Hudson's Bay flagship, Queen Street Toronto. Photo: HBC
A unique pop-up retail space is opening this weekend on August 19-21 at the Hudson’s Bay flagship store at Yonge and Queen Streets in downtown Toronto. Toronto-based J2 Retail Management will launch the latest activation of its ‘Community Playground’ concept that will be housed on the second floor near the store’s main bank of elevators.
Four local vendors are part of the Hudson’s Bay Community Playground pop-up, which will feature a curated mix of fashions from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. That will include mint-condition band t-shirts, Levi’s jeans, and other fashions. On-hand will be a mix of affordable as well as some higher-end pieces.
Three of the vendors are from Toronto and one is from Hamilton. One vendor, Kobe Sells Vintage, has operations in North York and will bring some of its top pieces to the Hudson’s Bay pop-up. Fruit Market Vintage Clothing, located on College Street in Toronto, is a local favourite for many. Edgy Kensington Market-based Lost Boys Vintage will be on-site with a range of t-shirts and other vintage styles, as well Hamilton-based Drop Spot Vintage which has a huge local following in that city.
A dedicated area near the second-floor elevator banks in the department store has seen various pop-ups, creating experiences to bring consumers back by diversifying offerings.
Hudson’s Bay partnered with Toronto-based J2 Retail Management on this weekend’s pop-up. It’s part of a broader years-long relationship between the Hudson’s Bay and J2, whose co-founders Jodie Wolfe and Brian LeSaux have worked with various brands on merchandising strategy.
As part of its evolution, J2 Retail Management has expanded its service offerings and is now hosting Community Playground activations in the Greater Toronto Area. Brian Le Saux, another retail veteran, is now partners with Wolfe and the duo is growing the J2 Retail Management operations by offering services that include logistics and supply chain management, merchandising, e-commerce, and visual media. It operates several warehouse spaces in the Toronto area with plans for further expansion.
Wolfe and Le Saux spoke to Retail Insider about the pop-up as well as J2 Retail’s plans at the end of the month to unveil a much larger Community Playground activation at Toronto’s Bentway near Fort York. Details on that activation will be released soon and it’s expected to include about 50 vendors and 20 foodservice businesses as well as speakers and various activities.
*Retail Insider partnered with J2 Retail Management for this article. To work with Retail Insider, contact Craig@retail-insider.com
Zellers at Hudson's Bay Burlington Centre. Photo: Sean Tarry
The Hudson’s Bay Company will be reviving its Zellers brand by opening stores and a dedicated ecommerce website. Zellers as Canadians knew it ceased to exist in March of 2013 after the Hudson’s Bay Company sold most of the store leases to Target and shuttered a majority of the stores — the remaining two Zellers-branded stores shut in 2020.
Included in the new rollout will be physical Zellers stores within existing Hudson’s Bay department store locations in Canada, as well as a website that will include a marketplace component.
The new physical Zellers concept stores will open in early 2023 according to the Hudson’s Bay Company. And it appears that the store expansion will involve opening Zellers locations across Canada. In a statement, Hudson’s Bay said that it would leverage its “nationwide network of prime brick-and-mortar Hudson’s Bay locations as it expands its footprint in major cities across the country.”
One of the goals of the new Zellers concept is to create a “digital-first shopping journey that taps into the nostalgia of the brand Canadians know and love” while at the same time, a “refreshed identity” will be presented for the new Zellers. A “unique and exciting product assortment for families at everyday value” will be part of the mix, indicating that pricing for the Zellers stores will be at the lower-end similar to the previous Zellers stores that Canadians know from years ago.
Image: mycareer.hbc.com
With that, a value-driven private-label brand will be launched at Zellers that will be “design-led” according to the Hudson’s Bay Company. The new Zellers will sell housewares and home décor, furniture, small appliances, toys, and pet accessories. Apparel will also be introduced along with other categories as time goes on with an assortment of products added to stores as they are developed.
“Where the lowest price is the law” was a calling card, which has helped Zellers establish itself as more than a retail destination, but a place to build and support community,” says Adam Powell, Chief Business Officer, Zellers. “Zellers is a brand deeply rooted in the Canadian experience. Spanning generations, people hold distinct connections to Zellers through shared experiences with family and friends, and we look forward to building on that in the future.”
The Zellers.ca website will also be launched and is expected to include a marketplace component, as per a trademark application several months ago. And if the website portal takes off, it’s possible that the Hudson’s Bay Company could eventually spin off its online Zellers business into its own business as has been the case with ecommerce sites for Hudson’s Bay (TheBay.com), Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH.
Zellers at Hudson’s Bay Burlington Mall – Photo by Sean Tarry
Trademarks for Zellers stores were also registered, prompting a reader to notify Retail Insider months ago that something was at play with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Hiring was also starting to take place including various Zellers management roles.
Last year the Hudson’s Bay Company opened a Zellers-branded pop-up store at the Burlington Centre near Toronto, with Retail Insider reporting exclusively on the announcement. A second Zellers-branded shop-in-store subsequently opened within the Hudson’s Bay store at CF Galeries d’Anjou in Montreal.
The Zellers shop-in-stores featured a range of products including Canada-themed apparel and home goods. Red floor tape indicated the boundaries of the Zellers spaces within the Hudson’s Bay stores.
About a year ago a family in Quebec attempted to revive the Zellers name on its own, separately from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Moniz family opened a small Zellers-branded storefront in Sorel-Tracy Quebec. In the litigation with the Hudson’s Bay Company that resulted, the family said that because the Zellers trademark had lapsed that the family was entitled to use the Zellers name. The same family also opened a K-Mart branded store in the same community, being another retail brand once owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada with stores that operated here for a number of years.
Image: Zellers.ca website
Zellers became an iconic retailer in the eyes of many Canadians while it operated in its previous format. That included Zellers mascot Zeddy which was for years part of the retailer’s marketing, and it likely won’t be part of the new Zellers relaunch. In 2012 Zeddy was ‘adopted’ by Camp Trillium after fans voted in Zellers’ final Facebook campaign EVERYTHING MUST GO!, marking an end to almost three decades with his Zellers family.
The Hudson’s Bay company operated a network of Zellers stores across Canada for decades. In January of 2011, the Hudson’s Bay Company announced that it would sell the leases for up to 220 Zellers stores to Minneapolis-based Target for $1.825 billion dollars. HBC retained 64 locations initially and liquidated the chain in early 2013. After a disastrous run in Canada, Target exited its Canadian stores in early 2015 amid billions of dollars in losses.
The Zellers name wasn’t dead in Canada following the Target sale however. The Hudson’s Bay Company operated two Zellers stores in Ontario until early 2020, and those locations acted more as clearance centres for products from Hudson’s Bay store.
At its peak in the 1990s, Zellers had over 350 stores in Canada. The entry of Walmart into Canada is said to have impacted Zellers’ sales particularly in the early 2000s which resulted in the retailer losing significant market share.
In the 1980’s, Zellers’ marketing slogans included “Only you’ll know how little you paid” and “Shopping anywhere else is pointless”. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the popular “Where the lowest price is the law!” was used in Zellers advertising. Included were animated commercials featuring Batman and Robin with the villains like the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman and the Riddler.
In the 1990’s, Zellers adopted the slogan “Truly Canadian”. Between 1997 and 2000, “Better and Better” was a slogan and “Everything from A to Z” was part of the retailer’s marketing messaging between 2000 and 2013.
Value-priced Zellers was founded by Walter P. Zeller in London, Ontario, in 1931.
The Hudson’s Bay Company acquired Zellers in 1978. The Zellers logo, visible on the last two remaining stores, was adopted in 1975. In 1976, Zellers thrived with sales in excess of $400 million annually and in the same year, discount chain Fields acquired the Zellers chain. Joseph Segal, who at the time was president of Fields, became president of Zellers as part of the transaction. Segal died at the age of 97 in May of this year.
In 2008, the Hudson’s Bay Company and its subsidiaries, including Zellers, came under the ownership of NRDC Equity Partners, which was headed by Richard Baker. Hudson’s Bay’s namesake stores were positioned as more upscale under the creative direction of retail veteran Bonnie Brooks, while Zellers was seen as a drag on the business.
We will update this article when we have more information on the Zellers relaunch in Canada.
Retail Insider is streamlining its Canadian retail news from around the web to include a handful of top news stories that can be viewed quickly during the day. Here are the top stories from the past 24 hours.
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Wolfe Co Apparel, a Canadian based company, has opened its first flagship store last year in Huntsville after being a mobile store traveling across Ontario for five years.
The store features all made in Canada products and after some difficulty trying to get the store ready, it is experiencing the first summer wave of customers.
“We were hoping to open before the pandemic, of course it threw a bit of a wrench in our plans, but we are excited this is finally our first summer where we can experience proper foot traffic and proper in store shopping. It is exciting for us, and it feels like a renewing experience just because last year was still very much up in the air and shopping in stores was not back to normal yet,” says Brit Powell the founder and CEO of Wolfe Co Apparel.
A Retail Store on the Road
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Brit Powell
Before opening the store, Powell said the team renovated a one-bedroom RV into a retail store where they traveled around Ontario for five years selling products.
“We started as a mobile retail store, and we travelled Ontario for five years. We were able to get a feel for our customer base, where sales were good, and where there was interest. From there we were able to put together our information to make an informed decision about where we wanted to open a store.”
Open seven days a week, the new flagship store is located at 38 Main Street in Huntsville Ontario where it has 4,000 square feet of retail space. Powell said she decided to open in Huntsville as it was the strongest of the Muskoka towns and showed the most potential for growth.
Old Bank Vault Switches into Changing Rooms
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Before Wolfe Co, the building was originally a bank and Powell said she decided to keep the main structure, including the vault which has been renovated into changing rooms.
“It is the town’s original bank building, and we still have the original vault on the main floor and in the basement, so it is cool and historical. It is eye catching and we have maintained the vault door and converted the vault into change rooms, so people do come in to just have a look at the vault and experience the bank.
Powell said it is important to the brand to keep the integrity of the building and the history around it, even after renovations she said they have kept a lot of the main structure of the old bank.
Made in Canada
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
All its products are all made in Canada and are designed by Powell. Customers can find unisex clothing, homeware, footwear, and other accessories.
“I design all the products myself and we have them all manufactured in Toronto or Vancouver. Everything we do is made in Canada so whether it’s the labels, or the printing going on the tags, it all happens locally. With globalization it is easy for people to outsource for cheaper prices, and we are just trying to bring things back home.”
Powell said the bonus of being local is supporting the domestic economy and reducing the store’s carbon footprint, which is the main idea of Wolfe Co – being local, helping the community, and staying sustainable.
Comfortable, Functional, and Fashionable
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Wolfe Co has made sure its products are comfortable, functional, and fashionable for customers and Powell said she gets inspiration from the outdoors. As Wolfe Co has grown, Powell said she is trying to make sure her products are functional and stylish, especially for the winter months in Canada.
“A lot of what we do has a functional aspect to it as well, because it is a Canadian brand, and we understand that the Canadian environment requires a certain practical element such as keeping warm in the winter. As we have grown, we have tried to include more functionality into our clothing and part of that contributes into a more practical fabric, we need to look at the function in addition to making it comfortable and fashionable.”
Future Plans
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
The Huntsville location will be the homebase for Wolfe Co, but Powell said she would like to see it expand – but not too much.
“We get a lot of people who are surprised we don’t have other locations and the goal is to open more stores across Canada, but we don’t want to have too many stores as the idea is to keep it quite niche and small just to maintain that community aspect. Everything we do is about supporting locals so to expand too greatly would go against what the brand is all about.”
As Wolfe Co wants to be more involved within the Huntsville community, its main goal right now is to be as connected as possible, including connecting with local sports teams and building relationships with its customers. As it has only been open for a year, Powell said she is trying to find the store’s role in the community.
“We have only been open for a year, so we want to reach out to different brands and different organizations in the town. My attention will go towards connecting with different sport teams to create a relationship with them in the town and try to be involved in the town as much as possible and really work on the community aspect of the brand. “
Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON) Image: Wolfe Co Apparel (38 Main Street East. Huntsville, ON)
Video Interview: Canadian Retailer 'Showcase' Continues Rapid US Expansion
Samir Kulkarni, CEO, Showcase, discusses the retailer’s rapid expansion plans in the US.
Kulkarni talks about the history of the company, plans for further expansion, online shopping, keeping up with trends, and DoorDash partnership.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior National Business Journalist with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
Also check out the other series offered by Retail Insider, including The Weekly podcast and The Interview Series, which are both available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Simplecast and other podcast players.
The Calgary Farmers’ Market has launched its second location in the city in a new 55,000-square-foot building with 67 local and regional vendors as it capitalizes on a growing interest by consumers in buying local goods and fresh ingredients.
The new market is located in the city’s northwest neighbourhood of Greenwich, a growing 59-acre master-planned community by Melcor Developments.
Rod Bradshaw, President of the Calgary Farmers’ Market New Generation Cooperative, said the new building is iconic.
“It’s like a train station from the late 1800s to early 1900s,” he said. “We are a community. We’re individuals. There’s 67 entrepreneurs in there.”
Bradshaw, who is part of the Innisfail Growers, an anchor tenant in the Market, said the group started doing farmers’ markets in 1986. Innisfail Growers is another cooperative which includes five family farms.
Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
“It seems like a lifetime ago. They were kind of more on the edge of things. They weren’t mainstream. Over that period of time, we’ve seen them become more mainstream, people wanting to know who’s growing their food, where it’s coming from, how it’s produced,” said Bradshaw. “So we’ve seen a real growth.
“Then, it was more of an outing than a shopping experience but I think it’s become both now. It’s an outing. It’s a shopping experience. We’re not soup to nuts. You still have to go to the stores to get certain things. But it provides some different products that you won’t find elsewhere. What’s available here is not necessarily available in a normal grocery store.
“That gives us a bit of an advantage. I think people like to have a bit of an outing, be able to pick their produce and know how it’s produced. You can stop and talk to the people.”
John Moss, Senior Vice President, Retail Leasing and Investment with commercial real estate firm CBRE, found the new location for the Cooperative.
Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Graeme Melton, Vice President of the Community Development, Calgary region for Melcor, called the opening of the new market an important milestone for the real estate company.
“We acquired the land (for the Greenwich development) in 2003 and it went through a series of land use applications . . . We wanted to create a community that was special. We knew it was going to be home to thousands of families by the time we’re done,” said Melton. “And it was getting the right mix of tenants in here. We originally at first couldn’t have imagined in our wildest dreams that the Farmers’ Market would have found our site and we’re very thankful for John (Moss) that he was able to bring them over.
“We were looking for the right grocer tenant or anchor tenant and when this came by we knew it was the right fit right away. So we jumped on it.”
Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Melton said Melcor has approval for about 1,200 homes on the site. It’s part of a larger area, across the highway from WinSport. Altogether about 3,000 homes are expected to be in the overall Greenwich community.
“This beautiful building will offer al-fresco style shopping and dining that will support the local economy like no other place in the city,” said Stacey Petropoulos, general manager of the two Calgary Farmers’ Market locations.
“Our mission is to support the progress and growth of small local businesses. We want Calgary to continue growing into a vibrant and diverse city, and when small local businesses thrive, so does our local economy.
“I started working on this project five years ago.”
Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Stacey Petropolous at Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Rod Bradshaw at Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Calgary Farmers’ Market (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
When Sears vacated its store space years ago because of financial woes, she was interested in the real estate the retailer had left behind at the North Hill Centre shopping mall in Calgary. Because of its central location, she thought it would be a great place for a farmers’ market. But the space was not available. She became connected to John Moss who found the current spot for the market’s second location.
“I want Calgarians to come to both markets to support small local businesses. Since COVID especially, people went online a lot and did shopping and we lost that interpersonal communication and to talk to people. And I think it’s very important that we go back to that, and meet the people who make things, the people that grow things.”
Petropoulos said the Farmers’ Market brings community together and it’s a gathering place for people.
The Calgary Farmers’ Market began in a Currie Barracks airplane hangar in 2004. It opened its current south location at Heritage Drive and Blackfoot Trail in 2011. That 55,000-square-foot market with 78 vendors draws more than one million visitors each year.
Future MEC location at Hudson's Bay Queen Street in downtown Toronto. Photo: Dustin Fuhs (Edited for effect)
Vancouver-based outdoor retailer MEC (Mountain Equipment Company, formerly Mountain Equipment Co-op) is partnering with department store retailer Hudson’s Bay for a first-of-its-kind partnership for both brands. Dedicated MEC shop-in-store concessions will replace Forever 21 shop-in-stores inside of three Hudson’s Bay locations in the Greater Toronto Area with more to come next spring, while MEC products will also soon be carried on Hudson’s Bay’s online portal TheBay.com.
“It’s a Canadian retail marriage made in Heaven,” said Eric Claus, CEO of MEC in a phone interview.
MEC stores at Hudson’s Bay will feature an assortment of leading outdoor brands with a range of gear, footwear and apparel on offer. Included will be MEC’s own private-label merchandise as well as other brands such as The North Face, Salomon, Scarpa and Black Diamond.
MEC staff will be on hand to provide expert advice and first-hand knowledge on camping, hiking, climbing, trail running, travel and more. As with all MEC’s standalone stores, all purchases will be backed by its Rocksolid Guarantee. Stores will feature branded MEC fixtures and other elements found in standalone MEC stores in Canada.
MEC will replace a Forever 21 location on the second floor of Hudson’s Bay at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
The partnership was struck after multiple conversations between MEC and Hudson’s Bay, recognizing the opportunity for two iconic Canadian brands to come together under one roof.
Wayne Drummond
This fall, sizeable MEC concessions will open at three Hudson’s Bay stores in the Greater Toronto Area, including in downtown Toronto, Yorkdale and Square One. Three more MEC concessions will open next spring within Hudson’s Bay stores according to Wayne Drummond, President of Hudson’s Bay in a phone interview.
In downtown Toronto, MEC’s new concession within the iconic Hudson’s Bay flagship store will be on the second floor across from the women’s footwear department where Forever 21 opened last summer.
At Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, MEC will occupy a prominent second-level location with its own dedicated escalator from the main floor of the Hudson’s Bay store. In Mississauga, MEC will replace the Forever 21 location featuring its own mall frontage at Square One. Prior to being occupied by Forever 21 last summer, all three spaces housed TopShop locations in a licensed partnership that ended a few months before.
Future MEC at Square One in Mississauga. The store will replace Forever 21. This photo is from when TopShop vacated Hudson’s Bay Square One last year. Image via insauga.com
MEC CEO Eric Claus said in an interview with Retail Insider that the MEC concessions at Hudson’s Bay will give MEC an opportunity to have a presence in areas where it currently does not have stores. Given the size of the Forever 21 locations, Claus said that the concessions will be full MEC stores in terms of product offering, though service shops such as ski waxing won’t be available given size and other constraints. The three MEC concessions at Hudson’s Bay will span between 7,000 square feet and 12,000 square feet, smaller than standalone MEC locations but still sizeable enough to provide an expansive offering of products carried at standalone MEC locations.
“There are many connections between the two brands, from our aligned values to our deep roots in Canadian culture and local communities”, said Claus. “Ontario has an abundance of wild spaces ideal for hiking, camping and climbing, and we’re looking forward to helping new customers and members gear up for their epic adventures.”
Eric Claus
And as with MEC stores, the Hudson’s Bay MEC concessions will feature merchandise for the season — for example, for winter snowsports, the Hudson’s Bay GTA MEC locations will focus on Nordic and snowshoe activities in terms of product mix while warmer months will feature items for activities such as hiking.
Downtown Toronto is already served by a MEC store about a kilometre westward at 300 Queen Street West. MEC partner concessions at Hudson’s Bay could open up the opportunity for MEC to open stores in the heart of downtown Vancouver and Montreal, for example, both being markets with tight retail space often with high rents.
Inside the MEC store in North York, Toronto. Photo: MEC
Drummond said that next spring, three more Hudson’s Bay stores will see MEC concessions open within. Longer-term, more MEC locations are expected to open within Hudson’s Bay stores and it hasn’t been determined how many. Locations will be chosen strategically and with an eye to where MEC is under-served in certain markets.
MEC won’t be competing with other departments at Hudson’s Bay according to Drummond, noting that MEC offers technical products different from what is currently on offer at Hudson’s Bay.
Drummond also said that other partner retailers could open within Hudson’s Bay stores in Canada. Over the past couple of years, the retailer has been strategizing a mix of brands to target younger consumers with additions such as Mango and River Island.
It’s all part of an effort to make the department store more relevant at a time when consumers have shifted online, while brands in some instances are pulling wholesale accounts while opening standalone stores.
“Hudson’s Bay prides itself in launching brands that work with our DNA,” Drummond said. Discussions are ongoing with other brands as well.
Future MEC location at Hudson’s Bay Queen Street in downtown Toronto. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
On TheBay.com, MEC will also launch with an “easy and visible offering” according to Drummond. The Bay’s website is one of the top in Canada in terms of daily web traffic according to the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Earlier this summer, job postings tipped us off to the MEC/Hudson’s Bay partnership — over the summer MEC has been quietly hiring for its new stores inside of Hudson’s Bay which a source confirmed would replace Forever 21. It was just last summer that the first Forever 21 shop-in-stores opened inside of Hudson’s Bay in a partnership with YM Inc. which has the rights to Forever 21 in Canada.
MEC is facing intense competition in the Canadian market from competitors such as France-based Decathlon which is aggressively signing leases and opening stores across the country. Decathlon is said to be looking at Toronto’s Yorkdale for a storefront. Other retailers such as SAIL, Cabella’s, Sport Chek, Altitude Sports, Sporting Life, L.L.Bean and others also compete with MEC and several of these are in expansion mode in Canada currently.
Mountain Equipment Company, as it is now called, was formerly named Mountain Equipment Co-op prior to the cooperative’s restructuring in 2020. The retailer pulled through and is now a corporation with 21 standalone stores across the country. These stores are larger than the concessions that will open at Hudson’s Bay. A typical MEC store spans between 20,000 and 40,000+ square feet.
Hudson’s Bay operates a network of 84 department stores in Canada as well as online marketplace TheBay.com. The retailer was founded in 1670 and is part of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which is the oldest company operating in North America and also owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH banners in the US and Canada.
Retail Insider is streamlining its Canadian retail news from around the web to include a handful of top news stories that can be viewed quickly during the day. Here are the top stories from the past 24 hours.
Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)
For years, Nigel Fick was a fixture in the corporate world.
But about five years ago Fick decided to follow his passion, starting a new business in Toronto – Culture Athletics, an apparel and fitness boutique that focuses on specialty footwear, apparel and accessories for running and yoga.
Nigel Fick
The brand opened a new location recently in the heart of Toronto’s East End in the Leslieville neighbourhood along Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue.
Fick operates the store with his wife Sarah Deas.
“Culture really started as a passion project of mine back in 2017 where I was in the corporate world before this. I was in advertising and made my way over to marketing. I was doing digital marketing at American Express for quite a few years and was actively pursuing a midlife crisis,” quipped Fick.
Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)
The job was great with one of the top companies in the world. But something was missing.
“Every day I would just get a little bit more depressed and every Sunday I would just have this kind of wave of existential crisis. What am I doing? I did some self searching,” said Fick. “I set a goal for myself at a young age where by the time I’m 30 I’m either going to make X amount of money and I’m going to sell out and it’s going to be worth it or I’m going to actively look into following a life of passion and finding fulfillment in what I do.
“I was 28 at the time. So I started doing a lot of math to see whether I could hit the dollar value by the time I was 30. If everything lined up . . . technically I could do it but I kind of had a realization that if I’m putting all this work into trying to justify something I don’t want to do then maybe I should actually look into the same amount of work to see if there is something that I would want to do that would be a financially responsible decision to make.”
He said he had his ‘aha’ moment during a presentation on himself. In the presentation, it asked the question: what did you want to do as a kid when you grew up?
Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)
“I wanted to move to Hawaii and open a surf shop. That was always the dream,” said Fick.
The presentation also asked what would you do if you won the lottery?
“That’s easy. I’d quit AmEx, I’d move to Hawaii and I’d open a surf shop.” That got him thinking and he started taking business courses while working at the corporate giant.
The first Culture Athletics store was opened in July 2018 at Queen Street and Jones Avenue about a kilometre east of its current location.
Former location at 1175 Queen St East (Image: Culture Athletics)
The retailer’s new store is just under 1,400 square feet. While the retailer has only the one location at this time, there could be expansion plans in the future as well as a stronger online presence.
Fick, who is a very avid runner, said Culture Athletics was founded on the principle that athletic culture is a uniting force between individuals.
“We are what I like to call non-traditional running, yoga specialty. We focus on three pillars. Performance run, studio and that includes yoga, and active living. We’ve got gym apparel in there, athleisure,” said Fick. “Our pillar is those three pillars and community. We do a ton of community engagement.
Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)
“We’ve really tried to not only service the Toronto running and fitness community but to actively participate in it and enrich it, help build it and help make it into something a little bit more meaningful for people. We offer a ton of weekly free programming and paid programming plus we do a bunch of partnerships with local run clubs and other athletic facilities in the city.
“Our new flagship is in a heritage building. It was the Leslieville Hotel built in the late 1800s. We did a tour talking about the historical significance of the building and of the neighbourhood as a whole. And then we ran along Queen Street . . . and stopped at about six or seven stops along the way, really introducing people to the neighbourhood that they’re in and all the stuff you kind of pass by on a daily basis and really don’t understand or appreciate. A lot of it has been there for 150 years.”
Fick said the retailer has created a lot of momentum, setting the stage for expansion.
“But I think for us our focus for growth is more going to be online sales, anchoring our brand in Toronto east and staying true to our DNA, our meaningful community events, but grow scale through online business nationally.”
Additional Photos from Culture Athletics on Queen Street E
Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)Culture Athletics at 972 Queen St E (Image: Dustin Fuhs / Retail Insider)
Former Escada store at 131 Bloor St. W. in Toronto. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
Iconic luxury women’s fashion brand Escada has shut its storefront in Toronto, exiting the market after decades. Only one Escada location in Canada remains open in Montreal for now following the closure of another Escada store in Vancouver last year.
Escada’s Toronto store was located at The Colonnade at 131 Bloor Street West. The curved retail space, next to an architecturally-significant outdoor staircase, spans 3,650 square feet on one level.
A taped sign on glass doors of the former Toronto store indicates that Escada was behind on paying rent both for its retail space within The Colonnade as well as for a separate storage space in the building. Landlord Morguard evicted Escada from The Colonnade as a result and is now demanding payment.
Escada moved into The Colonnade in the fall of 2012 in a space once occupied by women’s retailer Mendocino. Prior to that, Escada occupied about 13,000 square feet across the street at 110 Bloor Street West. That store was a branded Plaza Escada location which also housed several other brands under the Escada umbrella at the time. In 2007, reportedly high sales prompted Escada to invest $3 million into a store renovation. Prior to moving to Bloor Street, Escada had a storefront on upscale Hazelton Avenue.
Termination notice on the door of the former Escada store at 131 Bloor St. W. in Toronto. Photo: Dustin FuhsClose-up of part of the termination notice on the door of the former Escada store at 131 Bloor St. W. in Toronto. Photo: Dustin FuhsPhoto: Dustin Fuhs
In Montreal, Escada continues to operate a storefront at 1214 Sherbrooke Street West. The store remains open for now and staff are tight-lipped regarding any potential closing plans. The store’s opening hours are currently limited — Monday-Saturday the store is only open from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and on Sundays the store is open from noon until 4:00pm. That information is from Google as the Escada corporate website has been down for weeks with the website saying “COMING SOON”.
Escada once operated several stores in Canada. Cities included Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal.
Until recently, Escada operated a store at 710 Thurlow Street in downtown Vancouver’s ‘Luxury Zone’, with frontage on prestigious Alberni Street. The store opened in 2011 and shut last year. It was replaced by a temporary location for Gucci for almost a year, and now another luxury brand has leased the space with an announcement forthcoming.
In Vancouver in 1990, Escada opened its largest store in the world at the time at the Sinclair Centre at 757 West Hastings Street. The Plaza Escada location boasted interiors designed by Yabu Pushelberg including a sweeping staircase and several rooms housing various categories and brands. A tea room at the centre of the store had an upside-down canoe with a marble tabletop displaying various teas. And other brands carried at Plaza Escada at the time included St. John Knits, Laurel, Crisca, Apriori, Kemper and Cerruti 1881. In 1992 Escada opened a 38,000 square foot storefront in Chicago which is now occupied by a large Verizon store and H&M.
Escada store in Montreal at 1214 Sherbrooke St. W., photo via Google Street ViewFormer Escada store in Vancouver at 710 Thurlow Street. Gucci operated a temporary store on the site and another luxury brand has leased the space. Photo via Google Street View
In April of 1992 in Edmonton, Escada opened a Plaza Escada store at Commerce Place, which at the time was named City Centre. That store subsequently moved into the nearby Manulife Place before Escada exited the Edmonton market in the spring of 2018. In the late 1980s and into the early 1990s Escada operated its Edmonton store at Manulife Place which also housed a Holt Renfrew store at the time.
Escada had a concession presence in the Ogilvy department store in Montreal in the 1980s and 1990s prior to opening a standalone location on Sherbrooke Street. The brand also had a presence in the 1980s in stores such as Eaton’s in Canada.
At one time, Escada was an iconic brand worn by celebrities and was even a staple on television shows with jackets accented by large shoulder pads. The brand has struggled in recent years as consumers have shifted to other brands.
Escada was founded in Munich Germany in 1978 by Margaretha Ley and husband Wolfgang Ley. The brand is now owned by Beverly Hills California-based Regent LP.
We’ll report more when we learn of the fate of the Montreal Escada store. If it closes, only one luxury retailer will remain on Sherbrooke Street — Tiffany & Co., which could also close given that its 10-year lease term is set to expire and another Tiffany store operates close by at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy.
