A source at Hudson’s Bay tells us that TopShop/TopMan will open two suburban Montreal locations. The suburban TopShop/TopMan stores will be located within Hudson’s Bay stores at Le Carrefour Laval and at the Galeries d’Anjou. In addition, the Downtown TopShop within Montreal’s flagship Hudson’s Bay store will be expanded as well.Â
We’re awaiting word of the opening dates for the suburban Montreal stores and the expanded Downtown Montreal store. Â We’ll update you when we get that information. This announcement gives the Montreal area at least three TopShop/TopMan stores.Â
The Galeries d’Anjou TopShop/TopMan will be part of a substantially renovated 190,000 square foot Hudson’s Bay store. The renovation coincides with an expansion of the mall and the addition of large anchor tenants Target and La Maison Simons.Â
TopShop/TopMan is expanding across Canada via Hudson’s Bay. One of the world’s largest TopShops – a 33,000 square foot location – opened in October 2012 at Vancouver’s Downtown Hudson’s Bay. Toronto currently has two TopShop/TopMan locations: a 19,000 square foot location within the flagship ‘Queen Street’ Hudson’s Bay store and a 15,000 square foot TopShop/TopMan at Hudson’s Bay, Yorkdale Shopping Centre. We recently reported on TopShop’s eventual store within the Square One Hudson’s Bay store, and Toronto will also get TopShop/TopMan within a renovated Hudson’s Bay store at the Sherway Gardens Shopping Centre (we snuck in that announcement here for diligent readers).Â
We also recently reported on TopShop’s opening at Hudson’s Bay in Calgary’s Chinook Centre. More Canadian TopShop/TopMan locations will follow and we’ll be announcing them periodically. An Edmonton location is in the works, for example.Â
TopShop/TopMan website:Â www.TopShop.com
Hudson’s Bay website:Â www.TheBay.com
MORE TOPSHOP STORES SLATED FOR MONTREAL
CANADA’S LARGEST SHOE SALE: APRIL 24
One week from today, Canadian women in select cities will line up to buy shoes at the Legendary Army & Navy Shoe Sale. It continues to be Canada’s largest shoe sale. Almost 150,000 pairs of designer shoes will be available at discounted prices at the chain’s six Canadian stores. New merchandise is brought in daily, and the event lasts until May 5th.Â
According to Army & Navy, about 4,300 women line up for the 8:00am opening day. Shoppers are advised to check back daily for new stock, as much of it is picked over not long after the initial shopping stampede.
For those unfamiliar, Army and Navy started as a liquidation retailer in 1919. The shoe sale commenced in 1949. It could be compared to a modern-day Winners or Marshall’s, for example.Â
Much to our dismay, the sale madness doesn’t include men’s shoes. We encourage Army & Navy to expand their sale to include men’s shoes since this male author’s shoe addiction could support the men’s sale in its own right.Â
Army & Navy has had various Western Canadian stores over the years. This is a list of their current store locations. All stores participate in the shoe sale.Â
1) Downtown Vancouver: 36 West Cordova StreetÂ
2) New Westminster, BC: 502 Columbia Street
3) Langley, BC: 100 – 5501 204th Street
4) Edmonton: 10411 82nd (Whyte) AvenueÂ
5) Edmonton: Unit 100A Londonderry MallÂ
6) Calgary: 1 – 1107 33rd Street NE Â
Army & Navy website:Â www.armyandnavy.ca
HOLT RENFREW YORKDALE UPDATE
Yorkdale Shopping Centre’s Holt Renfrew store continues to undergo expansion and renovation. Some improvements, including a men’s Dolce & Gabbana shop-in-store are complete, while others such as boutiques for Chanel and Paul Smith as well as a 10,000 square foot shoe department are under construction. The finished store will be a “show-stopper” according to a source at Holt Renfrew head office.Â
With the help of our Toronto Retail Insider ACT7 of Urban Toronto, we’ve done some digging and today we’ll discuss two new developments: A substantially expanded Louis Vuitton boutique, and a new Paul Smith boutique. We’ll also reveal Holt’s expanded store size and configuration.
Both the new Vuitton and Smith shops are mentioned on the City of Toronto Building Application website. The Louis Vuitton within Holts will expand and will include basement storage and a dumbwaiter to move merchandise from the basement to the Vuitton boutique.
A Paul Smith boutique is also mentioned on the City of Toronto Application website. Paul Smith men’s clothing is carried at Holt Renfrew stores across Canada. Holts Yorkdale will get a full-on dedicated Paul Smith boutique insofar as it was mentioned specifically on the City of Toronto’s Building Application website.
Holt Renfrew’s Yorkdale store will see a substantial expansion over three floors. Two floors will be for retail, while the basement will be storage and staff areas. The total store size will be in excess of 121,000 square feet, making it the third-largest Holt Renfrew store after Holt’s Toronto Bloor Street (about 185,000 square feet) and Vancouver (about 137,200 square feet) stores (the Calgary store is 151,000 square feet, but only about 120,000 square feet are currently used).
The expanded store’s size breakdown is as follows. Currently, the store’s ground floor is 51,913 square feet and its basement storage is 13,134 square feet. This adds up to the current total of 65,047 square feet. The store’s expansion will include an 18,925 square foot ground floor extension, an added ~15,000 square feet storage/staff basement area, and a ~22,340 square foot second level formerly housing a food court. We’ve attached the store’s lease plan above.
Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre has seen so much leasing activity lately that we’ll be doing regular articles about what’s happening. We’ve also got an updated mall lease plan so we’ll continuously report on which tenants are going where and the size of these new tenants. Yorkdale Shopping Centre will likely remain Canada’s premier shopping centre especially with its recently announced expansion including a 188,000 square foot Nordstrom store.
Holt Renfrew website: www.HoltRenfrew.com
Yorkdale Shopping Centre website: http://www.yorkdale.com
HARRY ROSEN OPENING STORE AT LE CARREFOUR LAVAL
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| [Image Source] |
Menswear retailer Harry Rosen will open a 7,800 square foot store at Le Carrefour Laval in suburban Montreal. The opening date will be some time in August. The store will be located next to a large Zara store, currently under renovation and scheduled to re-open this summer.Â
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| Floorplan (screenshot) is adapted from the Carrefour Laval website interactive floorplan |
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| Floorplan adapted from a Cadillac Fairview lease plan |
Le Carrefour Laval is one of Canada’s more productive shopping centres with sales of $764/square foot, according to landlord Cadillac Fairview. The mall has 274 stores and includes, impressively, an Apple Store that is almost 11,000 square feet.Â
UNIQLO & BLOOMINGDALE’S CANADA UPDATE: HAPPENING OR SPECULATION?
The National Post/Financial Post reports that Uniqlo could become a tenant within Hudson’s Bay stores. Its article on Tuesday, April 11th notes that Hudson’s Bay is seeking to negotiate space with Uniqlo and other retailers that might add value to Hudson’s Bay’s Canadian real estate portfolio.
In November 2012 we first reported on Uniqlo’s negotiations for space in the sub-basement of the Hudson’s Bay store in Downtown Vancouver. We were later informed by a commercial real estate source that this Vancouver deal had stalled. We held off informing readers since there was a possibility that other Uniqlo store sites could be found, including space enquiries on Vancouver’s Robson Street and on Toronto’s Yonge Street. Uniqlo management has since scaled back North American expansion plans, save for some potential future West Coast and East Coast American stores. Plans for a flagship Chicago Uniqlo store were also put on hold, much to the chagrin of many Chicago shoppers.
We are unable to confirm any Canadian leasing activity with Uniqlo at this time. We hope that The National Post’s article is correct as to Hudson’s Bay’s continued attempt to secure Uniqlo as a concession tenant.
On Tuesday, April 11th, Business in Vancouver Magazine also reported that Hudson’s Bay could be trying to secure Bloomingdale’s concessions within some of its Canadian Stores. In November 2012, we reported the confirmation from a source at Hudson’s Bay that the proposed Bloomingdale’s/Hudson’s Bay partnership had stalled. We again hope for a Bloomingdale’s entry into Canada via Hudson’s Bay.
One of Retail Insider’s goals is to get Canadians excited about shopping in Canada. Uniqlo and Bloomingdale’s would be exciting additions to Canadian retailing and we hope both become a reality.
We will continue to keep readers updated on new Canadian retail. Have an excellent weekend, everyone, and thank you for reading Retail Insider.
National Post/Financial Post article referenced: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/11/hudsons-bay-co-feels-impact-of-hurricane-related-closures-at-u-s-stores
Business in Vancouver article referenced: http://www.biv.com/article/20130409/BIV0102/304099933/0/SEARCH/E-commerce-shrinking-department-store-prospects
Uniqlo website: www.uniqlo.com
Bloomingdale’s website: www.bloomingdales.com
APPLE STORE OPENING IN MONTREAL APRIL 27
A 7,000 square foot Apple Store opens April 27th at Montreal’s Quartier Dix30 shopping centre. The store will be located next to hr2 by Holt Renfrew.
This will be the fourth Apple Store in the Greater Montreal area. Other Montreal Apple Stores are located in Downtown Montreal (1321 rue Ste-Catherine Ouest), Carrefour Laval and Fairview Pointe-Claire.
Apple store website: store.apple.com/ca
Quartier Dix30 website: www.quartierdix30.com
H&M OPENING FIRST OTTAWA STORE
Swedish retailer H&M is opening a 22,000 square foot store at Ottawa’s expanded Bayshore Shopping Centre in October. This will be Ottawa’s first H&M store.
The company has been seeking Ottawa store space for almost a decade. H&M’s Bayshore store will be located on the main level of the mall’s former Zellers store, which is being renovated and reconfigured. Target will occupy the third floor of that same former Zellers store.
Ottawa’s Bayshore Shopping Centre is undergoing an expansion and renovation that will see its size increased to about 915,000 square feet from a current 700,000 square feet. The entire project will cost about $200 million. 56 new stores will be added including the new Target store. The expansion should be completed some time in 2015.
A source at Cadillac Fairview tells us H&M is also negotiating space at Ottawa’s Rideau Centre. Ottawa’s Rideau Centre is also undergoing a significant expansion which will include a new Nordstrom, a relocated food court and a La Maison Simons store we reported on last month.
H&M website: www.hm.com/ca
Bayshore Shopping Centre website: www.bayshoreshoppingcentre.com
CHECKING OUT MONTREAL’S HR2 by HOLT RENFREW
Our Montreal Retail Insider, Pat Campione, provided us with these photos of Montreal’s newly opened hr2 by Holt Renfrew store. Last week we reported on hr2’s opening at Montreal’s Quartier Dix30 Shopping Centre.
The store was designed by NYC-based architect Jason Goldstein. It is about 25,000 square feet.
The Toronto hr2 at Vaughan Mills opens May 10th.
All photos by Pat Campione.
hr2 by Holt Renfrew website: holtrenfrew.com/hr2
Quartier Dix30 website: www.quartierdix30.com
EILEEN FISHER OPENING SECOND CANADIAN STORE AT CALGARY’S CHINOOK CENTRE
UPDATE: Eileen Fisher opened this store on July 26th, 2013.
American womenswear designer Eileen Fisher will open a second Canadian location at Calgary’s Chinook Centre in August. The store will be almost 2,000 square feet and will be located on the main-level of the store’s latest expansion area.
For those unfamiliar, Eileen Fisher’s prices are in the ‘bridge‘ price range and are known for having simple, comfortable designs.
Canada’s first Eileen Fisher store opened on Vancouver’s tony South Granville shopping strip in August, 2011.
Eileen Fisher joins an increasingly upscale Chinook Centre in Calgary. We recently reported on Chinook Centre’s eventual J. Crew and TopShop/TopMan openings, as well as its two new anchor stores: Target and Nordstrom. Chinook Centre will also be announcing plans for yet another mall expansion.
Eileen Fisher is looking for retail locations in and around Toronto for future locations, according to Retail Insider ACT7 of Urban Toronto.
Information for this article came from an emailed press release.
Eileen Fisher website: www.eileenfisher.com
Chinook Centre website: www.chinookcentre.com
KURT GEIGER SHOES PARTNERS WITH NORDSTROM: CANADA LAUNCH EXPECTED
British Footwear retailer Kurt Geiger has just signed a deal with Nordstrom. A source at Nordstrom says they expect Kurt Geiger footwear to also be sold in Canada but could not provide further details.
Kurt Geiger shops carry both private-label and designer brand footwear. Geiger’s stores could be compared to Canadian footwear retailer Browns Shoes, also an upscale footwear retailer selling both designer and private-label footwear for men and women. The private-label merchandise carried in both stores is considered to be both fashionable and desirable.
Nordstrom will only carry Kurt Geiger shoes in its existing shoe departments, rather than in Kurt Geiger shop-in-store concessions. Kurt Geiger has opened shop-in-store concessions in British department stores such as Selfridges, Harrod’s and House of Fraser, and international ones such as Printemps in France and La Rinascente in Italy.
Nordstrom will carry three Geiger labels: Kurt Geiger London, KG Kurt Geiger and Carvela.
Kurt Geiger is considered to be a London, England-based retailer despite its now being owned by US-based The Jones Group. Kurt Geiger has both free-standing footwear stores (like Canada’s Brown’s Shoes) as well as shop-in-store concessions. Kurt Geiger also has agreements to operate select Manolo Blahnik footwear boutiques.
Our same source informs us that free-standing Canadian Kurt Geiger stores could be in the works, though this would likely be years away.
Kurt Geiger website: http://www.kurtgeiger.com
Nordstrom website: www.Nordstrom.com
