North Vancouver’s Capilano Mall has added a local pizzeria concept to its tenant roster with the opening of Captain’s Oven Pizza — the first location on the North Shore and the first in-mall location for the brand.
“Given that our customer profile spotlights young families, Capilano Mall is the perfect fit for us. The best part of this location is our North Shore customers will no longer need to cross over to Vancouver to grab their favourite pie from one of the best pizzerias in the Lower Mainland,” said Nevin Fernandes, Co-Owner of Captain’s Oven Pizza.
The pizzeria has opened in 1,127 square feet of space across from the BC Liquor Store near the Third Street Entrance.
It specializes in authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas in over 40 varieties — ranging from meat to vegetarian to specialty options — plus the capability to customize one’s own pizza. The team at Captain’s Oven Pizza bakes top-quality pizzas in a three-ton, handmade stone brick oven shipped directly from Italy. Also on offer is a variety of appetizers, salads, and pastas.
“Given the local pizzeria’s popularity in both downtown Vancouver and Surrey, we are absolutely thrilled to welcome Captain’s Oven Pizza to Capilano Mall,” said Chrystal Burns, Senior Vice President, Retail, QuadReal Property Group, which operates the mall. “This addition solidifies Capilano Mall as the best and most convenient destination on the North Shore for customers to pick up their everyday this and that, including fresh-out-the-oven pizza. We are also looking forward to welcoming Captain’s Oven Pizza to Willowbrook Shopping Centre as part of The Courtyard expansion.”
Image: Captain’s Oven Pizza
Image: Captain’s Oven Pizza
Captain’s Oven Pizza at Capilano Mall
Founded in 2019, Captain’s Oven Pizza is a family-owned pizza restaurant with locations in Surrey, Vancouver, and North Vancouver with two more locations on the horizon in Langley and Burnaby.
Located along the busy Marine Drive corridor and anchored by the only Walmart on the North Shore, Capilano Mall is the preferred value and convenience mall serving both West and North Vancouver communities.
Elroy Fernandes, who manages Captain’s Oven Pizza, said the company is scheduled to open a new location at Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley in January.
Capilano Mall (Image: QuadReal)
Image: Captain’s Oven Pizza
Image: Captain’s Oven Pizza
The Courtyard at Willowbrook (Image: QuadReal)
The company is also negotiating to open a new location in the future at Station Square in Burnaby.
“We’re looking to expand into 15 locations in BC. Once we expand to 15 locations in BC, then we are looking at branching into Alberta and Ontario,” he said.
“We’re an authentic Neapolitan brand and what makes us unique is we source everything locally where we can and we also export everything from Italy. What really sets us apart is we try to cater to every single group. We try to cater to different ethnicities. So for example we have a concept called Pizzas Around the World. We try to reach out to the palette of different nationalities. We have Brazilian flavours, we have Asian flavours, we have Indian flavours, we have a Middle Eastern touch to it.”
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.
Canadian consumers learned last year that shopping in person or buying online and picking up in store is a very efficient and guaranteed way to get what you want during the holiday season.
Jane Domenico
And that trend is continuing this year, said Jane Domenico, Senior Vice President and National Lead, Retail Services with commercial real estate firm Colliers.
“Going into holiday shopping, the malls are back. If you look at the apparel sales and you look at inflation-adjusted sales, it’s a big winner this year. It makes sense to me. A lot of us lived in clothes that you may not go outside in,” said Domenico.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
But people are back to having a social life and taking part in entertainment activities as well as heading into the office.
“Malls, the traffic is exceeding last year and in a lot of malls it’s meeting or exceeding 2019 traffic,” she said. “One of our assets is 30 per cent higher than 2019 traffic. I don’t believe it sometimes.”
That may appear to be contradictory to what’s happening out there as some surveys these days are showing that consumers may be pulling back on holiday shopping due to inflation and rising prices for goods.
But Domenico said when you look at the inflation impact it’s the daily essentials that are affected. Food and gas.
“When you actually look at the sales . . . you have to first start looking at inflation-adjusted sales, not just base sales. We haven’t had to deal with inflation in a very long time,” she said. “So, people are concerned because they’re seeing the impact every day but I think when they take a step back and they look at their pocketbook and their savings accounts, we’re seeing continued high savings rates from the previous high that we had in 2015,” she added.
“We’re still above 2015 savings rates in Canada. I think it’s a more thoughtful consumer and it’s not like a party and throwing caution to the wind. I think consumers are smarter today than they were 25 years ago because of the internet, because of information. They know what they want, they know what they need and are executing on their choices.”
CF Toronto Eaton Centre (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
With news of inflation every day, consumers are looking more closely at their discretionary and non-essential purchases.
“But apparel is way up. Traffic is way up in the enclosed malls. That’s telling us people are out and shopping. Yes, we are just coming off Halloween where we’re focusing on our shopper experiences like never before but overall the consumer is more positive than I think the headlines would indicate,” said Domenico.
She said consumers are shopping again this year earlier in the holiday shopping season.
“I think the satisfaction level when you click and collect or buy online and pick up in store for the shopper is higher,” added Domenico.
The Tenor at Yonge Dundas Square (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
“We’re seeing a lot of retailers actually expand. We’re seeing an investment by our retailers. From a national point of view, I think the national and regional retailers are in very good shape financially. They have a finger on their sales. They know what they’re doing.
“Our concern is the local and the restaurant sector – inflation, labour shortages are hitting their category the most. Even though regular sales when you look at food and beverage from StatsCanada, it looks like it’s doing really well, when you pull back the inflation on it, it’s flat. But if you just look at sales, it looks like it’s 12 per cent up. But when you look at the sales that are adjusted, it’s flat which is hard to reconcile. And those numbers are only where we were in 2019.
“The other thing about the small business owner is they received a lot of the COVID assistance from the government and a lot of them took on debt and that debt is more expensive today than it was when they first took it on in 2019, 2020, 2021. So how their capital stack is able to withstand these interest rates, that’s another reason why we’re somewhat concerned.”
Domenico said ecommerce sales are showing a natural growth projection. We’re back to where we were if COVID hadn’t happened. It will remain a strong and important channel for retailers and consumers but it’s very expensive for retailers to do. It’s not green for retailers and for the industry as a whole. And it’s much more efficient to buy online and pick up in store.
“The big thing I’m going to be watching in 2023 is consumer confidence. The global situation is a test. We haven’t had the pressures in Europe and other places to the same extent and how that’s going to impact the global economy which does have an impact on consumers’ confidence and the inflation,” she said.
Arc'Teryx Kitsilano Storefront during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Vancouver-based technical high-performance apparel and equipment brand Arc’teryx has relocated its highly successful Kitsilano store, which opened in 2013, over a couple city blocks into a larger 4,504 sq ft hybrid retail and ReBIRD service centre.
The fifth Arc’teryx brand store within Metro Vancouver, the location is the first of the brand’s “pinnacle” format which Delaney Schweitzer, Chief Commercial Officer, explained further during the media launch this week.
Delaney Schweitzer, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Arc’teryx Equipment
‘Pinnacle’ Store Concept
“This is our first new Pinnacle retail brand store. It opened last Saturday [November 19, 2022] and I am excited to talk about the elements for the store and the location. With our former store nearby being the epicentre of being outdoors, we wanted our first Pinnacle store to be here”.
“We have been working on the concept for a year and a half. When we started our transformation from a wholesale company to focusing on our D2C strategy, we knew we wanted to create a new expression of Arc’teryx. This is the best expression of our brand. We wanted to tie in the luxury, the beauty and the thoughtfulness of our product into the design of the store”.
Purposeful Zones Within the ‘Pinnacle’ Store Concept
Schweitzer continued into a more thorough description of the new store’s footprint as there were several areas/zones. “At the front of the store is our footwear area. It’s fairly new for Arc’teryx and we are working through what that assortment looks like for us while focusing on the mountain athlete. What we solved there is a beautiful design, a white background, and behind the shoe display is our ‘back of house’ so we can almost create our own shop-in-shop inside the store”.
“We have our concept zone in the front where we will be putting our latest innovations. We had the LiTRIC Pack there for opening, so new products we are displaying and new technologies will go into its space”.
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Concept zone (in front of entrance) during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee RivettArc’teryx Kitsilano Footwear area during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Moving forward from the front section of the new ‘pinnacle’ store format, Schweitzer came to the midpoint of the retail floor where “our seasonal products would rotate throughout the year. So our ski and snowboarding items would be out now”. The largest section of the retail floor was “the back half of the store which we term it as the jacket destination – men and women”. Learning from the challenges from the old Kitsilano store, Schweitzer remarked on how “it was hard for guests to find what they were looking for in jackets at our old store. Jackets are displayed from the most severe to the lightest weight. We developed the drawer system below for back stock on the floor. One of the things we found was that our product guys were running to the back for sizes and now a larger selection is available right on the floor”.
With a couple unique items on the retail floor, Schweitzer brought the attention to two unique tables on the retail floor which served a purpose for guest experience:
The Maker’s Table: “We were inspired by our designers at ARC’One. We are producing our product in New Westminster and they use a similar table. We tied this back as we consider ourselves a design house and see how the lighting will show the product. The other great thing is when we start to think about your next adventure on the mountain, you lay everything out. What socks will I wear, what is my base layer, what is my insulation layer, what’s my outer shell. So they can grab each of these to show all the details and functions of the jacket as well as laying out your gear for the mountain”.
The Map Table: “We have a community area as it’s a major part of our D2C strategy. Our map table is a focal point as well as different types of gear. The community area is where you come to learn about our local trails, learn about the local mountains”.
Schweitzer continued in explaining the area around the Map Table having “a projector for mountain safety classes. We take groups out in the summer for trail running. We really wanted to bring the community to the mountains”.
Delaney Schweitzer at “Maker’s Table” on retail floor at Arc’teryx Kitsilano during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Retail Strategy
As one of the most unique aspects of the new ‘pinnacle’ store format is the “ReBIRD Service Centre”, Schweitzer continued with discussing this second-to-Canada component. “Dominique will show us the care and repair. The second in Canada and first in Vancouver. This is the biggest Canadian expression that we have for ReBIRD. When we thought about what we were best in the world at in terms of building quality, our products live a lifetime. We needed to create a solution for care and repair. We started talking about it like getting your tires changed. Its a personal goal of mine to keep products in use and out of the landfill. Its beautiful jackets and products that we wanted to keep things sustainable”.
“We have six care and repair centers globally and we intend to have one in every major market. As far as the retail strategy, Arc’teryx was a wholesale driven company and it is a big part today. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. As part of our D2C, we did exit some wholesale partners and focused on key partners that aligned to our core values. In 2022, we are opening nine stores. Four in the next two weeks. In 2023, we are planning 16 in North America and Europe. We aren’t exiting wholesale for D2C, but looking at each market that we are in to decide if we want a brand store, where do we want wholesale, how do we deepen our wholesale relationships, and then eCommerce to pick up the rest. We look at each market that way”.
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Community Focus Strategy
Most Canadians know Arc’teryx as a household name; however, more from the wholesale aspect. Schweitzer highlighted “a big part of D2C strategy is a desire to be closer to our guests. When there is someone between you and your guest, you don’t get feedback or build a relationship. We wanted to be able to develop a guest relationship. I have never seen this level of detail in the design of a jacket. In my past, a pattern may have been 20 pieces and one Arc’teryx jacket has 368 pieces. It takes so much care and time that we needed to be able to share that story behind our product with our guests. Guest education is such an important part of our vertical strategy. Also getting the feedback on what is and is not working to bring back to the design team”.
While being close to the guests is a key focus, Schweitzer elaborated as “another focus is around our community. We have done community events with our wholesale partners but being able to lead our community in the mountains is a big part of our commitment for getting people on the mountain, showing these beautiful trails and the mountains really give us our answers. It’s about bringing back the roots of climbing. For areas that don’t have easy access to mountains like Vancouver, connecting in climbing gyms and different academies to do different activities like climb, trail or run”.
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx Kitsilano Retail Floor during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
“Our community is our people. My goal was to be able to hire more people to work at Arc’teryx embedded in our purpose. Through not only the products they get to test, but being part of a broader community. It’s really about our people and being able to live great lives while working in a retail store with a long career. We have a goal for store managers being here for at least five years and be able to run great businesses as part of our strategy” Schweitzer said.
In conclusion, Schweitzer emphasized that “we will continue the wholesale component in the right way. We will continue to open stores with our wholesale partners. We will continue to do community events to drive more people to our brand stores through eCommerce. So it’s really a holistic approach”.
ReBIRD service centre at Arc’teryx Kitsilano during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Arc’teryx ReBIRD service centre
Schweitzer handed the media event over to Dominique Showers, VP of ReBIRD, to delve deeper into the second-to-Canada service centre. The ReBIRD service centre in the new ‘pinnacle’ store format was next to the cash desk, which a washing/laundry centre was located behind. An overview of the ReBIRD services being offered at the new ‘pinnacle’ store location included:
Product assessment: in-store after-sales assessment, including GORE-TEX leak testing.
In-store washing: technical wash and DWR-reapplication.
In-store care & education: hands-on education about product care.
In-store repair: zipper repair services including slider, pull cord, pull and bottom box replacement; cord ends, cord locks, and buckle replacement; as well as adhesive patches and heat pressed internal patches.
Expert repair: colour choices are offered for GORE-TEX fabric replacement or full zipper replacement for repairs offsite.
Showers began by explaining “ReBIRD is our sustainability commitment. Really thinking about durability, and extending the lifespan of our products. We always offered servicing in our store as a fundamental part of who we are on our journey. ReBIRD really showcases this to have it being a full circle of the experience inside of Arc’teryx. From beginning to end, when you are thinking about purchasing you are getting product education on how to care for the garment, extend the life of them. If you need service for your garment then its right here, front and center. We will offer product care education but also do DWR re-applications and garment washing onsite. There are light touch repairs onsite”.
Dominique Showers
“Where this is all rooted, durability and service as a whole has been a pillar for our brand. Ten years ago, we started looking at our material infrastructure to find materials that would last and our impact on the environment. Four years ago, we launched with a resale partner in the USA called “Trove” which was our resale. All these initiatives bubbled up the passion of people in Arc’teryx that didn’t want to see anything go to waste. Though they were disjointed. Last year, we put everything under our circularity and ReBIRD”.
As the sustainability initiatives expanded, Showers explained that there were three programs:
ReCUT: The third is up/down cycling taking end/used materials and repurposing them into something new.
She expanded further by saying, “this platform enables us the opportunity to extend beyond these programs and look into the future. We are looking at the design innovation on how we can design for circularity, design for durability, design for disassembling/tailoring, and that is all happening upstream with our design teams. Downstream includes thinking about textile recycling as a whole. Everything from packs to footwear to jackets. These centres are starting points for us but they will continue to evolve”.
When asked about the start of ReBird, Showers said, “the first service center was launched in Manhattan on Broadway to see what we could potentially learn from bringing service to the forefront. It was when COVID was starting to wrap up. It took off. We were able to resolve 3/4 of the cases onsite for the guest. This translates to a better guest experience, getting back on the mountain faster and learning how to take care of the products. It was an amazing experience for us and we decided to open more. We opened the CF Toronto Eaton Centre ReBIRD location this past summer. Shortly after, we opened a larger expression in Boulder, Colorado. Even internationally, there is one in Tokyo and another in Beijing. We want one in every key epicentre”.
ReBIRD service centre Jacket Repair Demonstration at Arc’teryx Kitsilano during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
ReBIRD service centre Jacket Repair Demonstration at Arc’teryx Kitsilano during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
ReBIRD service centre Jacket Repair Demonstration at Arc’teryx Kitsilano during Media Event on November 22, 2022. Photo: Lee Rivett
Tying the concepts back to Schweitzer’s highlights on the repair aspects of Arc’teryx, Showers confirmed that “all major repairs for North America happen in New Westminster at ARC’One” and elaborated that “if you were able to see our design suite in North Vancouver, you’d see the similar tools there that would be in our ReBIRD store which are used for repairs. Beyond those, we have washer/dryers behind the cash drawers. We also use guppy bags when we wash to reduce the impact on our water usage. It takes about three days to turn around a garment”.
She continued that “there are replacement parts, head press machines, testing areas to see exactly what is wrong with it right in front of the guest. Zipper sliders, holes in the garment can be repaired. Anything larger would need to be sent back to New Westminster and brought back. Many people think that a jacket when a zipper breaks, cuff gets ripped or otherwise, most people would think your jacket is done. Full panels can be replaced. Seams can be retaped. The easiest repair that takes five minutes is a zipper repair. One of the things we have been doing with ReBIRD is recapturing materials that may not have the best first condition when they were first created. Everything that comes into our stream is warranty write offs, returns with damage, voluntary trade in for refund, and quality control issues to bring back and be able to resell it”.
As the media event wrapped up, the Arc’teryx crew continued to bustle around with opening day activities and provided a couple additional details about the new Arc’teryx ‘pinnacle’ store format:
This launch follows other ReBIRD Service Center openings in New York, Toronto, Boulder, Tokyo and Beijing.
Arc’teryx Kitsilano by numbers:
4,504 sq ft store size including 500 sq ft ReBIRD™ Service Center
Second ReBIRD™ Service Center in Canada
Brand’s first Pinnacle store, offering the widest selection of Arc’teryx products
Shops at One York is providing a premium retail experience for consumers at the heart of Toronto’s South Core community.
And the shopping centre has added more tenants to draw even more people to the popular complex.
Serving the needs of residents, office workers, visitors and tourists, Shops at One York is anchored with a broad selection of curated retailers and services that personify the Work, Live and Play lifestyle.
Coming at the end of November is Second City followed by future openings of Nature’s Emporium (Q1 2023) and the One York Food Hall by Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants (Q1 2023).
Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)Future Second City in the Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
“Shops at One York, we viewed it as an urban version of a neighbourhood shopping centre,” said Sean Menkes, Vice President, Office/Retail, for Menkes Developments. “So we sought out retailers that not only served those people living and working in the complex but also servicing the surrounding neighbourhood.
Sean Menkes
“We wanted to be able to offer the nearby residents and office workers a convenient place to shop for groceries, get a haircut, dine, unwind after work, etc. So we aim to attract retailers that would complement busy urban lifestyles. The building has been successful and it’s evolved into a retail hub of the South Core because it has critical mass at 150,000 square feet and it also is located right on the main north/south line of the PATH between Union Station and the waterfront. That was a connection that didn’t exist before and it’s a very busy thoroughfare during the morning and afternoon rush.”
Shops at One York is a multi-level urban shopping centre located in the mixed-use buildings of One York Street and Harbour Plaza Residences. It consists of about 150,000 square feet of premium retail space, connecting the city to the waterfront. One York Street is an 800,000-square-foot AAA office building and the one million-square-foot Harbour Plaza Residences has homes for about 2,000 residents. They were completed in 2016 and 2017.
The commercial and residential populations of One York benefit from direct access to the Shops at One York.
Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
The retail part of the complex opened in 2016. The entire 150,000 square feet was initially pre-leased by retailer Target for their urban flagship store. But when they pulled out of Canada, Menkes reimagined the entire retail component.
“And it took time to where we are today, but we’ve significantly improved the retail offering and part of that reimagination, nothing was off limits,” said Menkes.
“We re-routed the PATH network through the building, modified vertical transportation, introduced new glazing elements to the building, and turned it from a single tenant retail podium to now what we call an urban neighbourhood shopping centre with more than a dozen tenants and we have a dynamic mix of (food and beverage), grocery, services and medical and now we’re very excited for Second City to add a true entertainment offering to the mix.”
Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
The shopping centre includes Winners and HealthOne which provides seven comprehensive medical and expert quality care services under one roof. One York Food Hall is a curated selection of high quality food offerings served up in a spacious and beautifully adorned 15,000-square-foot food hall and an adjacent outdoor terrace. Pure Fitness Canada is a 25,000-square-foot state of the art fitness facility providing elite training, treatments, classes, amenities, and service in the heart of the South Core.
Nature’s Emporium, one of Canada’s premier health food markets shares the world’s finest pure, natural and organic foods, vitamins, supplements, gluten-free, traditionally raised grass-fed meats, raw foods, natural skin care, cosmetics and home supplies as well as sustainable, eco friendly clothing for the whole family. The legendary improvisational comedy enterprise Second City is comedy at its finest combined with world class food and beverage offerings.
“Adding the entertainment offering with Second City to our project really puts us on a tourism map in the city. And I think it’s the fifth leg for the South Core after the Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium. I think Second City has the opportunity to be that fifth option for people to visit when they’re coming to the South Core of Toronto in an already exciting entertainment hub,” added Menkes.
ENTRANCE FOYER. IMAGE: MENKES
Carly Heffernan, Artistic Director of The Second City Toronto, said the company was founded in Chicago in 1959 and it moved around in that city as well before landing in Old Town.
Carly Heffernan
“Currently it’s located at North and Wells in a renovated Cinema space which I love because usually it’s the newer mediums replacing the older ones which makes it feel like a real win for live theatre. It was recently announced that we’ll be opening a New York location in 2023 as well. Located in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, the 11,900 square-foot entertainment and education complex will feature a newly built Mainstage theatre, seven classrooms, student performance space, and a full-service restaurant and bar,” she said
“The Second City Toronto is currently our only location situated in an office building complex and we couldn’t be more excited for it. We love being back downtown in the heart of the city. Being connected to the PATH and Toronto’s transit hub, Union Station, also means faster and easier access for our audience members, students and clients. The Second City Toronto is a long-standing Canadian institution that helped launch the careers of incredible talent like Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Jerry Minor, Mike Myers and many more so we also feel right at home being so close to other iconic Canadian destinations like the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Ripley’s Aquarium. Lastly, there’s a view from our bar/restaurant that looks out over Love Park and onto the lake that is staggeringly beautiful, truly a perspective shifting kind of view. For me, it’s reason enough all on its own.”
Future Nature’s Best at The Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Within the primary trade area, there are over 130,000 potential customers doing business, shopping, eating and socializing – 30,000 residential condominium units, 60,000 residents, 10.6 million square feet of existing office space, and 70,000 office workers.
Pedestrians have access from both York and Harbour Streets and the PATH connecting One York to Scotiabank Arena and Union Station. He said the South Core area has created a connection between the city and the waterfront.
“We’re very proud that our project is one of those main components, bringing the PATH network all the way through and there were also some major infrastructure improvements,” said Menkes.
“Now the waterfront is not only a destination for tourists but long-time residents in the city and the province visiting Toronto are now able to access the waterfront in a much more convenient and enjoyable way.”
Image: Shops at One York
Unit 302 in Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)Unit 304 in Shops at One York (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
He said the shopping centre has in place a lease with a major regional coffee operator that it’s close to being able to announce.
“What we’re looking for now, our main focus is Unit 212, which is 915 square feet. It’s a small unit. But it’s located at the front door of the Shops at One York and the PATH at the entrance from Scotiabank Arena. So it’s highly visible, it’s a prime corner and we’re looking for a top operator to add to the retail component,” said Menkes.
“We’re not looking for a single specific use but something that adds to the overall offering in the building and can complement the other retailers we have to date.”
Retail Insider and SAJO Announce Exclusive Partnership
Retail Insider has partnered with Montreal-based retail builder SAJO to create educational content as we look to the future of retail in Canada and beyond. SAJO is also marking its 45th birthday this year, and was the first specialized retail builder in Canada.
We look forward to working with SAJO, which is an integrated project delivery company servicing North America, Europe, and other International markets with operations extending across retail, commercial, residential, public works, and utility sectors. SAJO designs and builds client project environments from conception, project management through to post hand-off with a holistic approach where all services are performed by one company. By utilizing its multidisciplinary teams, SAJO is able to gain a complete vision of the overall project/program requirements, and thereby deliver optimal results.
SAJO’s vision is to transform traditional approaches to assessing and constructing physical spaces across diverse industry sectors, through its application of state-of-the-art technology tailored to the built environment. The company is an innovator that also values architecture, culture, art and sustainability.
Given its vast knowledge and nearly half a century in the business, SAJO will be educating us as part of the Retail Insider partnership with content. Watch for new content in the coming weeks as the Retail Insider/SAJO partnership takes hold.
Retailers marketing and selling online are having to deal with a situation where cookies are being phased out in web browsers. This is creating a situation requiring creativity to gain consumer insights and personalize offerings, and experts say that it’s not actually bad news.
Cookies have been a key feature in e-commerce for years, helping gather more data about store visitors and proving a customized shopping experience. That includes such things as product recommendations, retargeting ads and the like.
Now the elimination of cookies to track consumers is leading to the need for creativity — businesses need to become less dependent on cookies to run optimally as web browsers get rid of cookies altogether. E-commerce store owners are seeing an impact that is affecting the tracking of targeting campaigns, conversion rates and measuring analytics.
For those unfamiliar, cookies are small text-based files that are used to track user behaviour and preferences. They include first-party cookies (created via site-visit), third-party cookies (such as hitting ‘like’ on a Facebook post) and session cookies, utilized for the duration of one’s visit to a site (and deleted after). There are also ‘zombie cookies’ that present a security threat as they are permanently stored on a device and open to potential hackers.
Online retailers and marketers have been relying on cookies that collect data to personalize shopping experiences on their websites and run marketing and advertising campaigns. Cookies have been put to extensive use, from displaying product recommendations to running retargeting campaigns to promote interest-oriented products
Now Google has announced that it will stop supporting third-party cookies by the latter half of 2023, throwing a monkey wrench into the efforts of many marketers. Not all is lost however, as there are opportunities to create a more consumer-centric, authentic ways to collect data to fuel the same objectives.
Jay Wilder
Jay Wilder, Vice President Product Marketing, Marketing Cloud at Salesforce, said in an interview that online marketers will now need to ask for the information directly from consumers in order to gain insights and personalize offers. He said it’s actually preferable to cookies and will help earn consumers’ trust while allowing marketers to learn more about consumer interests, preferences, purchasing behaviours and more in a methodical way that can be used strategically.
The first-party data collected with customers and prospects is more reliable, he said, as it is more specific to what marketers are looking for than third-party data collected by outside sources. There are various avenues to collect first-party data, including surveys, customer loyalty programs, customer service interactions, and website data. The data can be used to create detailed customer profiles that can be used to segment and target marketing messages, while also tracking customer behaviour over time to identify trends that can help with product launches and business expansion generally.
Customer data platforms, including that offered by Salesforce, helps unify the first-party data into a single source. This provides a complete 360-degree view of the customer, he said, allowing marketers to create more relevant and personalized experiences for them across all channels.
Wilder explained that the Salesforce platform, combined with first-party data, allows for a realtime analysis of what consumers are doing, making for more timely decision making based on what the consumer wants. And in the future there will be even more opportunities for companies to break down the silos between marketing, sales and commerce.
Specifically in terms of suggestions for retailers amid the phasing-out of cookies, Wilder had three suggestions:
Collect first party data as discussed above,
Have marketing and IT work more closely together, and
Leverage investment with the Chief Information Officer in an organization while not competing for budgets, given the importance of the shift to digital.
He said that marketing and IT departments will be working more closely together as things continue to change, also noting that the Salesforce platform allows retailers and other businesses to bring their own technology into the Salesforce ecosystem in terms of building a proper CRM platform to track first-party data.
The Benefits of First Party Data
Salesforce notes that there are benefits of first-party data, and these include:
It comes directly from users, with their explicit consent,
It comes with contact information and opens up the potential for direct communication,
It comes with the clear understanding that users are interested in your company’s product or services.
Thus businesses get more reliable data that they actually own, rather than relying on third-party ad tech companies.
Access to rich first-party data enables meaningful consumer personalization. Workflows and campaigns can be aligned with the customers’ journeys, and intelligent recommendations can help provide better offers and prices and meet their real needs.
First-party data is also unique and more standardized, while external entities cannot manipulate it. The uniqueness of the data means a business can use it to find differentiators quicker than its competitors and deliver experiences that consumers will seek and appreciate.
Recognizing the end of cookies, retailers and other businesses are best to become cookie independent as soon as possible, while improving engagement and personalization with data analytics and prediction tools.
Salesforce’s Wilder said that making data actionable in real time is made possible by Marketing Cloud Genie. It creates a single view of each customer with actionable, real-time data. This enables marketers to run intelligent and automated campaigns, helps sales teams have more impactful conversations with customers, makes it easier for support teams to respond to issues, and empowers operations teams to run the business with powerful insights. Ultimately businesses can organize real-time data single source to create a unified customer profile.
In the end, addressing privacy concerns and regaining customers’ trust is increasingly becoming a priority for many retailers and businesses as cookies are phased out and first-party data is “in”. Improved personalization strategy from marketing efforts will be critical to marketing and advertising online. With that, building the infrastructure necessary to make the shift ahead of time will be critical as we shift into a cookie-less world in the coming months ahead.
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.
EY is partnering with Shopify in a global alliance to help enterprises activate and scale their e-commerce businesses.
The EY-Shopify Alliance, founded in Canada, will help merchants get to market faster, at scale, increase revenue potential, improve cost efficiencies, reduce tax risk and provide customized experiences.
EY and Shopify will train an initial cohort of 500 technical professionals around the world who will play a key role in bringing the unique strength of the alliance to enterprise customers at scale and add accelerated value to customers.
The Alliance is also creating new secure options for the sale of regulated products such as pharmaceutical products and alcoholic beverages.
Image: EY Canada
Further support will be extended to those professionals by enabling up to 10,000 consultants through exposure to the Shopify platform. The alliance will also establish a set of first-of-its-kind EY wavespace x Shopify centres. Leveraging the global network of EY wavespace™ innovation hubs (in locations such as New York, London, Toronto, Sydney and Singapore), these centres will bring the power of Shopify, EY teams and their collective clients together to create improved online customer experiences and solutions, reimagine the future of e-commerce and unlock new markets for regulated products.
Ritu Khanna
“For modern enterprise businesses to compete in today’s world, they need scale, speed, flexibility and exceptional commerce experiences in order to drive growth. Bringing EY and Shopify together provides enterprises the ability to activate and scale their commerce strategies in new ways, leveraging the power of Shopify’s powerful commerce platform,” said Ritu Khanna, VP, Partnerships at Shopify.
“Together, we will help large-scale businesses meet the challenge of today’s rapidly changing retail environment. One of the unique areas of opportunity that EY and Shopify will focus on through our partnership is helping merchants who wish to sell regulated products, like alcoholic beverages and pharmaceuticals, through e-commerce.”
Image: EY
Warren Tomlin, Managing Partner at EY and Global Alliance leader with Shopify, said “we are genuinely as proud of Shopify as any Canadian should be at what they’ve been able to build out of Ottawa and out of Canada and the entrepreneurs and the businesses that they’ve enabled.”
“We looked at that and said we think they are legitimately ready for enterprise clients beyond the ones that they’ve started to test and experience. And so when we looked at them we thought we could help them in two distinct ways,” said Tomlin.
Image: Warren Tomlin
“Way number one would be to have a global alliance with them so as big brands around the world want to either re-platform their e-commerce solution or go direct to consumer or rethink the way they deliver their offering online, that drives a lot of sophistication. You need to integrate it into back end systems, you need to integrate it into legacy systems and we wanted to be the first to bet on Shopify that they were ready for enterprise grade. And we’re very, very bullish that they are.
“On the other branch, coming out of the pandemic, we believe that the complexity of selling whether it’s alcohol, cannabis, gaming, pharmaceutical, PPE, luxury products, needs a certain amount of rigour and compliance and regulatory approvals. And Shopify runs the Ontario Cannabis store and they have some experience there and we felt that with our audit, assurance, tax and consulting pedigree we’d be able to work with clients that are looking to sell regulated product online. So similar to the way we’re going to help them in a sort of stock enterprise client, we want to help them the same whether it’s a health provider or a controlled product or substance on that side.”
Image: EY-Shopify
Tomlin said that as we look to a possible recession where spend is scrutinized he’s very bullish that Shopify will come out as a potent way to rethink an enterprise commerce strategy.
“We call it commerce transformation. So it’s not just simply thinking about a platform change to take out cost. Of course, that would be a key part of it but it’s the ability to delight clients in a better user experience at the same time,” he said.
Kristina Rogers, EY Global Consumer Leader, said enterprises and online merchants are re-evaluating their e-commerce strategies to provide better, more relevant and frictionless experiences to meet high e-commerce customer expectations.
“This collaboration with Shopify will help brands enhance their customer journeys, explore new channels and ultimately grow their businesses — all while navigating the increasingly complex world of regulated retail,” she said.
Image: EY-Shopify
Jad Shimaly, CEO and Chair, Ernst & Young LLP (EY Canada), said the demands and expectations of next-generation conscious consumers will require a pivot to thrive in accelerated e-commerce environments — and fast.
“The alliance with Shopify will provide a broad range of transformational services that help merchants comply with the complex regulatory landscape and build new operating models that deliver seamless, sustainable customer experiences. I am excited to see this partnership unlock opportunities for clients that allow them to grow at scale while creating long-term value for all stakeholders,” said Shimaly.
Harley Finkelstein, President, Shopify, said modern enterprises operate in a complex environment where scale, speed and flexibility are needed to drive growth.
“We are excited to work with EY teams to bring the performance, customization and commerce expertise that our merchants know and love to more large enterprises around the world,” he said.
The costs of goods and services in nearly all consumer categories have sharply increased over the last year. The world is grappling with a looming recessionary economy, rising inflation, and the Russia-Ukraine war, driving costs upward, seemingly with no end in sight.
The fashion industry has certainly not been immune to these increases, both in the high-end luxury space, as well as the low-end, fast-fashion segment. However, the mid-market, ‘contemporary’ players are also on the move as far as price-positioning and have seized an opportunity to re-configure their place in the market. This re-positioning took place tacitly, and quickly, and this holiday season will determine if their bets on pricing models will pay off.
With the worst of the pandemic, apparently, in our rear-view mirror, global apparel and accessory brands have begun a slow and steady, but often uneven rebound, across the major markets of the U.S., Europe, and China, leading the recovery. Both mall, and off-mall brick-and-mortar outlets have seen increased foot traffic and higher sales, despite grappling with staff shortages, shipping and freight delays, and rising costs across the board.
Women’s contemporary floor at Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor St. W. in Toronto. Photo: Craig Patterson
Mono-brand stores are dealing with higher raw material costs, more expensive and smaller labour forces, and are, in many cases, opting for air freight as a more reliable option than sea, but with the explosive logistics costs, are trying to avoid margin erosion wherever possible. Multi-brand retailers are victim to short-shipments, and increased shipping costs by local and domestic carriers.
Overall, significant challenges remain; the looming global recession, high inflation, and the Russia-Ukraine war are no small matters for an industry almost solely based on discretionary spending.
Typically, this web of seemingly never-ending challenges would spell disaster for the entire global fashion industry, or a continuation of the storm that brands suffered through during the closures and shut-downs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, this has not been the case in the past twelve months. Instead, we have seen unprecedented spending across all fashion and apparel sectors, an insatiable appetite for luxury goods, and a complete ‘reset’ of the price positioning seen prior to the pandemic.
Alexander Wang Campaign Image. Alexander Wang will open its first Canadian store next year on Bloor Street in Toronto.
Fashion consumers are flooded daily with messages about increased costs for manufacturers and designers, as well as the push to make more environmentally sustainable products, which of course, cost more to produce. While these factors may be true, it is clear that the brands themselves are not taking the same kind of hit to their pocketbooks that consumers are. The never-ending price increases indicate that the growing costs of doing business are partly being passed on to the consumer, while brands struggle to maintain their margins, and their bottom line.
Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, and Brunello Cucinelli have been steadily increasing their prices for years, part of an industry that will report revenue of $117 billion in 2022, and is expected to climb by 5.62% annually. There are suggestions that the main contributors for these hikes are in part to rising costs of raw materials, soaring marketing spends, and a significant investment in brick-and-mortar flagships located on the best (and most expensive) shopping streets and malls of the world.
What we have seen, given the latest earnings from Kering Group, parent company of brands such as Gucci and Saint Laurent, reporting a revenue increase of 23% YoY for the third quarter of this year, or LVMH, parent to the namesake Louis Vuitton, reporting 56.5 billion euros in revenue, in the first nine months of 2022, up 28% from the same period in 2021. While increasing prices at that level is sure to price out a certain portion of customers, leading to fewer of them, luxury brands are happy to make their products more scarce, and, as such, more desirable by their true base; those who can really afford their products.
In contrast, and on the low end of the pricing spectrum, the pandemic saw brands like the Chinese-owned SHEIN, favouring small-batch runs of new items, soar to success, while the Spanish behemoth Zara, used that time to perfect its supply chain, now able to have their products go from the design table to shipping container in three weeks, and demanding a turnover of inventory in it’s stores of a maximum of ten days, far shorter than the industry average.
Women’s contemporary evening wear at Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
While luxury brands occupied the high end of the pricing spectrum, and fast-fashion on the low, contemporary brands have traditionally occupied the mid-market. They are seen merchandised in their own department store floors, or online on e-commerce websites primarily dedicated to this price point, and have always hovered around the $500 space and for years have existed as the ‘sweet spot’ for many customers. Brands like Philip Lim, Alexander Wang, Theory, and Isabel Marant have been hallmarks of this space for many years, anchoring the contemporary floors of Holt Renfrew, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom. Marant, selling a majority stake to Montefiore Investment in 2016, has seen huge success, growing from 22 stand-alone stores at that time, to the current count of 66, and doubling revenue from 2016 to 2019, from 150 million euros to 300m. However, this category segment has been on shaky ground for years, getting squeezed by both the lower and the higher on the pricing spectrum. As DTC brands entered department stores, and luxury companies became more accessible with streetwear offerings, the contemporary space was losing desirability to its traditional base.
But as the 2022 fall/winter collections rolled into retail stores and e-commerce sites alike, we saw these mid-market brands suddenly occupying a new part of the pricing spectrum. The label L’Agence, in pre-pandemic years, had success with a blazer style at the time retailing in the $500 USD range. Now, the same, granted, newer iteration of the jacket, is in the $675 USD range as seen on the Bloomingdale’s website.
Similarly, Ulla Johnson, coveted by the New York City socialite scene, has its boho dresses starting at $600 – a departure from the $500 ‘sweet spot’ they initially thrived in. The pricing gap left open by the increased costs of luxury brands, has resulted in the perfect time for contemporary brands to transition to the ‘advanced contemporary,’ or ‘affordable luxury’ categories.
The transition was quick, and with the response from consumers being favourable, it would appear that customers have accepted the explanations given by brands in order to justify their price increases. However, the closures of the pandemic also provided the perfect platform to “reset” the pricing game throughout the industry, tacitly unveiled to customers as stores merchandised their fall 2022 collections – and it’s been a largely winning formula. While popular brands climbed the pricing ladder, emerging brands like the French ba&sh, and AMI Paris have secured a top spot in the ‘new’ contemporary space, offering dresses in the USD $400 range, and secondary items like hoodies, at USD$300.
Women’s contemporary at Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
While the popular rhetoric, and that largely accepted by consumers, is that the fallout from the pandemic, as well as the current economic climate are to blame for rising costs the fashion industry has seized the opportunity to re-align pricing in all categories. They have successfully moved out of the crowded, and tightly squeezed ‘contemporary’ category, and into the new, more breathable, advanced contemporary space, hovering just below the luxury designers, all while maintaining margins and maximizing profits.
With the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping holidays around the corner, fashion brands and retailers alike are watching very closely. Traditionally these four days have set the outlook for the year ahead, and this year the stakes are higher than ever. While third-quarter results have been solid for luxury, and mixed for the plethora of contemporary brands, both long-standing and emerging, the outlook has been hopeful. The proverbial clock is ticking for the newly instated advanced contemporary brands, and the upcoming weekend will be a strong determinant as to whether its most recent price positioning will spell success for them.
About the Author:
Based in Toronto, Alex Mazelow has been working in the fashion and retail space for 15 years, and holds a Master of Business Administration from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University.
