IKEA Construction - The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin Fuhs
Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA has begun construction on its future urban format location in The Aura at College Park in Toronto. It will become the first location of its kind in Canada for the retailer occupying a smaller footprint than other stores over multiple levels.
According to the new Ikea.ca/torontodowntown webpage, the store is projected to open in early 2022. With the format being designed to cater to downtown Toronto’s 300,000 residents, the retailer has decided on a more seamless experience.
The 66,175 square-foot location will feature more than 2,000 IKEA products for purchase and immediate takeaway, while larger items will be on display and available for home delivery.
According to IKEA, the store will offer a “unique new food concept”, while also providing other services to “support a seamless shopping experience”.
IKEA Construction – The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin FuhsImage: IKEA
The website also shares a link to a jobs portal, which as of publishing has not listed any roles in the new store.
“The acquisition of the Aura Retail Podium marks our entry into the Canadian market,” said Cindy Andersen, Ingka Centres Managing Director. “Downtown Toronto is a super connected and dynamic place where people live, work, study and come to meet and have fun. It is in line with our strategic vision to invest in urban locations and to be closer to our customers”.
IKEA has continued to open smaller format stores in major markets globally, with Toronto being the next to showcase the format.
Additional Images from The Aura (Photos: Dustin Fuhs)
The Aura at College Park. Photo: Dustin FuhsIKEA Construction – The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin FuhsIKEA Construction Exterior of Aura Retail Podium. Photo: Dustin FuhsIKEA Construction – The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin FuhsIKEA Construction – The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin FuhsIKEA Construction – The Aura at College Park . Photo: Dustin Fuhs
~This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. The links are powered by Skimlinks. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that Skimlinks cookies will be set. More information ~
Miami-based sleep fitness concept Eight Sleep has launched in Canada. The company is described as being the world’s first sleep fitness brand and its mission is to facilitate potential through optimal sleep.
Eight Sleep says that it is currently the only mattress that actively regulates temperature and it features patented hydro-powered cooling technology as well as an advanced health and wellness tracking system for users.
Products include the Eight Sleep Pod, Pod Pro Cover and Pod Pro in the form of mattresses and mattress covers. For those not looking to replace their current mattresses, the Pod Pro Cover technology is optimal and Retail Insider had the opportunity to test it with considerable success.
The Pod’s Smart Temp 2.0 feature helps users fall asleep faster while the GentleRise™ Wake Up Technology allows users to wake up with temperature and gentle vibration at chest level. The temperature of each side of the Pod can be set separately to anywhere between 55°-110°F or 12° – 43° Celcius.
Sizes of its products range from Full to King. Prices on www.eightsleep.com reflect USD and are the same prices offered to customers south of the border. At checkout, Canadian customers are charged in CAD based on the exchange rate at that moment. Prices in CAD will range from under $2,000 to almost $4,500 depending on the size and model.
All products are available with free shipping as well as no duties or return shipping charges with zero import duties or additional taxes. Payments can be made via credit card or Paybright which is offering three to 24 month financing at 0% APR for qualifying customers for both Pod mattress and Cover orders.
Eight Sleep was founded in 2014, and it leverages thermoregulation, data, and technology to design products to restore an individual to their peak energy levels every morning. Eight Sleep was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies of 2018,” and recognized two years in a row by TIME’s Best Inventions of the Year. Eight Sleep has pioneered sleep performance technology within the health and wellness industry by harnessing scientific data to deliver cutting-edge innovative products that optimize sleep to improve users’ lives.
Vancouver-based jewelry company Melanie Auld will be opening a storefront on Ossington Avenue in Toronto.
Construction hoarding has been installed in preparation for the retailer’s second location.
The Melanie Auld flagship location in Vancouver, which opened in 2019, is an 805 square-foot showroom that features the jewelry collection. In addition, there is also a collection of hand-crafted Murano-glass vessels and ceramics from Italy, the home of Auld’s family.
The Ossington Avenue neighbourhood is undergoing a significant transition, with a number of long-term staples moving out and new brands setting up shop.
Retail Insider recently toured “size?”, which opened its Canadian flagship at 1000 Queen Street West at the corner of Queen and Ossington this summer. Sundays Furniture (also from Vancouver) has set up a pop-up in the neighbourhood.
We will be following the expansion of Melanie Auld Jewellers as it expands its operations to Toronto and any future plans.
The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association has launched a new initiative that allows Vancouverites to get discounts at local coffee shops by creating fake calendar events. It’s part of an effort to attract consumers back to the downtown core after the pandemic saw a reduction in foot traffic.
Nolan Marshall III
When visiting dtvancoupons.com, locals can choose from a number of Google Calendar meeting titles that bring the authenticity of an important reason to get away from the office and gain access to offers.
“COVID-19 caused a drastic decrease in traffic downtown and shrunk the daytime workforce from 116,000 people daily in 2019 to 11,000 people daily in 2020. We saw a great opportunity to encourage Vancouverites to return to downtown by homing in on that one office moment that we all love the most– escaping for happy hour. And in the process, we’re able to support some local businesses that were hit hardest by the pandemic.” says Nolan Marshall III, DVBIA’s President & CEO.
Image: DVBIA
The program is currently set up with six businesses:
Colony Granville
Open Outcry
Gyoza Bar
Cold Tea
Bel Cafe
Hawksworth Restaurant.
The DVBIA represents over 7,000 businesses in a 90-block area in the downtown core.
Owned by entrepreneur Doug Putnam, the brand joins his other retail concepts Sunrise Records and entertainment retailer FYE. Retail Insider did a tour of the 2nd Canadian location of FYE when it opened at CF Toronto Eaton Centre in June 2021.
Retail Insider interviewed Putnam in November 2020 where he shared that the new venture would be taking over 45 vacated leases to start the new T. Kettle brand. With provinces having different strategies to re-open and combat the pandemic, stores in locations such as Alberta and Newfoundland saw openings before other stores in the country.
T. Kettle in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
David’s Tea closed its Royal Bank Plaza location in July 2020 in addition to 165 other storefronts, leaving more than a thousand employees unemployed. The company elected to only keep 18 stores after the reorganization, which saw a focus on the retailer’s e-commerce business and grocery partnerships.
The brand kept its CF Toronto Eaton Centre location open while closing the two PATH locations (Royal Bank Plaza and First Canadian Place). David’s Tea also shuttered stores throughout the city, including a street level location on Yonge Street at 10 Dundas, The Hudson’s Bay Centre at Yonge & Bloor Streets and on Queen Street West.
Employees that lost their jobs due to the closure of the stores were part of a large pool of unemployed retail workers as the shutdown came during the peak of the pandemic. Some talent were hired by T. Kettle which saw the opportunity to bring on knowledgable and fully-trained staff from the beginning.
David’s Tea in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
David’s Tea in First Canadian Place – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
T. Kettle in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
The Royal Bank Plaza location was seen as a high-impact destination pre-pandemic, with direct access to the TTC and the last building commuters would walk through before Union Station.
Over the course of the pandemic the PATH was subjected to a number of government restrictions, including months with non-essential retail being forced to close and then being restricted further with stores that only had external doors being permitted to open.
For most of the last 18-months, the 1,200+ businesses in the 75+ buildings that connect to make the Guinness World Record’s largest underground shopping complex were excluded from conducting in-store sales.
In addition to having a significant drop in traffic, the concourse has been affected by retail tenants deciding to stay closed indefinitely while others have left completely.
T. Kettle in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin FuhsT. Kettle in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin FuhsT. Kettle in Royal Bank Plaza – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Outerwear retailer Barrington’s in downtown Oakville may be celebrating this year its 70th anniversary as a company but its roots go back to 1815.
“We were originally furriers and we have been furriers for six generations without interruptions since 1815,” said Paul Barrington. “When my father started the business 70 years ago we only sold fur coats.”
“We’re celebrating our 70th anniversary in retail in Canada. The rest of the history pre-dates to Europe. That’s multi-generational. We’ve been in Oakville in retail for 70 years,” said Brenda Barrington, adding it’s the longest running retail store in Oakville.
The current store, in about 3,500 square feet, is its fourth location in Oakville and the retailer has been there for more than 40 years.
Image: Barrington’s
Paul’s father, Robert, ran the store from its inception until 1991.
“While Paul’s dad was running the store we were entirely a traditional fur store,” said Brenda. “He manufactured all of his own merchandise. Paul’s dad was a well-trained furrier. And in 1991 when we took over the Oakville location we kind of morphed into more of an outerwear presence. We diversified incredibly and broadened our customer base. Broadened our inventory but we’ve also always kept it very focused and specialized. We are just outerwear and accessories that work back into outerwear.
“We don’t sell clothing. We don’t even have fitting rooms. We are a coat store but we’ve certainly broadened our offerings from fur. We carry down coats. We carry cloth coats. We carry leather coats, you name it. If it’s a type of coat, we carry it. We do a lot of slicker rain wear in the spring. We do a big private label line too that’s manufactured for us here in Toronto. It’s a very high end fabric and we have it all made in Toronto exclusively for our store which is a big part of our business too.”
Other items sold in the store include scarves, knitwear and handbags.
Within the last two years both of Barrington’s daughters – Brooke and Carly – joined the company full time. The long-term plan and hope is that they will take over the company in the future.
Image: Barrington’s
“That’s been a real asset especially given the last year because they have really strong social media, e-commerce skills that we have benefited from immensely in the last year and a half,” said Brenda.
Like all retailers and small businesses, the past year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges.
“But because we’re small and independent, we were able to pivot fairly quickly. We adjusted our inventory. We kind of micromanaged our expenses, our inventory, our supply chain, like never before. We joked that we went back to Retail 101. It just became basic, basic retail,” said Brenda. “You just had to watch everything so closely.
“Why we survived is because of our customer base. We were so fortunate. There were two key factors. We have multi-generational customers. That’s what you get after 70 years. You get that depth.
“Before COVID we were in a pretty good position with our e-commerce. It certainly didn’t take off like it did the last year and a half but we went into COVID with a good online website, with a good e-commerce business. We ship across Canada and we have customers in every province. So that really helped. That depth. And they were already using our website.”
Brenda & Paul
(Photo by Chantal Ayotte)
But when COVID hit, that use accelerated and the Barrington’s had their daughters’ skills available to facilitate that demand.
“Our online business while we were in lockdown number one took off. It was really actually very exciting and it was the only positive thing happening in those dark days when we were closed and closures just kept getting extended. We were doing online business. Our customers supported us and our customers pivoted to online,” added Brenda.
“We had customers that had never purchased online with us before, they were always in-store customers, and they started buying online. That has maintained, encouragingly so, because it’s maintained even when we’ve reopened. Our online business is strong and it’s remaining strong even as we’re back into in-store shopping.”
This week Craig speaks with Darren Gonsalves from Genetec on ways retailers are monitoring and protecting their businesses, especially in these tough times compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Weekly 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.
Discussed this episode:
Darren Gonsalves, Regional Sales Manager-Central Canada at Genetec
Genetec: Leading technology provider of business intelligence, unified physical security, public safety, and operations. Genetec develops open-platform software, hardware and cloud-based services for the physical security and public safety industry. Its flagship product, Security Center, unifies IP-based video surveillance, access control and automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) into one platform. A global innovator since 1997, Genetec is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and serves enterprise and government organizations via an integrated network of resellers, integrators and consultants in over 80 countries. Genetec was founded on the principle of innovation and remains at the forefront of emerging technologies that unify physical security systems.
Subscribe, Rate, and Review our Retail Insider Podcast!
Drop us a line at Craig@Retail-Insider.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!
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/
Hudson's Bay at CF Toronto Eaton Centre - Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Canadian department store retailer Hudson’s Bay is shifting its business model by separating its physical retail store business from its online business. It’s part of a move by the retailer to focus on e-commerce and is the latest significant move indicating the retailer’s shift away from relying on its physical stores at a challenging time during the pandemic.
The separated businesses will have different names. The e-commerce business will be called ‘The Bay’, which is a nod to the name the retail chain formerly held prior to the renaming of the department stores as ‘Hudson’s Bay’ in 2013. The 86 physical stores that the retailer operates will continue to be called Hudson’s Bay.
The e-commerce business ‘The Bay’ will be responsible for brand direction, marketing, buying, planning and technology for both businesses according to the company. Iain Nairn, who has led the retailer as President and CEO since early 2020, will lead The Bay e-commerce business as President & CEO. Wayne Drummond, who formerly led the now-shuttered Hudson’s Bay stores in The Netherlands and was most recently Chief Merchant of Hudson’s Bay, has been appointed President of the physical stores business. The run of Hudson’s Bay stores in The Netherlands was ultimately unsuccessful and all 15 stores shut in late 2019.
The move to segregate physical and online stores is said to be part of a growth strategy for Hudson’s Bay in Canada, which operates the now-86 standalone stores as well as a robust e-commerce business. “This new operating model structures the organization to materially accelerate the biggest growth opportunities for each business, with dedicated leadership focus for each,” Hudson’s Bay said in a statement.
Hudson’s Bay App signage at the 44 Bloor Street East store – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
“The businesses will work closely together to deliver a seamless customer experience while making strategic investments in their respective growth plans. For customers, this will elevate the overall experience with significant enhancement to services, whether they shop in store or online,” the statement went on to say.
The Hudson’s Bay Company had been making significant changes to its business model including adding a marketplace component to its website.
“Establishing e-commerce and stores as distinct businesses is a pivotal next step in the future of Hudson’s Bay. With the launch of Marketplace on thebay.com earlier this year, Hudson’s Bay set in motion a rapid expansion of its ecommerce business to gain significant market share and become the country’s largest premium hybrid online shopping experience,” said Richard Baker, Governor, Executive Chairman and CEO of the Hudson’s Bay Company. “To date, digital performance and onboarding of new sellers has dramatically exceeded expectations. Furthermore, this move enables each team to make unencumbered strategic investments into their respective businesses to deliver an incomparable customer experience for Canadians.”
The online Marketplace is already said to be seeing success after launching in April of this year. More than 1,500 brands have been added or expanded while more than 25,000 new products have been made available via the new Marketplace Technology platform. Website thebay.com is said to be the sixth largest e-commerce business in Canada.
In-Store Marketing at Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street in Toronto – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
Iain Nairn
New online business The Bay’s Iain Nairn said, “The digital-first transformation of The Bay takes us to the next level, with significant focus on technology investment and innovation – including the creation of Technology Hubs in both Toronto and Seattle, increased fulfillment capabilities, expanded marketing and extended vendor partnerships for a highly-curated assortment.”
The physical Hudson’s Bay stores will continue to play an important role in terms of presence for the retailer in Canada. Changes have been made to some suburban stores including locations at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton which recently saw updates including centralized checkouts on each of its two levels along with showrooms for baby goods and housewares. Some stores have also seen departments downsized with walls being put up to reduce retail space. Downtown flagship stores are also being downsized including the Calgary store which was recently reduced to three floors from six.
Hudson’s Bay stores president Wayne Drummond said, “Hudson’s Bay stores will become discovery destinations and serve as an important touchpoint for customers. With stores in major cities across the country, Hudson’s Bay provides Canadians access to the product they need and want, while offering high-touch services that many others cannot.”
The company said in a statement that returns, exchanges, Hudson’s Bay Rewards and Hudson’s Bay credit cards will continue to be accepted both online and in stores.
The move comes after the Hudson’s Bay Company separated the physical and online businesses for luxury division Saks Fifth Avenue and off-price division Saks OFF 5TH. Several months ago the Hudson’s Bay Company sold a minority state of Saks Fifth Avenue’s e-commerce business to private equity form Insight Partners for USD $500 million, valuing the new online business to be known as ‘Saks’ at USD $2 billion while the physical store division with 40 locations was named ‘SFA’. The online business for Saks OFF 5TH was recently spun off and valued at USD $1 billion.
This week as well, the Hudson’s Bay Company announced a partnership with WeWork that will see co-working added to some current and former Saks stores under the banner SaksWorks. It remains to be seen what’s planned for Saks stores in Canada which are said to be struggling.
Bruce Winder
Bruce Winder, author of RETAIL Before, During & After COVID-19 and President, Bruce Winder Retail, said, “In my opinion, this separation has more to do with valuations than operations. Department stores generally have lower price-earnings (PE) multiples vs. e-commerce companies and this allows HBC to sell off part of the online entity for more money to raise funding to pay off debt, invest back into the business or harvest a dividend.”
“This is similar to how the firm separated Saks’ online business from the bricks and mortar side. I personally think that the department store side of The Bay needs to shrink significantly and indeed become more experiential if they are to survive. Time will tell how HBC manages the bricks side of this equation and if investments will be made.”
Others share the sentiment that more physical Hudson’s Bay stores could shutter in Canada as the retailer shifts to an online footprint. Whispers and rumours that the Hudson’s Bay store at the northeast corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets in Toronto would shutter were denied by the retailer recently. Regardless, the condition of some of Hudson’s Bay stores in Canada indicate that significant investments are needed to bring them in line with an elevated retail experience that the retailer is aiming for.
Hudson’s Bay on Bloor – Photo by Dustin Fuhs
George Minakakis
George Minakakis CEO of Inception Retail Group Inc., said, “It seems opportunistic. I am unclear how they can retain sales revenue at either business to make them look viable. It looks like they are taking from Peter to create Paul. It will create confusions and frustrating friction for consumers. If I were the owner of Hudson’s Bay I would be inventing my resources quite different to ensure the longevity of the brand. I believe this just weakens the brand and hastens a negative outcome for stores. Clearly this is seen as an IPO opportunity much like the strategy with Saks.”
Liza Amlani
Liza Amlani, Principal and Founder of Retail Strategy Group, said, “A bold move and a huge mistake. As successful retailers are blurring the lines of ‘channel’ and dramatically shifting towards omni, the Hudson’s Bay Company is doing the exact opposite. Shouldn’t the focus be customer-centricity and an aligned merchandising strategy to increase footfall? Wouldn’t separating online and offline alienate customers and distance you even more from understanding your customer? This move will show customers that perhaps you are not listening to feedback including changing store formats and increasing customer service and brand ambassadors on the shop floor.”
David Ian Gray
David Ian Gray, founder and strategist at DIG360, said, “The irony is that retail and brands are doubling down on removing so-called silos that exist between channels and functions in order to better serve the Customer seamlessly. This does the opposite. However, this split is not about ‘the Customer’, rather it is all about ‘the Investor’. The Investor is King. In my opinion, betting on Marketplaces seems to be the latest ‘Hail Mary’. But how many ‘marketplaces’ will shoppers shop and sellers list on? The objective cannot be to become a marketplace, but to become one of the top three. The rest will be ignored by too many and fall short.”
Gary Newbury
Toronto-based retail supply chain and last mile expert Gary Newbury said, “After 350+ years of trading, HBC has arrived at a pandemic-induced decision point. It has already been busy reversing it’s former bricks and mortar expansion plans pre-pandemic, then distracting itself by complaining malls not being ‘top rate’ to avoid lease payments and now, with a new retailer who has been able to persuade the Board to further retrench from its fleet to migrate the brand more to an online platform, but this is Canada, not Europe where the consumer densities are higher by several magnitudes.”
“This, unfortunately, is very product centric way of thinking, when the rest of the industry is looking to bring online and stores together under an omni (combined) model to create more of a blur in the consumer’s mind, bring more digital tools into stores and move towards customer centricity,” Newbury went on to say.
“It’s a bold move, and if fully support with scalable local fulfillment investment strategy, an aggressive growth plan and a clear go to market proposition, this should enable success… oh, but thinking a brand experience on a transactional platform can mirror a high touch, high service in store experience only serves to underline the potential flaws in this commercial thinking.”
“Underneath it all, it seems, is still a strong ethos of maximizing shareholder value on real estate realization, rather than a bold new retailing move to set the market alight. And being primarily in a category which demonstrates an extremely high return rate, I suspect we will see another ‘great idea’ in a couple of years as the ‘learning’ that, typically, e-commerce is at best marginally profitable in higher margin categories. When it comes to apparel, all I can see is red ink quickly accumulating.”
Newbury concluded by saying, “Be ready for more press releases of ‘teething challenges’, ‘integration and supply chain issues’ and ‘leadership changes’ in 2022. The smarter move would have been to either close retailing altogether and shift the real estate or invest heavily in the current stores (with some further rationalization in overstored territories) and servicing e-commerce sales from backroom sortation capabilities, rather than remote warehouses.”
Hudson’s Bay has been in the news quite a bit over the course of the pandemic. One big story was the retailer’s not paying rent for some of its stores which led to litigation across the country. The Hudson’s Bay Company was ordered to pay rent for some stores by the courts and the retailer is said to have settled privately with some landlords in other cases.
We’ll continue to follow this story as it’s becoming clear that the Hudson’s Bay Company will continue to make significant changes to its business model amid a digital revolution in retail that has been accelerated by the pandemic.
