Video Interview: Bruce Winder Provides Insights on Current State of Retail Industry in Canada
Bruce Winder, retail analyst and consultant, gives his insights on the current state of the retail industry in Canada.
Winder talks about business closures during the pandemic, key lessons learned by retailers over the past two years, biggest mistakes made, trends and the use of under-utilized space at shopping centres.
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.
Showcase, the ‘home of the hottest trends’, has launched a major expansion into the US market.
The company is planning to open 27 stores in 12 States with more to come in the future – the largest and fastest single expansion in the company’s 28-year history.
Showcase, a privately-held company that began in Edmonton in 1994, operates 109 Canadian trend stores in top tier malls from coast to coast, with the exception of Quebec, and established a retail footprint in the US Northeast in 2019 opening 10 locations.
“Now that Showcase has saturated the Canadian market, occupying space in 93 per cent of the country’s malls, we believe there is tremendous growth potential for our unique business model in an untapped US market,” said Samir Kulkarni, CEO, Showcase. “Millions of American consumers are in for an amazing surprise when they are introduced to the Showcase brand, and discover our stores are filled with the hottest and trendiest items they won’t find anywhere else.
Image: Showcase
Samir Kulkarni
“We have a long record of success, creativity and innovation in Canada, and we intend to build on this foundation in the US, integrating our physical and digital channels, growing our market share, and increasing member loyalty to solidify our position.”
The new locations to open this summer are in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. They will be supported by a new 147,000-square-foot distribution centre in New York.
Kulkarni said additional store openings in 2022 will be announced in the upcoming months.
“We are a trend business. So the trends change constantly and the assortment changes with consumer taste. The assortment today would be quite different from what you would have seen two or three years ago. But we are essentially the home of the hottest trends, the focus is on emerging trends in health, beauty, home and toys,” he said.
Kulkarni said in Canada the retailer had been opening one store a month for many years.
Image: Showcase
“Essentially we saturated the English Canadian market and so as we thought about how our concept could grow further what we came to realize is that the US is really the next logical step,” he said. “Roughly speaking with 100 stores in Canada population-wise that equates to 1,000 stores in the US.
“So that’s where the big push is for us. We see our business model as quite unique and not easily replicated. Certainly no direct competitor in the US that we see. We thought that the concept would be well received so that’s why we started with the 10 pilot stores which opened in 2019 and now that the pilot program is complete and those stores are successful, we decided to roll out in a bigger way. It started with the opening of our US distribution centre outside of Buffalo, New York . . . that DC will service the US stores and then we have up to 50 stores opening this year in the US. That will bring us to a total of 60 stores by the end of the year in the States.”
Kulkarni said 27 stores will open this summer and hopefully another 23 in the fall subject to supply chain considerations. By the end of this year, the retailer will be in about 15 States.
“Showcase has always been about trends and about giving consumers what they want now. We’ve built flexibility and adaptability and data into our business model. So we’re able to pivot very quickly based on changing tastes and niches of opportunity in specific product segments,” he said.
Showcase at Tsawwassen Mills in Delta, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett.
“We also have trained our customers over the years to expect the unexpected. They come in looking for what’s new. So you have this constant appetite for discovery. When people walk into our stores they see something they may have seen on social media last night or just heard a celebrity talking about and for them to have the instant gratification of having that product on the shelf and usually a product that they cannot find elsewhere easily is really compelling.
“I think that is one of the reasons why the concept has been successful even through very volatile times over the past couple of years.”
The retailer also launched live shopping last year – a big initiative that has helped with its success by helping digitize the store experience.
Image: Showcase
He said Showcase is a data-driven, rapid retail company and its proprietary trendspotting technology uses sophisticated techniques, powered by algorithms and AI, to understand and identify trending products.
The company’s agility allows them to be first and fastest to market: on average, each trend goes from concept to shelf in 53 days, with some of the top 10 items launching in as little as 16 days, he said.
“Showcase has invested heavily in a robust omnichannel strategy that will continue to deliver a seamless experience for customers to make shopping instant, relevant, and accessible. The company has introduced live online shopping events every 48 hours; same-day delivery service with DoorDash; mobile-first video advertising; and targeted personalized email campaigns to its two million+ loyalty Insider members,” says the retailer.
“Showcase carries all the latest TikTok-inspired trends that can’t be found elsewhere. The hashtag #ShowcaseMadeMeBuyIt currently has over 64 million views on TikTok, and Showcase is one of the most popular Canadian retailers on TikTok with 205,000 followers and growing. Other signature elements of the Showcase shopping experience include knowledgeable staff, time-sensitive promotions, flash discounts and product demos.”
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.
Fuzz Wax Bar has opened its first location in Vancouver as the company embarks on an expansion strategy through franchise partners.
Jessie Frampton and Florence Gaven Rossavik founded the company in 2012 when there were no other dedicated wax bars, and no beauty bars offering memberships.
The pioneer in these categories is on track, after the past two years of COVID, to hit $10 million in revenue this year with plans to open more stores and its first US location.
“Vancouver has always been on the horizon for Flo and I. When we first opened in year one, I’m personally a huge fan of the West Coast so it was kind of like gold to make it all the way over there,” said Frampton. “So we’ve always had our eye on the West Coast.
Image: Fuzz Wax Bar
“Over time and over the last few years, it just hasn’t been realistic to our growth that we’re seeing in Toronto and as we brought on new franchisees, it wasn’t realistic for us to open a corporate location there. So until recently one of our franchisees opened up her third location. This one is a franchise location . . . Us securing it corporately didn’t make sense, but to have a franchisee own it to build that territory made a lot more sense.”
Of the current locations in Canada, eight are corporate and eight are franchise.
Two more franchise locations will be opening in the next few months – Vaughan and Edmonton.
“We’re in the GTA already but we’re not in that area of Vaughan yet. For Alberta, we have a location in Red Deer. So Edmonton will be our first big move to a bigger city there. And we have a lot of interest in Alberta. It really is a booming market. There’s another two potential franchisees coming on board for Calgary,” added Rossavik.
“We have big plans. And we did before COVID as well. We took a bit of a break there because of COVID but basically coast to coast in Canada is our plan. We already are coast to coast thanks to our Vancouver location because we did open a St. John’s, Newfoundland location during COVID. In Canada, we’re looking at about 100 locations overall. We’re hoping to sell this full Canada territory over the next five years.
Image: Fuzz Wax Bar
“We’re looking at getting an amount of franchisees that is more limited so that we can grow multi-unit markets which makes sense for us that we have people that do at least three locations which is a trend we’re seeing right now with our current franchisees.”
Rossavik said the company is ready to expand into the US market with its franchise model. She said the plan for future locations, including Canada, is to make them franchise partners.
“We have a pretty rigorous process of finding locations. Location is key for us. We’ve always done a lot of data and analysis. We know who we want to be close to, what other retailers we want to be close to,” she said. “We generally go for 1,400 square feet to 1,600 square feet. That’s what we’re looking for. It can be either urban or plaza. It doesn’t matter for us. What matters more is who is around us. What kind of neighbour do we have?”
Frampton said the company is seeing success in areas where the concept doesn’t exist.
Image: Fuzz Wax Bar
“We opened up Toronto’s first waxing only salon 10 years ago and we find that when we’re opening up in areas that aren’t familiar with the concept, this is a client centric model, so clients in that area resonate with wanting to have the concept around them and closer to them,” she said.
Fuzz recently announced that all of their services will be completely gender neutral – all services can be easily booked without having to determine how one identifies, simply based on anatomy. It has partnered with Green Circle Salons to reduce waste in its wax bars.
“Fuzz was started by Jessie and Flo in 2011 after meeting by chance while shopping in a vintage store. The rest was history. Jessie, born and raised in Canada, had over five years of experience in event planning, public relations and marketing, and knows the importance of customer experience to create a successful business,” says the company’s website.
Image: Fuzz Wax Bar
“She loves to travel, especially if it means a good hiking destination – this is where she finds her inspiration. She’s also quite health conscious – in mental health, eating habits and products she uses.
“Flo is originally from France and has spent her life being inspired by the simple style of natural French beauty. She began her business career at 13 years old when she started selling posters to her friends that she’d buy in bulk from poster catalogues, and resell to her friends. She’s a risk-taker at heart with an entrepreneurial spirit – something that has made her always keen to take on new adventures, such as living all over the world. She has a passion for cinema and even studied to become a director of photography for films.
“Sustainability is incredibly important to both Jessie and Flo, from a personal and business perspective. Today, Jessie oversees the branding, marketing, social media, corporate culture and in-store operations at Fuzz, while Flo takes charge of the finance, operations, learning and franchise development departments.”
Meal kits are to food what IKEA is to furniture. All you need to do is put things together. Meal kits empower consumers to feel like chefs, if only for a while. They have been popular, especially throughout the pandemic. Meal kits provide ideas, ways to manage your meals and some greatly needed inspiration for households running out of options for lunches and dinners. But over the last few weeks, we’ve been seeing signs that perhaps meal kit use has peaked in Canada.
For the most part, Canadians have got their normal lives back and have become nomads again, which means spending less time in the kitchen. According to a recent survey conducted by Dalhousie University in partnership with Caddle, 8.4% of Canadians subscribe to a meal kit service provider today. That is down from 12.8% in November 2020, when we were several months into the pandemic. While 69.1% of Canadians have never subscribed to any meal kit service, 22.5% have ceased to use a meal kit service. Only 3% are now fully committed to a meal kit provider and expect to continue to use the service. Another 9.8% believe they may use meal kits in the future but remain unsure. Those percentages are very low. Retention of customers has clearly become an issue with these services.
The biggest users of meal kits are Gen Z at 14.5%, followed by Millennials at 12.1%, Gen X at 7.9% and finally Baby Boomers, at a measly 3.2%. Amongst provinces, the highest usage rate right now is in British Columbia, at 10.4%, followed by Quebec at 9.3%, and Alberta at 9%. Ontario is at 8.4%, the national average. The lowest rate in the country is in Manitoba, at 4.5%.
Of Canadians using meal kits today, only 15.8% of them had never ordered meal kits before the pandemic. Given that the market was inundated with rebates and coupons for months to get consumers hooked on some of these services, that percentage is strikingly low. For a while, many meal kit providers were partially subsidizing their own demand which is why accessing true market loyalty towards these programs was challenging. Also, 66.1% are fully committed to them as they use them either daily or weekly. The main factors for why Canadians order meal kits are for convenience (57.7%), to save time (30.4%), and to avoid planning meals (15.4%). HelloFresh remains the most popular service at 32% followed by Good Food at 24.6%. Chef’s Plate, owned by HelloFresh, is third at 14.9%.
Estimates from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab suggest that the meal kit market in Canada is likely worth about $1.1 billion today, compared to barely $5 million, more than a decade ago. That is quite an accomplishment. At its peak though, back in 2020, the market surpassed $1.5 billion.
The factors that seem to be pushing consumers away from meal kits are the price, and the heavy, unsustainable packaging which comes with the delivered meals. The average price per meals is typically anywhere between $8 to $13 per meal, per person, and you still have to prepare the meal before enjoying it, and clean up afterwards. A total of 78.1% of consumers who have dropped the service felt the prices were too high. As for packaging issues, 67.5% dropped the service due to the overwhelming packaging. And with the cost of food these days, it is highly unlikely prices will drop anytime soon.
Grocers have also gotten better at delivering food to consumers’ homes. Some are offering meal kits themselves in different forms. The retention rate for customers of online grocery sites is also typically much higher. Online grocery shoppers will go back to buying more food online, more than 80% of the time, according to Neilson IQ. That retention rate is intimidating for meal kit providers. Loyalty is undoubtedly in our grocers’ favour. We could see more meal kits offered by grocers themselves or even restaurant chains using our grocers’ distribution network to reach us, physically or virtually.
Some Canadians will remain committed to meal kits. You are likely to waste less food and eat healthier, for the most part. But the industry is facing major headwinds as the economy trends back to normal after the pandemic. The path to growth is unclear at this point. What’s more worrisome, the cost of food will also be a challenge for meal kit providers struggling to keep costs in check during these turbulent times.
Sleep Country at CF Richmond Centre. Photo: Geetanjali Sharma
Sleep Country Canada had its best first quarter ever this year as the company launched Sleep Country and Dormez-vous stores on all Loblaw online platforms extending its reach to millions more customers every week.
Stewart Schaefer, President and CEO of Sleep Country, said the company’s strong financial results came despite ongoing challenges due to COVID-19, challenging supply chain logistics, volatile interest rates, inflation, the war in Ukraine and a drop in consumer confidence.
Stewart Schaefer
“I am pleasantly surprised that we were able to navigate around all the other crazy pandemic things that people are dealing with and higher inflation and the oil prices and consumer confidence,” he said. “We’ve been very proactive and started a process in terms of building up our inventory which we do believe that inventory is the new oil. I think that’s been key and we’ve been able to definitely expand our assortment of goods.
“I think the consumers just turned to us and all the partnerships we created are definitely building on our touch points in terms of being able to grow the business. It was pleasantly, surprisingly good all around.
Image: Sleep Country Canada Head Office
“Looking ahead, we are well positioned and diversified in our blend of merchandise and channel agnostic approach to weather the changing economic climate and continue to lead Canada’s sleep space with our frictionless digital experience, multiple distribution channels, powerful partnerships and the most innovative and relevant sleep brands in the country.”
Here are some key financial results for Sleep Country in the first quarter of this year:
Revenues increased by $24 million or 13.1 per cent to $207.0 million in Q1 2022 from $183 million in Q1 2021;
Gross profit margin increased by 710 basis points to 34.6 per cent in Q1 2022 from 27.5 per cent in Q1 2021;
Operating EBITDA increased by $15.2 million or 48.5 per cent to $46.7 million in Q1 2022 from $31.5 million in Q1 2021;
Operating EBITDA margin increased by 540 basis points to 22.6 per cent in Q1 2022 from 17.2 per cent in Q1 2021;
Same Store Sales increased by 8.8 per cent in Q1 2022 from Q1 2021;
eCommerce sales represented 20.8 per cent of revenues in Q1 2022;
Net income attributable to the Company increased by $9.7 million or 111.8 per cent to $18.4 million in Q1 2022 from $8.7 million in Q1 2021;
Adjusted net income attributable to the company increased by $11.2 million or 116.2 per cent to $20.8 million in Q1 2022 from $9.6 million in Q1 2021;
Diluted earnings per share increased by $0.26 or 113 per cent to $0.49 in Q1 2022 from $0.23 in Q1 2021;
Sleep Country Canada store in Calgary. Photo: Sleep Country Canada
During the quarter the retailer opened a new store in Thornhill, Ontario to boost total store count to 286.
Schaefer said there is likely to be another six to eight stores the retailer is planning to open this year.
“What the pandemic taught us, and it’s coming out of the pandemic, is that the stores are more important than ever. And people want to engage in customer experience which is pleasantly surprising also,” he said.
“If you didn’t have ecommerce during COVID you were in big trouble but as the world opens up if you don’t have brick and mortar retail you’re in trouble. So we’re definitely feeling good about our strategic positioning in terms of online and brick and mortar. So that’s going to continue.”
Sleep Country is Canada’s leading specialty sleep retailer with a national retail store network and multiple robust eCommerce platforms. Besides the corporate-owned stores, it also has 20 warehouses across Canada and operates under retail banners: Sleep Country Canada, with omnichannel operations in Canada excluding Québec; Dormez-vous with omnichannel operations in Québec; Endy, Canada’s leading direct-to-consumer online sleep solutions retailer; and Hush Blankets Inc., one of Canada’s fastest-growing digital retailers.
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.
“For us to come out of such a challenging global circumstance and this idea of nonchalantly taxing vacancy in retail markets that are recovering I’m not quite sure what the purpose, reasoning of it is,” he said.
“I think it’s unfair, unreasonable, ill–researched and ill-advised. I think it’s a crazy concept. The idea of slapping on another inefficient tax which doesn’t solve the problem seems to be the hallmark of this city council and I’m a bit amazed, at least from what I understand, very few stakeholders, whether that be landlords, owners, investors, tenants, brokers, were consulted on this.
“And for all of us, we’ve been taken aback.”
Former NYX Cosmetics Location in Downtown Vancouver at 1092 Robson Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett.Former Downtown Vancouver John Fluevog Location at 837 Granville Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett
Vancouver is looking at the potential of instituting such a tax. In a tweet, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said: “Just like homes, commercial properties have skyrocketed in value, yet many are kept vacant.”
The idea is similar to an empty homes tax the city implemented in 2018.
“We’ve got to end this kind of speculation. If we do this right, it would mean lower rents for small businesses,” said Stewart in a Vancouver Sun story.
“The good ones don’t have to worry. They have to tick a few boxes every year … say ‘here’s my lease, here are my ads, I’ve been trying to fill this space’.”
Former Nosh Restaurant and then Laboratory – Sous Vide Cuisine Inc. at 575 West Georgia in downtown Vancouver (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett.Vacated Chopard Location in Downtown Vancouver at Cathedral Place Building at 925 W Georgia Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett
The Sun reported that a 2020 report by city staff found that the proportion of vacant storefronts in four out of six Vancouver neighbourhoods has grown past 10 per cent. Across six neighbourhoods, the number of owner-occupied businesses decreased by 16 per cent from 2012 to 2019, while the number of storefronts owned by numbered corporations increased by 41 per cent and the number owned by developers increased by 71 per cent.
From a property owner perspective, there’s been a steady increase over the years already in property taxes.
“It’s complex. How long is a reasonable time for something to be vacant? Are all markets the same? Are all retail streets the same? Are all zoning areas the same? Is it the same for all genres of ownership whether it be an individual or private investor or whether it be an institution?,” said Moriarty.
“There’s quite a lot of variance here so it seems to be in my opinion headline seeking without really any careful thought or any due attention to the actual problem.”
Closed and Vacated Downtown Vancouver Retail Space at 778 Robson Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee RivettFormer Café Crêpe at 874 Granville Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett.
Moriarty wondered what it would mean for a building that is awaiting a development permit or even a tenant awaiting a permit for work on their space.
“I truly hope this does not go . . . I think there would be a lot of pressure on individual owners. If we peel it back and there is a tax on vacancy, I’m not sure it makes things more affordable. I’m not sure the people have thought about the actual consequences,” he said, adding owners of vacant space might just lease it out to anyone and how would that impact the overall retail street.
“There’s a lot that hasn’t been thought about and the more I think about it the more I think it’s a crazed concept. The more I think about it the more I try not to think about it.”
Previous Lacoste store (then Shoe.com, then Bell store) at 779 Burrard Street (May 2022). Photo: Lee Rivett.
For the most part, the retail sector in Vancouver has fared generally very good in the past two years through the pandemic.
“I think against the backdrop of a global pandemic Vancouver has performed tremendously well compared to Canadian urban markets, North American markets or even globally. We have seen vacancy like everyone else, but probably not to the same extent that has been seen in the bigger urban markets of North America,” said Moriarty.
“I was in Los Angeles (recently) and I was a little taken aback by the vacancy problems there. Vancouver is a relatively small market compared to some of these gargantuan cities but I think pound for pound Vancouver has punched well above its weight.”
Video Interview: Robin Kovitz, President and CEO of Gift Retailer Baskits Discusses Growth
Robin Kovitz, President/CEO, Baskits, discusses how she built the retailer into one of Canada’s fastest growing companies.
Kovitz talks about her background, why she went from the finance industry to retail, the challenges the retail industry had through COVID and lessons learned, and plans for the company’s future.
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.
HAROLD at Harry Rosen, Bloor Street location (Image: Craig Patterson)
Luxury menswear retailer Harry Rosen has launched HAROLD, a new clothing line created in collaboration with its customers.
The iconic Canadian company said the new private label will bring a lineup of made-to-measure traditional and modern suits, casual and business apparel, and ready-to-wear pieces all at a more accessible price point. HAROLD is available exclusively in Harry Rosen stores and online, with more products to come this fall.
Ian Rosen
Ian Rosen, the retailer’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said the brand started in 1954 as a custom clothier.
“It’s always been in our brand’s DNA,” he said. “Over the years we’ve continuously evolved to help our customers’ changing needs and helped brands bring their custom offerings to Canada. Today, we start our own.
HAROLD at Harry Rosen, CF Toronto Eaton Centre location (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
“Let’s talk about style. Style is really getting encapsulated and being expressed through details and we’re really excited to come upon a program that allows you to customize so much in so many different categories whether that was a traditional and professional suit whether that was a sports jacket, whether that was something as interesting as a bomber jacket with a matching pant. We call it the sartorial track suit. A trench coat. A rain coat. A safari jacket. Many different styles of dress shirts. There’s so much product out there that you can kind of build your own adventure around.
“We really feel that it was an untapped opportunity for us to go after and build upon our heritage as a menswear specialist. My grandfather started the store on Parliament Street with a focus on made to measure. So it’s really in our DNA. This is the modern interpretation around it.”
The brand currently has 17 stores across Canada.
HAROLD offers an unprecedented level of customization with many of its pieces. Customers can choose everything from the number of buttons to the photographs they want to use on the personalized lining of their jackets and more, taking personal style far beyond traditional tailoring, said the retailer.
HAROLD continues Harry Rosen’s tradition of using the finest quality textiles and exacting stitching, offering materials from some of the most prestigious fabric mills, such as ZEGNA, Loro Piana, and Reda, it added.
HAROLD at Harry Rosen, First Canadian Place location (Image: Dustin Fuhs)HAROLD at Harry Rosen, Bloor Street location (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
“In terms of wrapping it around a brand called HAROLD, I think it’s got a youthful energy to it. It’s punchy with what we call the colour electric melon, the orange. We really wanted to speak to a younger customer and make custom-made in that category, along with the ready-made components that surround it, a little less intimidating,” said Rosen.
“We’re targeting the lower end of our price points. It’s an entry price point for us and you can build up depending on the fabric selections and the amount of customization that you want. But you can really see a younger guy buying into this. The marketing materials are so much speaking to that younger man of tomorrow and it’s not speaking in a professional, business sense because we know that the work environment has changed forever. It’s speaking of the flexibility of wearing things to a date night, to the office, work from home, you name it.”
The launch campaign, “HAROLD × You,” presents HAROLD as a high-fashion collaboration between Harry Rosen’s designers and its customers; showing how everyday inspiration from life can be crafted into custom garments.
The campaign includes television, social and online video, digital advertising, out-of-home, and an integration with the Juno Awards. The ad campaign was conceived by agency partner Zulu Alpha Kilo and media planning and buying was done by Horizon Media, supported by Harry Rosen’s marketing team.
HAROLD at Harry Rosen, Bloor Street location (Image: Craig Patterson)HAROLD at Harry Rosen, CF Toronto Eaton Centre location (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
“Culture is at the core of fashion, and HAROLD allows anyone to infuse their individuality into their wardrobes,” said Rosen. “We want to empower people to use inspiration from their own lives to build outfits and looks that celebrate their culture, traditions and heritage.
“We’re calling (the HAROLD areas in stores) like inspiration showrooms . . . Each HAROLD inspiration showroom has a number of different models call them or ideas, totally made up and customized in ways that we thought really show off the range.
“And what we’re encouraging clients to do, and they come in a whole various range of sizes, so if you can come in and really buy into this idea of a sartorial track suit, we have four or five options of different fabrications and different styling details for you to try on. And when you get to making your own you get to style little small things. You’re kind of working from a base model and we sampled up a ton of really exciting ideas that we think will keep the clients excited. A client can expect, whenever they walk into a Harry Rosen store, every single door there will be a HAROLD inspiration gallery that is constantly refreshed and reintegrated with new ideas.”
