A Look Behind Password-Protected ‘Holts Access’ VIP Website

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March 8, 2013

A Look Behind Password-Protected 'Holts Access' VIP Website

In January we reported on Holt Renfrew’s new ‘VIP website‘, called ‘Holts Access’. The site is for Holt’s ‘VIP clients’, and requires a password. We have the password, and today we’ll show you what’s behind it. So far it hasn’t been much.

We were provided with the site’s password in February and so far these are the screen shots we’ve taken.

The Holts Access site starts with a screen with a profiled designer’s name (see image at the top of this article). For February 7, 2013, Dior was profiled.

Behind the Dior screen was the opportunity to purchase limited edition Dior sunglasses. That was the only product available on the site at that time.

A couple of weeks after, there were no products available on Holts Access.

On March 6th, 2013 we took this screenshot of Holts Access’s website. This time they’re marketing products by Emilio Pucci.

Included for sale are a $4,700 Pucci dress and a $21,750 fur-lined jacket. We found the return policy interesting, see below:

So far very few products have been available at ‘Holts Access’. We’ll update readers with new products and screenshots periodically.

Holt Renfrew ‘Holts Access’ website: http://www.holtrenfrew.com/en/holt/content/footer/vip/look-books

Holt Renfrew website: www.HoltRenfrew.com

Zadig & Voltaire Coming to Canada

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Retail Insider

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March 7, 2013

French clothing retailer Zadig & Voltaire will open men’s and women’s shop-in-store locations inside of Holt Renfrew stores in Toronto (50 Bloor Street West), Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal.

Zadig & Voltaire was started in 1997 by the grandson of the founder of Lacoste. The brand’s products are in the ‘contemporary’ or ‘bridge’ price ranges. The brand has become popular and is considered to be ‘fashion forward’.

Zadig & Voltaire has stores around the world, both free-standing and shop-in-store concessions. The company has five free-standing American stores, and has shop-in-store concessions at nine American Bloomingdale’s locations.

Zadig & Voltaire is currently advertising store supervisor employment positions for their Holt Renfrew-based stores. Some of these job postings are at this link.

We will keep you updated on this company, including if other Zadig & Voltaire stores will be opening in Canada.

Thank you to our insider sources, ACT7 of Urban Toronto and Marc Adams for providing us with this article’s information.

Zadig & Voltaire website: zadig-et-voltaire.com

Hudson’s Bay Finally, Formally Launches ‘New Logo’

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Retail Insider

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March 6, 2013

New Hudson's Bay department store logo, in English and French.

Today Hudson’s Bay formally launched its new logo and simplified name ‘Hudson’s Bay’, above. Retail Insider readers may have known this change was coming when we announced it back in October 2012. Last week we reported the name change to Hudson’s Bay’s website. ‘Mainstream media’ is now reporting these changes after Hudson’s Bay issued a press release providing all past and future Hudson’s Bay-font logos. We’ll show you the press releases’ provided images.

Above is the original Hudson’s Bay Company font/’logo’. It was used by the company for eons, and was augmented with the simplified name ‘The Bay’ and its logo, below, in 1965.

Below is the new English and French names and dedicated font of the department store now known as ‘Hudson’s Bay’.

The logo below is for ‘The Hudson’s Bay Company’, which includes department store Hudson’s Bay in Canada and Lord & Taylor in the United States. It also includes Canadian retailer Home Outfitters in its portfolio, as well as three Zellers stores which we previously mentioned.

We can expect Hudson’s Bay’s store re-branding to happen gradually over time, and there are no formal timelines in place for its completion. The company’s website and flyers have been re-branded, and Hudson’s Bay is now adding it to their stores. Their Downtown Vancouver store, for example, has had the new signage since October 2012.
Note: all images above are from this press release.
Hudson’s Bay website: www.TheBay.com
Hudson’s Bay Company website: www.hbc.com

Substantial Shopping Mall Part of MGM/Cadillac Fairview Toronto Casino Proposal

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Retail Insider

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March 6, 2013

[Image Source]

Today MGM Resorts and Cadillac Fairview presented plans for a new mega-complex at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Plans include a ‘best-in-class’ shopping centre that will be between 750,000 and one million square feet.

Image adapted from Google Maps

News sources (Globe & Mail, Toronto Star etc) have quoted this as being ‘half the size of the Toronto Eaton Centre‘. This may be true, but readers should keep in mind that the Toronto Eaton Centre’s 1,566,093 square foot premises includes three anchors: an 816,070 square foot Sears store, a 34,356 square foot Best Buy and an 85,580 square foot Canadian Tire store. That leaves only 514,253 square feet of retail for the rest of the Toronto Eaton Centre. Excluding possible anchors, the proposed MGM/Cadillac Fairview shopping mall could therefore include more non-anchor mall space than the Toronto Eaton Centre.

[Image Source]

The entire MGM/Cadillac Fairview proposal would cost roughly $3 billion and would also include the following:

-A 240,000 square foot MGM casino facility,
-A 15-20 floor 1,200 room ‘luxury’ hotel,
-A 900 seat permanent Cirque du Soleil performance space,
-A massive parking facility,
-A ‘Canadian Music Hall of Fame’ and
-Expanded convention space

Three proposed Downtown Toronto Malls. Image adapted from Google Maps

Toronto’s central area has seen several shopping centre proposals in recent months. In October 2012 we reported on the proposed retail mall which would be part of Oxford Place, a massive development located near Toronto’s CN Tower. In November 2012 we reported on a proposed shopping complex on the site of Toronto’s current Globe & Mail headquarters. This MGM/Cadillac Fairview project would be the third substantial shopping centre announcement for Toronto’s central area in only half a year. We question which of these (if any) will actually be built.

A renovated Stanley Barracks would be part of this proposal. [Image Source]

Toronto City Council is expected to vote on proposed casino projects in April. We’ll keep you informed of these projects including their proposed retail components.

Toronto Eaton Centre information source: http://www.cfretail.com/EN/PropertySearch/Pages/TorontoEatonCentre.aspx

MGM/Cadillac Fairview project proposal website: http://mgmcf.com

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Christian Dior Opening First Canadian Store in Vancouver

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March 5, 2013

[Image Source]

Christian Dior is finalizing a lease for space at the south-east corner of Alberni and Thurlow Streets in Downtown Vancouver. This will be the first free-standing Christian Dior women’s clothing boutique in Canada, and one of only a handful in North America.

Christian Dior currently has three shop-in-store accessory boutiques at Holt Renfrew stores in Vancouver, Toronto (Bloor Street) and Montreal.

Dior’s Alberni Street store will join jeweller De Beers (which we previously reported) and Tory Burch (which we also previously reported) at the newly renovated Carlyle retail complex. Space at the Carlyle on Thurlow Street, currently occupied by The Keg restaurant, will become an upscale restaurant/nightclub concept.

Rendering of renovated Carlyle Space, as viewed from 1101 Alberni Street. Image Source: Concord Pacific

Dior once had a ready-to-wear shop-in-store at Toronto’s Creeds department store. Dior unfortunately closed with Creeds’ bankruptcy in 1990. Dior women’s clothing has since been available periodically at retailers including Holt Renfrew, Simpson’s St. Regis Room in Toronto (now ‘The Room‘ at Hudsons Bay), and Leone in Vancouver.

Chanel is seeking Alberni Street space and according to our source, Chanel will not be locating in the Carlyle. We will announce shortly where Chanel is looking, since it is retail space that does not yet currently exist.

Dollar Tree, an American-based dollar store chain, will remain in the Carlyle complex with its entrance on the Thurlow Street side of the complex. We recently mentioned Dollar Tree’s proximity to these luxury retailers.

We will provide further details of the new Vancouver Christian Dior store as well as details on the size, configuration and location of Vancouver’s new De Beers and Tory Burch stores within the Carlyle complex.

We will soon be announcing several new exciting Vancouver retailers. Keep reading Retail Insider! And thank you to our source Van23H of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum.

Christian Dior website: http://www.dior.com

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Got any retail insider info? insider@retail-insider.com

Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall to Open David Yurman, All Saints, Varvatos, Ferragamo and Others New Stores…

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Retail Insider

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March 4, 2013

image-asset - 2021-03-04T203408.725 — Photo: Yorkdale

Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre just announced a substantial number of new, exciting retailers opening in the next few months. Some are first to Canada and others are first to the Toronto area. Included are several impressive luxury tenants.

Luxury: Yorkdale will see several new luxury retailers including David Yurman (American luxury jeweler), John Varvatos (Upscale US-based men’s clothing retailer), Mulberry (UK-based luxury-goods retailer, which we previously reported), Salvator Ferragamo (Italian luxury goods retailer) and footwear retailer Stuart Weitzman.

Other New Retail: Other new Yorkdale retailers will include UK-based clothing retailer All Saints, American womenswear retailer White House Black Market (which we previously reported), Spanish-based clothing retailer Massimo Dutti, Spanish home goods retailer Zara Home (which we previously reported), LEGO and American clothing retailer Brandy Melville.

Six of these are first-to-Canada stores (All Saints, David Yurman, John Varvatos, Mulberry, White House Black Market and Zara Home). Yorkdale’s Salvator Ferragamo store will be the company’s second Canadian location (after Vancouver’s Ferragamo store at 918 Robson Street). Yorkdale’s Massimo Dutti will be Canada’s second location, following its Toronto Eaton Centre store. Brandy Melville’s Yorkdale store will be Canada’s third (following its current Toronto location at 326 Queen Street West and Vancouver’s 850 Granville Street) and LEGO will launch its 100th global location at Yorkdale this spring.

According to Yorkdale General Manager Anthony Casalanguida:

“Canadian shoppers no longer need to travel to shop the world’s best brands,” said Yorkdale General Manager Anthony Casalanguida. “Yorkdale continues to attract global brands as their entry point into the Canadian market because of the quality of our existing retail mix, real estate and access to much of the GTA’s population.”

This latest addition solidifies Yorkdale’s position as Canada’s most comprehensive and upscale mall.

We previously reported on Harry Rosen’s Yorkdale Mall expansion. We reported on Hudson’s Bay’s Yorkdale store renovation, and also did an article on Holt Renfrew’s expanding 120,000 square foot Yorkdale store, including a 10,000 square foot shoe floor. All are expected to be completed by Autumn 2013, if not before.

Thank you Yorkdale Shopping Centre for providing us with this information. Here is a li nk to their press release.

Keep reading Retail Insider, as we will update you on these store openings as well as details on their locations and store sizes.

Yorkdale Shopping Centre website: www.yorkdale.com

Target Opening First Canadian Stores Tuesday, March 5th

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Retail Insider

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March 4, 2013

image-asset - 2021-03-04T203723.300 — Photo: Target

Target opens its first three Canadian stores at 8:00am (EST) Tuesday, March 5th. These Ontario store locations include:

Guelph: 175 Stone Road
Milton: Milton Mall Shopping Centre
Fergus: Gates of Fergus

These stores are considered to be ‘pilot stores’ which will be used to iron out any potential ‘wrinkles’ in operation before Target opens 21 more locations later this month. The Guelph store has been open to ‘staff, friends and family’ for the last couple of weeks, and we have been informed by a staffer at the Guelph store that things are going ‘very well’ so far.

Target’s formal ‘Grand Opening’ will be in early April. Target will open 124 Canadian stores in 2013.

We will keep you updated on Target’s Canadian store openings.

[Article Source]

Target Canada website: www.target.ca

Zara Home Store Opening First North American Location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre

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Retail Insider

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March 4, 2013

*****UPDATE: Yorkdale’s Zara Home opened August 22nd, 2013. It is 3265 square feet. Its Canadian online shopping site launched the same day*****

Spanish-owned Zara Home will open its first North American location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Zara Home is offshoot of Zara, a moderately-priced, modern fashion and accessories retailer with multiple Canadian stores.

We are awaiting further details on the store including mall location and store size.

Canadian shoppers can expect modern, interesting, well-priced residential items from the Zara Home collection. The concept is expected to expand Canada-wide with possible future locations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal.

Zara Home has no American locations currently, but can be purchased online: ZaraHome.com/usa. Canada is getting Zara Home before America, at least brick-and-mortar-wise.

Zara is owned by Inditex Group, the world’s largest fashion retailing conglomerate with almost 100 different companies under its umbrella.

Thank you to our ‘retail insider who wishes to remain anonymous’ for this tip!

Zara Home website: www.zarahome.com

Hermès Achieves Record Sales

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Retail Insider

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March 4, 2013

image-asset - 2021-03-04T165939.705 — Photo: Hermes

French luxury goods manufacturer/retailer Hermès achieved record profits in 2012 with a 22.6% increase over 2011 sales. Asian consumers account for much of the growth including several store openings and renovations. Hermès has five Canadian stores in four Canadian cities.

Hermès has managed to maintain exclusivity with high prices/no discounts, low supply, and a heritage of craftsmanship/artisanship.

Worldwide revenues of $4.66 billion make Hermès one of the highest grossing luxury goods retailers in the world. Hermès’ Asian sales increased 25% between 2011 and 2012. European growth was at 15% while American growth was 14%.

Hermès may be best known for its bag called the ‘Birkin’, named after acress Jane Birkin in 1984. Prices typically range between $9,000 and $150,000. In 2009 a $220,000 Birkin bag made of red crocodile with a clasp of 18k white gold and diamonds rotated around Canadian Hermès stores, starting with the new Calgary Hermès location which opened inside of Holt Renfrew in October of 2009. It sold in a 2011 Dallas auction for about $203,000.

Hermès has five Canadian locations:

Toronto: 130 Bloor Street West,
Montreal: at Holt Renfrew,
Calgary: at Holt Renfrew, and
Vancouver: 1) 107-755 Burrard Street and 2) Vancouver International Airport

The Toronto (4,000 sq ft) and Vancouver (2,500 sq ft – Burrard Street) Hermès stores compete for Canada’s highest Hermès sales, according to a sales associate at the Toronto location.

[Partial Article Source]

Hermès website: www.hermes.com

Holt Renfrew website: www.HoltRenfrew.com

Hudson’s Bay Uses its New Name and Font on Website

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Retail Insider

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March 1, 2013

image-asset - 2021-01-24T225446.781 — Hudson's Bay website screenshot, Thursday February 28th 2013 23:05 PST

Canada’s Hudson’s Bay department store’s website has, as of Thursday February 28th 2013, formally introduced its new name font along with its simplified store name ‘Hudson’s Bay’ (see image screenshot from their website, above).

Gone are the stylized ‘B’ and the abbreviated store name ‘The Bay’.

Former Bay logo including stylized ‘B’

We previously reported that the store formally known as The Hudson’s Bay Company or ‘The Bay’ would be changing its name. We expected a full-on name change late 2012 and it appears to have been delayed until now.

The company’s most recent furniture flyer also includes the store’s new name/font ‘Hudson’s Bay’.

‘snyberTO’ of Urban Toronto noticed and pointed out the similar fonts between Hudson’s Bay and Burberry. See below:

vs.

‘Hudson’s Bay’ is the main Canadian department store branch of the organization still called ‘The Hudson’s Bay Company‘. The same company also owns American department store chain Lord & Taylor, as well as Canadian home retailer ‘Home Outfitters‘. The company will also operate three Zellers stores (as we previously reported) and owns the Canadian rights to British cheap & chic retailer TopShop/TopMan

Retail Insider will continue to keep you updated on Canadian retail news. Have an excellent weekend, everyone!

Hudson’s Bay website:

www.TheBay.com

Burberry website:

www.burberry.com

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