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CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN ‘APARTMENT’: NORTH AMERICAN FIRST AT HOLT RENFREW, TORONTO

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: Christian Louboutin

North America’s first Christian Louboutin ‘apartment’ will open at Holt Renfrew, Yorkdale Shopping Centre this fall. It will open within Holts’ new 10,000 square foot women’s shoe floor. 

The Louboutin ‘apartment’ will be modelled on Louboutin’s actual Paris residence. Selfridge’s in London also has a Louboutin ‘apartment’ modelled in the same way. The 600 square foot London shop has an eclectic design that includes family portraits of Louboutin as well as artifacts collected from his extensive travels, from Mexican dolls to stone doorways to an antique door made of mussels and sea shells. The carpet, as can be expected, will be red. 

Christian Louboutin

For those unfamiliar, Holt Renfrew is owned by Selfridge’s Group.

Yorkdale’s Holt Renfrew is being used as a prototype for future Holt Renfrew store renovations/expansions. Holts will substantially expand its women’s shoe offerings coast-to-coast. This week we will discuss Holt’s footwear strategy in light of the arrival of Nordstrom and the recently opened 50,000 square foot shoe hall at Toronto’s flagship Hudson’s Bay. 

Christian Louboutin Interior

On Friday, June 21st from 4pm-6pm, Christian Louboutin will make a personal appearance at Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor Street West in Toronto. Everyone is welcome.  

[Christian Louboutin website]

[Holt Renfrew website]

RETAIL INSIDER DAILY: Our Publication to Update You on Daily Canadian Retail News

By
Retail Insider
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We are pleased to announce that we have created a free daily online news publication called ‘RETAIL INSIDER DAILY’. It summarizes Retail Insider’s daily twitter postings of Canadian retail news. You can subscribe to it to keep updated on Canadian retail news, as we do our best to keep on top of it. 

To check it out and to sign-up for daily Retail Insider news, click here: [RETAIL INSIDER DAILY]

WHOLE FOODS COULD OPEN LOWER-PRICED CANADIAN STORES

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods‘ American parent is testing lower-priced stores in an effort to expand its customer base. If successful, the concept could come to Canada as part of its intended 40-store Canadian rollout in the coming years. The new American stores will be located in lower-income neighbourhoods. The first test store opened Wednesday June 5th in Detroit and two more will open this year in New Orleans and on Chicago’s South Side.

The stores will differ from regular Whole Foods stores in the following ways:

  • Lower prices (as is the store’s goal),
  • Fewer employees per store,
  • More frozen and pre-packaged food, and
  • Increased product concentration of its in-house label, ‘365’.

The goal is to bring healthy food to lower-income shoppers who might not otherwise be able to shop in regular Whole Foods stores. Whole Foods has fought a reputation of being ‘too expensive’ and, to its chagrin, some have nicknamed it ‘Whole Paycheque’.

The retailer’s American stores earn a gross margin of between 34% and 36%, compared to Walmart and Target‘s 24%-29%. Lowering prices and quality could still positively affect Whole Foods’ bottom line.

Whole Foods may have to be concerned about their brand perception, however, if it chooses to roll-out its lower-cost stores globally. The store’s current high-quality, higher-priced status could be compromised if the concept isn’t handled properly by company management.

Whole Foods currently has 9 Canadian stores and expects to open 40 more locations in the coming years, according to the Financial Post. The company intends on eventually having Canadian sales of about $1 billion. It has about 350 American stores with about $12 billion in sales. It has said it wants as many as 1,000 locations eventually, according to its CEO John Mackey.

[Partial article source]

HUDSON’S BAY OPENS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST SHOE FLOORS

By
Craig Patterson
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Hudson's Bay on Queen Street (Image: Samson Yuen)

Hudson’s Bay has opened a 50,000 square foot women’s shoe department on the ground-floor of its flagship “Queen Street” store in Toronto. From our research, it appears to be the fourth largest shoe floor in the world. The vast space is located in the entire western-portion of the flagship’s ground floor which formerly housed men’s furnishings. 

Today was the shoe floor’s ‘soft opening’. More is still to come for the shoe space, possibly including a rumoured Jimmy Choo boutique. 

Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street (Image: Samson Yuen)

The new salon includes a luxury department called ‘The Room’ shoes, which carries such luxury brands as Christian Louboutin, Brian Atwood, Balmain, Nicholas Kirkwood, Azzedine Alaïa,  Charlotte Olympia, Gianvito Rossi, Martin Margiela, Sonia Rykiel, Pierre Hardy and others. This shoe department was moved downstairs from its original location within the store’s luxury salon ‘The Room’ located on the third floor.

A considerable amount of shoe floor’s square footage is dedicated to storage and back-room activity. The space was designed by Toronto-based Yabu Pushelberg, which has been designing some of Hudson’s Bay’s interior renovations since 2009. 

Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street (Image: Samson Yuen)

The world’s largest shoe store is in Dubai, with about 96,000 square feet. The largest department-store based shoe floor is supposedly at Macy’s in Manhattan at 63,000 square feet with 39,000 square feet of selling space and 24,000 square feet of back rooms/storage. Galeries Lafayette in Paris claims to have a 64,560 square foot shoe floor with 34,500 square feet of retail space. Selfridge’s in London claims to have 35,000 square feet of retail space and we haven’t located the size including storage. Regardless, Hudson’s Bay’s new Queen Street shoe floor is massive. 

Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street (Image: Samson Yuen)

Thank you Samson Yuen for his photos posted in this article. If readers have photos of this or other Canadian retail openings, please email them to us and we’ll credit you: insider@retail-insider.com

We’re waiting to hear back from Hudson’s Bay for more updates. We’ll report as we get more details. Have an excellent weekend, and thank you for reading Retail Insider. 

Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street (Image: Samson Yuen)

DRAKE GENERAL STORE OPENS ‘POP-UP’ SHOP AT HUDSON’S BAY IN TORONTO

By
Retail Insider
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Drake General Store at HBC Queen Street

Today (Friday, June 7th) Toronto’s Drake General Store will open a pop-up shop at Toronto’s flagship Hudson’s Bay Queen Street store. It will be located on the lower-level of the department store, accessible to Toronto’s underground PATH system.

Drake General store has three Toronto locations and is known for its unique products and novel interiors. The store’s website provides a more in-depth description of its concept and wares. According to their website, the store re-imagines the “traditional hotel gift shop” with a contemporary and urban context. It is varied, combining elements from the “classical general store, the museum shop and the flea market stand”. Both local and international products are available.

Store interiors include reclaimed wood cabinetry, recycled hanging fixtures and mid-century modernist wood furniture. The store uses a neon purple cross as its ‘beacon’, modeled after those used by European pharmacies.

The first Drake General Store opened in 2008 on Toronto’s Queen Street West. The Drake General Store has three permanent Toronto stores including 1144 Queen Street West (neighboring the Drake Hotel), 2607 Yonge Street (between Eglinton and Lawrence Avenues) and 82A Bathurst Street (Bathurst and King Street).

Pop-up shops are a potentially beneficial way for retailers to enrich the in-store experience. In an age where online shopping has become common, building a unique in-store experience will be vital. We commend Hudson’s Bay’s inclusion of a pop-up shop and we encourage the company to consider other similar innovations to attract customers.

Source: Skeezix of Urban Toronto, who directed us to this blog post describing the new store.

[Drake General Store website]

[Hudson’s Bay website]

FIRST HERMÈS FRAGRANCE SHOP IN NORTH AMERICA OPENS IN TORONTO AT HOLT RENFREW, YORKDALE

By
Retail Insider
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Hermes - Yorkdale

North America’s first Hermès fragrance shop has opened at Holt Renfrew, Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto. The shop carries the entire collection of Hermès fragrances for both men and women. It is located within the new 10,000 square foot beauty hall at Holts Yorkdale, which held its grand opening yesterday (Thursday, June 6th).

The Yorkdale Holt Renfrew beauty hall includes four treatment rooms and a host of other ‘shops’ for brands Aesop, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Jo Malone, Kiehl’s, La Mer and La Prairie. Also included is the new ‘Primp and Polish Bar’ where shoppers can get their eyebrows, nails and lashes done, as well as hair blowouts.

According to an insider at Holt Renfrew, the new cosmetics floor concept will also be rolled out in other Holt Renfrew stores over the next two years, modelled on the Yorkdale store. Holt Renfrew is in the process of a series of massive store overhauls that will see expanded and renovated stores as well as a new focus on menswear via their own ‘men’s stores’. 

Holt Renfrew’s Yorkdale store has been undergoing a transformation and massive expansion that will see it include the chain’s largest shoe floor (at 10,000 square feet) as well as several new men’s shops (including Paul Smith and Dolce & Gabbana) and women’s shops that will include Chanel, among others. Our most recent update of Holt Renfrew’s Yorkdale expansion can be found here.

Holt Renfrew is using its Yorkdale store as a prototype of sorts, testing a more expansive shop-in-store configuration not found in many Holt Renfrew stores. We’ve been told that, so far, positive customer feedback resulting from its hardshop vendors will result in a rollout of similar shops and concepts at Holt Renfrew stores nationwide.

We’ll keep you updated on further openings within Holt Renfrew’s Yorkdale store, as there will be several more this summer and into the fall.

[Hermès website]

[Yorkdale Shopping Centre website]

[Holt Renfrew website]

BAR REFAELI WILL BE THE FACE OF LABEL ‘NEVADA’ FOR SEARS CANADA

By
Retail Insider
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Supermodel Bar Refaeli will be the new face of Sears Canada‘s label, Nevada. She will also be featured on the cover of Sears’ fall 2013 publication called ‘LOOK!‘

Sears Canada’s CEO, Calvin McDonald says: “With the launch of our new Nevada brand denim designed by the Buffalo Group, we wanted someone that matched what the brand represents for women: fashionability, quality, and confidence. We believe this relationship will demonstrate to Canadians that Sears is a destination for great fitting, affordable and fashionable apparel, especially in the 25 to 40 age demographic.”

Refaeli recently completed the photo shoot for the Fall LOOK! report where she will appear on the cover. She will also be involved in a number of marketing and public relations activities as the face of Nevada.  In-store appearances in conjunction with the launch of the Fall LOOK! report are being planned, as is the release of a behind-the-scenes video featuring clips from the photo shoot for the LOOK!

[Article Source]

[Sears Canada website]

NORDSTROM’S CANADIAN PRICES WILL BE HIGHER THAN IN THE US

By
Retail Insider
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Photo: Nordstrom

Prices in Canada’s Nordstrom stores will be higher than those in its American stores. This can be attributed partly to our higher duties and taxes on imports, not to mention our higher fuel costs, labour costs and rent. Nordstrom says, however, that it will not be “undersold” and will offer a price-match guarantee on comparable products by Canadian competitors.

Nordstrom carries many designer labels already carried at competitors Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen and Hudson’s Bay. Nordstrom’s first Canadian store opens in the fall of 2014 at Calgary’s Chinook Centre. We expect ‘label wars’ as Nordstrom will seek to carry designers carried exclusively at these Canadian retailers.

Nordstrom will start advertising its Canadian arrival this fall, one year before its Calgary opening. It will be hiring Canadian store management and will train them for three months at its Seattle head office.

Nordstrom’s Canadian stores will play piped-in modern music in its Canadian stores. This is a departure from the traditional piano players that traditionally graced American Nordstrom stores. In fact, in recent years, Nordstrom has eliminated most in-store piano players to the chagrin of some American shoppers. Ten American Nordstrom stores still have piano players.

Our source for most of this article’s information is Marina Strauss of The Globe & Mail. She received this information from announcements made by Nordstrom’s Canadian president, Karen McKibbin, during the Retail Council of Canada’s Store 2013 conference being held this week in suburban Toronto.

[Source]

[Nordstrom Canada website]

COSTCO TO OPEN 25 MORE CANADIAN STORES

By
Craig Patterson
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Image: Costco

Costco plans on opening as many as 25 more Canadian stores.

New stores will open in Ontario and several Western Canadian provinces. Metro areas targeted for new stores include Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg.  Selected communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan will also be considered.

Costco is the fourth-largest retailer in America with almost 630 stores and about $100 billion in sales. In Canada, it has over 80 locations and hopes to have about 110 Canadian stores as its final build-out.

Our source for this article’s information is Holly Shaw of the Financial Post. She received this information from announcements made by Costco senior VP Louise Wendling and Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal during the Retail Council of Canada’s Store 2013 conference being held this week in suburban Toronto. 

[Source]

NORDSTROM LAUNCHES ITS CANADIAN WEBSITE

By
Retail Insider
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June 5 2012 UPDATE: Nordstrom’s Canadian president, Karen McKibbin, says Nordstrom’s Canadian website will not initially include online shopping. This may change at a later date.

Nordstrom has launched its Canadian website in anticipation of its Canadian store openings. The website’s address is www.nordstrom.ca. So far, the website is simple and includes a welcome page, store opening dates and images, and a section for applicants to apply for jobs at Nordstrom Canada. 

The opening page includes images that give the appearance of a young, hip store. It appears both welcoming and fashionable. 

Images of new stores and their proposed openings are included on the website’s main page. We’ve posted the same and other images in this article we published last month. 

The careers section of the website invites Canadians to create a job application profile. It also provides this contact email: canadahotline@nordstrom.com

We have no word yet on the extent of online shopping that will be included on Nordstrom’s Canadian website. 

Nordstrom’s first Canadian store opens in Calgary in the fall of 2014. It will later launch at least four more Canadian stores in Ottawa (Rideau Centre: spring 2015), Vancouver (Pacific Centre: fall 2015), and Toronto (Sherway Gardens and Yorkdale Shopping Centre: both fall 2016). Other Canadian store locations are currently being negotiated.

Nordstrom Rack has also secured space in Canada and we’ll soon announce its first location.  

Nordstrom’s Canadian website: www.Nordstrom.ca

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