Fine jewelry store Mejuri has opened its second location in Canada, in Kitsilano, with plans for continued expansion.
It is the retailers’ eighth location overall.
Majed Masad
Co-founder and President Majed Masad said the company knew it wanted to be among some of the top retailers in Vancouver – in Kitsilano specifically, there are many fashion and lifestyle shops and yet it still has a neighbourhood feel.
“We know that our customers – and tourists too – tend to flock to Kitsilano for its down-to-earth vibe, its proximity to the beach, and plethora of emerging and established brands. We really look forward to building and connecting with our West Coast community in real life through our in store experiences and events,” said Masad.
Mejuri on West 4th (Image: Mejuri)
“Vancouver is one of our top cities in Canada, and our customers have been messaging us on social media to come. We did a pop up in Vancouver in 2019 that also validated the need to have a retail presence. The pop up drove strong customer acquisition where 75 per cent of the customers were new to the brand and we saw a lift in online sales in the city.”
Other stores include Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Austin, and London UK.
“While we started as a digital-first brand, physical retail is a natural fit for our brand and category. We definitely plan to expand more in Canada and the US in the years to come and are excited to share more details as we finalize our plans,” explained Masad.
“My partner in work and life, Noura, is a third generation jeweller and saw how traditional fine jewelry can be – typically gifted and marketed for men to buy for women. We also saw how archaic the industry is with outdated supply chains and inflated markups. We wanted to create the next generation brand and flip the narrative to self-purchase or as we say at Mejuri, ‘buy yourself the damn diamond’.
Mejuri on West 4th (Image: Mejuri)
“In 2015, we started Mejuri to provide fine jewelry for every day. Though we are digital first, we wanted to create a space where our community could not only interact with our products but with each other. We opened our first store in July 2018, in our hometown of Toronto – we followed up with opening our New York store later that year. We found that bringing our brand to life in the form of retail has been a strong customer acquisition channel for us and great for loyalty, leading us to expand our retail footprint. In addition to opening eight stores, we have shipped over two million pieces of jewelry and have reached over one million customers since inception.”
He said the jewelry industry is quite large, however, the retailer believes there is room for various businesses to co-exist and grow. Mejuri was created to put a modern spin on an old industry through high-quality craftsmanship and the best materials, timeless yet fresh designs, fair pricing, meaningful stories and an authentic sense of community.
“We were one of the first brands to launch as a direct to consumer fine jewelry platform and we pioneered the weekly drop model in fine jewelry. We also created a strong in-house team who oversee everything from creative to product design, marketing and technology, customer service and even distribution. This allows us to own the customer experience from start to finish, and cultivate strong engagement with our customers across all channels,” he said.
“Most importantly, our brand ethos – of empowering individuals and celebrating ourselves and one another – hasn’t changed since day one and continues to empower our customers every time they shop with us, visit us in store, attend a community event or give back via our Empowerment Fund. We introduced the Empowerment Fund in June 2020 to support women and non-binary individuals with the tools to empower themselves, and the feedback has been incredible.”
Mejuri on West 4th (Image: Mejuri)
Mejuri on West 4th (Image: Mejuri)
Masad said the past year during the pandemic has challenged everyone since it’s a situation that we haven’t experienced before on any level.
“We were one of the first brands to close our retail stores, and as a team, we had to be creative and resilient. We recognized that this was an opportunity to innovate and adapt, and offer our customers a valuable shopping experience. We did this by doubling down on our online experience, creating a better omnichannel experience (i.e. Buy Online and Pickup in Store), and focusing on adding value through giving back to the community,” he said.
“The shift towards e-commerce encouraged us to focus on our online experience even further so that we could sustain a meaningful relationship with our customers during this time. For example, we focused heavily on our Style Edit, a platform where we feature creatives and industry people that share styling advice so that we could continue to inspire our customers and show them the many ways to wear and stack our jewelry. We also offered even more digital styling appointments, so that our customers could have real-time interactions with our team during the pandemic and get styling advice to help them shop.
“We noticed an increase in people buying themselves jewelry during this time, and buying jewelry as gifts. In fact, we saw a 66 per cent increase in gifting during the pandemic. Since people couldn’t be with one another, they turned to jewelry to make remote and more personalized connections.”
Masad added that customers really relied on Mejuri to create positive changes as its platform grew.
“We have always felt a responsibility to do so, whether it’s through the content we create, the voices we amplify, or where we are investing back into our community,” he said.
Montreal boutique developer MTRPL has landed Ciele Athletics, with its first retail location, at the real estate company’s key site at 1620 Notre Dame Ouest.
Bryan Spatzner, co-founder of MTRPL, said the location was one of the company’s largest and most recent projects at 50,000 square feet. The building was owned by the Salvation Army which sold the building to MTRPL about two and a half years ago.
Bryan Spatzner
“They had owned it since 1945. They bought it from Northern Electric . . . which built this property in 1915. And so the Salvation Army had owned it and when we bought it they had their retail operation on the ground floor but the rest of the building, essentially 40,000 square feet, was being used as a storage space and just as a repository for everything they hadn’t sold,” said Spatzner.
“So we repositioned the asset as commercial loft office upstairs where we’re 100 per cent leased and the last piece of the puzzle was the ground floor space. The Salvation Army left because they felt the area no longer had enough capacity for their product, for their offering. We were unable to re-sign them. They decided they wanted to get out of the neighbourhood as it gentrified and we were left with 10,000 square feet on the ground floor of retail to lease.
“The stars really aligned on this one. It’s a great deal. They’re a great brand to be associated with both at MTRPL and at the property 1620 NDO.”
Click for Interactive Google MapImage: Ciele Athletics
He said 10,000 square feet of urban streetfront isn’t the easiest nut to crack these days and not the most popular size space even before COVID for urban retail.
“And going into COVID we entered a bit of a leasing winter so to speak for retail as everybody was really forced to be closed. Admittingly, this is the longest we’ve sat on any empty space on the ground floor. It was vacant for about two years but we finally struck gold with Ciele Athletics who in my mind is almost like lululemon is to yoga, Ciele is to running in so far as their lifestyle brand. It’s high-performance product. Originally I think their marquee product was their headwear. They’ve branched since into all different types of running attire,” said Spatzner.
“You only have to go on the Lachine Canal, which is a stone’s throw from our site, to see just about every single jogger, biker, everybody wearing a Ciele Athletics hat. Even in my travels I’ve seen them all over the place – in kitchens, anywhere where people are being active you can find a Ciele hat.
“So with a little bit of luck and a hell of a lot of persistence we managed to strike a deal with Ciele for their flagship retail, office HQ and experiential retail with a running room to take the full 10,000 square feet on the ground floor. We’re very excited. They’re a great Montreal brand and success story. It really is a Cinderella fit in so far as it’s going to be a multi-use space. They’re a fast growing company and it’s just a great image for them and the building to be on Notre Dame in the heart of Montreal but at the same time less than a minute’s walk from the Lachine Canal for an athletic brand.”
Image: Ciele athletics
Image: Ciele athletics
Overall, Spatzner said MTRPL has been very lucky with no retail tenants going under over the last year or so of the pandemic, except for one tenant that was on thin ice before COVID started. It closed unrelated to the retail crisis started by the pandemic.
“As landlords we were of the conviction that we are in all of this together. It is a global issue so any tenant that qualified for the (federal rent subsidies) we gladly participated in that government program . . . That being said, I would say March 2020 when it started certainly retail leasing froze up but we’ve since over the last quarter or two have seen a real uptick in leasing velocity and we’ve been signing leases and continuing to acquire new projects,” he said.
The company had also purchased a ‘white elephant’ building along the busy Saint Denis Street in Montreal with plans to revitalize it into unique retail and housing space to go along with the renewal of a street which had fallen into decay in recent years.
The building at the southwest corner of Rachel and Saint Denis was originally a bank in the 1920s and Mexx’s flagship store for 17 years before its demise. The building had been vacant and vandalized for about five years before MTRPL bought it.
Image: Ciele athletics
“It’s fully finished. The SAQ (liquor store) is on the corner. It’s in my opinion the most beautiful SAQ in the city. We did 10 AirBnB apartments upstairs that are fully net leased to an AirBnB operator who is doing very, very well as revenge tourism has been coming back with a vengeance in a positive sense,” said Spatzner.
“And we have one small restaurant called La Petite Dinette that took the last little piece of retail on the ground floor there. They did a beautiful build out kind of Miami Vice retro hot pinks and teals and like an Asian fusion product.”
MTRPL was founded in 2016 as a real estate company concentrating on retail centric mixed-use urban development. It specializes in the investment, development, and management of mixed-use assets.
“Our investment philosophy begins with transit-oriented development along retail corridors in urban areas. We search for assets in high density neighbourhoods, with abundant foot traffic and an authentic sense of place,” says MTRPL on its website.
While living in Peru, Bojana Sentaler discovered the beautiful alpaca fibre and fell in love with its lightweight and warm features.
From that experience, in 2009 she launched the luxury outerwear brand, SENTALER.
Recently, the brand opened a flagship store in Yorkville Village in Toronto and expanded into menswear with international growth plans for the future.
SENTALER Yorkville (Image: George Pimentel)
Many well-known celebrities such as Megan Markle, Kate Middleton and Halle Berry have been seen wearing the brand.
Sentaler graduated from the Schulich School of Business with a degree in Marketing and Finance and initially worked in the corporate world after university where she found out that her entrepreneurial spirit was constrained by the corporate structure.
“I ended up leaving my job and leaving Canada and in 2008 I moved to Dubai to explore new opportunities and while I was living in Dubai I was working in media. So I was putting together economic investment reports on emerging markets with a specialization in the Middle East North Africa region and at the time Karl Lagerfield was designing villas in Dubai. I had the pleasure of interviewing him for one of the reports we were working on and it was quite an interesting interview for me because I have very high respect for him and he was somebody I really looked up to as a fashion genius,” said Sentaler, who was born in Belgrade and moved to Toronto at the age of eight.
Bojana Sentaler
It was that meeting that sparked her journey into the world of fashion. It was her first source of inspiration in launching her own collection one day. At the end of 2008, the global economic downturn took place. She returned to Canada.
“I remember it was winter. It was December. It was cold. I think I was very used to living in a warm climate for a year while I was living in Dubai. So I picked up my bags and I travelled to South America at the beginning of 2009 and I ended up staying and living in Lima, Peru for six months while I was there. While I was living in Lima it was actually quite interesting. I always think everything happens for a reason,” said Sentaler. “I was working on a media project and I was meeting with everybody while I was there.
“It was interesting because at all the meetings Peruvians showed me their pride in their fabric which is alpaca and this is something that is part of their culture. They’re very proud of the alpaca animals in the Andes mountains as well as the product that comes from shearing the alpaca animals. After studying this fabric, I really fell in love with its features and its attributes which at the time I found quite intriguing considering I come from Canada where winters are very long and cold. So the fabric is extremely warm. It’s extremely lightweight. It’s very soft to the touch. It’s extremely high quality and it’s hypoallergenic and it’s sourced ethically. The animals are sacred animals in Peru . . . They’re protected and cared for.”
From there, she decided to make a collection of alpaca coats and launched SENTALER in 2009. She made her first collection of seven coats that included every coat she ever dreamed of owning. She moved back to Toronto to launch the brand.
Bojana Sentaler
“The very first collection was available in Toronto only and it was by order. This is when I built my network of clients in Toronto and throughout the years we launched sentaler.com a few years later and that’s when we made the collection available online internationally,” said Sentaler.
In 2010, she opened up the first SENTALER showroom at 555 Richmond Street West in Toronto. The collections were available to customers at the showroom exclusively and this was the company’s first location. It then developed a retail partnership with Holt Renfrew – its first retail partner, which was followed by Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Andrews and many other independent retail boutiques.
The Yorkville location was opened in the fall and its first flagship retail store outside of the showroom she has operated since 2010.
“The women’s collection has been doing extremely well since its launch and throughout the years we have had an enormous demand for men’s coats. Also our women clients were always interested in coats for their husbands and their significant others and in general we’ve seen a very large demand for men’s coats. So I decided two years ago to launch a men’s collection and I made this announcement at SENTALER’S 10th anniversary party which took place at the EY Tower on top of the 40th floor in 2019,” she said.
“I’ve been working on the men’s collection since and I finally launched the first ever SENTALER men’s collection in October.”
Sentaler said the retailer has developed as a home-grown brand in Canada as well as internationally.
“The plan really for SENTALER is to continue to grow internationally. We definitely want to reach our clients in all the major fashion cities in the world and then just to continue to also expand our product offering,” she said.
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.
The McEwan grocery store near the corner of Yonge & Bloor Streets in downtown Toronto has closed after chef Mark McEwan’s business empire filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of September. Landlord First Capital REIT had reportedly contested the store’s closure.
The 17,000 square foot store opened in January of 2019 on the concourse level of 1 Bloor East complex. It included a mix of grocery items as well as grab-and-go and sit-down dining options.
The store was one of several in the area which has the highest concentration of grocery retailers in Canada. Prices at McEwan were generally higher than most of the competitors nearby and its location on busy Yonge Street was removed from many of the wealthier households who live West of Bay Street in the Yorkville area.
In court filings, McEwan noted challenges with the Yonge and Bloor grocery store. “This location has created significant strain on the Company’s liquidity,” said the Application Record of McEwan Enterprises Inc. “With an extensive footprint and significant lease and operational costs, combined with disappointing sales results, McEwan Yonge & Bloor has had the most detrimental impact on the Company’s overall financial performance. With the benefit of hindsight, the Company would not have entered into operations at this location based on the existing lease terms. McEwan Yonge & Bloor has been a significant challenge since its opening and currently remains a material issue for the Company.”
After we announced in October that the grocery store would be closing, the Globe & Mail reported that landlord First Capital REIT was contesting McEwan’s application under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) to restructure its operations by transferring most of the business to a new company held by the same owners. A subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. owned 55 per cent of McEwan Enterprises, and the rest was owned by Mr. McEwan’s holding company, McEwan Holdco Inc.
First Capital argued that McEwan Enterprises should be required to test the market by undergoing a sale process for the business and in a factum from October, the landlord’s lawyer argued that the the proposed transaction would be an “abuse” of the CCAA process.
McEwan Enterprises had been losing money even before the COVID-19 pandemic according to court filings. That includes several restaurants as well as another large-format grocery store at CF Shops at Don Mills in Toronto as well as a smaller grocery concept store in Toronto’s Financial District.
It remains to be seen what tenant will occupy the basement space that McEwan has vacated in downtown Toronto. It includes an entrance foyer at the street level facing Yonge Street which is flanked by a Chick-fil-A restaurant to the south and a Nordstrom Rack store to the north.
Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville continues to boast a high density of grocery retailers. That includes Italian concept Eataly that opened nearby at the Manulife Centre in November of 2019, joining a Loblaw City Market grocery store in the basement, Whole Foods at Yorkville Village, Pusateri’s on Bay Street, Longo’s at the Hudson’s Bay Centre, and three Rabba stores nearby. Shoppers Drug Mart has also expanded grocery offerings at its two-level storefront at Yonge and Charles Streets.
Rep Your Colours is owned by Phil Kinninmont and has geared the concept for sports fans to find everything from wearable jerseys to represent their favourite team to memorabilia for the serious collectors. The store opened on November 2, 2021 and will remain open until December 31, 2021.
The first pop-up location for Rep Your Colours was at Park Royal Shopping Centre a year ago within the main “South” indoor shopping mall. After trying a pop-up in CF Richmond Centre, the retailer has returned to Park Royal Shopping Centre for this Christmas holiday season.
Interior of ‘Rep Your Colours’ pop-up at Park Royal in West Vancouver, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett. ‘Rep Your Colours’ Grand Opening. Photo: Rep Your Colours Instagram.
While the first pop-up location for ‘Rep Your Colours’ was within the indoor portion of Park Royal, this new location for the retailer is located in the outdoor-focused “The Village” portion of the shopping centre.
Interior of ‘Rep Your Colours’ pop-up at Park Royal in West Vancouver, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett. Interior of ‘Rep Your Colours’ pop-up at Park Royal in West Vancouver, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett. Interior of ‘Rep Your Colours’ pop-up at Park Royal in West Vancouver, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett. Interior of ‘Rep Your Colours’ pop-up at Park Royal in West Vancouver, BC. Photo: Lee Rivett.
There’s been a fair bit of media coverage about how the pandemic is shaping retail these days and how the protracted supply chain issues are impacting the holiday shopping season across the country. And, who better to ask than Michael DeLong?
Michael DeLong
Michael is a GetintheLoop Local franchisee in Hamilton, Ontario and is one of nearly 100 GetintheLoop Local Owners across the country who work with local businesses every day. He became a GetintheLoop Local owner at the very outset of the pandemic, and today he works hand-in-hand with local businesses providing marketing support and connecting his partners to GetintheLoop’s shop local community.
When asked what is different about this Christmas season compared to last year, Michael is quick to point out, “last year was mostly about telling people “we’re open.” This year, it’s more about creating a sense of urgency because of reduced inventory caused by supply chain problems.”
Despite the concerns of increased demand, product shortages, staffing shortages, and continued uncertainty caused by the evolving pandemic regulations, many positive, growth-minded business owners believe that we’re in a little better situation than we were last year. Michael notes, “I think with the way things are going, businesses are happy that people are starting to come back into the stores finally.”
1. Be positive and growth-minded
The optimistic business owners are the ones that are adapting and adopting new technologies like GetintheLoop. They are doing things to help better their business, whether online or usingother initiatives to help drive revenue.
On the other hand, Michael adds, “with this much uncertainty though, it’s still very unsettling for a lot of people. There are rumours of another lockdown, and many people are fearful of what that could do to their businesses. It’s kind of 50-50 as to where we are, but I think in the long term, we’re all going to be stronger.”
Michael notes, “I work with a lot of local businesses that sell unique, Canadian-made goods, and there does seem to be a common theme I’m hearing from a lot of local business owners. Consumers are coming in with their lists, they’re checking to make sure that they’ve got something that might be on their list, but they’re not buying it at that time. Owners are struggling with how to get them to make the purchase right then to avoid losing out when they return.
2. Unique and novel concepts
Image: Rustic Daisy’s
Many would agree that the silver lining of the pandemic has been a raised consciousness about the importance of shopping locally. But Michael explains the pandemic has also spun off several new, innovative businesses that are growing and thriving, “I’ve actually partnered with a unique business in town called, That’s my Jam Sandwiches. They opened in May of 2021, right amidst the pandemic. This local entrepreneur, Nikoo, creates gourmet fruit fusion jam sandwiches, each built with a layer of jam to make it unique while at the same time promoting local artists. They hire artists in the restaurant and do art night events. So guests get to learn from an artist, and that engages people. It’s bringing people back to the heart of the city; it’s creating a culture within the downtown area that allows businesses to find a unique way to sell a product.
According to DeLong, these are among five of Hamilton’s most adaptive and innovative businesses that have turned pandemic lemons into lemonade.
It seems many people want to try something different, and by providing something that has a little flair, something a little different that makes it unique and, better yet, customized in some way that novelty can drive business.
3. Connect with consumers digitally
GetintheLoop is helping businesses like That’s my Jam Sandwiches by connecting them with people in the community who want to support local businesses through the GetintheLoop app and audience network.
GetintheLoop is helping local businesses reach local consumers with the annual Holiday Loop. Michael adds, “we’re featuring several businesses in our Holiday Loop this year. It’s great because it enables those businesses who are a part of GetintheLoop, extra exposure for their holiday offerings. The holiday offers are all in one place at the top of the app. This is great for the consumer; it’s one click, and they can see all of the great holiday offers in the community.”
While it’s anyone’s guess what this time will look like next year, the resilience of retailers and small businesses across the country has been remarkable. It also seems that those business owners that choose a curious, positive mindset are more likely to adapt and grow.
If you’re a retailer and would like to learn more about how GetintheLoop can help grow your business connect with us.
GetintheLoop is a franchise, and if you’re interested in bringing GetintheLoop to your community contact us today.
Masai Ujiri and Harry Rosen Come Together for Humanity in 2.0 Capsule Collaboration
Iconic Canadian retailer Harry Rosen has taken another step in its journey to support diversity in partner designers.
Harry Rosen has teamed up with Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman and President and Giants of Africa Founder Masai Ujiri to present the Humanity capsule collection in its second consecutive year.
Building on the #ThatsHumanity movement that Ujiri launched in 2020, the 10-piece athleisure curation is inspired by values of diversity, inclusion and community partnership.
The 2.0 capsule collaboration is between business leader and philanthropist Ujiri and celebrated Canadian luxury designer Patrick Assaraf.
Image: Masai Ujiri & Harry Rosen 2.0 capsule collaboration with designer Patrick Assaraf.
Trinh Tham
Trinh Tham, Harry Rosen’s CMO, said the partnership is one the company is thrilled to be bringing back with Masai Ujiri for the second consecutive year.
“We reached out at the beginning of 2020 to see if Masai would be interested in partnering with us. We got talking and our values are very much the same. He’s a leader and we’re very much about being seen as leaders and supporting a lot of our customers who are leaders. Inclusivity and diversity is a really important value of Harry Rosen’s and that’s obviously something that Masai Ujiri I think everyone knows has been a champion of both for the Raptors and through his efforts with Giants of Africa.
“We got to talking and he was just about to launch the movement #ThatsHumanity and we wanted to express our support for #ThatsHumanity through fashion. Masai’s a very stylish person, leader, and it just all kind of came into place.
“This 10-piece athleisure collection that we created is inspired by the values of diversity, inclusion and community partnership. We did a collection last year, a seven-piece capsule, and it sold out almost immediately and did very well. Last year’s collection featured a hoodie with the word Humanity created across the front and Masai’s actual handwriting.
Masai Ujiri and Harry Rosen Come Together for Humanity in 2.0 Capsule Collaboration
Masai Ujiri and Harry Rosen Come Together for Humanity in 2.0 Capsule Collaboration
“This year the collection is comprised of various hoodies. We’ve added a tie-dye fleece option with matching sweatpants and an assortment of logo print T-shirts and a full-zip Humanity logo merino sweater as a very special limited collection piece.”
Tham said one of Harry Rosen’s values has always been inclusivity.
“The organization has been undergoing a business transformation, a digital transformation, and a transformation to really reach out to a younger and different demographic of customers. As part of our brand evolution, our brand refresh actually, that we also launched in the fall of 2020, we decided that we wanted to work with role models – role models who exhibit the same values that we believe in – leadership, creativity, passion and inclusivity,” she said.
“We started wondering who in Canada could exhibit those and Masai Ujiri came to us right away. And we really wanted to focus on supporting the BIPOC community. In fashion, the BIPOC community is one of the areas that we as an organization believe very strongly that we need to do more to support. We have a commitment internally to bring on more designers from the BIPOC community, supporting and nurturing that community from a fashion perspective as well with our internal staff.”
Masai Ujiri and Harry Rosen Come Together for Humanity in 2.0 Capsule Collaboration
Masai Ujiri and Harry Rosen Come Together for Humanity in 2.0 Capsule Collaboration
The collection will be available in time for the holiday season exclusively at Harry Rosen in early December, in-store and online. The capsule items will join shelves that also feature lines from new BIPOC designers Bohten and Aller Retour.
“The #ThatsHumanity movement is meant to challenge all of us to seek out and embrace the things that make us human,” said Ujiri. “Inspired by Nelson Mandela’s fight for equality for all people, it is expressed through stories, shared experiences and art—all of which is represented here in the beauty of fashion.”
John Millar
A key component of the 2021 Humanity capsule project will be a donation to community partner Water First Education & Training Inc. Founded in 2009 to bring drinking water resources to rural schools in Uganda, Water First began working in Canada in 2012. The Water First Internship Program supports young Indigenous interns to become certified water treatment plant operators within 15 months—with 90 per cent of the pilot Internship graduates employed or pursuing further education within weeks of completion.
Larry Rosen
“Absolutely everyone should have sustainable access to safe, clean water,” said John Millar, Executive Director and Founder of Water First. “This support from Harry Rosen and Masai is a critical investment in Indigenous youth and communities that will help solve water challenges independently, and in the long-term. We are inspired to have new friends from diverse walks of life join us in making a meaningful impact together.”
Larry Rosen, CEO of Harry Rosen, said the company is thrilled to partner in this project.
“It is a priority for us to raise funds for charity, support local communities and remind the world that there’s more that unites us than divides us,” he said.
Tony Hurst knows home improvement. With more than 25 years of experience working within the sector, serving in just about every role from frontline customer service to executive leadership positions, he’s amassed a great deal of knowledge and understanding concerning the entirety of the home improvement retail operation. Specializing in enterprise strategy and transformation, Hurst joined the Lowe’s team in 2019 as the company’s Division President of the western United States. And after only a little more than a year, in January 2020, he was appointed to the position of President of Lowe’s Canada – a role in which he’s been charged with leading the strategic direction of the Canadian businesses and accelerating profitable growth. It’s a responsibility in which Hurst recognizes the inherent challenges. But it’s also one that he says he and his team have been relishing as they continue their work toward the integration and harmonization of the Canadian business.
“Retail is about being innovative and making sure that the organization is firmly grounded in the fundamentals of the business,” he asserts. “It’s about understanding consumer trends and the macroeconomic environment, and ensuring that everyone on the team around you remains students of the business in order to identify and understand all of the changes that happen within the industry on an ongoing basis. At the end of the day, we sell things and take care of our customers in the communities that we operate in. Focusing on these aspects of the business allows us to uphold our principles of execution and consistency within our stores, both in Canada as well as the U.S. However, our business model is dramatically different in Canada as compared with our U.S. operation. Lowe’s Canada runs different banners and has different store sizes and formats. And there’s also a different language to consider when we think about Quebec and our French customer-base. It’s been really important over the course of the past year or so that we focus a lot of our effort on making sure that each of these different brands represents Lowe’s Canada as a whole. There’s been a lot of work involved and a lot of moving parts to consider in order to standardize the Canadian side of the business.”
Unification of systems
Image: Lowe’s Canada
There’s been a lot of work involved, indeed. When Lowe’s acquired RONA in 2016, it added a host of locations to its Canadian enterprise. Now, with stores under the Lowe’s, RONA, Réno-Dépôt and Dick’sLumber banners, the retailer operates more than 450 corporate and independent affiliated dealer locations in the country. Hurst explains that at the time of the acquisition there wasn’t a lot of focus and effort paid toward integrating RONA stores to a standardized business model, with much of the attention instead going to the reformatting of stores. Though he recognizes the importance of that sort of work toward the overall harmonization of the Lowe’s Canada store network, Hurst believes that the most critical change that’s required, posing the most significant improvements for both the company’s associates as well as its loyal customers, is the unification of systems across its banners.
“When you have distinct operating systems that don’t talk to each other, a lot of pressure is placed on the business’ ability to operate effectively,” he says. “In those scenarios, you’ve got to train specific skillsets for different systems, resulting in a disjointed experience for employees and customers. Over the past year, we’ve been focused on harmonizing the business in order to make it easier and more efficient for our associates to execute and for our customers to understand our brand identity. If you think of RONA stores, for example, we’ve got RONA big box stores, RONA proximity stores, Building Centres, Building Centre Plus stores, and we also have a dealer network. That’s a really confusing go-to-market strategy from a customer brand expectation perspective. So, we’ve been doing a lot of work around the ways we market to our customers and how we set an accurate expectation around the experience they’ll receive when they come into our different store locations across the country. We’ve also spent some time evaluating our assortment in the stores. And, in order to optimize our assortment, we’re paying a lot of attention to understanding what our best selling skus and categories are, and how they’re penetrated in the different stores, using that information to identify where we need to contract or expand.”
Empowering teams
Prior to joining Lowe’s, Hurst began his career at the competition, spending 14 years within senior management positions at The Home Depot where he rose to the ranks of Regional Vice President of the Pacific north region of its network. After acquiring substantial skills and knowledge related to the execution of strategies and initiatives, he then undertook a new challenge at JCPenny. It’s where he says he was exposed to operations for the first time, gaining invaluable experience concerning aspects of the business, like process development and IT integration, before moving on to serve in a merchant role in which he was responsible for negotiations and setting costs, sourcing, product innovation, private brand development, and more. He ended his stint at JCPenny as SVP of Stores, overseeing a network of more than 800 locations across the United States. Hurst’s involvement in a breadth of roles within retail organizations has equipped him with a proficiency concerning the many different functional areas of the business. And, it seems to have also helped shape his philosophies as a leader.
“Because I’ve had the opportunity to work within virtually every role, from cashier to leadership positions related to a number of different areas of the organization, I feel fortunate to have developed a unique perspective on leadership,” he says. “It helped me learn early on about the value of humility. When a leader thinks they know everything they stop listening, and then people don’t have much to say. We seek input from our entire team, particularly from those that are closest to our customers. Our associates carry a lot of weight in their message because they’re living the Lowe’s experience every day. One of the greatest responsibilities of a leader, however, is having the ability to empower your teams and to be courageous in decision-making. You’ve got to be able to make the tough decisions and provide clarity to your team around the direction that the company’s taking. It helps everyone understand the vision and objectives of the organization and creates buy-in, motivating the team to achieve its goals. And, a leader must also be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and the collective team, bringing out the best in everyone, and helping them grow and develop so they’re more effective in their roles and careers.”
Inspiring leadership
Tony Hurst (Image: Lowe’s Canada)
Hurst goes on to explain that, in addition to the qualities that he mentions as integral to a great leader, he believes that a strong work ethic is also required in order to set an example for others to follow. It’s a quality and way of thinking that he says was instilled in him through the influence of his father. He credits him as one of his earliest inspirations, adding that he always admired his focus and determination. And, because he’s enjoyed the opportunity to work with a number of different leaders throughout his career to this point, he says that he’s also been able to learn and draw from a number of different styles and philosophies. However, he recognizes Marvin Ellison, current CEO of Lowe’s, as one of the most capable and influential leaders that he’s been exposed to.
“Marvin’s a very humble leader,” Hurst points out. “He listens. And he listens not to respond, but to absorb input from people. He’s made sure that the culture at Lowe’s inspires everyone to be all in, to be committed to winning and to put in the hard work that’s required to achieve those wins. His leadership evokes dedication and commitment. When you approach tasks with that kind of attitude, any challenge can be overcome. And when it’s a collective effort from everyone, when the entire team buys in and aligns, moving in the right direction, it results in an incredibly powerful business tool for success. Marvin’s done a tremendous job of making sure that these are the characteristics that continue driving Lowe’s forward.”
Enhanced digitization
The dedication and commitment that Hurst talks about has helped the company overcome some of the recent challenges that were precipitated by impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. He says that the company’s primary concern at the onset of the virus’ spread was to ensure the health and safety of its customers and associates, which required quick pivots to adhere to newly introduced safety protocols and standards. However, from a business perspective, he says that the disruptions caused by lockdowns and restrictions highlighted some of the improvements that Lowe’s Canada needed to make in order to provide a great online experience for its customers.
“We have three separate .ca platforms – Lowe’s, RONA and Réno-Dépôt – and realized immediately that greater harmonization was required in order to provide our customers with a seamless and consistent experience across these platforms,” he asserts. “In addition, when Ontario entered a curbside-only period, it really brought forward some operational aspects of the digital experience that we hadn’t yet thought through. During the early stages of the pandemic, the number one project that customers were undertaking was painting their homes. And if you think of the in-store paint buying experience, customers walk up to the paint chip wall and pull out colours and imagine them in their homes. But you can’t offer that experience to them when they aren’t in the store. So, with the help of one of our vendor partners, Sico, we developed an online paint tint selector so customers could still compare colours and order them online to be collected curbside. We also invested in pickup lockers so customers could enjoy a contactless experience when picking up orders. And we developed an online curbside scheduler so customers could schedule a time to pick up their products. In the end, we invested in a number of different technologies in order to make this omnichannel experience for our customers a reality, giving them the ability to shop when, how and where they want to shop with us.”
Same-day delivery
Image: Rona.ca
In addition to these investments to help enhance the evolving retail shopping experience for its customers, Lowe’s Canada recently announced the launch of its new same-day delivery service in over 140 Lowe’s, RONA, and Réno-Dépôt corporate stores across the country. As a result of the introduction of this key service, Lowe’s adds another layer to its already excellent customer service and experience. It also allows it to continue its positive trajectory with respect to meaningful digital investments and enhancements. And, as Hurst points out, it provides Lowe’s Canada with a speed of service that significantly benefits their home improvement professional and DIYer customer-base, differentiating the brand from its competition.
“When considering best-in-class retailers from an online perspective, it’s those that are recognized by the speed with which they can deliver product,” he says. “For our customers, especially the professional base, time is money to them. When they send workers into the store to find and select items, it results in unproductive payroll. This enhancement enables us with the ability to provide that speed of delivery and service that saves them valuable time and effort so they can continue working. Again, it’s really about giving the customer the choice to decide exactly how they want to shop with us and how they want to receive their product. To do this, we’ve leveraged our retail footprint across the country, shipping directly from stores, in order to eliminate transportation costs and increasing efficiency of service. It’s representing a really big piece of our strategy around truly becoming an omnichannel retailer for our customers.”
Increased assortment
In order to support the digitization of the business and bolster the online Lowe’s Canada experience, Hurst says that the company will also be investing heavily in broadening its online assortment, adding 120,000 skus next year to bring the total number of products online to 300,000. It’s an attempt, he explains, at achieving organic growth for the business while helping to elevate the brands’ digital offering. However, the exploration and introduction of new products isn’t limited to the Lowe’s Canada online environment. In fact, Hurst says that there are also really big opportunities for the company to make sure the right breadth and quality of product is available in-store as well, enabling it to capture the attention and spend of one of the most important customers in every home.
“The female customer is the one making the majority of the decisions in every household concerning things like décor and appliances,” he says. “Lowe’s U.S. is number one in market share in appliances. So, we see that as a big opportunity to make sure that we carry and feature top appliances as well as other innovative products that are on trend and presenting great value in order to attract the interest of the female customer. We’ve also made enhancements to some of our core décor departments like flooring, paints, blinds and cabinets. These improvements, along with the enhancement of our online offering, really positions us well to continue broadening our customer-base and reach as many home improvement professionals and DIYers as possible.”
Moving the brand forward
The veteran retail leader says that there’s still a lot of work to do for him and his team in order to harmonize the business and create consistent in-store experiences for each of its three banners and across their related websites. However, he also admits that he’s pleased with the progress that’s been made to this point, adding that there are many more improvements and enhancements on the horizon with respect to the continued development of the Lowe’s Canada omnichannel experience. He lauds the team around him concerning their contributions to the transformation, describing them as an “exceptional group of people”. However, when talking about the achievements that he and his team have realized since his appointment to President of Lowe’s Canada, he seems most impressed by the character of those involved and their focus and commitment to serving the brand’s loyal customers as they continue to move the Lowe’s Canada brand forward.
“We’ve accomplished so much as a team over the course of the past 20 months or so. But what I’m most proud of is the work that Lowe’s as an organization has done, both in Canada and the U.S., to take care of our communities during a time when they’ve needed us most. We’ve been on the forefront, whether it’s been through donations or working in the community or our Heroes campaign which has generated record amounts of money over the last two years, giving back to our customers and the neighbourhoods we serve. Lowe’s gives our stores the ability to take on local non-profit initiatives. I’ve been extremely humbled by the amount of passion that our associates have to not only take care of each other, but to take care of the communities that we’re a part of as well. And we’ll continue to focus on contributing to causes that are important to our core values as a company and serving the needs of the valued Lowe’s customer.”
Vancouver-based technical apparel and equipment brand and retailer Arc’teryx has continued its Canadian expansion with the 14th location in the market with a new store at CF Carrefour Laval near Montreal.
The 2,028 square foot store is the third location in Quebec for the brand which operates a network of direct-to-consumer stores as well as wholesale operations.
“As we continue our expansion in Quebec, Arc’teryx Laval is our third location in Montreal,” shared Megan Cheesbrough, VP Canada & Global Guest Services at Arc’teryx. “The Rue Sainte-Catherine store was of the earliest locations we opened when starting our vertical journey over 10 years ago. Since opening on Rue Sainte-Catherine, we saw continued success and a dedicated community following, which was our motivation to build the Beta lounge instore equipped with a bouldering wall.”
Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)
“The community growth encouraged us to open a smaller neighbourhood store in Westmount offering a selection of our most iconic products in early fall of 2021. Our latest store in Laval is home to a growing jacket destination where guests can select from a large selection of weatherproof products to compliment various activities and requirements.”
“The store also has a deep connection to the community and is working on a selection of events that introduces guests to various activities including ski & split board touring, hiking and local runs. The Laval store is our first mall location in Montreal and services the largest suburb of Montreal north of the island.”
As Arc’teryx expands into new markets, the strategy will evolve based on the location.
“The community has responded so well since we opened the doors at the Laval location the week of Black Friday. Every time we open a store, we get clarity on what our community requires in terms of product, experiences, and education. We will continue to open stores taking consumer insights, in depth community reviews and looking at how/where guests are using product to inform what size store and where we open.”
Arc’teryx products are distributed through more than 2,400 retail locations worldwide and includes 115 branded stores in the chain.
Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)Arc’teryx at Carrefour Laval (Image: Arc’teryx)
