brand that I trust,'” said Michael Rodenburgh, executive Vice President of Ipsos Reid in Western Canada. “The company also more than doubled average BC scores in the categories of a ‘brand I’m likely to interact with,’ and a ‘brand that I see everywhere.'”

Ipsos Reid’s top 10 list is as follows: 

1. London Drugs

2. WestJet

3. Save-on-Foods

4. White Spot 

5. SunRype

6. Vancouver Canucks

7. BC Hydro

8. The Keg

9. BCAA

10. Chevron

BC Business Magazine’s ‘most loved’ study based its conclusions on eight factors: contribution to British Columbia, engagement, innovation, presence, relevance, social responsibility, trust, and uniqueness.

“Here in British Columbia, we have some extraordinary brands that have succeeded in making a name for themselves on the local, national and global scenes,” said Rodenburgh. “For those brands defined as the most loved in BC, they have meaning in our daily lives. We couldn’t imagine this beautiful province without them.”

London Drugs is a private company that was founded by Sam Bass in 1945. It began as a small drug store that was eventually acquired in 1976 by the H.Y. Louie Company. The chain is comprised of 77 store locations, 50 of which are in British Columbia (mostly in Greater Vancouver). Alberta has 21 stores ( including nine in the Edmonton area and eight in metropolitan Calgary) and there are two stores in Regina, two in Saskatoon and one in Winnipeg. 

The company has expanded its operations well beyond those of the original drug store, making it a go-to shopping destination for many. London Drugs stores offer merchandise and services such as electronics, grocery items, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty products, photofinishing, insurance service, furniture, toys and housewares. 

Source: Ipsos Reid press release

[London Drugs website]

1...1,2271,2281,229...1,288Page 1,228 of 1,288

FEATURES ON RETAIL INSIDER

spot_img
spot_img

About

Contact

Media

Follow

© 2025 Retail Insider Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The content on this website is protected by the copyrights of Retail Insider Media Ltd. or the copyrights of third parties and used by agreement. No part of any of the content of this website may be reproduced, distributed, modified, framed, cached, adapted or linked to, or made available in any form by any photographic, electronic, digital, mechanical, photostat, microfilm, xerography or other means, or incorporated into or used in any information storage and retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the prior written permission of Retail Insider Media Ltd. or the applicable third party copyright owner.