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LOFT BY ANN TAYLOR OPENING FIRST VANCOUVER-AREA STORE

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: LOFT

LOFT by Ann Taylor opens its first Vancouver-area store today at West Vancouver’s Park Royal Shopping Centre. The 4,823 square foot store is located in a new addition to the mall’s south component, ‘Park Royal South’.

LOFT opened its first Canadian store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in November 2012. It subsequently opened four Ontario stores this year. LOFT is considered to be a more ‘relaxed’ and ‘younger’ version of its sister label Ann Taylor. Ann Taylor is a moderately upscale womenswear retailer. The United States has over 500 LOFT stores.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on newly announced Canadian LOFT store locations, as the company has ambitious expansion plans. 

RELATED:

[Park Royal Shopping Centre website]

[LOFT website]

Image: LOFT

NEW LARGE-SIZED DISCOUNT SHOE RETAILER, SIMILAR TO DSW, TO OPEN IN CANADA

By
Retail Insider
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[Image Source]



Sources say that The Shoe Company will open a Canadian chain of large-sized discount shoe stores, similar to America’s DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse. Lease negotiations are already underway for its first store location in suburban Toronto. The new retailer will have a new name of which we’re not yet aware. 


We’ve been told that this retailer could be compared to DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse. For those unaware, DSW is an immensely popular American shoe retailer with almost 380 store locations. It sells designer shoes at discounted prices. Stores average at around 22,000 square feet and each carries about 24,000 pairs of shoes. 


The new Canadian footwear retailer will face competition once Nordstrom Rack and Off 5th by Saks Fifth Avenue open their Canadian discount stores. If the Canadian footwear store is the same size as DSW, though, it will likely have a wider selection and more shoes than its competition. DSW stores are, in fact, almost as large as Nordstrom Rack and Off 5th stores, both of which carry not just shoes but also apparel and accessories. 


DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, itself, could still open stores in Canada. Another source tells us that the company is currently examining a Canadian retail strategy. 


One of our sources for this article is bAuHaUs of Urban Toronto. 

DESIGUAL’S 1st CANADIAN STORE FEATURES 7,000 GLASS BOTTLES

By
Retail Insider
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[Image Source]

Desigual has opened its first Canadian retail location at Downtown Montreal’s Les Cours Mont Royal. The 2,400 square foot store is impressive and features a massive display of about 7,000 glass bottles suspended from the ceiling. We’ve been told it took about four days to complete the ceiling installation.


For those unfamiliar, Desigual is a Spanish-based, moderately-priced clothing brand noted for its patchwork designs, intense prints and colourful garments. It was founded in 1984 and sells clothing and accessories for men, women and children. The company achieved 60% annual sales growth between 2002 and 2009 and is still growing very rapidly.


The Montreal store is a franchise, though the store’s merchandising and public relations are handled by the Desigual corporation. According to the business publication Les Affaires, Desigual could open stores in Toronto and possibly in other Canadian cities. A source informs us that the Montreal store is already showing stellar sales and if this trend continues, we can expect other Canadian Desigual stores.


Les Cours Mont Royal is a upscale destination shopping centre in Downtown Montreal. It was created in 1988, from a converted former hotel to retail space. It includes Montreal’s only Club Monaco and DKNY stores, and some considerably upscale retailers such as designer women’s store Ursula B. and a flagship Harry Rosen menswear store.


We’ll keep you updated if Desigual opens any more Canadian store locations.


Thank you to bAuHaUs of Urban Toronto for directing us to this article by Les Affaires (in French) as well as providing the image above.


[Les Cours Mont Royal website]


[Desigual website]

CANADA’S 1st JOHN VARVATOS STORE HAS OPENED, AND YOU COULD WIN A $1000 GIFT CARD

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: John Varvatos

Canada’s first John Varvatos store has opened at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 3,600 square foot store is located in the mall’s recently expanded wing, between Canada’s first AllSaints store and the mall’s high-volume Apple Store.

As part of the store opening, Varvatos is giving away a $1,000 gift card. To enter, you can follow this link via Yorkdale Shopping Centre:  http://yorkdale.com/contest/john-varvatos

For those unfamiliar, John Varvatos is an American lifestyle menswear brand which designs, manufactures and retails high-end fashion. The company has won numerous awards and has attained a loyal customer following.

John Varvatos is in the process of a significant store expansion. It had 13 free-standing stores at the beginning of 2013 and expects to have a total of 20 by the end of 2014. 

The Yorkdale Varvatos store is located in the new wing of the mall’s most recent expansion. In November 2013, Wayne Gretzky opened the new 145,000 square foot wing which reportedly cost about $185 million. New tenants included Kate Spade, Ted Baker, Tesla Motors and Canada’s first Microsoft Store, among others.

We’ll update you on any further John Varvatos Canadian store openings, including a rumoured Vancouver store location. 

[Yorkdale Shopping Centre website]

[John Varvatos website]

MORE AT PLAY AS SEARS CANADA SELLS OFF 8 MORE STORE LEASES

By
Craig Patterson
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Sears Canada at Upper Canada Mall (Image: Sears Canada)

Sears Canada will likely continue selling off its store leases including those held as joint ventures, according to sources. It just sold off 8 more store leases for a total of about $315 million in the province of Quebec, though these particular Sears stores will be staying open for now. Each of these leases is a 50% joint venture interest that Sears Canada holds with The Westcliff Group of Companies. The purchaser of these leases is Montez Income Properties Corporation. 

More interestingly, Sears Canada is seeking to liquidate real estate assets before its possible bankruptcy, according to another source. Page 73 of Sears Canada’s 2012 Annual Report provides a list of joint venture leases (see below). Of the 10 joint venture leases that Sears Canada had with Westcliff Group, only 8 have been sold, meaning that Sears could possibly sell two more. The company also has three joint venture leases with landlord Ivanhoe Cambridge, namely for Sears stores at Winnipeg’s Kildonan Place, Les Rivières Shopping Centre and Les Galeries de Hull. These three joint ventures are only 15-20% interests that our source thinks could be sold next. 

A retail analyst further notes that Sears Canada’s dividend payouts point to an otherwise gloomy future for the retailer. Keith Howlett of Desjardins Securities mentioned to the Toronto Star that in the first half of 2013, Sears Canada generated a loss from its retailing operations before tax of $56.9 million, while its profit before tax from joint venture real estate investments was $5.8 million. Howlett expects Sears Canada to pay a special dividend to shareholders before the end of 2013, and he estimates it to be as high as $6/share given recent lease sell-backs. 

We see these dividends as indicative of a company seeking to cash-out its real estate, rather than a company looking to reinvest profits in a turnaround. 

We’ll continue to report on the winding-down of Sears Canada, as our source speculates that the company may no longer be in operation by the Spring of 2014. 

[Sears Canada website]

JOE FRESH TO OPEN A STORE ON VANCOUVER’S ROBSON STREET

By
Retail Insider
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1164 Robson Street in Downtown Vancouver

*****UPDATE: This store opened November 30th, 2013*****

Joe Fresh will open its second Downtown Vancouver store location in December at 1164 Robson Street in Downtown Vancouver, according to sources. We’ve been told that the store has signed a two-year lease for space formerly occupied by retailer RW&CO.

At 4,266 square feet, the store will be smaller than Joe Fresh’s Granville Street flagship, and sources say that the Robson Street won’t carry children’s wear.

We’re not sure what rent will be paid by Joe Fresh but according to its listing on Spacelist.ca, the retail space has a base rent of $225/square foot/year. With all costs in, gross rent is assessed at over $288/square foot. That’s higher than the quoted $200/square foot Robson Street rents quoted in a recent Colliers International report. We expect these are the highest rents paid for a Joe Fresh store in Canada, though certainly less than what they’re paying in Manhattan. 

Vancouver can boast having opened the world’s first free-standing Joe Fresh store. It opened in October 2010 at 540 Granville Street, across from Holt Renfrew. The 14,000 square foot, two-level flagship store was designed by Toronto-based architectural firm Burdifilek.

Lease Plan for the former RW&CO. retail space

Joe Fresh is the latest retailer to sign a lease on Robson Street’s ‘1100 block’ (between Thurlow and Bute Streets). The block has suffered from multiple vacancies, though some vacant spaces have finally been leased, including half of a former Esprit store that will soon open as footwear retailer New Balance.

[Joe Fresh website]

NORDSTROM ANTICIPATES $1 BILLION IN CANADIAN SALES

By
Retail Insider
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Rendering: Nordstrom Yorkdale

Nordstrom anticipates Canadian retail sales of about $1 billion once its full-line and Nordstrom Rack stores have all opened. Such competition will be challenging to other Canadian retailers, all competing for Canadian shopping dollars in country with a relatively small population.

Nordstrom anticipates opening between 8 and 10 full-line Canadian stores, as well as between 15 and 20 Nordstrom Rack stores. So far, the company has secured future Nordstrom store locations in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa, as well as two locations in Toronto (at Sherway Gardens and Yorkdale Shopping Centre). Several more Nordstrom locations will be announced, likely including Downtown Toronto, Edmonton, and possibly Winnipeg. The province of Quebec, at the moment, doesn’t appear to be on Nordstrom’s radar.

Nordstrom Rack is also on the hunt for Canadian store locations and is in talks with several landlords. We’ve been informed that a deal has likely been finalized for Canada’s first Nordstrom Rack store at Ottawa’s Trainyards, for example.

Canada’s retail market has its limits, and Nordstrom’s anticipated $1 billion piece of the retail pie could take sales away from competitors such as Holt Renfrew and Hudson’s Bay. Holt Renfrew already boasts sales of about $800 million annually according to industry insiders, and Hudson’s Bay’s upscaling strategy has seen it start to carry many of the same labels found at Nordstrom. Even more competition will arise once Hudson’s Bay-owned Saks Fifth Avenue opens up to 7 full-sized Canadian stores.

Canadian retailing is coming of age, and our selection of stores and merchandise is becoming comparable to that of the Unites States. At the same time, there’s concern that for such a small country, Canada is potentially seeing too much new high-end and department store retail.

Our primary source for this article can be found at this link for the website Womens Wear Daily.

[Nordstrom website]

LOUIS VUITTON OPENS 3RD-LARGEST CANADIAN STORE AT YORKDALE’S HOLT RENFREW

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: Yorkdale Shopping Centre Twitter

Louis Vuitton has reopened inside of the Toronto Yorkdale Holt Renfrew. Sources tell us that the store, which has been expanded, is about 4,000 square feet. This makes it the third-largest Louis Vuitton store in Canada.


Canada’s first-and second-largest Louis Vuitton stores are both substantial, two-level flagships referred to as ‘Maisons’. The second-largest store, which was also the first Louis Vuitton Maison to appear in Canada, opened at the Hotel Vancouver in December 2010. It’s about 10,000 square feet. An even larger Maison opened in Toronto in September 2012, at over 15,000 square feet. These are Canada’s only free-standing Louis Vuitton stores, as a free-standing shop in Banff, Alberta closed in May of 2011.


Canada’s other Louis Vuitton stores are all located within department stores. These include Vuitton concessions at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto (Yorkdale Shopping Centre and 50 Bloor St. W.). A 3,200 square foot Louis Vuitton shop is also located within Montreal’s iconic Ogilvy department store.


Yorkdale’s Holt Renfrew store is undergoing a substantial expansion and renovation, and we’ll be doing a comprehensive article about it when completed.


[Louis Vuitton website]


[Holt Renfrew website]

37,000 SQ FT OF LUXURY RETAIL COMING TO TORONTO’S 80 BLOOR STREET WEST

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: 80 Bloor Street West

Toronto’s 80 Bloor Street West tower will reportedly be demolished. It could be replaced with over 37,000 square feet of luxury retail, topped by a 66-floor condominium tower. The new retail space in the planned tower could be among Canada’s most expensive retail real estate.

80 Bloor Street West

The current 80 Bloor St. W. tower includes two ground-floor retail spaces. One is occupied by a Banana Republic store, and the other is a Gap Kids store space, now available for lease. A 22,000 sq ft, two-level fitness club is located above the retail and the remainder of the 17-floor building is utilized for office space. 
The proposed replacement retail at the base of the new tower will feature three levels of retail space, including a large concourse level, according to architectural plans submitted to the City of Toronto. The residential tower above would include 565 condominiums. 

Yesterday we reported that over 50,000 square feet of potential luxury retail space was coming available at 100 Bloor Street West. 80 Bloor’s retail could provide the street with much needed new retail space, as some brokers are finding it challenging locating Bloor Street retail space for luxury tenants.
Our source for this article is the Urban Toronto Forum. Click here to read more about the 80 Bloor Street West redevelopment proposal.

We’ll keep you updated on this exciting development. 

BIRKS TO RENOVATE MONTREAL FLAGSHIP

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: Maison Birks

Montreal-based Maison Birks is expected to renovate its Montreal flagship store within the next three to four years, according to the company’s president and CEO Jean-Christope Bedos. The Montreal flagship is one of North America’s largest jewellery stores.

The Montreal flagship, located on Phillips Square, has been occupied by the jeweller since 1894. The building comprises of 19,785 square feet of retail space and 58,444 square feet of corporate office space above, according to the company. The handsome flagship store is located along a popular strip of Ste Catherine Street West, alongside retailers such as Hudson’s Bay, La Maison Simons and Les Ailes de la Mode (which will close in a few months).

Currently, Canada’s largest jewellery store is Maison Birks in Downtown Vancouver. It boasts slightly more retail space than the Montreal location, at 20,221 square feet. The third largest is the Maison Birks store at Toronto’s Manulife Centre, measuring in at 15,620 square feet over two levels.

Interior of Montreal’s Maison Birks

Maison Birks recently re-branded and has plans to open stores internationally. Its first Asian store opens next year in Beijing, China. It’s also opening mono-brand Canadian stores selling only Birks-branded products.

Mr. Bedos revealed the Montreal store renovation plans during a talk at The Canadian Club in Montreal. It was subsequently reported by La Presse in this article (in French).

[Maison Birks website]

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