Winnipeg-based entertainment company Activate is expanding into Australia, with its first location in the country set to open at Melbourne’s Highpoint Shopping Centre in early 2027.
Activate Melbourne (Highpoint) will be located next to HOYTS Cinema in Maribyrnong, Victoria, marking the company’s entry into the Australian market and the first of several planned openings across the country.
The venue will feature 12 game rooms with more than 800 levels of challenges. Activate uses RFID technology to track players across rooms, allowing them to level up, unlock achievements and earn rewards. The games combine physical and mental challenges focused on speed, co-ordination and problem-solving. Teams of two to five people can play together.
Adam SchmidtActivate photo
“As we continue our global expansion, Australia feels like a natural next step,” said Adam Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Activate. “We’re excited to bring what we’ve built in Canada to Australia and introduce a new community of Players to the games, technology and energy that make Activate unique.”
The Melbourne location will offer games including Mega Grid, Mega Laser, Strike and Hide. Players can also compete through the company’s Activate Global League and annual Tournament of Champions, which involve players and teams from its locations around the world.
Activate currently operates more than 80 locations worldwide. The company says its games, technology and facilities are designed, engineered and manufactured in Winnipeg. The Australian expansion will also involve the creation of a local workforce as Activate prepares for the Melbourne opening. The company is recruiting for a range of positions as it builds its local team.
Activate is headquartered in Winnipeg and operates locations in Canada, the U.S., Denmark, Germany, France, Finland, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.
INDOCHINO has launched its Fall/Winter 2026 campaign and collection, featuring made-to-measure suits, formalwear and outerwear designed around a range of occasions throughout the season.
Called Hold the Room, the campaign follows four friends over a weekend, using three settings — an afternoon arrival, an evening lounge and a formal dinner — to showcase the company’s tailoring and fabrics.
The Vancouver-based menswear brand, which operates showrooms across the United States and Canada as well as an e-commerce platform, said the campaign is intended to position its Fall/Winter collection as clothing that can be worn across multiple occasions rather than for a single event.
Image: Drew Green, INDOCHINO CEO
“Fall and winter are the seasons you actually spend time with people, low light, good company, long nights in,” said Drew Green, president and CEO of INDOCHINO. “That’s exactly where we wanted this collection to live, and our product team built it with that exact idea in mind. Most tailoring gets sold for one event, a wedding, an interview, a gala, and you wear it once and you’re done. We wanted to make a different case. A season isn’t a moment. It’s a run of long evenings, and the tailoring that actually matters is the stuff that holds up for hours, in more than one room.”
The company said the campaign’s three chapters are intended to show how the collection transitions through different parts of a weekend. The first chapter, Arrival, features the four friends arriving separately on a rainy afternoon wearing overcoats and tailoring. The Lounge moves into the evening, with jackets, fine knitwear and tailored pieces shown in a more casual setting. The final chapter, Formalwear, centres on a formal dinner, with dinner suits worn under candlelight.
The collection places an emphasis on fabrics, with the campaign using colour and texture to distinguish the four friends while maintaining a consistent structure. The palette includes midnight, gray, green and rust, along with warm leather, brick and low-light settings.
INDOCHINO photo
Among the fabrics featured is a Guabello flannel from INDOCHINO’s European collection. The fabric is woven in Biella at a mill founded in 1815. The collection also includes Italian fabrics in tonal glen check and diamond twill, as well as a soft wool check intended to transition from streetwear to evening wear.
“Our product team led with fabric first and let the styling follow,” said Green, “because a custom suit made from the right fabric for the moment speaks for itself.”
Indochino photo. The two suits available in the collection.
INDOCHINO said the campaign features four friends collectively rather than focusing on a single model, reflecting its approach to presenting the collection across a variety of settings and occasions.
The company, founded in 2007, said the Hold the Room collection is now available at its showrooms across the United States and Canada and through its website. INDOCHINO describes itself as a global made-to-measure apparel company operating through its showroom network and e-commerce platform. Its products include custom suits and accessories made to individual measurements.
Welcome to the Daily Synopsis by Retail Insider. We hope you enjoy the 14 articles we published today covering key developments in Canadian retail.
Mercedes-Benz has relaunched its Holt Renfrew Studio in Toronto with a refreshed concept featuring the Canadian debut of the 2027 S-Class and a new residency by luxury fashion brand Paul &, Shark. Nearly 40% of Canadian shoppers used AI tools for product discovery, price comparison, and deal hunting in the past year, signaling AI’s growing influence in the shopping journey. Pamela Shainhouse emphasizes that retail accessibility extends beyond legal compliance to becoming a core customer experience factor that influences sales and loyalty.
Canada’,s retail vacancy rate is projected to stay elevated near 2.5% as the market continues absorbing the fallout from Hudson’s Bay store closures, which sharply increased mall vacancies in 2025. Harry Rosen is closing its iconic five-level flagship at 82 Bloor Street West on September 12 after nearly 40 years, relocating to a smaller, modern three-level store just 200 metres away at 153 Cumberland Street.
The global juvenile products market is experiencing a significant shift as modern parents increasingly prioritize design, aesthetics, and premium materials. Historically, baby utility items were marketed solely on functional utility, safety, and price. However, a new generation of consumers is redefining these categories, demanding products that align with their personal fashion sensibilities and lifestyle choices. This article analyzes how high-end design is transforming the baby retail landscape, shifting traditional utility products into coveted lifestyle accessories.
Shifting demographics and aesthetic parenting
Today’s parents, particularly millennials and Gen Z, are delaying childbirth and entering parenthood with established aesthetic preferences and higher disposable incomes. These consumers view nursery items and baby gear as extensions of their personal style. Retailers that once focused on primary colours and plastic components are now competing with brands that offer neutral palettes, organic textiles, and sophisticated patterns. This trend has created a lucrative luxury niche where parents are willing to pay premium prices for items that integrate into their home décor and wardrobe.
The demand is especially visible in wearable baby gear. Parents now seek out a premium baby carrier that functions as much like a high-fashion accessory as an ergonomic carrying device. By integrating materials like organic linen, cashmere, and jacquard-woven silk, manufacturers have successfully elevated these functional items into style statements. This aesthetic evolution has caught the attention of department stores and boutique retailers worldwide, which are expanding their floor space for luxury juvenile goods to capture higher margins.
Retail strategies driving high-end growth
To succeed in this evolving landscape, brands are adopting strategic retail frameworks borrowed directly from luxury fashion houses. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) digital storefronts have proved highly effective, allowing brands to maintain strict control over pricing, visual presentation, and the overall brand narrative. This approach bypasses traditional retail markdown cycles, preserving brand equity and exclusivity. By controlling the distribution channel, luxury parenting brands gather first-party data that allows them to react rapidly to consumer preferences and design trends.
Visual merchandising and premium packaging
In the premium segment, the purchase experience is just as important as the physical item. High-end brands invest heavily in elegant, sustainable packaging that enhances the unboxing experience, turning a simple retail transaction into a memorable event. On the physical retail floor, this translates to minimalist displays, high-quality lighting, and tactile product presentations that invite parents to feel the texture of premium textiles before committing to a purchase.
Furthermore, product diversification within these premium lines allows retailers to capture multiple customer segments. For instance, offering a versatile front facing carrier alongside traditional wraps appeals to active, modern parents who value multiple carrying options. Retailers are also utilizing drop models, limited-edition releases, and designer collaborations to create consumer urgency and cultivate a dedicated collector culture among affluent parents.
For brands looking to capture market share in this high-end segment, certain operational and marketing factors are essential:
Material transparency: Utilizing certified organic, sustainable, and high-grade textiles to justify premium pricing.
Community-focused marketing: Cultivating brand advocacy through highly visual social media platforms and parent communities.
Unified brand identity: Ensuring that product design, packaging, and digital storefronts maintain a consistent, luxury aesthetic.
Ergonomic certifications: Partnering with recognized international health institutes to validate product safety without sacrificing design.
Economic outlook for luxury brands
Despite economic fluctuations, the luxury baby gear segment remains remarkably resilient. Parents are consistently showing a willingness to economize on other household categories before compromising on the quality and comfort of products for their children. This consumer behaviour suggests that premiumization is not a temporary trend, but a permanent structural shift in consumer expectations. Retailers that adapt to this demand by blending functional excellence with high-fashion design are well-positioned for sustained growth in the coming years.
Retail has always been a cross-border business, but the staffing behind it is changing. As chains open in new markets, run buying offices near their suppliers, and build e-commerce and customer teams wherever the talent sits, they keep hitting the same wall: to employ someone in a country, you normally need a legal entity there, and setting one up is slow, costly, and hard to unwind if the market does not perform. Canadian retail is a live example of the pressure, with expansion and staffing pulling in different directions. More retailers are solving it the same way tech firms did: by employing people through an employer of record rather than building an entity for every market.
What an employer of record really does
An employer of record, or EOR, is a company already established in the target country that becomes the legal employer of your staff there. It runs local payroll, withholds the right taxes, makes statutory contributions, and issues compliant contracts, while your business directs the actual work. For a retailer testing a market with a handful of people, a buyer, a country manager, a small e-commerce team, it removes the biggest barrier to entry: you can employ someone legally in weeks, without incorporating.
The cost is mostly local, not the fee
The provider’s monthly fee is the part everyone looks at, and it is rarely the expensive part. The real cost is local employer obligations, and they swing hard by country. Hiring through an employer of record in Canada means covering CPP, Employment Insurance, and provincial rules that differ between Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. In Portugal, employer social security runs at 23.75 percent and staff are paid across 14 monthly instalments a year rather than 12. The lesson for any retailer budgeting an overseas hire is the same: the salary is the smallest line, and the statutory add-ons are what make or break the business case.
Some markets are almost impossible to enter any other way
For the largest consumer markets, the EOR route is not just convenient, it is often the only realistic way in for a first hire. Setting up to employ staff directly in China involves registering a local entity, navigating the mandatory social insurance system known as the five insurances and one fund, and meeting rules that vary city by city, the kind of local complexity the World Bank’s China country profile lays out in detail. A retailer that wants one merchandiser or a small marketing team in the market cannot justify that, so it employs through a provider that already carries the entity and the compliance. The same logic applies wherever the regulatory bar is high and the initial headcount is low.
What retailers should check before they sign
Not all providers are equal, and the differences matter more in retail than in most sectors, because retail hiring is seasonal, multi-site, and fast-moving. Before committing, a retailer should confirm whether the provider owns a local entity or leans on an in-country partner, how it handles seasonal ramp-ups and terminations, what the fully-loaded cost is once statutory contributions are added, and whether it can cover every market on the expansion map from one contract. The cheapest headline fee is often the most expensive arrangement once the local reality is priced in.
Retail expansion has always run ahead of the back office. The chains that scale abroad without nasty surprises are the ones that treat employment as a first-order question, not paperwork to sort out later, a discipline that matters even more as retail labour markets stay uneven and hard to read. Getting people on board compliantly, in the right markets, at a cost they modelled in advance, is what turns a promising store opening into a sustainable one. For a wider view of how the global labour market is shifting through 2030, the World Economic Forum’s latest workforce research is a useful backdrop.
Acquiring banks answer one question when they classify a retailer. How much money will they be asked to refund on that retailer’s behalf, and will the retailer still be solvent when the bill arrives? A shop paying its taxes and holding every license the state asks for can be priced as high risk on that answer alone, which is why owners read the label as an accusation when it lands.
That single question explains why a bookstore and a furniture showroom with identical revenue land in different tiers. Retail generates disputes at a rate no other category matches, and the parts of retail that generate the most of them get priced accordingly.
Delivery Lag and Prepaid Goods
The gap between payment and delivery is the second input. A grocery store closes that gap in seconds. A custom cabinetry business collects a deposit in March and delivers in August, holding five months of undelivered obligation on the books at any moment.
Card networks let cardholders dispute a purchase for months after the transaction date, and the clock in many cases starts at expected delivery rather than at payment. A retailer with long lead times therefore has a dispute window that stays open long after the money reached its bank account. Preorders and made-to-order goods both extend that window. Retailers who take deposits on furniture, custom apparel, or installed equipment often find their account reviewed after a single supplier delay, because a batch of late deliveries produces a cluster of disputes that lands in one billing cycle.
Average Ticket Size and Fraud Exposure
A $40 average ticket and a $4,000 average ticket produce very different exposure for the same monthly volume. Electronics, jewelry, and luxury goods draw stolen-card fraud because the merchandise resells easily and quickly. A single disputed $6,000 watch order wipes out the margin on a month of smaller sales, and an acquirer holding a 5% reserve against that account knows the reserve would not cover three of them in the same week.
The card-not-present share of the business matters as much as the ticket size. A jeweler with a storefront and chip terminals keeps liability with the issuer on most in-person sales. The same jeweler selling online owns the fraud loss on every disputed transaction. Underwriters ask for the split between the two channels on every application, and a retailer who cannot state the percentage tends to be assumed at the worse end of it.
Regulated and Restricted Merchandise
Retailers selling products whose legal standing varies by state face the sharpest classification. Hemp-derived products, vape hardware, kratom, firearms accessories, and adult products all fall into categories where a change in federal guidance can strand a merchant mid-year.
The kratom market shows how fast this moves. Federal regulators pushed in 2025 to restrict concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine, the kratom-derived opioid sold in gas stations and smoke shops, and several states already ban the plant outright. A retailer stocking those products can hold a valid business license in one state and be selling a banned substance across a border.
Card networks also enforce their own brand rules, which reach further than any statute. A product can be legal in all 50 states and still fall outside what a network will allow its marks to be used for. Retailers in these categories usually reach payment processing for high risk after a mainstream processor closes their account with 30 days notice, and the second account is built with the regulatory volatility priced in from the start.
Return Volume in Underwriting
American shoppers return merchandise worth close to $850 billion a year, roughly 15.8% of everything sold. Around 9% of those returns are fraudulent, which puts about $76.5 billion of annual retail volume into a category the acquirer cannot recover through normal channels.
Underwriters read return rate as a proxy for dispute rate. Apparel is near the top because sizing drives repeat returns. Furniture, appliances, and anything shipped freight rank high for a different reason, since damaged-in-transit claims often arrive as chargebacks instead of return requests. A category where returns are rising faster than sales gets flagged before any individual merchant does anything wrong.
Store Policy and Dispute Prevention
Return policy design feeds directly into dispute volume. Some chains now make it harder for online customers to send merchandise back, using shortened windows and restocking fees, with store credit in place of cash refunds. Nearly half of retailers introduced a return fee for the first time within a single 12-month stretch.
Those policies cut reverse logistics costs and push some customers straight to their card issuer. A shopper refused a refund at the counter files a chargeback instead, and the acquirer sees the ratio climb even though the retailer was following its own posted terms. Acquirers know this pattern well, which is why a restrictive return policy invites more underwriting questions.
Seasonality and Volume Spikes
A retailer doing $30,000 a month for eleven months and $400,000 in December presents a problem no monthly average captures. Approval is typically written against a monthly volume cap, and processing above the cap triggers a review, a hold, or an account freeze during the busiest weeks of the year.
Acquirers price seasonal businesses with the January dispute wave in mind. Holiday gifts get disputed in the new year, often by cardholders who received the item as a present and never saw the receipt. A December volume spike therefore forecasts a Q1 chargeback spike, and the reserve terms are written to cover it. Merchants who warn their acquirer in October, with last year’s numbers attached, usually get the cap raised for the season. Merchants who process through the cap without notice usually get frozen at the worst possible moment.
The Cost of Ignoring the Classification
A retailer who treats the label as an insult loses the ability to plan around it. The classification determines the reserve percentage that will hold back working capital during the season when inventory needs buying, the monthly cap that decides how a strong December ends, and the dispute ratio that decides the account’s survival at the next network review. Those are operating constraints with dates and dollar figures attached. A retailer who knows their return rate, their card-not-present split, and their peak-month multiple can negotiate each of them before signing. One who does not will meet them for the first time on the day the funds stop arriving.
Peak season can bring a surge in orders and shipping volumes, creating greater exposure to lost or damaged shipments and other delivery-related challenges. For businesses, those problems can affect margins, operations and the customer experience at one of the most important times of the year.
Join Retail Insider Founder and Publisher Craig Patterson and Vishav Ranjan of UPS Capital Canada Insurance Brokers for a practical 45-minute webinar examining how businesses can prepare for peak-season shipping risks. The discussion will also explore InsureShield® shipping insurancefrom UPS Capital, including how insurance can fit into a broader strategy for protecting shipments, profits and customer relationships.
During Peak Season Risk Management: How to Safeguard Profits and Customer Loyalty When Shipping Volumes Surge, attendees will learn about:
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Preparing before the holiday rush: Get practical insights that can help businesses review their shipping risk strategy before peak season is fully underway.
Attendees will also have an opportunity to submit questions in advance and participate in a live Q&A during the webinar.
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 Time: 11:00 a.m. ET Duration: 45 minutes Format: Live webinar via Zoom
Shipping insurance coverage is only available in Ontario.
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Insurance coverage is governed by the terms and conditions, including the limitations and exclusions, set forth in the applicable insurance policy (the “Policy”). This information does not in any way alter or amend the terms or conditions, including the limitations or exclusions, of the Policy, and is intended only as a brief summary. Insurance coverage is not available in all jurisdictions. UPS Capital Insurance Brokers only issues policies of a single insurer in Canada, and receives commission on sales of insurance. An affiliate of UPS Capital Insurance Brokers reinsures a material portion of the risk insured by this insurance policy and the UPS Capital group therefore has a financial interest in the insurance program. You are not required to purchase insurance from UPS Capital Insurance Brokers and have the right to seek insurance elsewhere. In particular, your ability to ship using United Parcel Service Canada Corporation or its affiliates is not conditional on your purchase of insurance from UPS Capital Insurance Brokers.
Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship in Toronto. Image: CNW
Mercedes-Benz has reopened its Studio inside Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship following a brief renovation, unveiling the second iteration of the approximately 2,250-square-foot concept since it launched earlier this summer.
The new installation moves away from the inaugural Mercedes-AMG, Reigning Champ and tennis-focused theme and turns its attention to the automaker’s 140-year history. At the centre of the refreshed space is the Canadian debut of the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan, displayed alongside a replica of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, archival imagery, heritage displays and a virtual reality component.
Paul & Shark has also taken over as the Studio’s new fashion residency, replacing Vancouver-founded Reigning Champ. The Italian luxury clothing brand is marking its own milestone in 2026, celebrating 50 years in business with a curated Fall/Winter 2026 assortment and select pieces carrying an exclusive label developed with Mercedes-Benz and Holt Renfrew.
The September reopening provides the clearest look yet at how Mercedes-Benz intends to use the Holt Renfrew location: as an ongoing brand presence built around experiences that can be substantially reinvented throughout the year.
Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship in Toronto. Image: CNW
A Studio Designed to Change
When Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto opened in June, the concept was structured around two distinct areas. The front portion was designed to evolve through a series of creative installations, while the MANUFAKTUR Atelier at the rear would remain as a consistent presentation of the brand’s craftsmanship and customization capabilities.
The first major change is now complete. The original summer installation centred on performance and tennis culture, bringing together Mercedes-AMG, Reigning Champ, tennis collectibles, apparel customization, racket-stringing programming and a café component tied to the sport.
The latest version replaces much of that programming with a different narrative, new vehicles, another fashion partner and a revised food and hospitality offering. In effect, Mercedes-Benz is remerchandising the Studio in a way familiar to fashion retail, where the core brand remains while products, visual presentation, collaborations and seasonal stories change around it.
The approximately 2,250-square-foot Studio occupies a prominent main-floor location inside Holt Renfrew’s flagship at 50 Bloor Street West. The department store spans more than 150,000 square feet across multiple levels, with expansive frontage along Bloor Street in the heart of Yorkville.
Its location places Mercedes-Benz directly within one of Canada’s most concentrated luxury shopping districts. It also puts the brand in front of customers who may be visiting Holt Renfrew for fashion, beauty, accessories or other luxury purchases rather than actively seeking an automotive showroom.
140 Years of Automotive History in One Space
The latest installation is built around Mercedes-Benz’s 140 Years of Innovation anniversary, connecting the origins of the automobile with the company’s newest flagship sedan. A replica of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen represents the starting point, with Carl Benz having filed the patent for the vehicle in 1886, an event closely associated with the birth of the modern automobile.
At the other end of that history is the 2027 S-Class Sedan, which is making its Canadian debut inside the Holt Renfrew Studio. The department-store location therefore has a role in a significant national product introduction, with visitors able to step inside the S-Class and examine its materials, design and interior details as part of the broader installation.
Archival imagery and milestone displays help connect the two vehicles, while a virtual reality component adds an interactive element to the heritage presentation.
“For 140 years, Mercedes-Benz has shaped the future of mobility through a relentless commitment to innovation, design, and craftsmanship,” said Alex Matthews, Vice President, Digital, PR and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Canada.
Matthews said the latest evolution of the Studio allows visitors to trace that history from the first automobile through to the new S-Class, which Mercedes-Benz is positioning as a showcase for its latest advances in comfort, innovation and design.
The S-Class also forms part of Mercedes-Benz’s wider global anniversary campaign. Three new S-Class sedans are travelling to 140 locations around the world during a transcontinental journey marking the anniversary, with Toronto included among the stops.
That program places the Holt Renfrew installation within a larger international initiative while allowing Mercedes-Benz to interpret the anniversary through a local retail setting. The contrast between the Patent-Motorwagen and the newest S-Class gives the Toronto installation a particularly clear way to communicate that history within a relatively compact space.
Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship in Toronto. Image: CNW
Paul & Shark Marks 50 Years
Fashion remains an important part of the Studio’s second iteration, with Paul & Shark replacing Reigning Champ as the featured partner. The residency introduces a curated selection from the Italian brand’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, including select pieces with an exclusive label developed in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz and Holt Renfrew.
Founded in Varese, Italy, in 1976, Paul & Shark is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The brand has built its identity around Italian heritage, craftsmanship, technical innovation and what it describes as a “Sense of Journey” philosophy.
“Paul & Shark has always looked to its heritage as a foundation for what comes next,” said Andrea Dini, CEO of Paul & Shark.
Dini said the Toronto residency creates a connection with Mercedes-Benz around craftsmanship, innovation and a shared sense of journey. It also provides another platform for Paul & Shark in what he described as a key market for the brand.
The fashion component is integrated into the overall Studio rather than operating as a separate shop-in-shop. Paul & Shark merchandise sits alongside the automotive and heritage elements, while Holts Café has introduced an Italian-inspired menu connected to the residency.
The approach preserves the basic structure established during the summer installation while changing its creative voice. Automotive design remains linked with apparel, hospitality and luxury products, while the brands and narrative surrounding it can shift from one iteration to the next.
MANUFAKTUR Remains the Constant
While the front portion of the Studio has undergone a substantial transformation, the MANUFAKTUR Atelier continues to serve as its consistent anchor. The Atelier focuses on vehicle personalization and material choice, allowing visitors to examine upholstery, fine leathers, steering wheels, interior finishes and exterior paint colours.
A featured G-Class demonstrates the breadth of available customization, while a floor-to-ceiling display presents interior upholstery and exterior finishes in a highly visual, tactile format. The concept is particularly suited to a luxury department-store environment, where customers are already accustomed to considering colour, fabrication, craftsmanship and personal style when purchasing fashion and accessories.
Within that setting, configuring a vehicle can be approached through a similar lens. Automotive customization becomes a luxury shopping process centred on materials, craftsmanship and individual preference.
The new S-Class provides another connection to that approach, with Mercedes-Benz expanding the personalization choices available through its MANUFAKTUR program. A live embroidery station also remains part of the Studio, carrying the customization theme into merchandise that visitors can personalize and purchase on site.
The Atelier’s continued presence provides continuity as the rest of the Studio changes. Vehicles, collaborators and creative themes can rotate around it while Mercedes-Benz’s focus on craftsmanship and personalization remains visible throughout the year.
Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship in Toronto. Image: CNW
From Saint Laurent Concession to Rotating Retail Platform
The Studio occupies a prominent space that previously housed a Saint Laurent concession before the fashion house shifted its presence further west along Bloor Street. Saint Laurent subsequently opened a much larger standalone flagship at 110 Bloor Street West, creating a full-brand environment separate from the department store.
The transition at Holt Renfrew is notable because the former concession has not simply been replaced by another permanent fashion shop. The space is instead being used as a platform capable of taking on several identities within the same year.
The progression is already visible. Saint Laurent gave way to Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto in June, with the first installation centred on Mercedes-AMG, Reigning Champ and tennis. The September iteration now brings the S-Class, Paul & Shark and an automotive heritage narrative into the same footprint, with another transformation planned for the holiday period.
For Holt Renfrew, the approach allows a prominent portion of its main floor to introduce new brands, products and programming without a conventional tenant turnover. Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, maintains a continuing Yorkville presence while giving customers new reasons to revisit the space.
A Different Approach to Automotive Retail
The second iteration also makes the strategy behind Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto easier to see. At launch, the Studio was positioned as a way for customers to engage with Mercedes-Benz outside the dealership through design, fashion and interactive programming.
With its first major turnover complete, the location is beginning to operate more like a branded retail platform on a seasonal cycle. The hero vehicle, fashion partner, food offering, visual presentation and cultural narrative have changed, while the Mercedes-Benz presence and MANUFAKTUR Atelier remain.
That continuity gives the automaker an opportunity to reach customers within a luxury shopping environment rather than waiting for them to visit a dealership. The distinction is particularly relevant in Yorkville, where automotive brands, fashion houses, restaurants, hotels and other luxury businesses increasingly cater to an overlapping customer base.
“The Mercedes-Benz Studio Toronto with Paul & Shark experience is the latest curation of the best brands for our customers,” said Jerry Wu, Senior Vice President, Marketing at Holt Renfrew.
Wu said the second iteration brings together luxury fashion and automotive heritage around legacy, craftsmanship and innovation, along with a refreshed Holts Café offering.
The Studio also gives Holt Renfrew a way to introduce visible newness on its main floor as major luxury brands continue to invest in increasingly elaborate standalone flagships along Bloor Street. Rather than filling the former Saint Laurent space with another conventional concession, the Mercedes-Benz Studio provides a format that can repeatedly change its assortment, partners and presentation while retaining a recognizable identity.
Another Transformation Still to Come
The 140 Years of Innovation installation is scheduled to run through October 2026, with a third Studio concept expected to follow in November for the holiday period. That next iteration will provide another opportunity to see how far the format can evolve while remaining recognizably Mercedes-Benz.
For now, the September reopening demonstrates the premise behind the Studio with greater clarity. Approximately 2,250 square feet inside Holt Renfrew’s flagship has become a continuing Mercedes-Benz destination capable of telling a different brand story every few months.
Of that total, 13,160 are exporters, while 45,414 are importers.
“While government has made a few important and welcome changes to the main tariff supports, the programs continue to exclude about half of the small business community,” said Corinne Pohlmann, CFIB executive vice-president, advocacy. “We have been telling government that the counter-tariffs would have a far broader impact than the U.S. tariffs. Programs that only help a few thousand businesses are unacceptable when tens of thousands need support. This week’s announcement that some Canadian goods will be outright banned from US import at the end of the month only underscores the need to get supports right ASAP.”
The CFIB it is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across every industry and region.
Corinne PohlmannAndrea Piacquadio photo
CFIB said is proposing three important measures:
A dedicated Small Business Tariff Relief (SBTR) program, where impacted exporters and importers who can provide direct evidence they paid the tariffs directly, or adjusted prices to absorb part or all of the tariff, would be eligible to receive initial tariff relief up to $70,000 CAD.
An SME Desk for Tariff Remissions to speed up decisions on eliminating Canadian retaliatory tariffs if there are major negative impacts on the industry or if alternatives to the U.S. product are not readily available.
Immediate tax relief for all small businesses in the form of a Small Business Corporate Tax Rate cut from 9% to 6%, retroactive to January 1, 2026, and an increase to the Small Business Deduction threshold from $500,000 to $700,000 with future indexation to inflation.
“The Regional Tariff Response Initiative Programs have standardized eligibility criteria and reduced their access thresholds down to $1 million, but it doesn’t go far enough,” said Pohlmann. “A $1-million threshold will still exclude a huge number of businesses. We need a simple, direct support program to help small businesses on the U.S. and Canadian tariff lists in addition to broad-based tax relief to help all small firms that will be hurt by the trade war.”
Nearly four in 10 Canadian shoppers have used artificial intelligence to help them shop over the past year, as AI begins to play a larger role in how consumers discover, research and compare products.
Caila Schwartz
Salesforce research found that 39 per cent of Canadian shoppers have used an AI tool for shopping during the past 12 months, according to Caila Schwartz, Director of Industry Insights at Salesforce. Roughly 11 to 12 per cent now say they start their shopping journey with AI, up from single-digit levels last year.
“I would argue last year it was a niche type of behaviour, and in 2026 AI search and discovery is becoming a much more mainstream shopping behaviour for the Canadian shopper,” Schwartz told Retail Insider.
The shift is creating new questions for retailers around product visibility, data quality and marketing measurement as more of the shopping journey takes place inside AI conversations. Salesforce’s State of Commerce research found that 89 per cent of Canadian commerce professionals believe AI and large language models will be essential to product discovery within the next year.
Canadians Are Using AI to Find Value
Price comparison and deal hunting are currently the leading shopping uses for AI among Canadian consumers, according to Schwartz.
Consumers are also using the technology to conduct research quickly and receive product recommendations, reducing the need to move between multiple websites and search results.
“For the Canadian consumer, the number one reported behaviour is to compare prices and find deals,” Schwartz said. “The second is being able to do all of that research in one go very, very quickly. It does all the research for them. And then the third is that it gives them the best product recommendations.”
The way consumers use AI also varies by income. Schwartz said higher-income shoppers tend to place greater emphasis on personalization, while other consumers are leaning more heavily on AI to find deals, coupons and conduct price comparisons.
Traditional search remains important, and Schwartz cautioned against interpreting the growth of AI discovery as a direct transfer of market share away from search engines. Salesforce is seeing fewer consumers report using some traditional discovery channels and more report using emerging ones, but its research does not measure the entire discovery market as a fixed pool of traffic being redistributed between channels.
The use cases are also different. A consumer who already knows exactly what they want may still favour a conventional search, while AI can be more useful when a shopper is comparing options, seeking inspiration or working through a more complex purchase.
Retailers Face a New Visibility Challenge
The growth of AI shopping raises an increasingly important question for retailers: when a shopper asks an AI assistant what to buy, what determines which products and brands appear in the answer?
There is no settled formula yet.
“I think that is what everyone is still trying to figure out,” Schwartz said.
Salesforce believes data quality will play a central role. Schwartz pointed to clean and consistent product information, accurate inventory and pricing, and direct catalogue integrations as areas retailers should be considering as AI-driven discovery develops.
“Ultimately, it comes down to data,” she said. “Having a really sound data strategy, having clean and consistent data, trusted data across your product detail page, across your entire ecosystem.”
Direct catalogue integrations could help AI systems work with current inventory and pricing rather than recommending merchandise that is out of stock or displaying outdated information. Schwartz said Salesforce believes these tactics can also improve how retailers and their products appear within AI search results.
Retailers are consequently beginning to think about visibility beyond traditional search engine optimization. Concepts including generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization — commonly shortened to GEO and AEO — are emerging as companies consider how their information should be structured for AI-driven discovery.
Schwartz described it as, in some respects, “the new version of SEO.”
The rules remain fluid. Retailers are entering an environment where the factors influencing AI-generated recommendations are newer and less established than the practices that evolved around conventional search.
Canadian Retailers Are Moving Quickly
Canadian commerce professionals appear well aware of the change. Salesforce found that 89 per cent believe AI and large language models will be essential to product discovery within the next year. About 34 per cent are already using agentic AI, while another 33 per cent plan to use it within the next six months.
“They are seeing this already today,” Schwartz said. “They are prioritizing AI adoption.”
The larger challenge may be what sits underneath those systems.
Only 30 per cent of Canadian retailers surveyed by Salesforce said their customer data is fully unified across areas including sales, marketing, commerce and service. That fragmentation could make it harder to deliver consistent, personalized experiences as retailers increase their use of AI.
Schwartz said Canadian retailers that have successfully unified their data reported better sales outcomes, stronger AI automation for their teams and improved customer retention.
“Having a sound data strategy is really going to be important,” she said.
Smaller Retailers May Have an Opening
The transition to AI-driven product discovery does not necessarily favour the largest retailers, according to Schwartz. She described the current environment as a relatively even playing field and said smaller brands and retailers have an opportunity to establish themselves while AI commerce remains in its early stages.
Large organizations may have greater technology resources, but they can also face more complicated data environments. Multiple systems and data silos can make it difficult to create the unified information needed to support AI applications.
“Those things can be hard for larger organizations because they have more systems, more data silos that they have to unify,” Schwartz said.
She believes the technology could act as an equalizer across parts of the industry, particularly for smaller companies able to maintain clean product information and a coherent data strategy.
Whether that ultimately translates into greater visibility for smaller retailers will depend on how AI shopping tools and recommendation systems continue to develop.
Retail Marketing Has a Measurement Problem
The movement of product discovery into AI conversations is also creating a challenge for marketing attribution. A shopper can now conduct substantial research inside an AI assistant before visiting a retailer. Recommendations, comparisons and part of the purchasing decision can happen without generating the website interactions marketers have traditionally used to understand the customer journey.
Schwartz said there is not yet a clear answer for measuring that activity.
“If the discovery is staying in the conversation, we don’t have visibility into any of that,” she said. “In terms of measurement, I don’t think we have an answer for that yet.”
The issue could become increasingly important as AI takes a larger role at the beginning of the shopping journey. Search referrals, website sessions and conventional digital attribution may capture only part of the process if consumers arrive after completing much of their research elsewhere.
For retailers, Schwartz said the immediate priority is controlling what they can: the quality and structure of the data that determines how they and their products show up in these emerging channels.
Much of the Coming AI Traffic Will Be Bots
Retailers will also have to manage another consequence of AI adoption: an increasing share of website traffic may not be human.
Salesforce predicts that 20 per cent of holiday e-commerce traffic in 2026 will originate from AI agents. Schwartz clarified that the majority of the traffic represented in that prediction is expected to come from bots rather than consumers directly arriving from AI conversations.
“The majority of that is bots,” she said. “A lot of that is non-human.”
AI systems use crawlers to visit retail websites, access product pages and collect information for indexing or to bring information back into conversations with shoppers.
That creates a trade-off for retailers. They want their products accessible to AI systems because those systems may increasingly influence purchasing decisions, but large volumes of automated traffic can put additional demands on websites, particularly during peak shopping periods.
Schwartz said retailers may have to make decisions about which systems they allow to crawl their websites during periods of particularly heavy traffic. She also pointed to direct catalogue integrations as one way to reduce reliance on crawlers while providing AI systems with more structured and current product information.
The industry is already experimenting with other approaches.
“We might even see some websites that are built just for bots and not for humans,” Schwartz said.
The idea points to a potentially significant change in e-commerce infrastructure, where retailers could increasingly provide information to automated systems through channels designed specifically for machines rather than relying exclusively on the same customer-facing websites used by human shoppers.
From Discovery to Purchasing
The next question is how far consumers will allow AI to go. Using an AI assistant to research products carries relatively little risk. Allowing one to select an item and complete a transaction requires a higher level of trust.
Schwartz believes the industry may be closer to that point than it appears, although she does not think third-party AI systems have yet become significant purchasing channels.
Social commerce provides an indication of how behaviour could evolve. Schwartz said consumers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, have become increasingly comfortable completing purchases inside social applications rather than clicking through to a retailer’s website.
“I don’t think AI is there yet as a purchasing engine,” she said. “But I think what it does tell us is that consumers will eventually be comfortable purchasing in these tools.”
Retailers’ own AI agents could reach that point sooner. A shopper interacting with an AI assistant on a retailer’s website may already have a loyalty profile and saved payment information, which Schwartz said could make consumers more willing to complete a transaction within the conversation.
For now, third-party AI tools are primarily changing product discovery. Even at this stage, retailers are having to reconsider how products are presented online, how customer and catalogue data is managed, and how marketing effectiveness is measured.
With 39 per cent of Canadian shoppers already using AI as part of shopping and 89 per cent of Canadian commerce professionals expecting AI and large language models to become essential to product discovery, the shift has moved beyond an emerging consumer experiment.
For retailers, the challenge now is ensuring their products, pricing and availability can be accurately understood by the AI systems increasingly helping consumers decide what to buy.
