Video Interview: Paris Jewellers Co-Owner Discusses Company's Future Growth Plans
Chau Lui, co-owner of Paris Jewellers, discusses the retailer’s launch of a new Connection collection with a goal of helping the Outreach Centre – an agency devoted to supporting women affected by family violence, help meet their basic needs, and find solutions to creating a safer, healthier and more secure life for themselves and their families.
Lui talks about the company’s philosophy of giving back to the community, how Paris Jewellers came to be, how it has grown since its inception and plans for the 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
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The past two years have certainly proven to be one of the most interesting, dynamic and challenging times in recent human history. For retailers and other businesses, the tenor of the past 24 months has resulted in the development of an extremely complex environment that continues to change and evolve on a near-daily basis. It’s also served as a brutal natural assessment of retailers across the country, yielding a mixed bag of results that have ranged from desperation and depletion to pivots and innovation in the face of the adversity that’s resulted. And, it’s also facilitated creative partnerships and alliances among brands and businesses that share the same objectives and complement each others offering and expertise, like the one recently formed between Steel Art Signs Corp. and Gregory Signs – two of the countries leading full-scale, end-to-end signage companies. It’s a partnership that bolsters the credibility and presence of each company, and one that, Eric Hrivnak, Chief Executive Officer of Steel Art Signs Corp., says is rooted in the synergies and mutual benefits that are apparent within it.
“First and foremost, this partnership with Gregory Signs is going to help open a lot of doors into industries and sectors that, historically, Steel Art Signs has not always specialized in,” he asserts. “It’s a great partnership between the two companies because we each have complementary abilities and expertise to offer. However, we also each bring unique, specialized skills and experience to what we do, which will only serve to diversify our offering as a whole. To put it simply, we’ve enjoyed a lot of success with program work, while Gregory Signs has excelled within infrastructure. And now that the two have partnered up, each is learning from and influencing the other in a very positive way.”
Strategic partnership
Image: Eric Hrivnak and Boris Kaminsky
The partnership, represented by the acquisition of Gregory Signs by Steel Art Signs Corp., was formed a little more than six months ago and allows Gregory Signs to continue operating seemingly independently of Steel Art Signs. It’s a decision that was made mutually between the two signage experts and is one that has, according to Hrivnak, progressed extremely well to this point. The two companies, both based in Toronto, ON, will each remain deeply focused on the work that has earned their respective reputations, while afforded access to their collectively growing network and expertise. However, Hrivnak says that perhaps the greatest benefit that each company enjoys is the broadening of perspectives, ideas, and experience.
“For each company, there are all of these new and fresh ways of looking at and doing things,” he says. “Immediately, the people in the meeting rooms doubled, which for us has resulted in double the input and double the perspective and incredible transference of skills and experience. We’ve already seen ways in which each company can adopt the practices of the other, trimming the stuff that wasn’t working so well and replacing them with ideas and strategies that wouldn’t have been thought of prior. And, to be honest with you, the people at Gregory Signs were instrumental in this idea even coming to light. A company is nothing without its people. And, that means that if a company is successful, it is so because of its people. Every sector and industry throughout the country is struggling to find the right people with the right talent to fill positions. Partnering with Gregory Signs has suddenly surrounded everyone with a plethora of new top talent and allows each company to now work together toward a shared benefit, helping us progress and do what we do better.”
A way to grow
Image: Steel Art Signs and Gregory Signs
They are all sentiments that are echoed by Boris Kaminsky, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Gregory Signs, and son of retiring company founder, Gregory Kaminsky. He, too, sees the incredible opportunities that are inherent within the partnership for each party and says that he’s really enjoying the experience so far with an eye on further growth and expansion for the company. In fact, from his perspective, it was the exponential growth of Gregory Signs, and the momentum that it had been building to this point, that served as the catalyst for his interest in forming the partnership with Steel Art Signs Corp.
“We’ve been experiencing quite a bit of rapid growth over the past number of years,” says Kaminsky. “We were receiving client orders from all over the place. It was growth based primarily on reputation and word-of-mouth. And it got to the point where I knew that we needed to grow further. We needed a factory that was double or even triple the size of the one we were operating in. We had received some interest from Steel Art Signs in acquiring us. And, after some deliberation, I decided, instead of growing on our own, to give my dad a good reason to retire and team up with Steel Art. It’s turned out to be one of the best business decisions that I’ve ever made. The company has an incredible reputation and is amazing to work for. And, we get to keep the Gregory Signs name and ability to operate as a separate entity. It allows us to go after different markets together, combining our forces to the best possible effect.”
Synergies and mutual benefits
Kaminsky goes on to describe how pleased he is with the decision he made to enter into this partnership. And, in agreement with Hrivnak, he underscores just how significant a role the synergies between the two companies played in its forming. They’re synergies that are also recognized by Michael Cormack, President, of Corbana Holdings Inc., who worked on behalf of Steel Art Signs Corp. to provide business advisory services for the acquisition. However, Cormack believes that the most intriguing element lending toward the successful acquisition was the mutually beneficial return that each company would receive as a result of the partnership.
“Gregory Signs had already established its own network and suite of sign services, which made it very attractive to Steel Art Signs Corp.,” he says. “It had enjoyed a unique market position servicing the architectural and construction industry as custom and unique design providers. And, Steel Art Signs had its national network and was focused on national accounts and consistent quality large run, high volume sign customers, in addition to providing well-designed and manufactured one-off sign projects. Each party brings something a little bit different to the partnership, benefitting both exponentially.”
A bright future
Image: Steel Art Signs and Gregory Signs
Hrivnak explains that the potential benefits that each company recognized at the onset of the partnership have already started to come to fruition and helping to pave the way forward toward further improvements and enhancements to each operation. He says that each is keen, too, to attack the work ahead of them in order to grow and expand even more and capitalize on the boundless possibilities that this strategic partnership presents. And, given the penchant that each company possesses for delivering quality service to as many clients as possible, Hrivnak suggests that there’s still quite a bit of room left for both Steel Art Signs Corp. and Gregory Signs to expand their presence further.
“The sign market in Canada is still robust enough for us to continue growing and expanding. We’re also considering diversifying our manufacturing portfolio. Our specialties and expertise are obviously related to signage. However, we have the know-how and capacity to be doing even more. But we couldn’t be any happier with the current direction of the companies and the work that we each do. The past six months have been a really great experience. and I’m looking forward to an exciting future ahead for both Gregory Signs and Steel Art Signs Corp.”
Lenscrafters is now the third prescription eyewear retailer to operate in the mall after Bailey Nelson opened in 2019 in addition to B.C.-based Image Optometry which also has locations across the lower mainland, Vancouver Island and the interior of the province.
The Park Royal location is the tenth store in the Lower Mainland for LensCrafters with other locations in North Vancouver, Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, and White Rock.
Lenscrafters interior at Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver. Photo: Shanon Thornley/Park Royal Shopping Centre.Lenscrafters interior at Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver. Photo: Shanon Thornley/Park Royal Shopping Centre.
LensCrafters was founded in 1983 and sold to the United States Shoe Corporation (U.S. Shoe) in 1984. Its current parent company, Luxottica, initiated a hostile takeover of U.S. Shoes in 1995 in an attempt of acquiring LensCrafters which resulted in a $1.4 billion agreement being inked.
LensCrafters eclipsed its closest rival, Pearle Vision, in growth by 1992 and Luxottica purchased the retailer in 2004 resulting in the combination of America’s two largest eyewear retailers.
Vancouver-based Article, a leading online modern furniture company, saw revenue growth of 45 per cent year-over-year in 2021 as the company has expanded its logistics network to support further growth.
“Investments in our fulfillment network, growth of our Vietnam office, and executive hires are among many recent company milestones that support our pursuit to build the easiest way to create a beautiful space,” said Aamir Baig, co-founder and CEO of Article.
Aamir Baig
“We anticipate the year ahead will be challenging for a number of reasons. Tailwinds created by the pandemic are subsiding and global supply chain disruptions are likely to continue for the immediate term. I’m confident we will continue to capitalize on the opportunity in front of us through the team’s collective determination and expertise.”
Nick Bozikis, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, said the past year’s growth was similar growth to what the company experienced in the year prior.
“We’ve had a couple of really strong years through the pandemic. Certainly from a scale standpoint we’ve achieved scale in this sector now and have continued to kind of deepen our supply chain reach because of that,” he said.
“We are now at the stage where we’re really kind of out there competitive and getting to be a significant player in this space.”
Image: Article
“We’ve had really good growth from the outset and then the past couple of years we’ve had some COVID tailwinds so it’s been phenomenal.”
Since launching in 2013, the company has delivered over one million orders to customers across the U.S. and Canada.
The company reached several significant milestones in 2021:
Delivered its one millionth order since the company launched its website in 2013;
Opened three new fulfillment centres in Houston, Vancouver and Chicago, which increased the company’s total warehouse space to over 1,860,000 square feet;
Launched Article’s in-house delivery program – the Article Delivery Team – in new cities: Boston, San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Portland, Charlotte, Houston, and Chicago. The Article Delivery Team currently delivers over half of all orders;
Named one of Canada’s top growing companies by The Globe and Mail for the third year in a row;
Grew team to more than 1,300 employees worldwide; and
Doubled office headcount in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to support closer manufacturer relationships.
Article also added two executives to its leadership team – Mohammad Nejad-Sattary as the company’s first Senior Vice President of Technology and Matthew Ross, Vice President of Logistics, will oversee the company’s logistics network of 17 fulfillment centres and delivery stations across Canada and the U.S.
Image: Article
“Our view was always that covering North America made sense. So covering all of the US and Canada. The business has developed, and has pretty consistently been, kind of 85 per cent US and 15 per cent Canada. It’s how we think about the business today,” said Bozikis. “There’s some ebbs and flows.
“I see a great opportunity for us to continue to serve the customer and be customer-obsessed. We’ve been pushing really hard to try to keep inventory levels strong, to continue to serve customers quickly. With supply chain being an issue globally, we think that’s really important to continue to invest and provide a high level of service for the customer.
“Our view is we continue to serve this category that is under-served. You’ve got great brands like IKEA who kind of serve the low end. You’ve got great brands like, especially in the US, Restoration Hardware who is serving the high end. We’re actually filling a nice gap in the middle where there isn’t a great trusted brand in there that’s serving customer needs and our goal is to continue to build that out and really make sure customers have access to high quality product that delivers good value and our view is just to continue to grow the customer base, introduce as many new people to the product and continue to deepen our reach on the supply chain side so we can keep delivering more and more value over time.”
Robert K. Brown of Axis Communications Discusses Intelligent Analytics and AI for Retail
Craig has a discussion with Robert K. Brown, Solutions Engineer at Axis Communications, about topics including intelligent analytics and artificial intelligence, machine learning, and how cameras are being used as a tool to coordinate the enhancement of the overall retail experience in stores.
The Interview Series podcast by Retail Insider Canada is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out our The Weekly podcast where Craig and Lee discuss popular content published on Retail Insider which is part of the The Retail Insider Podcast Network.
Interviewed this episode:
Robert K Brown, Solutions Engineer at Axis Communications
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Background Music Credit: Hard Boiled Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Retailers these days are being hit with a double whammy – the pandemic and the war in Ukraine – which are both creating supply chain challenges and driving up their costs.
Those two punches are also hitting the consumer as the flow of goods is interrupted and prices are increasing to meet those rising costs.
But one retail expert said certain parts of the supply chain are still making a lot of money.
George Minakakis
“Inflation itself, it’s not you and I buying more products. It’s profiteering and greed that is actually driving inflation and the consumer is about to be punished by higher interest rates because there’s no other control on inflationary pricing that is being put on product to be brought across the ocean,” said George Minakakis, Principal of advisory firm Inception Retail Group Inc., and author of The New Bricks & Mortar Future Proofing Retail.
“I was reading an article on the weekend that said if you bought a container ship today and you filled it with containers, one voyage will pay for the ship. That’s how much money these guys are making.”
“So there’s no suffering on the part of the supply chain distributors, the logistics of it. The brokers are making money. People who have containers are making money. Everyone seems to be making money along the food chain when it comes to bringing product over but the retailers aren’t. I’ve heard crazy stuff – that retailers are being asked to pay as much as 19 per cent more for product. How do you justify 19 per cent more when inflation is 5.7 per cent? It doesn’t make sense.
“So in order to stay in business you’re going to have to pass this along to the consumer. But how do you successfully deliver that to me as a consumer and now tell me my barbecue is going to cost me 19 per cent more if I want to buy one than it did a year ago? I’m going to put that sale off unless you bring that price down to a reasonable level. Most of the rational retailers are saying they’re going to have to price product slightly under inflation in order to be able to move it. I still have to make up my costs but I’m going to have to price it under inflation. Retailers are going to have to respond to this with higher prices and consumers are going to make choices.”
Canadian Tire at CF Toronto Eaton Centre (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Minakakis said his company did a survey in the middle of March asking consumers what changes they were going to make to offset inflation and 41.9 per cent said they were going to cut back on everything and save money while 24.8 per cent said they were going to cut back on going out, 18.3 per cent said they would make no changes, and 15 per cent were going to spend less on vacations.
This is going to impact every retailer. They’ve had two rough years already of opening and closing because of health restrictions and now they’re open again. But questions remain about the pandemic with a new variant out there now. Also, how confident are consumers to be going out with mandates on mask wearing lifted. Minakakis said it’s going to be a tough year this year for retailers.
He said government money has kept many businesses from closing permanently but we need to keep in mind that we don’t know how many businesses actually failed without filing for bankruptcy because bankruptcy costs money and many small businesses can’t afford it.
“The big failures will either happen this year or there’s enough small businesses that have failed that will offset that,” explained Minakakis. “It all depends on how bad inflation gets.”
Retailers will have to discount prices to keep consumers spending, price their products correctly, and cut their costs down to compete.
“If you want that higher price, you better back it up with great value and great service because how else are you going to retain customers? They’re going to have to feel it was worth that 5.7 per cent or eight per cent higher price they paid,” said Minakakis.
Gary Newbury
Gary Newbury, Chief Supply Chain Officer On Call and Founder of RetailAID.ca, said it’s a very challenging situation for retailers today.
“Just stepping back and thinking about who will survive, I suspect it’s the luxury organizations that already have brand loyalists, they already command pretty heavy margins or pretty high margins, and at the other end the discounters, the Walmarts, the dollar stores. Their consumer base has got stretched budgets already so they’re in a good position to capitalize on those people being constrained on their budgets,” said Newbury.
He said the retailers in the middle, the mid-price point retailers, should be very, very concerned at this point in time because their ability to get stock has been constrained over the last two years and it’s not going to get much better.
“And the costs of getting that stock to them through a global transportation system is going up and up and up and there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling for it to come down. It just keeps going. We thought it would stabilize and contain the price but it went to about tenfold increases and that’s still going up and we’re adding the energy costs to actually physically move things. There doesn’t seem to be a ceiling to any of this,” said Newbury.
“So they must be worried that they’re faced with a situation where they can’t put the price up and it’s highly understood. They have to continue to wear some of these excessive costs but they haven’t got a consumer base that’s particularly loyal to them beyond what the price is on the shelf.’
He said old strategies in the retail sector and ways of doing things need to be rethought as retailers need to get back to the basics and if that means they have to lose a lot themselves to try and get a much closer idea of what the consumer is, try to build loyalty within that smaller segment, that’s what they need to do.
Winners at 110 Bloor Street W in Toronto (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
How much could they boost prices by, lose say 40 per cent of their business, and still be profitable?
“I’m not sure how many retailers are thinking in that way because we’re just talking about the basic economics in how to run a business,” said Newbury. “I think they’re still stuck in we’ve got stores, we’ve got e-commerce, we’re running promotions, we’re doing this, we’re doing that, which wasn’t particularly working in the 2010s, but they have to untick some of these things and re-imagine them as to what 2022 will look like.”
Newbury said he had thought that the fourth quarter of 2021 would have been a defining period with a massive shakeout for retailers but coming into January of this year nothing happened – and that’s most puzzling to him.
“This is almost illogical and all I can assume is the arrangements around the leases and the landlords being cooperative, maybe they got money from the government . . . it’s just been enough to get them to now. If that’s true and they haven’t started to do that rethink of their business and how they’re going to compete for 2022 . . . I think we’re going to find a situation where we’re going to see a reshaping of the retail industry during this year in Canada,” said Newbury.
Space NK at Queen Street flagship. Photo: Hudson's Bay
Hudson’s Bay has added three Space NK locations to its Canadian stores, effectively doubling the number of shop-in-stores for the UK-based beauty apothecary concept in the Canadian market. It’s part of an effort on the part of Hudson’s Bay to grow market share for its beauty business as competitors such as Sephora continue to open stores.
New Space NK locations at Hudson’s Bay in Canada include shop-in-stores at the Queen Street flagship in downtown Toronto, at CF Carrefour Laval near Montreal and at CF Market Mall in Calgary. They join three existing Space NK shop-in-stores at Hudson’s Bay that opened in October of 2021 in downtown Montreal and downtown Vancouver as well as at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
Online portal TheBay.com also carries the full range of prestige and indie beauty brands from Space NK including haircare, makeup, skincare, bath, body, and fragrance.
“Space NK at the Bay is an unmatched experience—customers will discover the most sought-after brands, many of which are new to Canada, complemented by our incredible and expansive beauty assortment,” says Laura Janney, Chief Merchant at The Bay.
CF Carrefour Laval. Photo: Hudson’s BayCF Market Mall in Calgary. Photo: Hudson’s Bay
Currently, 18 brands are featured at Space NK in Canada including Chantecaille, Boy Smells, Tata Harper, Sunday Riley, Dr. Dennis Gross, R+Co, Kevyn Aucoin and most recently Malin + Goetz. In addition to the availability at Hudson’s Bay locations, 25 other stores also feature branded Space NK ‘haircare towers’.
Hudson’s Bay says that it plans to open more Space NK shop-in-stores into 2023. The move signals the retailer’s intentions to beef up operations in its beauty halls that are seeing increased competition.
That includes LVMH-owned Sephora which said in a press release last year that it was planning to open an additional 50 stores in Canada. Sephora already has expanded aggressively in the Canadian market including in 2016 when it launched a ‘takeover’ of the Toronto market which saw new stores open and others expanded.
Shoppers Drug Mart has been adding more beauty brands to some of its stores as part of its beautyBOUTIQUE initiative. Even brands such as Chanel can be found in some Shoppers Drug Mart stores and competitor Rexall has also been growing its beauty business, albeit at a slower pace.
Large-format retailers Holt Renfrew and Nordstrom also have robust beauty floors — Holt Renfrew’s six large stores boast many of the world’s top brands while Nordstrom offers a range of unique products at various prices. At the more affordable end is Walmart which in the US will be launching some Space NK shop-in-stores according to an announcement last month.
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.
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.
Kitchy US-based candy retailer IT’SUGAR is expanding into the Canadian market this year with its first store set to open at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton.
The West Edmonton Mall storefront will span about 4,000 square feet on one level and will be located on the main floor of the mall beside an entrance to the Galaxyland amusement park. A West 49 store is located directly next to it and a Footlocker House of Hoops across the way.
The location will become an added attraction to West Edmonton Mall which years ago had a large candy store that has since closed. The chosen location next to Galaxyland is strategic with a corner storefront that has high visibility both to shoppers in the mall as well as those in the amusement park.
Click image for interactive West Edmonton Mall map
Image: IT’SUGAR
Image: IT’SUGAR
IT’SUGAR has become one of the largest of its kind in the world. Its website says that the retailer is “known for their absurd sugar innovations that celebrate lighthearted rebellion”. IT’SUGAR caters to young adults with sweets with names such as ‘Dingle Bearies’ (chocolate covered gummy bears) ‘Flinging Poo’ (chocolate covered banana chips) and ‘Schweddy Balls’ (based on the Saturday Night Live-inspired treat, being salty chocolate balls). Products range from well-known brand names to creations by the retailer. Many products are exclusive and private-label which also includes apparel and novelty items which make up an incredibly substantial part of the business.
The goal of IT’SUGAR is to create a positive customer experience. Posting brand messaging includes statements such as the brand encouraging “the world to not take itself too seriously” while providing “access to the pure joy that comes from indulging in a world with fewer rules and more sugar”.
Candy veteran Jeff Rubin founded IT’SUGAR in 2006. He grew up in Michigan where his family owned a candy store chain called Mr. Bulky — as a child he sold chocolate bars and bubblegum to his classmates. As an adult he joined US toy retailer FAO Schwarz in New York City where he operated the company’s candy department dubbed ‘FAO Schweetz’.
Image: IT’SUGAR Honolulu, Hawaii
In 2000 he and Dylan Lauren (daughter to fashion designer Ralph Lauren) founded Dylan’s Candy bar and in 2005 they parted ways before he founded his own candy business.
IT’SUGAR operates almost 100 stores in the United States. The stores are located in major shopping centres, tourist attractions, outlet malls, urban street-fronts and even inside of Macy’s in New York City.
In 2017, BBX Capital invested in IT’SUGAR, enabling the retailer to grow faster including opening its largest location during the pandemic at American Dream near New York City. That three-floor store is described as being the “world’s first candy department store” spanning a whopping 24,000 square feet.
In Canada, it’s unknown if more locations will be opening. We’ll follow up on this story when IT’SUGAR opens its first Canadian store at West Edmonton Mall.
