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Holt Renfrew Unveils Overhauled Mink Mile Flagship Facade and Main Floor Luxury Hall in Toronto [Photos]

By
Craig Patterson
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Renovated Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Doublespace Photography
Renovated Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Doublespace Photography

Toronto-based luxury retailer Holt Renfrew recently unveiled completed renovations to its 190,000-square-foot flagship store at 50 Bloor Street West, which now features a new facade as well as 12 main floor concessions for fashion, accessory and jewellery brands. It’s all part of the Mink Mile flagship’s multi-year transformation that now includes a luxury boutique hall similar to leading department stores in Europe and Asia. It also marks another milestone to Holts’ multi-year investment as it spends more than $400 million to upgrade its fleet of stores.

New Bloor Street Facade

The recently-completed limestone facade to the Bloor Street store creates an overall modern look, spanning 270 linear feet over the three original buildings that make up the flagship store. Bronze canopies span the expanse of the store and an 18-foot-high glowing ‘lantern’ over the store’s new recessed exterior entry room at its main entrance features the Holt Renfrew branding. The exterior entry room also includes a new valet service podium for customers. The Holts Café on the store’s mezzanine level features 23-foot-high, energy-efficient windows facing onto Bloor Street.

Twelve-foot-high windows span the facade of the store, featuring Holt Renfrew’s displays and campaigns. Flanking each end of the Bloor Street facade are concessions for Saint Laurent and Miu Miu, both featuring exterior windows as well as branding. Holt Renfrew’s iconic magenta flags, along with the Canadian flag (and likely a Pride flag in the summer), crown the new facade.

Renovated Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Doublespace Photography
Renovated Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Doublespace Photography
Former Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Holt Renfrew
Former Holt Renfrew facade on Bloor Street. Photo: Holt Renfrew

Architecture and design firm Gensler was responsible for designing the new facade that cost millions of dollars to install. Sustainability was a focus, including using enhanced levels of thermal insulation exceeding the Ontario Building Code and reducing the store’s carbon emissions. Over 80% of construction waste was recycled during the renovation of the store.

The facade’s overhaul commenced in May of 2019 and it was completed in the fall of 2020 — we’ve been waiting for lockdowns to lift in order to report on this story so that readers could see inside the store for themselves.

Completion of the Street Level Interior Renovation

We have been waiting since November 2020 to run this article, and we’re still not 100% sure if retailers in Toronto will be permitted to reopen stores to the public on March 8 as has been announced tentatively. The following is some of what visitors will get to experience when stores are permitted to reopen.

In late 2019, half of Holt’s main floor at 50 Bloor Street West in Toronto was shuttered temporarily for the construction of several luxury boutiques. One-by-one, boutiques began to open in 2020 including some new brands that were not formerly in the store.

Most recently, a Chanel beauty shop and a Guerlain boutique opened in the store, carrying a range of beauty items — Chanel also operates a separate beauty boutique with a treatment room downstairs. Several beauty brands have a presence on the main floor near the central escalator well that leads to a new 12,000-square-foot beauty hall on the store’s concourse level.

The other boutiques on the main floor are dedicated to fashion, bags, accessories, and jewellery. Italian luxury brand Gucci unveiled an impressive space on Holt’s main level next to a ‘world of Fendi’ that Retail Insider reported on in January of 2019. A Dior accessory concession opened next to Gucci, showcasing Dior’s handbags and accessories — both Gucci and Dior also operate large standalone flagships nearby on Bloor Street West.

Boutiques for Prada, David Yurman, Balenciaga, Burberry, and Bulgari also opened, and were joined by Miu Miu and Bottega Veneta in January of 2020.

The David Yurman boutique, which encompasses 1,649 square feet, features the brand’s full assortment of jewellery designs for women and men, including wedding pieces. The boutique includes a sculpture titled ‘Angel’ and an oversized painting by Sybil Yurman, alongside a heritage wall that “visually narrates the Yurmans’ journey from art to jewellery,” according to the company. The men’s area features a blackened steel entry portal, and the wedding area includes a floral panel of trilliums — the official flower of Ontario. David Yurman’s only standalone Canadian storefront is at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in a 1,625 square feet space. The Vancouver Holt Renfrew concession was the largest shop-in-store in the world for David Yurman at 1,226 square foot when it opened in late 2016. David Yurman opened a Montreal concession at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in the spring, spanning about 1,200 square feet. The Bloor Street Holt Renfrew concession is now the largest David Yurman space in Canada and could very well be the largest shop-in-store concession for the brand globally.

The Balenciaga boutique, which occupies an expansive space along the eastern part of the newly renovated main floor, is another ‘world of’ boutique for the Balenciaga brand. Included is a range of accessories and footwear as well as ready-to-wear fashions for both men and women. It’s the second ‘world of’ Balenciaga concession for Holt Renfrew, following an open-concept space that debuted at the Vancouver Holt Renfrew flagship at the end of 2018. Balenciaga also opened its first standalone flagship at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in December of 2019.

Burberry struck a deal with Holt Renfrew to occupy an open-concept space on Holt’s main level, which faces towards the new Balenciaga and David Yurman boutiques. A range of Burberry accessories are featured in the space.

Italian luxury jeweller Bulgari opened a beautiful boutique on Holts’ main level, carrying an expansive assortment of jewellery as well as time pieces and accessories. It’s the second Bulgari boutique in Toronto — a 1,930-square-foot Bulgari opened at Yorkdale in late 2014 and it continues to remain the only standalone unit in Canada. In February of 2018, Bulgari also opened a 450-square-foot concession at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver in its expansive accessory hall. Staff in the Holt Renfrew Bloor Street Bulgari shop said that the Toronto storefront is considerably larger than the Vancouver boutique at more than 1,000 square feet.

Accessory concessions for Miu Miu and Bottega Veneta also opened on the main floor of Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship. Miu Miu operates shops in several Holt Renfrew stores, as does Bottega Veneta which has concessions at Holts’ Vancouver flagship as well as at the recently-completed Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal. Bottega Veneta also opened its only standalone Canadian storefront at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in November of 2018, as featured in Retail Insider. Both the Yorkdale and Holt Renfrew Bloor Bottega Veneta boutiques were built by Elevate Build Inc..

In 2019, luxury brands Saint Laurent and Fendi both opened ‘world of’ concessions on the new main floor luxury hall at Holts Bloor, with each spanning approximately 3,000 square feet. As per the ‘world of’ concept, both feature the brands’ full range of fashions for men and women as well as accessories, bags, and footwear.

Holt Renfrew as King of the Concessions in Canada

Holt Renfrew has adopted a concession model that involves major brands occupying space in its stores with dedicated areas carrying a broader assortment than in a typical department store. The model involves Holt Renfrew being both a retailer and a landlord as it hosts name brand boutiques that are operated by the specific brands. Parent company, Selfridges Group, has created similar luxury halls in its Selfridges stores in London, UK, as well as at Brown Thomas in Dublin, Ireland and at De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The model is also popular in Japan and in other parts of Asia where department stores continue to flourish unlike in North America generally.

Renovations to the Bloor Street store have been ongoing for several years. A renovated footwear hall on the mezzanine level reopened in the fall of 2018, and the new concourse level beauty hall was unveiled in the spring of 2019. The next renovations to the store are expected to include changes to the women’s designer floor on the second level as well as the addition of a newly-expanded women’s contemporary floor below the mezzanine in about 30,000 square feet of space not currently used for retail. A new 25,000-square-foot, third level men’s floor is also anticipated, which would coincide with the closure of the 16,500-square-foot standalone Holt Renfrew men’s store nearby at 100 Bloor Street West that opened in the fall of 2014.

It’s all part of a $400 million investment in the Holt Renfrew chain that is seeing the retailer’s stores transformed into showpieces. The 190,000-square-foot Vancouver Holt Renfrew flagship at CF Pacific Centre, which was the top selling unit in the chain before the pandemic, has seen a remarkable transformation over the past three years that includes 87 vendor shops — nearly double that of only a couple of years ago. That includes an expansive ground-floor luxury hall that houses an impressive roster of concessions for brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Balenciaga, Celine, Prada, and Chanel — Chanel’s concession is the largest at more than 5,000 square feet.

Holt Renfrew’s 130,000-square-foot Yorkdale Shopping Centre store in Toronto also saw a transformation that includes the openings of ‘world of’ concessions for brands including Gucci, Fendi, and Dior, which were followed by a world of Burberry boutique and a fashion boutique for Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli, which moved into the former Gucci accessory space, as well as a much larger Christian Louboutin footwear and bag concession nearby. In Montreal, the 250,000-square-foot Holt Renfrew Ogilvy store saw a spectacular overhaul that included concessions for many of the world’s leading luxury brands.

Holt Renfrew has embraced the concept of clustering and is said to be seeing strong sales productivity in its stores as a result. Rather than buy designer brand collections itself, Holt Renfrew’s concession brands are able to determine what products to offer to local consumers and as a result, a greater depth of product is available, as is the opportunity for special orders directly from brands. It’s a model seen less in competitors Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom in Canada, both of which act more as a retailer in their designer offerings.

Ultimately, Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street flagship overhaul is good news for the Bloor-Yorkville area. The clustering of luxury brands will attract shoppers and as a result, the Bloor Street Holt Renfrew is expected to see considerable sales gains as shoppers begin to return amid pandemic lockdowns. At the same time, some question if brands such as David Yurman and Bulgari will consider opening street-front retail spaces in the Bloor-Yorkville area after opening inside of Holts — Holts is said to have offered inducements to its concession partners to open boutiques within the Bloor Street flagship that include funding tenant build-outs as well as taking a percentage of sales as rent.

What Could Have Been

A proposal several years ago by neighbouring landlords could have seen a large multi-level Holt Renfrew store constructed on the northeast corner of Bloor and Bay Streets at 60 Bloor Street West as part of a development called Cumberland Square. The proposal would have been part of a transformation of the block and because of various reasons, the mega project was shelved. Renderings above are from Allies and Morrison which had a rather compelling proposal, which would have seen the existing Holt Renfrew store demolished. Ultimately, landlord Morguard renovated the existing 12-storey office building at 60 Bloor Street West, which until recently housed a three-level, 17,000-square foot Gap store.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web For February 22, 2021

By
Retail Insider
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Canadian Retail News From Around The Web

Top Stories: National

Central/Eastern Canada News

Western Canada News

Downtown Montreal Hudson’s Bay Store Redevelopment Renderings and Plans Revealed

By
Craig Patterson
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Rendering of the newly-renovated Hudson's Bay store and office building extension. Rendering: Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux
Rendering of the newly-renovated Hudson's Bay store and office building extension. Rendering: Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux

Renderings and plans for a proposed redevelopment of the Hudson’s Bay flagship department store at 585 Ste-Catherine Street West in downtown Montreal have been revealed. The redevelopment will include a downsizing of the retail portion of the store as well as the addition of an office tower. The Hudson’s Bay proposal is being evaluated by Montreal City Council this week, and images were first showcased in French language news publication La Press on Saturday.

The full 50 page PDF application, in French, can be downloaded here.

Included in the plans is a smaller and renovated Hudson’s Bay department store on the lower levels of the complex. The 655,000-square-foot store is proposed to be downsized to about 295,000 square feet of retail space over five levels, spanning from the basement level to the store’s fourth floor. The floor plates will be a bit smaller than what the current store features — the back end of the building will be demolished for the construction of a new 25 storey office building that will rise behind and over the historic structure.

The Original ‘Colonial House’ storefront facing Ste-Catherine Street will be restored — the four-level building, built in 1891, operated for years as an upscale Henry Morgan department store. Plaster removal on the facade will reveal some architectural elements not seen in almost 100 years, according to the application. Morgan’s expanded over the years in phases including an eight level expansion in 1923. The most recent expansion was a rather unattractive addition in 1964 at the back of the building, facing Boulevard de Maisonneuve. That back end of the Hudson’s Bay store had been slated for a different type of redevelopment about five years ago — in 2016, Hudson’s Bay announced that Saks Fifth Avenue would open a 200,000-square-foot store in the back-end extension though plans were subsequently shelved.

The updated redevelopment project will add a 25-storey terraced office tower, standing at 510 feet and spanning 678,000 square feet, as well as office space on the fifth and sixth floors of the existing Bay store. A terrace above the four level Colonial House component will become an amenity for occupants. Also included will be 116 parking spaces over three underground levels, 287 bicycle parking spaces on street level with showers in a basement facility. Architectural firm Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux is working on the project.

Sources had said last year that the application could have included a residential component as part of the redevelopment, though that’s not part of the current plans.

The Hudson’s Bay Company purchased Morgan’s in 1960, and the company operated until 1972 when the Montreal flagship was converted to La Baie. Morgan’s was considered to be the most upscale large-format department store chain in Canada in years past and it operated 11 stores at its peak in the Montreal and Toronto markets and was a notable seller of women’s European couture.

The smaller renovated Hudson’s Bay store would be part of the retailer’s updated strategy that will integrate its physical retail with an expanded online presence that includes an online marketplace for third-party vendors as well as offerings from Hudson’s Bay itself. One source said that they expect Hudson’s Bay to continue to innovate as it seeks out new vendors as part of its overall brand matrix. Luxury fashion department The Room, currently located in Bay stores in downtown Toronto and Vancouver, could be added to the Montreal store as well.

In October of last year we reported that the Hudson’s Bay Company had launched a real estate division with a goal of capitalizing on the value of its properties. It’s unclear if a similar redevelopment of the Vancouver Hudson’s Bay store could also be at play — a prior La Presse report noted that brokerage CBRE was listing both buildings for sale. In years past, the massive Hudson’s Bay flagship store at the corner of Queen Street and Yonge Streets was also set for redevelopment according to sources, prior to being acquired by Cadillac Fairview for $650 million in early 2014 for the addition of a Saks Fifth Avenue store on the Yonge Street side. The downtown Winnipeg Bay flagship shut forever in November and its future is uncertain, given its lack of value compared to the downtown Bay stores in other cities.

Hudson’s Bay is the last remaining traditional department store in downtown Montreal. At one time, large storefronts for Eaton’s, Simpsons and Ogilvy lined the street — Holt Renfrew merged with Ogilvy last year to create a large luxury store now known as Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, and the former Simpsons building at 977 Ste-Catherine Street West is now occupied by a La Maison Simons store and a theatre.

The redevelopment of the downtown Montreal Hudson’s Bay store is part of an impressive rejuvenation of the area. Phillips Square, across from the Bay store, is also seeing a renovation as is Ste-Catherine Street itself which is seeing a multi-year overhaul. The Maison Birks flagship jewellery store saw a renovation and the addition of a boutique hotel in 2018 and the nearby Montreal Eaton Centre has also seen a transformation that includes a Time Out food hall and a recently-opened Uniqlo flagship store.

Updates in and near Hudson’s Bay are expected to bring more shoppers to the immediate area, which will create competition with retailers several blocks westward including Holt Renfrew Ogilvy and Harry Rosen.

By shrinking the size of its retail spaces, Hudson’s Bay could be giving up an opportunity to create interesting experiences that would draw shoppers in. In parts of Europe and Asia, very large department stores are seeing success by offering significant food and beverage offerings, not to mention a wide range of top brands and other attractions. Selfridges and Harrod’s in London, as well as Galeries Lafayette in Paris, all see annual sales well surpassing a billion dollars. The same is the case with several large department stores in major Asian cities which house brand concessions and other offerings that make them destinations.

In North America, the department store concept is no longer relevant due in part to cost cutting, mergers/takeovers, and a general lack of investment into what made department stores must-visit places in the early to mid 1900s. Shopping centres, direct to consumer brands, category killers/off-price retailers, and the internet also contributed to the downfall of department stores on this continent. In years to come, shopping centres are expected to continue to dominate in terms of housing brands in their own spaces while creating experiences. And already, landlords are saying that they no longer need large department store anchors to create a compelling retail destination as was the case in years past.

How the Pandemic Has Changed Consumer Expectations While Accelerating Ecommerce in Canada

By
Mario Toneguzzi
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Online shopping

A new survey by SOTI, a provider of mobile and IoT management solutions, finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed consumers’ expectations for retailers and accelerated online shopping trends.

According to the global research report commissioned by SOTI, From Bricks to Clicks: State of Mobility in Retail 2021 Report, in order for retailers to stay competitive in the new normal and excel, there needs to be a more efficient and seamless return process, delivery times need to be faster, and there needs to be better protection of personal and payment data.

Ryan Webber
Ryan Webber

Also, an expert in the area of e-commerce, David Nagy, Founder of eCommerce Canada, is sounding the alarm bells about the already over-saturation in the market of online retailers.

“Speed and transparency are just as critical as user interface and inventory,” said Ryan Webber, SVP of Enterprise Mobility, SOTI. “This requires significant backend infrastructure and mobile tracking to create a seamless consumer experience. Our advice to retailers is to pay closer attention to their consumer experience and how they can track and receive the item they purchase, as it is just as important as the item itself. If the past year has taught us anything, it is that having a mobile strategy is business-critical.”

Canadian results from the survey show:

  • 82 percent are comfortable using any delivery options from home/convenient location;
  • 70 percent are expecting any safety features implemented in-store for the pandemic to remain post-pandemic;
  • 67 percent want to know where their order is from the moment they order it until it’s in their house;
  • 66 percent expect any payment features implemented for the pandemic to remain; and
  • 65 percent believe the returns processes should be more automated to make the experience faster.

Canadian results were higher than those overall for the following:

  • 47 percent are more comfortable with contactless ‘tap’ payments post-pandemic;
  • 29 percent believe the pandemic will overtake retailers who don’t master the delivery experience; and
  • 24 percent said they would like sales associates to use in-store price and stock-check devices to help choose the right product.

“The consumer expectation experience has fundamentally shifted. Obviously the pandemic has caused a huge impact,” said Webber. “What we’re finding the biggest change is around the customers adopting this new online e-commerce experience. What’s interesting is the impact it has had on retail across Canada and how they’ve had to adjust to it.

“It’s all around the modernization of the customer experience and the modernization of the actual retail environment itself. There was a huge investment in technology in 2019 in North America straight across the board and what we found with the customers is they had plans to adopt a more omni channel experience that would incorporate a seamless experience for the user going online and shopping online when they come in the store. But what happened with the pandemic is that it rapidly accelerated that change and through that rapid change it created a lot of potential gaps. What I mean about gaps is around the technology that they were using.”

Calgary-based eCommerce Canada was founded by e-commerce entrepreneurs with more than 50 years of experience, whose companies have directly sold more than $100 million of goods and whose clients have exceeded $1 billion in internet sales. Its purpose is to help companies in their online and digital journey in the marketplace.

David Nagy
David Nagy

Nagy, with more than 15 years in the area of digital consulting, made his mark as one of the founders at LiveOutThere.com in 2009. By 2012, LiveOutThere was one of Canada’s fastest growing businesses employing over 50 people. Nagy has led projects with notables such Virgin Mobile, HBO Comedy, General Motors, Rocky Mountain Soap Company, Livify, and many others. As a coach, consultant, trainer, and keynote speaker, he has worked with organizations such as Canada Post, Global Affairs Canada, Digital Mainstreet, HRIA, and more.

“Right now we’ve overpopulated the space already. Consumer demand across the board, if you combine bricks and clicks, has certainly not grown over the last 12 months. We are seeing an obvious and natural deviation or shift to internet shopping and I think that’s normally to be expected,” said Nagy.

“But putting everyone on the internet is fundamentally diluting everyone’s profit opportunity and is impacting the healthy, resilient businesses that will be there. Everybody is racing into this thing without understanding what that means. One of the metaphors that I would give is if I walked out on Stephen Avenue and I saw eight cookie shops within line of sight, there’s no fathomable way that I would open up another cookie shop, is there? But online we do that every single day. Online the barrier to entry is so low and the belief that the opportunity is so great, with no cost against it, is so high that everybody just rushes headlong into it with no competitive analysis of trying to figure out how this is going to work.

“So what we’re doing is creating this overpopulation of insignificant businesses that don’t have the financial wherewithal really to scale or to create jobs or to contribute positively to the economy. And I don’t expect them to be here two or three years from now. There’s going to be a mass culling at some point.

“Even at $29 a month, there’s no making money just because I have a website. Building websites is fundamentally easy. but selling things on the internet is hard. There will be a massive attrition at some point and that attrition will be positive because it will allow more mature, more resilient and more financially resilient businesses to acquire assets for pennies on the dollar in a way we never have before. When you get a mass wave of kind of insolvencies, all of a sudden those databases, those websites, those website domains, maybe some of the talent, maybe some of the decent people that work for a small web company, will be on the market and they’ll be cheaper than they have been before.”

3 Ways to Add Tracking to Product Orders

By
Retail Insider
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Shopify tracking technology shown on smartphone device. Photo: Shopify
Shopify tracking technology shown on smartphone device. Photo: Shopify

By Devin Partida

In an era when everything is digital and happens with just a few taps, retail must be just as easy. Customers want responsive tracking so they know where their items are every step of the way. Now, it’s not only a luxury to have this tracking info, but a necessity. As a retailer, you can benefit while helping the consumer.

Why Tracking Is Important

The following advantages show how you can benefit from the simple addition of order tracking.

1. Competition

E-commerce was already growing before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Once it arrived, even more retailers flocked to the internet. From March to May of 2020 alone, each field of retail in Canada grew dramatically. Now, retailers must offer some form of online service to thrive.

On top of the pandemic’s impact, retailers also are seeing the Amazon Effect. Brands are already competing online, but Amazon’s fast shipping and order tracking require smaller businesses to step up their game.

With better tracking tools, your retail services will keep up with consumer demands and help you stand out amongst competitors.

2. Risk Mitigation

When it comes to shipping, the retailer is ultimately responsible for the package. You may have to issue a refund or credit if the package gets damaged, lost, or stolen while in transit. If it happens too often, the costs quickly add up. Instead, tracking mitigates these risks and enhances your reliability.

When you, the customer, and the delivery driver know exactly where the package is or where it should be, risks decrease. Tracking encourages overall communication, which keeps orders safe and on the right track.

3. Customer Satisfaction

The bottom line relies on customer satisfaction. Going above and beyond their expectations will help you stand out as a retailer. Tracking is a primary way to do so. They’ll get to see the expected delivery date and current location, and timestamps to accompany them. Tracking information can also update them about delays or weather impediments.

The tracking number itself is also a handy tool. If customers have any questions, they can contact customer service and read the number so employees can find the exact order. However, you can use chatbots for customer service as well. These will help customers with basic tasks and free up the number of available employees.

How to Add Tracking

To properly achieve the above benefits, retailers can use the following methods to add tracking to product orders.

1. Use Different Tracking Numbers

Using a tracking number is the most essential step. However, you can use two different numbers to maximize efficiency and organization. When it comes to behind-the-scenes fulfillment with suppliers and manufacturers, you can ask for a tracking number to ensure you get the right products and get them on time.

Then, the second tracking number will be for you, the delivery driver, and the customer. If you want, you can create your own system for order tracking. Otherwise, you can find several apps and existing systems to integrate into your business model. ShipStation, VIA, and ShipHawk are just a few examples that will start you out.

2. GPS Tracking

A somewhat newer form of tracking uses GPS technology. Standard order tracking will provide the location once a facility or driver scans it into a new phase of the delivery. However, GPS software goes above and beyond. Typically, the sensor will attach to the vehicle, not the package itself, so that retailers can track several items at once.

This form of monitoring comes with added benefits on top of standard tracking numbers. Customers get to see exactly where their delivery vehicle is. They can also get alerts about hazardous weather conditions and any delays while still knowing where their item is, in case it has to return to the post office.

3. Work With Online Services

As a retailer, you may want your own tracking system for your orders. Other times, working with an online service will set you up with tracking information immediately, hassle-free. For instance, Shopify lets you add tracking information both before and after fulfilling the order. Shopify also works with Canada Post.

Other online sellers include Amazon and eBay. These sites will also help you add tracking information. If you don’t work with e-commerce companies, instead connect with postal and delivery services to create the best tracking system.

Devin Partida is a writer and blogger, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com

The Best Connections

As you add order tracking, you give consumers a better method of communicating and understanding the process. They know when to expect the order, which adds a layer of customer satisfaction, all while you stay on top of the order and stand out as a retailer.

DX3 Canada Conference 10th Anniversary Edition: March 2-5

By
Jessica Finch
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Over the past 10 years, DX3 has been committed to the nexus of retail, marketing, and technology, and for its 10th annual event next month, DX3 is exploring what the future will look like post pandemic.

DX3 Season 10 will include 56+ episodes, all streaming from March 2-5. The DX3 2021 speaking faculty will provide industry insights on key focused areas; retail, marketing, and technology, and they will share their challenges and opportunities on how to build a brand and be relevant in this competitive environment.

Explore trending and futuristic technology leaders and solution providers through the virtual exhibition.

DX3 SEASON 10 FEATURES:

DX3 Season 10 will be a 100% virtual event spread over 4 days. Everyone who registers for the event will get access to the platform and can login with the email they registered to the event with.

3 SUMMITS:

DX3 Season 10 will witness 3 summits – Retail Summit, Marketing and Innovation Summit, and for the 1st time ever, Generational Summit. The speaker faculty consists of the top thought leaders across a variety of industries, providing attendees with invaluable knowledge that they can immediately implement in their respective industries.

Some of our speakers include:

  • Fareena Contractor, Director, Intl. Emerging Tech, Walmart
  • John Defranco, COO, Staples Canada
  • Alyssa Kerbel, Founder & President, mini mioche
  • Nikita Medvedev, Sr. Manager of Predictive Analytics, Coca-Cola
  • Rena Nickerson, GM, SodaStream Canada
  • Rajen Ruparell, Chairman & Founder, Endy
  • Alyssa Kerbel, Founder & President, mini mioche
  • Cynthia Wong, Associate Vice President, Digital Product Management, Canadian Tire Corporation
  • Simon Tooley Founder & President, Maison
  • Etiket Trinh Tham, CMO, Harry Rosen
  • Jill Van Gyn, CEO/Founder, Fatso
  • Sarah Jordan, CEO, Mastermind Toys
  • Courtne Smith, CEO & Founder, NewNew

VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: LATEST IN RETAIL, MARKETING & TECH:

Discover new and clever concepts and solutions that can help you take your company to the next level. Experience it for yourself, what the latest in retail and marketing innovation has to offer at this large two-day exhibition.

Some exciting exhibitors include:

  • TikTok
  • Medallia
  • PayPal
  • EY Ada
  • Afterpay
  • AIR MILES Reward Program
  • Second Closet
  • Kognitiv

DX3 TALKS: INTERACTIVE, ACTIONABLE WORKSHOPS

Enjoy a variety of learning offerings and workshops every afternoon at DX3 2021. They are all about HOW TO implement strategies, new concepts, products, and expert advice. This amazing feature takes place after the main episodes of each day.

Use Code RETAILINSIDER25 to get 25% off on the ticket prices. You can register here: 

The following is a Q&A with some presenters:

Sarah Jordan
Sarah Jordan

Sarah Jordan, CEO, Mastermind Toys

Q: What is the top positive change to emerge from the past year?

A: Joining the Mastermind Toys team as CEO in January of 2020 and then navigating a pandemic within my first 100 days was a unique, albeit challenging, experience! I am a purpose-driven leader so I’ve encouraged my team to keep Mastermind Toys’ purpose that Play is Kids’ Work in mind with every decision—from closing our stores before the government mandate to offering a greater assortment for our kids-at-heart to recognizing the benefits of play have no age limit. I deeply believe that purpose-driven leadership is what inspires employees to connect with our core mission.

We are so much more than a toy store. We are Canada’s Authority on Play and a place of wonder for our customers. Through our expert curation, we support child development at every age and stage following our ‘Why Kids Play’ model. Our customers are central to everything we do, and so while Canadians reimagined how they work, live, learn, and play over the past year, we stepped up to be a resource for parents, grandparents, educators, and kids adapting to remote learning and time spent at home. Facing an ever-changing retail landscape during a pandemic isn’t how I imagined my first year, but it has given me clear perspective on how we can best deliver wonder and delight to our customers.

Q: What changes do you expect to see this summer and how are you preparing?

A: The pandemic has resulted in a renewed love and enthusiasm for the great outdoors. Families have turned their backyards into the recess playground and celebrated birthday parties from sidewalks with friends driving by. As the weather gets nicer, we know Canadians will be eager to spend more time outside with scooters, bikes, spring gardening, and other outdoor accessories to get kids excited. You can expect to see lots of ideas from Mastermind Toys about how to spend time together outside this year.

We’re also anticipating a great excitement around back-to-school, with this moment of time really taking on new meaning for kids and parents. While September has always marked the start of a new chapter for families, there is a heightened hope of what this fall could bring for all Canadians. Mastermind Toys is preparing for this milestone moment by making a big splash for our customers: more specialty school supplies offered in our stores and online, ideas for activities that kids can easily pack with them for recess, among other exciting plans that are in the works!

Q: What’s the best marketing initiative you’ve seen recently?

A: I loved our highly coveted 2020 Mastermind Toys Gift Guide. After a year where so many families were looking for something to celebrate, the gift guide was a welcome reminder of all that we had to be grateful for and it truly embraced the wonder of the season. Our industry-leading merchants hand-curated an incredible assortment of toys, books, puzzles, and games, aimed to spark new discoveries and joy for kids and kids-at-heart, as well as keep families entertained during the holidays and beyond.

I am also proud of the type of representation featured in our Gift Guide. Since our beginning, we have been passionate about having all types of kids, from all backgrounds and of all abilities, in our marketing and content. We have a proud 36-year heritage of serving Canadians and so it’s really important to us that we reflect the communities we’re a part of coast-to-coast. The guide itself was designed in Canada and includes special tributes to our roots throughout it, including our partnership with another beloved Canadian brand, Hatley, who provided pajamas for our families. Through the gift guide, we hoped to play a small role in bringing wonder of all sizes during a very different holiday season.

Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?

A: Mastermind Toys has always been a destination spot for our customers celebrating birthdays and other milestones in their lives. We have reinvented birthday parties and family gatherings with Virtual Verified games and activities that make online togetherness fun, but I am really looking forward to the day when these celebrations can happen with everyone in person again.

Mastermind Toys is also the nation’s largest specialty toy and children’s book retailer, with our world-class assortment driving who we are. Our Category Buyers are always looking for the next best toy and game to share with our customers and historically they’ve built our curation with great finds from toy fairs. We are greatly missing the opportunity to meet with vendors worldwide at toy fairs, and though we’ve innovated that experience to host our very own Mastermind Toys Play Preview virtually, we’re excited for the day where the industry can come together. In the meantime, we are incredibly grateful for our vendors and partners who continue to look for new ways to co-create with us.

Shelby Taylor
Shelby Taylor

Shelby Taylor, CEO & Founder, Chickapea

Q: What is the top positive change to emerge from the past year? 

A: Less travel and more efficient use of time via video meetings. Now that everyone is up to speed with meeting technology, I think the days of travel for a 30 minute meeting may be over or at least significantly reduced. It not only saves time and has a positive impact on the environment, but gives back precious time with family.

Q: What changes do you expect to see this summer and how are you preparing? 

A: I think most people will still be eating at home the majority of the time and looking for more creative BBQ, summer salad and cocktail recipes to try. At Chickapea we’re creating tons of fresh, nutritious pasta salad recipes and showing customers how they can incorporate Chickapea into their summer meals in place of animal protein – like tossing our spirals on top of a green salad instead of chicken or using our spaghetti in fresh salad rolls.

Q: What’s the best marketing initiative you’ve seen recently?

A: I love everything Oatly puts out. They manage to use fun and humor to communicate their beliefs on serious issues; namely animal consumption. They’re open, honest and brave with their marketing and it’s inspiring.

Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?

A: I’m very curious to see how grocery shopping is permanently impacted by the trends of this past year and how much online grocery will continue to grow. As happy as I am not to travel as much, I am really looking forward to being face to face with our customers again at events and shows because I am missing that connection.

Albert Chow
Albert Chow

Albert Chow, CEO & Co-founder, Silk & Snow

Q: What is the top positive change to emerge from the past year?

A: Our brand has always been built around prioritizing high quality local manufacturing using traceable raw materials. Our customers appreciated deliberate, small batch manufacturing with total transparency and control of where our products came from. The pandemic seemed to have put a renewed focus on both the support for local manufacturing, and the awareness of where their products come from. Many customers who were previously very transactional, were now more thoughtful of their purchases and were more inquisitive of how the products they are purchasing are being made.

Q: What changes do you expect to see this summer and how are you preparing?

A: Container shortages are causing continual shortages in raw materials.  Although we manufacture and source raw materials for most of our products locally, many of our competitors use imported materials and have now resorted to sourcing things locally due to the impact the pandemic has had on importing raw materials.  This has lead to pricing pressure due to the additional demand on our local suppliers, and in turn has caused some of our suppliers to start rationing and applying measured allocations to their customers. Fortunately for us, we have been a prominent buyer of locally sourced materials prior to the pandemic and have established very good relationships with our local suppliers, meaning we have not been impacted as much as our competitors, but we expect to see the issue of price pressure and inconsistency of supply for raw materials continue to worsen in the summer. To avoid the risk of these supply chain disruptions impacting our customers, we plan on maintaining a larger inventory and continuing to take advantage of our relationships with our local suppliers.

Q: What’s the best marketing initiative you’ve seen recently?

A: We started to run more traditional radio ads recently, as traditional media rates have fallen quite a bit due to a lack of demand.  The return on ad spend for traditional media had never made sense for a digitally native retail business like ours, due to the high cost.  However, the pandemic has opened up a unique opportunity for us to start testing marketing initiatives using more traditional media such as radio or out-of-home.

Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?

A: We want to continue to focus on promoting our locally made products and tell the story behind the people and businesses that manufacture thoughtfully made, high quality products, like the ones we continue to offer.

Brandon Kim
Brandon Kim

Brandon Kim, Co-founder, Creative & Strategy, Brevitē

Q: What is the top positive change to emerge from the past year?

A: 2020 allowed for us to become very concise in our vision and very focused in our efforts. In March, we had a huge mindshift change that allowed for us to remove the external distractions and double down on our core efforts.

Q: What changes do you expect to see this summer and how are you preparing?

A: As a backpack brand, our business revolves around the movement of people. We are anticipating as the nicer weather comes and as the vaccine is rolled out at scale, there will be an increase in sales. Fortunately, you can use our product without other people, so it is good for socially distanced activities as well. As we prep for the summer, we are now building up our marketing operations in anticipation.

Q: What’s the best marketing initiative you’ve seen recently?

A: Kinfield and Blume are very good at engaging their audiences via SMS strategy. Their ability to be human in their language and approachable as a brand has allowed for them to have a very successful SMS channel.

Q: What are you looking forward to in the future?

A: We are looking forward to telling more of our Brand story.

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*Partner content. To work with Retail Insider, email: craig@retail-insider.com more than ever, the story you tell is vital as everything is going digital.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web For February 19, 2021

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Retail Insider
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Canadian Retail News From Around The Web

Top Stories: National

Central/Eastern Canada News

Western Canada News

Season 3, Episode 6: Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Continue to Expand in Canada Despite Pandemic [Podcast]

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This week, Craig and Lee discuss how increased leasing activity, including new stores for Diptique, EQ3 and Uniqlo signal confidence in physical retail.

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:

  1. Cadillac Fairview to Redevelop Former Sears at CF Polo Park in Winnipeg Including EQ3 Flagship
  2. BRIEF: Diptyque to Enter Canada with Stores, Prada Opens Montreal Women’s Boutique, including:
    • French Luxury Fragrance and Candle Brand ‘Diptyque’ Expanding Into Canadian Market
    • Hudson’s Bay Shutting Oakridge Centre Store Until 2024
    • Uniqlo Announces 2nd Montreal-Area Store Opening Date
  3. Luxury Candle Brand Opens Beautiful 1st Retail Space

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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/

The Future of Retail in Canada: Op-Ed

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Retail Insider
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The future of retail

By Solange Strom and Frederic Dimanche

Over the last couple of years, a chorus of voices predicted the end of traditional retail, stating its future would lie online. The pandemic exacerbated this belief as it triggered almost a year of store closures, physical distancing, and other restricting measures. As a result, between March and May of 2020 e-commerce sales rose 99.3% according to Statistics Canada.

Evidenced by Shopify’s unprecedented growth in 2020 and by the implementation of various tools including “Buy Online Pick up In Store” (BOPIS), curbside pick-up, and social selling, retailers pivoted massively to e-commerce. A digital capacity has become imperative today, however, focusing solely on that channel would be a serious mistake.

Indeed, as retailers flood the digital space, its differentiating power diminishes and fades. The situation reveals the dearth of high-level online customer service that retailers overlooked in their quest for sales, and the increased focus on digital disregards the importance of the physical stores that remain the core of their business.

In this fast-changing and complex environment, here are the most important things retailers should be doing right now.

Digital Is Necessary but Not a Sufficient Requirement

Digital is not an option, it is essential. With the pandemic triggering a digital acceleration that saw four to six years of growth within a few months, a lack of digital presence is bound to hinder retailers’ future expansion, rendering them invisible to the markets they work with. But being available online doesn’t deliver the competitive advantage it once did. The more crowded the space, the lesser the differentiating power of digital distribution.

Specialty and luxury retailers must find creative ways to navigate the now and shape the future. A 2018 McKinsey report highlighted how the traditional linear customer journey had already been blown to bits with the average luxury shopper engaging with brands through multiple touchpoints before entering a store. Therefore, being present and active on social media is critical, even when not selling online. Chanel is a good example of a brand who shies away from e-commerce but still delivers rich digital content for its followers to share, making it the world’s most influential brand on social media.

Additionally, with ample options across multiple channels, shoppers’ online expectations have risen. There is little tolerance for sub-par digital shopping experiences that might have been adequate before the crisis. Mobile responsive websites, integrated services such as BOPIS or “buy online, return to store” are now standard.

Finally, seamless delivery is a must. However, despite a 2018 PwC survey stating that many shoppers would willingly pay more for same-day shipping, experts at a recent Business of Fashion (BOF) webinar claimed this was no longer the case. The pandemic revealed a significant lack of tracking tools, leading irritated shoppers to hound brands’ social media in search of orders. Today, delivery seems to be more about accuracy than immediacy.

Online Customer Service Must Mirror Offline Counterpart

It is clear that the digital aspect of the customer journey is inescapable. But it goes together with improving online customer service capabilities. Customers who switched to shopping online during the pandemic expected the same personalized service they received in stores. Unfortunately, it was often not the case. A customer whose order was lost tried for days to get in touch with the company’s customer service department only to reach someone in a foreign country who was incapable of assisting her. Existing tools like chatbots, next-day social media messaging, or live chats subcontracted overseas just don’t cut it if the strategic intent is quality service.

Indeed, a recent report released by Stella Connect found that 50% of customers surveyed prioritized customer service as a deciding factor about whether or not to do business with a brand, and that 80% still preferred to interact with a real person. Retailers acknowledged these preferences as they moved to live online selling during the pandemic with associates doling out tips via chats and videos. But despite new technology players (e.g., Endear) simplifying the process, it often failed to transform inexperienced advisors into superstars.

It is up to the companies to purposefully develop teams to service online channels in the same way they would store advisors: With a focus on quality. The human touch remains essential. Investing in customer service cannot be ignored as evidenced during the pandemic with brands overwhelmed by customer complaints. In the future, all retail channels will be treated equally with the customer experience flowing seamlessly between them.

Investment in Physical Stores Can’t Be Ignored

With 10 years of e-commerce growth happening in just 90 days, the digital space is becoming extremely crowded and retailers doing business online face serious obstacles. Customer acquisition costs have sky-rocketed, often exceeding the lifetime value of a customer as have online operational expenses triggered by generous shipping and return policies.

In such a context, physical retail remains one of the most important touchpoints in the customer’s journey. It is critical that retailers invest not only in digital channels but also in their physical ones. While brands can draw in web-savvy consumers through appealing and efficient e-commerce sites, it is usually the brick-and-mortar stores that make the most lasting impressions: They deliver experiences that simply cannot be replicated online.

In his book Reengineering Retail, Doug Stephens goes as far as stating that the stores of the future will be designed first and foremost for experiences with products coming second. Retail experts agree that a focus on transactional retail only is not a viable option.

When a space is well-designed and comfortable, the value of a store’s assortment of goods is elevated. Despite popular belief that physical retail is dead, it seems that being able to see, smell and touch things is still vitally important to the majority of the economy.

Future of Retail Lies in its People

Together with beautiful Instagrammable spaces, consumers need compelling experiences combined with exceptional customer service. Responding to this successfully will further heighten a shopper’s positive sentiment for a brand.

Retailers must devote time to develop their front store teams and ensure they acquire essential soft skills like empathy and communication. How a customer feels when she shops is more important than what she’s shopping for. The focus must be on upskilling the personnel to master the art of storytelling and be able to amaze customers.

Doing so can actually inspire a consumer to make a purchase even if the same item can be found elsewhere. Wharton University Professor Marshall L. Fisher demonstrated in a 2015 study that well-trained sales associates who can answer customers’ questions knowledgeably are an incredible weapon for a retail store. He believes that most customers end up buying online because they get better information than in store.

Seen in that light, stores could be retailers’ most profitable channel. Investing in training and development must be an immediate priority, not only to increase sales, but more importantly for the long term, to increase the quality of the brand experience, resulting in higher consumer loyalty and increased differentiation from competitors.

Building Now for Tomorrow

As stores reopen, retailers will have to ensure customers feel welcome. After the first lockdown, it was painfully obvious that sanitary measures were prioritized over employee and customer well-being. Too often, retail staff had to unwillingly take on the role of hygiene watchdogs rather than do their jobs. Clients eager to visit stores abided by the rules but nevertheless expected to be warmly welcomed and shown special appreciation for coming. Instead, they often felt like interlopers. While safety is absolutely paramount, it should be like tech tools – integrated and invisible.

Additionally, fierce competition for talent can be anticipated in customer facing sectors from hospitality to retail. In Canada, there is a lack of potential staff to recruit from that has been exacerbated by the pandemic with many leaving the industry for other sectors.

Suzanne Sears, President of Luxury Careers Canada, thinks that retailers’ human resource department will have to reinvent itself to start serving more of a marketing function developing ways to attract the best individuals to their organizations. Some of the necessary changes will have to include not only training and career advancement opportunities but also adequate compensation packages.

Solange Strom

Gone are the days when a retailer could offer little more than minimum wage and no benefits. When employees are properly trained and developed, they move from being a cost to the retailer to becoming revenue generators. And while some might balk at the extra expense this will entail, the more progressive retailers will view this investment as a way to grow revenue, create value for their brand, and remain competitive in the marketplace.

Frederic Dimanche

Solange Strom, visionary and entrepreneurial retail executive with a track record of driving growth through employee-centric strategies. 25 years helming global brands such as Boiron, L’Occitane en Provence and Repetto Paris. Founder of the Radical Retail Method, a training program aimed at supporting retail organizations in their quest for excellence. To contact Solange visit www.solangestrom.com.

Frederic Dimanche, Professor and Director, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Ryerson University. Thirty years of professional and academic experience in service marketing and consumer behaviour, particularly in hospitality and tourism. Academic experience in the USA, France, and Canada.

BRIEF: All National Sports Stores Shutting, Off-Price Retailer Century 21 Looks to Enter Canada

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Retail Insider
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Retail Insider Brief
Retail Insider Brief

Canadian Tire to Close National Sports Store Chain Amid New Competition

Canadian Tire announced Thursday that it will shut all 18 of its value-priced National Sports store locations in Canada as part of an effort to become more efficient. It comes as competitors begin to expand, including UK-based JD Sports, which is entering the Canadian market this year.

The 18 National Sports locations are all in Ontario, with most of them occupying space in strip malls and big box centres. The retailer also has a store in downtown Peterborough as well as at the popular Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga.

Photo: National Sports
Photo: National Sports

Canadian Tire is making efforts to transition employees of National Sports to other Canadian Tire banners, including Canadian Tire stores, Mark’s, Party City, and sports-focused FGL Group (which operates under banners Sport Chek), Atmosphere, Sports Experts, Pro Hockey Life, and Trio Hockey. Fourth Quarter revenue and profits at Canadian Tire rose significantly with net income totalling $488.8 million ending January 2nd, up from $334.1 million a year earlier. Revenue was $4.87 billion, up from $4.32 billion a year earlier.

Competition in the sporting good retail space is heating up in Canada as French chain Decathlon continues to expand its Canadian operations by opening stores. UK-based JD Sports is also entering the market this year with more details to follow. At the same time, some chains have struggled including former Vancouver-based cooperative MEC, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year and was acquired, as well as Quebec company SAIL which filed and shuttered its Sportium chain of superstores in that province.

Century 21 Logo
Century 21 Logo

Retailer ‘Century 21’ Eyes Canadian Expansion Following Summer Bankruptcy

Popular New York City-based off-price retailer Century 21 is reportedly looking to enter the Canadian market amid a global store expansion following its bankruptcy over the summer and the shuttering of all stores. The timeline for the Canadian expansion is unclear as the retailer prepares to open its first new store following the filing in Busan, South Korea.

The Busan Century 21 store will span nine floors and about 100,000 square feet, according to an exclusive report this week in WWD. The store will open in August with a branded facade. It is unclear if Canadian luxury vintage accessory retailer LXRandCo will be part of the mix as was the case with the former Century 21 stores.

Entrepreneurs Al, Ralph, and Sonny Gindi founded Century 21 in New York City in 1961 and the company expanded to multiple locations. After failing to recover disaster insurance, the company filed for bankruptcy over the summer and its remaining stores shut in early December (Century 21 will litigate). The Gindi family and a silent partner bought the intellectual property rights for Century 21 in November for USD $9 million with plans to revive the concept. Industry veteran, Marc Benitez, has been appointed President of the new company and will spearhead the expansion.

According to the WWD report, Mr. Benitez said that Century 21 is targeting Canada, China, Hong Kong, Europe, Australia, and South America for stores in the coming years. An expansion into the United States is also planned at the “right time” with a Manhattan flagship being part of the mix, either on 34th Street or in the Times Square area. It has not yet been established what the company’s real estate strategy might be in terms of choosing locations for Canadian storefronts.

Exterior of Costco location. Photo: Costco
Exterior of Costco location. Photo: Costco

Costco Shuts In-Store Photo Departments

Seattle-based large-format membership club Costco shut all of its in-store photo departments last weekend and is now directing costumers to its photo services still available online. Customers are no longer able to get passport photos, ink refills, photo restoration service, or video transfer service in-store.

Online, the Costco website offers home/office delivery of photo/metal/acrylic prints, enlargements, posters, stationery, photo greeting cards, canvas, photo books, calendars, and business printing, among other services.

Changes to Costco’s offerings reflect changing technologies amid a new digital age. Costco has 102 stores in Canada with a highest per capita penetration in Alberta. The company’s annual sales in Canada surpassed $28.5 billion last year, with 13 million square feet of space and 34,000 employees.

Amazon and Global Optimism Announce Addition of 20 New Signatories to The Climate Pledge

Amazon and Global Optimism have announced the addition of 20 new signatories to The Climate Pledge. Coming from all over the world, they include: ACCIONA, Colis Prive, Cranswick plc, Daabon, FREE NOW, Generation Investment Management, Green Britain Group, Hotelbeds, IBM, Iceland Foods, Interface, Johnson Controls, MiiR, Ørsted, Prosegur Cash, Prosegur Compañia de Seguridad, Slalom, S4Capital, UPM, and Vanderlande.

With the addition of the new signatories, 53 companies across 18 industries and 12 countries have committed to working toward net-zero carbon in their worldwide businesses — which in aggregate has the potential to significantly reduce corporate carbon emissions. The 20 new signatories represent diverse economic sectors, ranging from energy to agricultural and financial services, and although each organization is at a different stage in its journey to net-zero carbon emissions, all are committed to The Climate Pledge’s ambitious goal of meeting the Paris Agreement 10 years early.

Signatories to The Climate Pledge agree to:

• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.

• Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.

• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050.

Each company is implementing science-based, high-impact changes to its business to help decarbonize the value chain, including innovating in circular economy, deploying clean energy solutions, and mobilizing supply chains to reach net-zero by 2040.

“As the U.S. takes an important step forward in the fight against climate change by officially rejoining the Paris Agreement this week, I am excited to welcome 20 new companies to The Climate Pledge who want to go even faster,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

Aura at College Park. Photo: Aura at College Park
Aura at College Park. Photo: Aura at College Park

Former Hard Candy Gym Space in Toronto for Sale

On behalf of Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2421 & 2446, Cushman and Wakefield has announced the sale and lease opportunity for the 4th floor retail space within the Podium at Aura Condos, located at 382 Yonge Street in Toronto.

The Property provides the investor, user, or tenant with an opportunity to acquire and/or occupy a vacant 40,000-square-foot existing retail unit, intended for fitness and wellness concepts, in one of the country’s most densely populated and rapidly-growing urban areas.

Located right at the corner of Yonge and Gerrard Streets, the unit was formerly well known for Madonna’s Hard Candy Fitness, Later Crunch Fitness. The space hosts 19-foot-high ceilings and windows and includes unit 1, level 2 of Toronto Standard Condominium Plan No. 2421. The purchasing price is set at $22,000,000.00, with additional rent estimated at $10.50 per square foot. Available for demise and/or reconfiguration for either a purchaser or leasee, the 4th floor unit is located in the same retail podium and shares the same elevator bank as Marshalls (3rd floor), Bed Bath and Beyond (2nd floor), RBC, BMO (ground floor).

Map of the 4th floor of Aura at College Park. Image: Cushman and Wakefield
Map of the 4th floor of Aura at College Park. Image: Cushman and Wakefield

Aura is currently the tallest residential building in Canada, at 79 stories with over 1,000 units and not only does this part of Downtown Toronto capture the highest population density in Canada, it also arguably defines the country’s flagship retail epicentre, featuring some of the best brands in the world.

Retail Insider recently reported on SIR Royalty Income Fund‘s announcement regarding the closure of all three restaurants within the Aura centre — Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar, Reds Midtown Tavern, and a Duke’s Refresher & Bar. Given the current operating environment and uncertain future prospects, SIR decided to exercise its options and return the property to the landlord.

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