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COMBINED MEN’S/WOMEN’S SHOPPING DEPARTMENT DEBUTS AT HOLT RENFREW, CALLED ‘HOLTS COMMONS’

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Retail Insider
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Holt Renfrew has introduced a shared shopping department for both men and women called ‘Holts Commons’. The concept was unveiled over the weekend at Holt’s Yorkdale store in Toronto, and it’s expected to be introduced in other Holt Renfrew stores, space permitting. The Toronto Holts Commons spans about 7,000 square feet.


This is how holt Renfrew portrayed the concept: 


“His. Yours. Hers. Ours. Share your closet.


We are excited to introduce you to Holts Commons, an exciting new shopping destination for him and her exclusively at our Yorkdale location. Drawing inspiration from a mid-century modern design aesthetic, Holts Commons is a place to stay connected with others and shop collections from some of today’s most talked-about contemporary designers. Because shopping is an experience that’s best when it’s shared, Holts Commons allows both men and women to cross-shop and share some of the best pieces our store has to offer. Join us as we celebrate the launch of Holts Commons. #HoltsCommons”


Various brands are available in the new space including The Kooples, Rag & Bone, Burberry Brit, Comme des Garcons PLAY and Zadig & Voltaire.


We’ll keep you updated on the innovative retail concept that is Holts Common’s cross-Canada expansion as an innovative retail concept.


RELATED:





[Holt Renfrew website]

Photo: Barbara Atkin, Holt Renfrew

WHAT IT TAKES TO SCORE A BLACK FRIDAY DOORBUSTER DEAL

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Retail Insider
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[Image Source]
The following article was written by Louis Ramirez on behalf of our friends at Deal News:

By now we all know what pre-Black Friday shopping looks like. Throngs of shoppers camped outside of retail stores, hoping to score one of the season’s first doorbusters. Unfortunately, a majority of those shoppers are waiting in vain; landing a hot doorbuster requires more than just waiting in line. As professional deal hunters, we’re here to show you how to increase your chances of getting that deal, and more importantly — how to decide if it’s even worth the time and effort in the first place.
To clarify: The term “doorbusters” is used a lot during the holidays, especially on Black Friday, and refers toultra-cheap items that brick-and-mortar stores sell to lure shoppers into their stores. Quality-wise, these products aren’t going to win any awards. But when it comes to pricing, these goods are as discounted as they come. And the good news is, not all doorbusters require setting up camp in the cold. But if you’re inclined to do so, here’s how to maximize your chances of scoring a doorbuster deal.

Research the Doorbusters Beforehand

If you’re attempting to snag the cream-of-the-crop doorbuster deals, then you’ll have to choose wisely; while there may be time to secure multiple items during your trip, your best opportunity to get any limited-stock deals will be in the first few moments of the store opening. Don’t waste that time on something trivial if you really just wanted one of those amazing TV deals, for example. To help you distinguish which doorbusters are worth pursuing, check out our Black Friday ad analyses.

Turn to Social Media for Deal Reveals

While many stores will post some choice deals in their Black Friday ads, in order to drum up hype well before the event, there’s a very good chance that some retailers will have some last minute deals to reveal the week of. This is especially true if a store feels that it’s being outshone by its competitors. A good way to find such timely offers is through store social media channels like Facebook or Twitter. While consumers had to jump through some extra hoops this year before getting any sneak peeks, there’s a good chance that the immediacy of social media will be ideal forums for last minute offers.

Be Prepared to Wait

Once you know what doorbuster deal you’re after, it’s time to think strategy. Unfortunately there’s no hard and fast rule for when you should arrive at a store in order to be one of the lucky few to get a limited-quantity doorbuster. According to our own experiences at suburban brick-and-mortar stores, you can generally show up about two hours early to get the most highly-anticipated doorbusters. That said, there are always the people whodecide to camp out for days.
Luckily, this tactic doesn’t seem to happen en masse, though you can easily tell if it’s getting out of hand with a simple, advanced drive-by. It may be a bummer to see that there’s already an unruly line outside of your preferred store, but at least you can assess whether shopping in-store on Black Friday will be a waste of time in advance.

Be First in Line

Even if you are one of those shoppers who does camp outside a store for three consecutive nights and are number 10 in line, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get that doorbuster deal you’ve been waiting for. Doorbusters are very limited-stock items and it wouldn’t be surprising for some stores only carried five (or perhaps fewer) of said item. The one absolute rule we can say about Black Friday doorbusters is that if you’re not first in line, don’t expect to get the deal you’re after.

Manage Your Expectations

Again, because retailers typically stock a limited supply of doorbusters per location, your chances of walking out of a store with one are slim. And even though Walmart is guaranteeing 21 of its doorbusters should they sell out, not many stores offer this guarantee. (And even with Walmart’s guarantee, you’ll have to return to the store sometime before Christmas to pick up your item.) All in all, the chances of a doorbuster selling out are very high. As a result, all shoppers should manage their expectations, so that if there are no doorbusters left to be had, shopping in-store doesn’t end up feeling like a major disappointment.

Get a Doorbuster Deal Online

While there’s no guarantee that every doorbuster will make its way online, we typically see extremely similar discounts and doorbusters from online merchants during Black Friday. Amazon in particular likes to undercut competitors throughout the weekend. In fact, in previous years we’ve noticed that 70% of in-store deals were available online for the same price or less. Of course, if there’s one specific in-store item that you must have, hoping that it’ll be online is a gamble (albeit one in which the odds are in your favor).


Don’t Become a Victim to the Doorbuster Hype

The bottom line is: Doorbusters are bait. They’re designed to get you in-store so that retailers can sell you a host of other less-discounted (and sometimes overpriced) accessories. Just remember, if you are lucky enough to snag a doorbuster, don’t spend your savings on a $100 HDMI cable, extended warranty, or other astronomically expensive accessory. Make a list of the item(s) you want to buy and stick to it. Notably, most accessories can be found online at much cheaper prices than what you’d pay in-store. Remember, not every deal you see on Black Friday is a good deal.

Now that you have an idea of what it takes to score a doorbuster you can relax a bit. You’re prepared! But, if you’re still unsure of whether or not you should shop in-store for doorbusters on Black Friday, check out our helpful flow chart below.





Still confused? Then let us do the dirty work for you so that, come Black Friday, all you have to do is turn on your laptop and click “buy.” Stay in the loop this holiday shopping season and sign up for email alerts for deals on all your wish list items.

RETAIL INSIDER IS LOOKING FOR WRITERS

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Retail Insider
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Retail Insider is looking for writers to report on Canadian retail news. You’ll get to research and interview interesting people. You can attend store openings and other retail/fashion-related events. You’ll get to interview and network with some of Canada’s top retail players and you can build a writing portfolio via our nationally-recognized online publication.


We have a lot of fun researching and writing for Retail Insider, and we’re looking to grow. We want to include more daily article content, as well as report more from a wider variety of Canadian cities. Since we’ve started Retail Insider, Canada’s retail industry has grown and changed dramatically, and keeping up proves challenging to our small operation.


Writing for Retail Insider is an excellent way for writers to build on a portfolio, and we will provide solid verbal and written references for writers and analysts. Articles can be of varying lengths and can range from being simple to analytical, as you desire. You will be working under the direction of our editor-in-chief who is a retail analyst.


Writers could eventually be remunerated for their work. However, our operation is still in its growing stages and is unable to compensate your valuable work at the moment.


If you’re interested in contributing, please email us at: insider@retail-insider.com with a brief description of yourself and why you’d like to write for Retail Insider. 

CANADA’S FIRST BURBERRY OUTLET OPENS AT THE TORONTO PREMIUM OUTLETS

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Retail Insider
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Burberry at Toronto Premium Outlets

Canada’s first Burberry Outlet Store opened on November 22nd at the Toronto Premium Outlets. The Outlets opened in August 2013 and according to reader feedback, Burberry’s November opening was highly anticipated.

Burberry has six full-priced Canadian stores including three locations in Toronto (144 Bloor Street W., at Yorkdale Shopping Centre and at Hudson’s Bay Queen Street), Calgary (Chinook Centre) and Vancouver (1101 Alberni Street and at Vancouver International Airport).

We’ll keep you updated if any other Burberry Outlets are to open in Canada. We suspect there will be more, as there is a  possibility of one opening in a proposed outlet mall near Vancouver International Airport.

TUMI’S 1st CANADIAN STORE OPENS IN TORONTO

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Retail Insider
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[Image Source]

Tumi’s first fully-dedicated store opened on November 22nd at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 1,285 square foot store is located between jewellers Thomas Sabo and Maison Birks.


For those unfamiliar, Tumi is a New Jersey-based manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of travel bags and accessories. It has more recently branched into the lucrative handbag retail market. Tumi has over 120 stores worldwide and over 200 shop-in-store locations.

This is technically Canada’s first full-fledged Tumi store, as the one we reported on in Vancouver is a combined Tumi and Rimowa retailer. 

RELATED:  



[Yorkdale Shopping Centre website]

[Tumi website]

NORTH AMERICA’S FIRST MAX MARA BRIDAL BOUTIQUE TO OPEN IN VANCOUVER

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Retail Insider
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Image: Max Mara

In early January, 2014, Vancouver’s Max Mara store will move from 2756 Granville Street to a considerably larger space at 3025 Granville Street. The new store will be the largest Max Mara store in Canada, and it will include the first Max Mara Bridal salon in North America.

According to a press release, the new store will be about 3,850 square feet. Lease materials show the store space featuring 3,074 square feet on its street level as well as 2,683 square feet on its basement level, making for a 5,757 square foot retail building.

For those unfamiliar, Max Mara is a luxury Italian fashion house established in 1951. It is known for its womenswear as well as accessories and shoes, and has stores around the world. Max Mara also retails other fashion lines including Weekend by Max Mara, which recently opened a store at the Metropolis at Metrotown.

The new Max Mara store will be the largest in Canada. Max Mara only has four free-standing Canadian stores, and three of those are in Vancouver. The other Vancouver stores are located at Oakridge Shopping Centre and Pacific Centre. The Toronto store recently relocated to 151 Bloor Street West. Max Mara is also carried at selected Holt Renfrew stores as well as at Hudson’s Bay‘s Toronto flagship. In addition, the Vancouver license holder operates two lower-priced Weekend by Max Mara stores, located at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre and Metropolis at Metrotown.

3025 Granville Street: Location of Vancouver’s newest Max Mara store (Image is from the landlord’s marketing materials)

Vancouver’s concentration of three Max Mara stores and two Weekend by Max Mara stores gives it the highest concentration of Max Mara locations of any city in North America. Given the relatively small size of Vancouver, it could even be considered one of the world’s most Max Mara-friendly cities. 

The new Vancouver store, being relocated three blocks to the south, will be even closer to the wealthy Shaughnessy neighbourhood, where some of Max Mara’s customers live. Shaughnessy is a historical estate neighbourhood that is home to some of Vancouver’s largest and most expensive residences.

The current Max Mara store at 2756 Granville Street is connected to multibrand luxury retailer Boboli. Business restructuring has led to a separation between Boboli and Max Mara’s Vancouver license holder, Vestis Fashion Group.

Canada’s first Max Mara Outlet store will open in suburban Montreal next year.

[Max Mara website]

CATHERINE MALANDRINO’S FIRST CANADIAN STORE OPENS IN MONTREAL

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: Catherine Malandrino

Canada’s first Catherine Malandrino store has opened at 1472 Sherbrooke St. West in Montreal. It is one of 11 Malandrino flagships worldwide. Marketing materials indicate that the store is about 4,300 square feet.

For those unfamiliar, Catherine Malandrino is a contemporary-priced womenswear designer headquartered in Paris. Malandrino’s fashion lines can be found in better retailers throughout the world, including several Canadian Hudson’s Bay stores.

1472 Sherbrooke St W prior to Malandrino

According to marketing materials, the retail space comprises of 2,156 square feet on its ground floor and 2,123 square feet on its second level. The asking rent for the store’s ground floor was $57/square foot/year, while its second floor was asking $43/square foot/year.

The Montreal Malandrino store is located west of Holt Renfrew’s current Montreal store. The future of the Sherbrooke St. West shopping strip is in question, now that Holt’s will close its Sherbrooke Street store to amalgamate operations in an expanded Ogilvy retail building.

We’ll keep you updated as to if more Catherine Malandrino stores will open in Canada.

[Catherine Malandrino website]

HUDSON’S BAY NEW SIGNAGE GOES UP ON ITS QUEEN STREET FLAGSHIP

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Retail Insider
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Hudson's Bay, 176 Yonge Street, corner of Yonge & Richmond St's. Photo: Skeezix, Urban Toronto

Hudson’s Bay stores are in the process of installing new signage, consistent with its new ‘Hudson’s Bay’ branding and logo font. The first Canadian Hudson’s Bay store to get the new signage was the Downtown Vancouver store, which saw its signs change in October 2012.

Photo: Google Streetview screenshot

The chain’s Toronto flagship is finally getting updated signage, and Skeezix from Urban Toronto took the above photo. We think it looks better than what was previously there, as can be seen in the image below (taken in May, 2012, according to Google).

[Hudson’s Bay website]

‘EXPERIENCE HEADPHONES’ TO OPEN STORES ACROSS CANADA, BEGINNING WITH A VANCOUVER FLAGSHIP THIS MONTH

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Retail Insider
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Photo: Experience Headphones

A Vancouver-based specialty headphones retailer called Experience Headphones is planning its Canada-wide store expansion, beginning with the opening of a store this month at 3057 Granville Street in Vancouver. Experience Headphones is Vancouver’s only ‘fashion-focussed’ specialty headphone retailer. Two more Vancouver-area stores will open (at Metropolis at Metrotown and at the Vancouver International Airport), to be eventually followed by stores across Canada. 

The new Vancouver shop measures at 849 square feet according to CBRE, and the retailer is replacing Vancouver’s only store location for the Rocky Mountain Soap Company. The new store will be located on Vancouver’s upscale South Granville retail strip. 

Everyone is welcome to attend the store’s grand opening on November 30th from 10:00am-6:00pm. The following is from a company press release: 

FASHION-FOCUSED HEADPHONE RETAILER, EXPERIENCE HEADPHONES INC. ANNOUNCES GRAND OPENING OF VANCOUVER FLAGSHIP STORE

Experience Headphones Inc. fills gap in the premium headphones market for fashion-conscious consumers

VANCOUVER, BC – November 19th, 2013: Today, Experience Headphones Inc., Vancouver’s only fashion-focused specialty headphone retailer, announced the grand opening of their first retail store. Located at 3057 South Granville St. in Vancouver, B.C., the flagship store will feature premium, forward thinking lines and is officially open to the public on November 30th, 2013 from 10am to 6pm.

Customers visiting the store on the grand opening will be the first to browse the full collection, with over 100 different styles of on-ear, in-ear, and over-ear headphones from premium lines, such as Frends, Urbanears, Molami, and WeSC. Customers can try on and experience every pair of earphones, with the exception of earbuds and will also get access to special pricing, giveaways, and live music from local Vancouver buskers.

The greatest innovation is making headphones as much fashion accessories as they are listening devices. Premium, fashion-forward headphones are now in high demand and are one of the fastest growing categories in the consumer electronics industry. They account for over 50% of the North America-wide sales. This represents roughly $1.6 billion in annual sales and continues to grow at a rate of over 20% per year. One quarter of those buyers list fashion and branding as their #1 purchase criteria.

Whereas other Vancouver retailers focus on the technical aspects of headphones and restrict customers to a limited selection of brands, Experience Headphones Inc. is the only local retailer offering premium headphones to a fashion-conscious consumer. The strong growth in retail sales, and the lack of innovation from local businesses that offer headphone products allows the rare opportunity for a first-mover advantage. The new location marks a milestone in the company’s growth and history, as it will act as the original and flagship store in metro Vancouver. Experience Headphones plans to open two additional stores in Vancouver, one at Metrotown and another at the airport, before venturing to other cities in the province and across the country.

“We started as an online shop but saw a gap in the market to open a storefront where customers can actually try on and experience the headphones, says CEO and Co-Founder, Dean Horsfield. He adds, “We are ushering in a new way of thinking about music marketing and consumer preferences by focusing on the experience. How you fee when you wear your headphones, how they sound when you plug them in, and how they look when you wear them on the street.”

ABOUT EXPERIENCE HEADPHONES INC.
Experience Headphones Inc. was founded in July 2013 by Dean Horsfield, a former employee of Best Buy Corporate headquarters in Burnaby, Canada. He saw an opportunity to capitalize on the booming trend of fashion-forward headphones, and after unsuccessfully pitching the idea to Best Buy decided to build out the concept on his own. The company now has over 100 SKU’s from 11 different brands and is in talks with another three brands to be added early in the New Year. 

[Experience Headphones website]

ANALYSIS: 220,000 SQ FT COMBINED OGIVLY/HOLT RENFREW IN MONTREAL: TO BE CANADA’S LARGEST “HOLT’S”

By
Retail Insider
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Rendering: City of Montreal

Canada’s largest Holt Renfrew store will eventually be located in Montreal, though it will go by a different name. Holt Renfrew will merge with Montreal’s Ogilvy as it spends $60 million to create a 220,000 square foot flagship in an expanded Ogilvy premises on Ste Catherine Street West. The current Holt Renfrew store on Sherbrooke Street West will then close. Construction on the new store begins in the fall of 2014 and is expected to be completed some time in 2017.

The new store will be called Ogilvy, part of the Holt Renfrew & Co. collection.  The name is rather long and we think many shoppers will refer to the combined retailer simply as ‘Ogilvy’, especially as it will be located within the current Ogilvy building. The current 160,000 square foot Ogilvy building will be expanded by about 60,000 square feet northward to create the new 220,000 square foot store.

Incredibly, insiders (including sources at Womens Wear Daily) speculate that sales in the new Ogilvy/Holt’s store could be as high as $250 million annually. If so, these could be the highest department store sales in Canada, surpassing those of Hudson’s Bay‘s Toronto flagship. 

The strategy to combine the two retailers is an interesting one. Montreal will technically lose its dedicated Holt Renfrew store on Sherbrooke Street West. However, it will gain an even larger luxury department store that can compete head-to-head with Saks Fifth Avenue, which will open within Hudson’s Bay’s Ste Catherine Street West store in downtown Montreal. When finished, Saks will be a mere 800 metres east of the new Ogilvy/Holt’s. 
We expect that the new retailer will be similar to the company’s Selfridge’s store in London, though possibly more focussed on the luxury consumer. Selfridge’s is considered to be one of the world’s most innovative retailers, and it offers a wide variety of merchandise and pricing. We’ve been doing some research and giving it some thought, and we think that the new Ogilvy by Holt’s will likely include the following improvements:

New ‘luxury hall’ for designer boutiques: We expect the new retailer to feature multiple luxury designer boutiques in a sort of “luxury street” similar to what Selfridge’s group has created for its London store as well as for its de Bijenkorf store in Amsterdam. Luxury boutiques could include Hermès, Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Fendi, Miu Miu, Mulberry and others. Apart from a few luxury boutiques on Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal generally lacks luxury ‘high streets’ like Toronto’s Bloor Street or Vancouver’s Burrard/Alberni Streets. We expect Ogilvy/Holt’s to capitalize on its large ground-floor space by featuring multiple luxury boutiques to compliment existing Ogilvy retailers such as Louis Vuitton. 

Massive Shoe Hall: We expect Holt Renfrew will create a massive women’s shoe hall that will include separate boutiques for the likes of Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, and others. We’d expect this to be similar to the recently opened shoe hall at Holt Renfrew’s Yorkdale store in Toronto, though on an even grander scale.

A substantial, luxurious men’s store: We expect to see a large and luxurious men’s store within the new Ogilvy/Holt’s, offering such amenities as shaving services, shoe shines, personal shopping and a relaxation lounge, among others. We’re not sure where it would go, yet, though we think it will be over 30,000 square feet as it attempts to compete with rivals Harry Rosen, L’Uomo and Saks Fifth Avenue.

A top-notch women’s designer floor: We expect that the women’s luxury clothing offerings at Holt’s will be expanded and that there will be larger boutiques for Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Akris, Giorgio Armani and others. We also think Holt’s will bring its couture salon concept over from its current store.

More fine jewellery: We think an expanded jewellery selection will build on Ogilvy’s current H. Stern and Christofle boutiques to include many of the world’s finest jewellers, such as Graff, De Beers, Bulgari and others.

Expanded cosmetics as well as beauty services: We expect cosmetics operations between the two retailers to be merged and improved upon with the increased square footage of Ogilvy/Holt’s. Holt Renfrew already features a broad selection of cosmetics vendors, and more space will allow for a wider assortment of brand offerings. We’d expect the new store to also feature a spa, hair salon, and other beauty services carried at other Holt’s flagships.

Restaurants: We expect to see at least one restaurant offering, if not several, in the new store. Restaurants aren’t our specialty so we’ll leave it at that.

Eliminated furniture department: Currently, Ogilvy carries furniture items on an upper floor. We think that continuing to carry furniture would be incompatible with Holt Renfrew’s current merchandising strategy and that furniture will therefore be eliminated with the new store’s opening.

More details of the combined Ogilvy/Holt Renfrew store will come available in the coming weeks. Keep reading for updates.

[Ogilvy website]

[Holt Renfrew website]

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