Popular French clothing line ‘The Kooples‘ will be carried at Holt Renfrew stores this fall. Men’s and women’s collections will both be included. The label is known for its androgynous British-influenced ‘street chic’ designs. Black and gray tend to dominate the collections.
The brand is on a world-wide expansion and will add up to 40 free-standing Kooples stores in the United States. It is already carried at selected Bloomingdale’s stores. Free-standing Canadian stores could follow though, at the moment, Holt Renfrew will carry the line exclusively in Canada.
An exciting new retail development is coming to the corner of Yonge and Gould Streets (335 Yonge Street) in Downtown Toronto. It will have up to 5 floors of retail, possibly at the base of a residential highrise. The project joins other recent area developments in one of the busiest retail areas in Canada.
Flagship retail is expected for the development. It’s only 1/2 block north of the intersection of Yonge and Dundas Streets, Canada’s busiest pedestrian intersection including adjacent Dundas Square. It’s also located beside Ryerson University and its 30,000+ students. The Toronto Eaton Centre, just to the south, is one of Canada’s most productive malls with sales over $1280/square foot and with over 52 million visitors per year.
Footfall in the area is exceptional, both day and night. Pedestrian and traffic counts are as follows:
Each retail floorplate will be about 13,000 square feet. Discussions are currently underway to determine if the project will include four storeys of retail only, four storeys of retail with up to ten mixed use floors above or as much as four levels of retail with up to 30 floors of residential condominium units above.
This will be an exciting addition to Toronto’s retail landscape. The retail project is expected to be finished in 2016 or even earlier.
If interested in leasing space at 335 Yonge Street, contact CBRE Account Coordinator Matthew Pieszchala at (416) 495-6278 or at Matthew.Pieszchala@cbre.com
Vancouver-based Mountain Equipment Co-op has re-branded as “MEC” and has a new logo. It has done so to distance itself from the word “mountain” in light of its high sales of running and cycling gear. The re-branding also reflects the increasingly urban nature of its customers.
For those unfamiliar, MEC is a Canadian consumers’ cooperate that sells outdoor and recreation gear. Members pay a small fee for a lifetime membership. It is Canada’s largest supplier of outdoor equipment. It was founded in 1970, has 17 locations, about 3.5 million Canadian members and sales of over $300 million.
We were aware and reported that Simons was in talks with Oxford Properties and we’d would like to clarify a few things about the negotiations and the space available. Oxford Properties has not yet decided what to do with its newly acquired Sears space, and both Sears leases won’t be vacated by Sears until March 2014. Both spaces are also too large for a single Simons store.
Sears location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre
If negotiations with Simons are successful, Simons stores are not likely occupy the entire Sears store space at either mall. According to lease plans, Yorkdale’s Sears store is about 190,000 square feet and Square One’s Sears is about 145,000 square feet.
Simons stores are typically in the 80,000-100,000 square foot range and its largest location is currently the 118,000 square foot West Edmonton Mall store, which opened last year. Given the larger sizes of the Yorkdale and Square One Sears stores, we could expect Simons to occupy either part of the existing Sears stores or for the Sears spaces to be demolished for new development.
Sears location at Square One Shopping Centre, Mississauga Ontario
Square One is also in the process of an expansion that will see new retail space as well as a 120,000 square foot Holt Renfrew store. The future of Square One’s Walmart store is in question and we’ll update you on any developments.
We’ll update you on La Maison Simon’s cross-Canada expansion. Needless to say, it has become an exciting time for Canadian retail.
Bonnie Brooks [Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail/Canadian Press]
In a move that has shocked analysts and investors, Hudson’s Bay Company (“HBC”) president Bonnie Brooks has stepped down as president of HBC. She will be replaced by former executive vice-president Liz Robdell, and the transition is expected to be completed by January 2014.
Brook’s exit isn’t all bad – she will stay on as a vice-chairman and will act as an adviser to the company (including strategy at both Hudson’s Bay and American Lord & Taylor). She will continue to answer to chairman and CEO Richard Baker and HBC’s board of directors. This should come as a relief to shareholders as Brooks was the visionary for the company’s changes that have included dropping hundreds of unfashionable labels and introducing many new ones.
Clearly Contacts will be closing its first and only free-standing retail store on Vancouver’s Robson Street to make way for the site’s redevelopment. Clearly Contacts had signed a six-month lease for the space which opened in March. We’re not sure if the store will close in September but we can confirm that it and adjacent retail spaces will be demolished for a new, large-format retailer that we’ll announce this week.
All is not lost, however, as Clearly Contacts will open a new street-front store at 2152 W. 4th Avenue in Vancouver’s Kitsilano area. It will replace 49th Parallel coffee, which has moved up the street. No word yet on if other Canadian Clearly Contacts locations will follow.
Thank you Nick Dot and Nick Lewis for being sources alerting us to the Kitsilano store.
Eres has opened its second Canadian store (and seventh in North America) at 396 Laurier Avenue West in Montreal. Eres specializes in upscale swimwear and lingerie. Its first Canadian location opened in June 2012 at 126 Cumberland Street in Toronto.Â
For those unfamiliar, Eres is a Paris-based swimwear line that began in 1968. It was purchased by Chanel in 1996, and Chanel expanded the brand to include lingerie. Eres has five American stores in Beverly Hills, Chicago, East Hampton NY, Las Vegas and Palm Beach.Â
About 100 Windows (by Microsoft) stores will open within Canadian Best Buy stores by September. It will sell Windows-based tablets, computers and other Microsoft products. Microsoft-trained sales staff will assist customers.
Best Buy Canada will be concentrating on popular, profitable products including tablets and mobile phones. Adding Windows shops-in-store is the latest strategy to build sales at struggling Best Buy. The retailer has seen increased competition from discount rivals and online sales.
Canada’s first and, currently, only free-standing Microsoft store opened in November 2012 at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. It is 6,844 square feet and is located in the mall’s newest expansion wing between the (current) Sears store and Holt Renfrew.
J. Crew will open a ~6,500 square foot store at 110 Bloor Street West in Toronto, next to a ~15,000 square foot Brooks Brothers store which is currently under construction. J. Crew will be located in a re-configured space formerly occupied by Guerlain, which has moved westward within the same retail complex. The adjacent Brooks Brothers will occupy space formerly occupied by the ~13,000 square foot womenswear retailer Escada, which moved into a 3,650 square foot location across the street at 131 Bloor Street West.
According to a source at J. Crew (we are waiting to hear back if we can credit them by name) the Bloor Street J. Crew will carry both menswear and womenswear.
This will be J. Crew’s 6th Toronto area store (including the outlet store opening in August). J. Crew’s Toronto stores include The Toronto Eaton Centre, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Fairview Shopping Centre. And we correct our previous article to include a J. Crew at Vauguan Mills (Thank you Samson Yuen for the correction!)
Source: ACT7 of Urban Toronto. Image: Google Maps screenshot.
Update: Oxford Properties purchased the Yorkdale and Square One leases for $191 million. Stores will close in March, 2014. Oxford also paid Sears $1 million for the option of buying-out the 230,000+ square foot Scarborough Town Centre Sears lease for $53 million. That closure could happen within the next 5 years. [Press Release]
The Yorkdale Sears is about 190,000 square feet and is located in the western portion of the mall. Nordstrom has already announced that it will open a 188,000 square foot Yorkdale store as part of an eastward mall expansion, so the Yorkdale Sears space will either be reconfigured for multiple retailers, demolished then redeveloped, or be leased to another anchor tenant. La Maison Simons has been in talks with the landlord and could occupy some, though likely not all of the space. Simons is seeking Toronto store space in the 80,000-120,000 square foot range.Â
Square One Shopping Centre, Mississauga
Square One’s Sears store is about 145,000 square feet and it is located at the north-end of the mall. Nordstrom could become a possible replacement anchor for the Sears space, though Nordstrom has already secured a 138,000 square foot space at nearby Sherway Gardens mall that will open in 2016. Again, La Maison Simons could possibly occupy the Sears space, though Simons could also go in the expanded area near the recently announced 120,000 square foot Holt Renfrew. Holts will be located in an expanded southern portion of Square One that will see Old Navy and neighbouring retailers demolished.Â
