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London, ON department store Kingsmill’s is closing after 148 years

By
Craig Patterson
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One of Canada’s last independently-owned department stores will close next month. The iconic Kingsmill’s department store in downtown London, Ontario, will close after operating for 148 years. It will clear its merchandise as part of a sale beginning Thursday, March 6th.

Founded in 1865 as a dry goods store, Kingsmill’s has continuously operated in downtown London. It is one of the few remaining independent, family-owned and operated department stores in Canada, and after several renovations and expansions, currently occupies more than 73,000 square feet over five separate floors.

The store has an interesting history. In 1865, Thomas Frazer Kingsmill, an Irish immigrant, opened a dry goods store on Dundas Street in London, Ontario. The first store was 1,800 square feet. The store has burned down and been rebuilt twice during its 148-year history. The current building, built in 1932, features the original tin-plated ceilings and hardwood floors. The original pneumatic tube system is still used to send paperwork and change throughout the store, and the old-style elevator, complete with operator, continues to help customers get from floor to floor. These features have survived over the years due to a conscious effort to maintain the character and elegance of the building.

Kingsmill’s offers a wide range of merchandise categories including home furnishings, fine china and collectibles, women’s, men’s and children’s fashions, cosmetics, linens, gifts, kitchenware and luggage, among others. 

The store’s ‘Going Out of Business Sale’ will continue as long as inventory levels allow. Once the store’s inventory is gone, Kingsmill’s will officially close.

Source: press release

Aritzia CEO Brian Hill to lecture at University of Alberta School of Retailing this Friday

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: University of Alberta

The University of Alberta School of Retailing regularly hosts top retail executives. This Friday, Artizia CEO Brian Hill will lecture at the School of Retailing.

He will speak to four different classes after participating in a breakfast with local industry representatives, high school students and retailing students. He will also take part in a lunch with about 25 University of Alberta MBA students and have dinner with a few School of Retailing Partners as part of the annual Executive in Residence visit.

Mr. Hill was also the recipient of the School of Retailing’s 2013 Henry Singer Award for exceptional leadership in the retail industry. 

We’ll be reporting more on exciting happenings such as this at the University of Alberta School of Retailing in the coming months. As a global leader in retail research and education, the School of Retailing is producing exceptional graduates who will be seeking placement opportunities with top retailers. 

Canada’s second-largest mall created as Toronto Saks/HBC deal is completed

By
Craig Patterson
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Hudson's Bay on Queen Street - PHOTO: DARRELL BATEMAN

The Toronto Eaton Centre is now officially Canada’s second-largest mall. Yesterday, The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) completed the sale of its Toronto Queen Street flagship store (and adjacent office tower) to Cadillac Fairview for $650 million. A 150,000 square foot Saks Fifth Avenue store and a reconfigured 700,000 square foot Hudson’s Bay flagship will be located on-site as part of the deal. This addition of 850,000 square feet to its current 1.2 million square feet of retail space technically makes the Toronto Eaton Centre Canada’s second-largest shopping centre with about 2.05 million square feet of retail space, surpassing Burnaby BC’s Metropolis at Metrotown (with close to 1.8 million square feet of retail space).

Canada’s largest mall continues to be West Edmonton Mall with approximately 3.8 million square feet of retail area. With completion of the deal, Toronto’s Eaton Centre would have been about 2.5 million square feet if it wasn’t for the loss of its 816,000 square foot Sears store. Sears will be replaced by a 213,000 square foot Nordstrom store and a further 140,000 square feet of Sears’ retail space is currently available for one or more tenants.  

HBC has leased both the Queen Street retail space as well as the adjacent Simpson Tower back from Cadillac Fairview for a base term of 25 years, with renewal terms available at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s option. The Queen Street property will feature Canada’s first Saks Fifth Avenue store location, expected to open in the fall of 2015. 

“We are thrilled to have completed this transaction, which clearly demonstrates the tremendous value of our real estate portfolio,” stated Richard Baker, HBC’s Governor and Chief Executive Officer. “This sale-leaseback allows HBC to establish a benchmark valuation for one of our many flagship assets, reduce the debt on our balance sheet and accelerate our strategic investments. We remain committed to using our significant real estate holdings to unlock further value for our shareholders and are exploring a broad range of alternatives to help us accomplish this goal.”

According to HBC’s press release, “Net of associated fees, all proceeds from the sale initially will be utilized to reduce HBC’s debt. Specifically, HBC will retire in entirety its US$300 million Second Lien Term Loan, currently bearing interest at a rate of 8.25%, and permanently pay down US$150 million of its US$2 billion First Lien Term Loan, currently bearing interest at a rate of 4.75%. The balance of the net proceeds will be used to reduce the outstanding balance on the Company’s Canadian revolving credit facility. Over time, a portion of the proceeds will provide ample liquidity to fund the Company’s strategic investments including the expansion of Saks Fifth Avenue into Canada and growth initiatives such as our HBC Digital and OFF 5TH businesses.”

Source: HBC press release

Target lost almost $1-billion on its Canadian expansion last year

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: Target

Target’s substantial Canadian expansion has hurt its bottom line. The company lost close to $1-billion last year that it attributes to its Canadian expansion and its less-than-expected retail sales. 

In 2013, Target Canada had sales of about $1.3-billion with a gross margin rate of only 14.9% and an operating loss of about $941-million. Canadian operations reduced Target’s full-year per-share earnings by $1.13.

For more on this interesting development, we direct you to Hollie Shaw’s comprehensive article at The Financial Post. 

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

By
Craig Patterson
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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]

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