Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (July 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett.
In the fall of 2019, Chinese grocery chain Sungiven Foods opened its first Canadian store at City Square in Vancouver. The store was the first of about 15 locations planned for the BC Lower Mainland over the next several years.
Former Pier 1 Import at 1595 Marine Drive in North Vancouver (January 2017). Photo: Google Maps/Reza Hamedi
Map of Former Pier 1 Imports location in North Vancouver. Photo: Google Maps
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (March 2021)
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Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (March 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (March 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (March 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett
Since March 2021, the Sungiven Foods construction has progressed and ‘now hiring’ signage has been added to the construction blackout film obstructing views into the construction unfolding inside. Retail Insider will continue to monitor for its opening and provide updates as they unfold.
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (July 2021)
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Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (July 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett.
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (July 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett
Future Sungiven location under construction in North Vancouver (July 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett.
Sungiven Foods Canada Inc. is a subsidiary of Xiamen Sungiven Foods Holdings Ltd., based in Xiamen, China. The company operates more than 90 stores in China, most being in Xiamen. The company’s Canadian head office was opened earlier this year in Burnaby.
A cross-Canada store expansion is expected, which could heat up competition amongst grocery retailers and particularly with Asian grocers as well as chains such as T&T. Sungiven Foods operates more than 100 stores in China and will also expand into the US. [Read the Full Article Here]
Future "Dank Mart" location on Thurlow Street off of Robson Street in downtown Vancouver (July 2021). Photo: Lee Rivett.
Dank Mart, the self-proclaimed “dankest bodega in the world”, will be opening its second convenience store location just off Robson Street on Thurlow Street in the same city block as Drake’s October’s Very Own (OVO) boutique and Vancouver-based Aritzia on the corner of Thurlow and Robson. The first Vancouver location for Dank Mart opened at 6418 Main Street in May 2020 offering rare snacks and exotic drinks in-store and online. Its success allowed for its expansion to a new location near Robson Street.
Former RYU location on Thurlow Street (off Robson Street) in May 2021 in Vancouver. Photo: Lee Rivett
Former RYU location from Robson Street in April 2020 during COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns. Photo: Lee Rivett
Foot Locker has opened its second Canadian Community Power Toronto Store, which follows months of uncertainty surrounding the location due to lockdowns and government restrictions in Ontario.
Located at 306 Yonge Street, the Foot Locker store took over from Jordan in a re-shuffling of the downtown storefront locations. Champs Sports was in the location before moving up a block to take over the Foot Locker location at 340 Yonge Street, which subsequently moved to 218 Yonge Street in a prominent spot across from the CF Toronto Eaton Centre.
Jordan opened just in time for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game that was held in Toronto, which saw the biggest names in the sport travel to the city for a weekend in the international spotlight. Athletic-wear brands, like Foot Locker and Jordan, took the opportunity to roll out their next-gen product lines to the Canadian market.
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Jordan Storefront Toronto
Jordan logo coming down in anticipation of new Foot Locker store. Photo: Dustin Fuhs
Interior: Jordan
Interior: Jordan
In 2020, the Jordan brand closed its pop-up turned long-term storefront and Retail Insider was there to catch the sign removal. Around the same time, signage at the 218 Yonge Street location went up announcing the Foot Locker was to be moving up the street.
The Toronto Foot Locker Community Power Store soft-opened in March during a time when non-essential retail was able to function, but closed soon thereafter due to non-essential stores being ordered shut.
Spanning 15,000 square feet across three storeys, the 9th Power Store in the world has brought exclusive product lines into a space that is elevated with activations from local artists Alexis Eke and Jacquie Comrie.
The store offers an assortment of Nike, Jordan, and adidas product in men’s, women’s and kids, in addition to collaborative efforts with other brands and lines.
The Main Floor
The main floor features women’s and kids, with a few nods to the vacated previous tenant. The Michael Jordan mural survived the renovation, along with the basketball hoop above the entrance and the dozens of signatures that adorned the support columns from that original NBA All-Star Weekend in 2016.
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Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Second Floor
Second-floor has changed from the Centre 23 training facility under the Jordan layout to a men’s retail space, which features team specific merchandise, clothing and shoes. It also showcases an unique window covering that will allow for nighttime projections to be shown from inside the store to be seen from Yonge Street.
Second Floor
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Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Concourse Level
The bottom concourse level is a flex space which is able to be fully-activated when needed for events, or can serve as an extension of the retail floor with an entrance to The Atrium and the Dundas Subway.
Concourse Level
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Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Toronto - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Foot Locker Canadian Community Power Toronto Store celebrated their Grand Opening on the weekend of July 9-11th, 2021.
Foot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsAutographs on 1st Floor Foot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsAutographs on 1st Floor Foot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (First Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (Second Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto (Second Floor) – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsJacquie Comrie Art at Foot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsJacquie Comrie Art at Foot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin FuhsFoot Locker Toronto – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Edmonton-based Kunitz Shoes is focusing on building its brand at two suburban locations and through e-commerce after the retailer shut down its downtown Jasper Avenue store during the pandemic.
The company had a downtown presence in Edmonton for 18 years and this particular store closed at the end of March this year.
“We had a lot of great years downtown but we did start to see a bit of softening in the market and people being pulled toward the Arena District and no further developments on Jasper Avenue,” said Morgan Kunitz, co-owner with brother Everett.
“We just weren’t seeing any other soft goods retailers on Jasper Avenue around us. So we weren’t having any kind of a draw to grow and we were softening a bit in fact. We started looking around but we were still on the fence. A profitable store is still a profitable store. The pandemic hit and we never really knew how much of our business is people that live downtown and how much of our business is people that work downtown. We have a lot of both.
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Images: Kunitz Shoes
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Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
“But when the pandemic happened we know exactly 20 per cent of our customers lived downtown. We went down by 80 per cent. There were no people working downtown but 20 per cent of our customers continued to support us which was amazing but unfortunately not sustainable for the rents we were paying, marquis rents for a store that was certainly not a marquis location anymore.”
She said the retailer asked customers where they wanted a store and overwhelmingly they said in the west end of Edmonton with parking. A new store was opened in March in that area.
Kunitz Shoes began in 1981 in the children’s footwear business in Heritage Mall by Morgan and Everett’s parents Dwane and Darlene. It was known as Kobbler King. About 10 years into the business they branched out to being a multi-brand family retailer. Today the retailer has two stores – Kunitz Shoes West (10046 167 St NW Edmonton) and Kunitz Shoes Southside (837 Saddleback Rd NW). The parents handed the business over to the children about seven years ago.
Backroom at Kunitz Shoes
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Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
Image: Kunitz Shoes
“The west end location since we’ve been operating it we have actually gotten back to our original Jasper Avenue numbers in only the first quarter there. So we have seen basically a full recovery back to where we were on Jasper and now we’re seeing growth and a third of the rent,” said Morgan.
“Our online store obviously is huge with online shopping being extremely important but both stores I would say our business has recovered because the one big store in our business, which was the Jasper Avenue store, had moved. We were able to recover quite quickly and now we are in a growth mode in our business and the money we’re saving in rent and trying to sustain a failing store we’ve reinvested into shoes. So we’ve launched our own brand and been able to start direct sourcing from factories all over the world. We reinvested back into ourselves in advertising.”
Kunitz said the online business grew 300 per cent when the physical stores were closed during the pandemic.
“We managed to do 40 per cent of our overall business, which is a lot of shoes, while we were closed . . . Being able to do 40 per cent of your total business online in the closure was amazing. To sell shoes like that was incredible,” she said.
“Now it is the size of a small store. It would be our smallest store but it still is significant. It would do the same as any mall shoe store. That’s the volume. As a portion of our business, it used to be about eight to 10 per cent and now it is operating at about 20 per cent of our business. Quite significant. We buy for it. I don’t just sell shoes out of my stores now. I have an inventory for my online store.”
It’s hard to say anything good about the last year and a half. The human toll of COVID-19, as well as crushing economic consequences that will be felt for generations, is difficult to calculate. But if we are in the mood to look for silver linings, there’s one thing that we can point to as a net positive: humans polluted a lot less in 2020 and 2021 than we have for decades. In just about every city in the world, air quality was better than it has been in two generations, and we used far fewer fossil fuels than even the most optimistic environmentalist could have hoped for. The big question as the world bounces back from the pandemic is whether or not this green trend will continue, or whether it was a fluke. This is an especially meaningful question for the tradeshow industry, where waste and pollution are the norm, rather than the exception.
There are literally tens of thousands of conferences and events held every year, and even though they cover an almost limitless number of topics – from comic books to lung surgery to enterprise software – there is one thing they all have in common: exhibitors literally distribute tons of giveaways, and the majority of these items end up in the trash. Back, more than 70% of free swag distributed at conferences doesn’t even make it onto the plane. That’s not really bad for the environment, but it’s bad for business. After all, what’s the point in giving away branded items that literally get thrown in the trash within minutes?
It doesn’t need to be this way. That’s because savvy companies can pick items that are far less polluting than the industry standard, and they can also select swag (an acronym for “stuff we all get”) that people will actually like and use rather than throw away in their hotel rooms every evening. So while things like miniature Rubiks cubes and plastic bottle openers may seem cool, the sad reality is that most of them end up in landfills. Many companies have gone the opposite direction by giving away “green” items such as water bottles and reusable straws. While these can be great items, they are far more expensive than the average, which is not ideal for a new company that doesn’t have a massive marketing budget. So what are some items that are likely to be kept and used, are inexpensive to produce, and will help build your brand?
One of the best options is the temporary tattoo. These are fun to wear, and people often take them home and give them to their family members or friends. This is a great way to extend the value of your tradeshow long after the conference is over. Putting the logo of your company on is the most obvious tactic, but it’s important to make sure that the logo looks good, too. If you have an attractive, fun logo, this might be the right approach to take.
Another popular product is stickers. For starters, they are inexpensive to produce, and they can be visually stunning. In addition, most sticker companies offer die-cuts, meaning that companies can not only select the design, but also the exact shape, of their tradeshow gifts. It’s a great way to stand out from the crowd. But more importantly, people love stickers. They put them on their computers, on their phones, and their notebooks, and, well, just about anywhere else. The next time you are in a meeting, look around at everyone’s computers – it’s a pretty good bet that some of them will have stickers. If you think about it, that is a wonderful way to build brand awareness among people who weren’t even at the tradeshow where the stickers were given out!
Stickers aren’t just for start-ups. In fact, many major companies, ranging from Apple to Fender, regularly include stickers in their product boxes. That’s because they know that people are proud to own their products and they want to let the world know about it. And if it’s good enough for some of the biggest brands on earth, it should be good enough for businesses of any size.
Andrew Witkin
Andrew Witkin is CEO of StickerYou, a Canada-based company that manufactures branded items ranging from stickers to signs to magnets for businesses around the world.
Destinations around Canada that rely on the tourism industry to fuel economic growth have been one of the hardest hit sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past year or so.
And retail in those areas have felt the blow.
Andrew Siegwart
Andrew Siegwart, President of Blue Mountain Village Association a former Senior Vice President of Membership Services for the Retail Council of Canada, said it’s been a challenging year for the area.
“First and foremost with the drop in visitation level that’s going to dramatically impact the retail scene in a place like ours for sure,” he said.
“In the earlier days of the COVID-19 reopening (last year) capacities were a little more liberal and as such retail stores managed okay. They were able to put some adapted protocols in place and to have guests come through.”
But later stricter restrictions became more challenging for them with 15 per cent customer capacity.
“It was pretty hard to operate a viable business with those restrictions in place. They pivoted to curbside but in destinations like ours curbside is more difficult because we have a mix of local shoppers but predominantly we’re tourism driven,” he said. “If tourism isn’t humming, it’s harder for our stores to pivot to a curbside. People kind of shop when they’re here. Shopping is an ancillary part of the experience. So that was challenging.
“2019 was really a crest of a year. We were really riding high on many years of cumulative growth and investment but really are going to be starting from a much smaller place going forward.”
Blue Mountain Village is a premier four-season destination in southern Ontario, known for its iconic ski facility, with significant hotels, attractions, restaurants, retail stores and services.
The role of the Blue Mountain Village Association is to represent all of the stakeholders and owners of the Village and it operates marketing, animation, events and experiences throughout the year.
Blue Mountain Village – Image Nick Laferriere
“We have quite a retail assortment. I would say it is really based on our core destination model. So you’ll have some experiences like a world-class spa with an adjacent store. A lot of outdoor adventure related to skiing, hiking, cycling, all that kind of product lines and categories. And a lot of experiential and home categories as well as gift and fashion apparel,” said Siegwart. “And a bit of food as well.”
He said there are about 25 retail outlets and another 25 food and beverage outlets. Most of them are small and independent run with a few franchisees who operate as well.
Siegwart estimated that businesses lost anywhere from 25 per cent to 75 per cent of business during the pandemic. Sectors like aviation or transportation are “down massively.”
“There were no permanent closures. They were able to hang on. Because we work as a collective, we can be very creative together,” added Siegwart.
For example, last fall the area was heading into a season when it knew that group business was not going to return to the conference centre and the hotel. So it pivoted to an attraction strategy for fully independent travellers and more leisure. An experience was created such as a mountain light trail and that was tied into the retail sector.
Image: Blue Mountain Village Facebook
Blue Mountain Village: Via Instagram @r.jayb.ph
The flip side of the pandemic was that many people were leaving the urban markets and coming to live in more rural communities with perhaps second properties and Siegwart said there was a slight uptick in that activity.
Moving forward there is a sense of optimism in the air.
“But there’s still a lot of still don’t know what’s going to happen with the next phases of the reopening. So it’s really hard to plan. There’s optimism. We’ve been through this enough. We know we can react quicker and we know how to react and respond and I think we’ve let go of our obsession with hyper planning ahead like we had before and we’re learning to cope with responding in the moment,” said Siegwart. “I don’t think that’s going to be the new normal but it’s the more short-term normal. We’re primed for that. We’re ready.”
1108 Alberni Store. Photo: CE Miles Construction Ltd.
Upscale Vancouver-based multi-brand womenswear retailer Blubird is shutting down operations this month after a 13 year run. The retailer once operated two stores in the city with an assortment of contemporary-priced brands, and is owned by Vestis Fashion Group.
Blubird’s first storefront opened at 1055 Alberni Street in August of 2008 where it operated for ten years before being replaced by luxury brands Montblanc/Vacheron Constantin. Blubird relocated to a 2,200 square foot space formerly occupied by Strellson in 2018 and that location will shutter July 29.
Vestis Fashion Group also owns licensed Max Mara boutiques in Vancouver at 3025 Granville Street, CF Pacific Centre and a concession within the city’s Holt Renfrew store. Vestis also operates two Weekend by Max Mara stores at CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver and Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby as well as an outlet store at the McArtherGlen Designer outlets. In years past, Vestis Fashion Group also had Max Mara and Weekend stores at Oakridge Centre in Vancouver as well as Canada’s only Pomellato store that operated for several years at CF Pacific Centre.
Future Thom Browne location with construction signage just off of Alberni Street in Vancouver (June 2021). Formerly the location of Versace. Photo: Lee Rivett
NYC-based fashion brand continues to expand into Canada with a new store on Thurlow Street.
