Amazon recently hosted a webinar which can be viewed on-demand online laying out the benefits of cloud-based AWS Amazon Web Services. Several retailers explain in the webinar how AWS has helped their businesses.
The webinar provides insight into the core needs of small and medium-sized retailers in particular, explaining how the cloud-based AWS provides the ability to scale, access to innovative tech, IT support as well as a cost structure that is affordable for these retailers.
Retail is seeing a shift online as the pandemic accelerates a digital transformation. Being online will be paramount to retailers moving forward as consumers increasingly search to buy goods online.
To learn more about AWS Amazon Web Services and to watch the webinar, click here.
Craig speaks with Founder and CEO of Ottawa-based Bathorium, Gregory Macdonald, about how he got started with the business and where it’s going. That includes a new Bathorium storefront at CF Rideau Centre in Ottawa, marking a milestone for the business.
The Interview Series podcast by Retail Insider Canada is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out our The Weekly podcast where Craig and Lee discuss popular content published on Retail Insider which is part of the The Retail Insider Podcast Network.
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/
Pam and Steve Freedman, The Chesterfield Shop (Photo: Dustin Fuhs)
Longevity in retail. It’s a rarity in such a fast-paced industry – one that seems to present its players with constant twists and turns that add to the complexities of the landscape every day. A dedication and commitment to the operation, focus on market changes and trends, ability to make shifts and pivots necessitated by economic forcing functions, and willingness to adapt and evolve are all elements required by any business seeking success over any length of time. To sustain similar results that span decades, however, seems to demand a whole host of qualities, both tangible and intangible. One such company that’s managed to achieve consistent success over an extended period of time is family-owned furniture store, The Chesterfield Shop. The retailer is on the verge of celebrating 75 years of operation. And, according to its President, Steve Freedman, the brand continues to adhere to the foundations of customer service and quality that it was built on nearly three quarters of a century ago.
“One of the most important things that we’ve done in order to sustain our success and reputation through the years is consistently ensuring that we’re operating with respect for our staff members, suppliers and our customers,” he says. “It’s a philosophy that drives just about everything we do. It ensures that everyone at the company is focused at keeping customer-service at the forefront of our operation. We’re currently serving third generation customers of the store – the result of ensuring constant focus on the customer’s needs and providing friendly, knowledgeable service from sales consultants, helping them find the piece of furniture that will compliment their home and their lifestyle. And, because we’ve always been a smaller hands-on company, it’s allowed us to adapt to changes in the marketplace and continuously evolve with changes in furniture fashion in order to consistently provide fresh product of the highest possible quality.”
Pam and Steve Freedman, The Chesterfield Shop (Photo: Dustin Fuhs)The Chesterfield Shop Grand Opening at 275 King Street East (Photo: The Chesterfield Shop)
The Chesterfield Shop operates six showroom locations throughout the Greater Toronto Area, specializing in an unsurpassed selection of seating products for the home, boasting items within a range of categories that include sofas, sofa-beds, sectionals, chairs, recliners, recliner furniture and theatre seating, in addition to a collection of accessories and accent pieces. Through dependable service and offering, the brand has been able to cultivate and nurture trust among its community of customers and a reciprocation of the respect that it prides itself on. It’s a focus that Freedman, who’s been running the business with his wife Pam for the better part of 40 years, believes is critical. And, he adds, part of that focus has included a need to digitize the business in order to remain relevant.
“There have been so many changes that we’ve experienced running the company through the years,” he recognizes. “But there have been more changes in the last couple of years than there were in the previous 36 or so years that I’ve been doing this. The advent and strength of things like social and digital marketing have been hugely impactful. The digitization of the world around us has forced so much evolution, and it continues to move at breakneck speed. It’s influenced us and others within the industry to make sure that we provide and constantly enhance our ecommerce capabilities and internet presence, and that we’re reaching and engaging our customers on the channels that they frequent. And, it’s also opened up opportunities to reach customers that might otherwise be unfamiliar with our store and the product that we offer.”
In addition to ensuring adaptability in order to shift and pivot in response to the latest changes in technology and other factors influencing the retail operation, the Freedman’s also need to constantly educate themselves with respect to the product that they offer, maintaining a deep understanding of the market and current trends. It’s a part of the process that Freedman says is challenging and constantly evolving, but adds that listening to the customer and keeping on top of all of the latest in furniture fashion allows the company to regularly ensure that it offers the latest styles and most relevant pieces available today.
The Chesterfield Shop (Photo: Dustin Fuhs)
“One thing that I realized when I took over the business was the fact that each one of our locations has a unique personality and client-base,” he says. “The products our customers are looking for in our Newmarket store differs from our downtown Toronto store, our Scarborough store and our Mississauga store. The styles that people are looking for are slightly different at each location. In order to properly address this, I rely heavily on my store managers. Together, supported by continuous communication, we’re able to stay attuned to the needs and preferences of our customers in each market and submarket that we serve. Ensuring this happens on a consistent basis requires a lot of effort and continuous education on our part.”
Managing the business and ensuring this kind of hands-on approach is something that presents challenges during the best of times. However, as is the case with most other things, the COVID-19 global pandemic has exacerbated these challenges while also presenting new ones. It’s been difficult to maintain buoyancy throughout the course of the past 18 months, admits Freedman. However, rather than succumb to the pressures of the situation that the business faced, it instead saw an opportunity to pivot and shift, enhancing elements of its offering and doubling down on the principles that have helped make The Chesterfield Shop what it is today.
“It’s been an extremely interesting time to be in business,” he says. “We were closed something like 240 days out of 410 during the various lockdowns. And every time we’d open up again, business would roar back. It’s been a bit like managing a roller-coaster, which has come with its own challenges. To address some of the challenges, we’ve pivoted in a number of different ways. We refreshed our website to be a little more interactive. We also decided to start doing in-store appointments in order to make customers feel a little more comfortable about visiting the store. And we also started doing virtual appointments during the lockdowns. Beyond these measures, which were meant to maintain our engagement with our customers, we became much more focused on our relationships with them.”
In addition to challenges presented by the pandemic, Freedman also recognizes further challenges on the horizon, including a current shortage of talented warehouse labour, continued lockdowns in regions and countries around the world, as well as a lack of skilled truckers within the trucking industry, impacting transportation and the flow and delivery of products. However, it’s the more holistic issues around the global supply chain that are most worrisome, he says, causing massive problems for retailers everywhere that depend on its reliability.
The Chesterfield Shop (Photo: Dustin Fuhs)
Image: The Chesterfield Shop (1956 Advertisement)
“There are shortages of raw materials that are resulting in tremendous price increases for offshore containers,” he asserts. “And, even though we don’t receive any finished product from offshore, a lot of the fabrics and furniture mechanisms that we need have been held up at ports. There are so many balls up in the air, causing a lot of disruption with respect to the supply chain today, resulting in stresses on the entire industry. In order to address these challenges, retailers have got to apply unique and thoughtful approaches to the issues that will enable them to continue offering the value and selection that customers have become used to.”
Despite the challenges of the past year-and-a-half, which continue to persist, Freedman is optimistic about the future and the opportunities that will be available to retailers and other businesses to engage with a returning consumer. He believes that a reopening of communities and economies, combined with a consumer who’s experiencing a pent-up desire for tangible interactions and experiences, will provide the perfect setting for success for many. And, with respect to the future of The Chesterfield Shop, he’s confident that, after nearly three quarters of a century of business, there remain plenty of areas for growth.
“With the type of company that we’ve built through the years, we have the opportunity to grow the business even further. We love what we do, and I certainly don’t want to lose the genuine and deep connection that we enjoy with our staff and customers. But there are some really great growth opportunities in markets that we don’t currently serve, like Barrie, Burlington, Kitchener-Waterloo, as well as other regions that might welcome one of our locations. Expanding in this sense means that we don’t need to stray too far from our home base, while broadening and extending our reach and presence. As long as we can continue to build our team with really great people, then anything is possible. Our staff is extremely important to us and the real driver behind the success of The Chesterfield Shop, and will continue to be critical in supporting our achievements going forward.”
“Since the start of the pandemic, several restaurants have closed their doors. Is it really that bad for the consumer?”
A question that often comes up is, did we have too many restaurants before the pandemic? Many wonder if the pandemic has only wiped out the restaurants we had “extra” of. With the labour shortage, the cost of food ingredients exploding, and the list of regulations growing almost every year, making a restaurant profitable has become a difficult task. Certainly, the pandemic has presented a golden opportunity for the industry to reflect on its future.
Before the pandemic, restaurants were in their glory years, literally. Compared to 20 or 30 years ago, going out to eat was routine for many of us. Canadians spent an average of about 35% of their food budget on restaurants, and the sector was on the verge of exceeding $100 billion in sales per year. But in March 2020, everything changed. According to Statistics Canada, there were approximately 65,000 restaurants at the start of 2020. That number is probably around 40,000 to 45,000 today. No one is quite sure, but this approximation seems fair enough.
Even if the sector has recorded less than 30 bankruptcies in total since the start of the pandemic, many have simply abandoned the industry. Despite the difficulties created by the pandemic, the sector is running at about 82% of the capacity it had before the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada. Households are no longer spending 35% of their food budget at restaurants, as they were before the pandemic. Now that percentage is more around 27% or 28%. In April 2020, at the heart of the first wave, this percentage barely reached 9%. But in August of this year, several restaurants had a historic month with record-breaking sales.
However, the sector is still not out of the woods. Managing a restaurant after the pandemic will not be easy. According to a recent report from Restaurants Canada, the nation’s leading foodservice lobby group, nearly half of foodservice operators plan to increase menu prices by 4% or more over the next year. One in five establishments expects to increase prices by at least 6%, and several have already done so. The cost of food is becoming a real problem not only for consumers but for restaurant owners as well.
The labour shortage, which existed before the pandemic, has only worsened since. Over the next year, it is predicted that 42% of restaurants will experience an increase in the number of vacant positions, and more than 53% plan to increase their employees’ salaries in the coming months. It’s great news for restaurant workers, who certainly deserve it, but someone will have to pay for it all.
These macroeconomic factors will make it difficult for the sector to go back to its 65,000-restaurant mark. For households, restaurant visits (now with higher prices) will certainly be less frequent. The 35% portion of the family food budget allocated to meals eaten out before the pandemic is not coming back anytime soon.
Of the more than 15,000 to 20,000 restaurants that disappeared during the pandemic, some were excellent, leaving behind an incredible legacy for their customers. It’s sad to see many of these independent and family restaurateurs forced to abandon ship. But in truth, the pandemic also acted as a purgatory by eliminating several restaurants which lowered the quality of the sector. Food safety issues, food fraud, you name it. Some were already heading for closure and would have gone out of business, whether there was a pandemic or not.
Most large chains that enjoy superior financial and strategic support emerged from the pandemic almost unscathed. By some estimates, while the big chains were closing about 10% of the restaurants in the network, Canada was losing almost 50% of its independent restaurants. Most of the innovations we have seen as consumers have come from independents. Sushi dishes as well as Korean, Mediterranean, and Ethiopian cuisines all came from independents at first. Big chains, on the other hand, offer us restaurants that are all alike and serve pretty much the same food from the same suppliers with only a few subtle differences.
The issue that deserves special attention is not how many restaurants we need to support our economy, but rather what kind of restaurants we need. We may have too many restaurants offering the same dishes. Our culinary identity will slowly be lost without all these chef-restaurant owners who will no longer be there to make us eat creative and tasty dishes inspired by market and local products.
Dufferin Grove Village (Dufferin Mall Redevelopment) Rendering: Urban Strategies Inc / Primaris Management Inc.)
The shopping centre as a hub of commercial and social activity. There was once a day when this statement was not only widely accepted as a truth, but was also an astutely accurate assessment of the role malls played within their communities. With movie theatres providing the entertainment, food courts serving as a platform for connection and human interaction and the assortment of stores offering all of the product anyone needed, the shopping centre was in many ways the nerve centre of the areas they serve. However, with the advent of ecommerce and the digitization of the world around us, the utility and purpose of the shopping centre has changed. And, according to Doug Stephens, prolific industry analyst and Founder of the consultancy firm Retail Prophet, in order to rediscover its place within communities across the country, shopping centres must reimagine and reinvent themselves in a changing retail environment.
“We can all agree that the woes and challenges of the shopping centre industry began well before the pandemic was a consideration,” says Stephens. “The truth of the matter is that the commercial and social utility that shopping centres once offered has become all but irrelevant. In its heyday, the shopping centre was Facebook – it’s where people went to meet up with friends. It was Netflix in the form of the movie theatres. It was Uber Eats because the food court had all kinds of different food options. And the list goes on concerning all of the commercial and social utility that communities received from their local shopping centres. Post-digital, this has become a problem. In the same way that the iPhone has replaced about 40 other devices in our lives, it has essentially replaced much of the social and commercial functionality and value of shopping centres. So, a shopping centre can no longer be a place with a reasonably well-curated selection of retail tenants and a little food and beverage sprinkled in for interest. It really has to become a fundamentally different business and social construct that brings people back to the shopping centre and creates utility for a new generation of consumers.”
A changed retail equation
Stephens points to the breadth of product selection available through online channels and the continued rise in the use of smartphones by Canadians as the two primary forcing functions behind the consumer’s shift in shopping behaviour. In the palms of their hands, today’s digitally-connected consumer has access to thousands of brands, a multitude of wares and an array of purchase and product transfer options, rendering a trip to the mall for many, particularly for younger shoppers, relatively pointless. As a consequence of this shift and the channels of commerce now available, Stephens goes on to suggest that the relevance of the shopping centre as a vehicle for brands has now come under question as well.
“When you get right down to it, retail is an equation based on value,” he explains. “And that equation is made up of consumers on one side and brands on the other. Retail, since the advent of the industrial revolution, has stepped in to be an intermediary between the two. So, the retailer has to provide a level of value to a brand as well as to the consumer. It’s been this way since the beginning of retail as we know it. But that equation is now changing. It’s not just a matter of opening up a store somewhere and conveying a bit of product knowledge on behalf of the brand to the consumer. Today’s consumer demands so much more. They can find whatever information they’re looking for online, research and compare product, ultimately amassing more knowledge than any store associate could ever acquire. And on the brand side, retail is no longer needed simply due to the proven ability of brands to reach consumers directly. As a result, there’s very little practical need for retail, with the exception of certain categories that we all acknowledge are more difficult to buy online. Now, if you take that lack of practicality and multiply it by a hundred, you’ve got today’s shopping centre.”
Rethinking the proposition
Stephens cites Nike as one of the best examples of a brand that’s decided to spurn the traditional wholesale distribution model in favour of moving squarely into direct-to-consumer sales. It did so back in 2017. Following stellar sales, improving margins, increased customer satisfaction, and stock prices that are 217 percent greater than they were when it made its pivot, the brand hasn’t looked back. And, given the fact that shopping centres are essentially a different type of broker, brokering retailers to consumers and providing an additional distribution node for brands, once their utility in this sense is marginalized, so too is the purpose that they serve. As Stephens suggests, this is an erosion in value that’s been occurring for the last couple of decades as malls across the country scramble to discover relevance, unable to find it in novelty food options or the hosting of occasional events. So, what does Stephens believe needs to happen in order to attract footfall back to the shopping centre?
“It’s going to take a fundamental rethink of the entire proposition,” he asserts. “And, ultimately, what many are going to find is that there are four pillars that the shopping centre of the future is going to need to be built on. First, a genuine and authentic sense of place must be developed. This is where most of the legacy shopping centres around us are challenged. They were built decades ago in the suburbs on land that was purchased at cheap prices, don’t offer a unique or distinct sense of place, are void of any genuine heritage and don’t reflect the communities they serve in any way. In fact, you could be shopping in any number of malls across North America and not know which community you’re in. Developers must be thoughtful in ensuring that the shopping centres they’re developing are created as places that are unique unto themselves and the communities they serve, creating an immediate connection with visitors.”
Mixed-use creations
Avalon in Alpharetta (Image: Avalon)
In addition to ensuring the creation of place, injecting reflections of the areas immediately surrounding the venue, Stephens says that developers also need to rely on population in order to create the right kind of engagement, complementing and drawing on the sense of place that’s been cultivated. He points to recent developments like Avalon in Alpharetta, Georgia, as a great example of what’s possible. Avalon is a mixed-use creation which opened in 2014 and boasts nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space, a 12-screen Regal Cinemas theater, more than 600,000 square feet of Class A office space, nearly 400 single-family residences, 250 luxury rental homes, a hotel and conference centre, all on an 86-acre site. At a glance, it seems to offer everything a visitor might need. And, adding further value, Avalon is the host of an estimated 290 events every year. It’s a recipe that Stephens says goes a long way toward ensuring the population required to support a successful shopping centre.
“Malls rely heavily on population,” he says. “The most successful developments around the world today are mixed-use where there’s a foundational human energy of people living, working, playing, shopping, recreating and relaxing, and doing it all in a communal way. Shopping centres have got to understand that they are now in the business of collecting, gathering and manipulating human energy for the betterment of the centre and the community it serves. Mixed-use developments that take all of these things into consideration present a really great way for developers to harness that human energy to great effect.”
Content production
With the pillars of place and population secured, Stephens proposes that shopping centres then need to find ways to communicate with and promote the value of the venue to their visitors in special ways that will keep them coming back while enticing would-be visitors. In essence, just as Avalon in Georgia, and others, are leveraging special events and unique happenings, tomorrow’s shopping centre needs to become something of a production house, providing people with the impetus to frequent the development while creating a catalyst for excitement, engagement and interaction.
“Shopping centres are increasingly realizing that they need to be producing compelling content that draws an audience to the centre every day,” he asserts. “In doing so, they have an opportunity to use that audience to create a media value for the brands that sit under their rooves. They’ve got to create an entertainment and hospitality venue to generate foot traffic. If that audience can be gathered into the space, then everything else starts to fall into shape, including influencing interest from brands that want to be involved. If brands believe that there’s a distinct media value attached to being at a shopping centre because of the content that’s being produced and presented, then there’s a significantly better chance that they’re going to want to buy into the lease.”
Keys to the future?
Taking the notion of content creation one step further, Stephens suggests that the entertainment doesn’t need to be confined to the audience that sits within the walls of the shopping centre. There are also opportunities for malls to stream live content to consumers around the world, broadening and expanding the audience that’s being reached and the exposure to the brands involved. And, according to Stephens, that’s exactly where the fourth pillar is leveraged to support growth in the digital world. Following place, population and production, tomorrow’s shopping mall is poised to become a platform for growth in the digital world.
“The shopping centre of the future will not be a monolithic building that’s open for fourteen hours a day,” he says. “Instead, it will literally be a flexible, manipulatable platform that’s open and accessible 24-hours-a-day 365-days-a-year. Consumers will be empowered to shop in-store, online, order ship-to-home, from just around the corner or from abroad. The shopping centre developer that can execute on creating a unique sense of place, drawing a population of visitors to the venue with strong content production, leveraging the venue as a platform to drive social and commercial engagement, holds the keys to the future.”
Revising the evaluation model
All of this is not to say that there aren’t any successful, even lucrative, shopping centres in Canada still operating within a somewhat traditional model. However, outside of a dozen or so premium locations throughout the country, consisting primarily of luxury and outlet malls, most in Canada are struggling, restricted by an outdated and broken design. It’s a concern that’s been recently noted and recognized by a number of industry analysts and observers. And, although the template to reimagine the shopping centre – the theoretical and practical blueprint to build exciting and engaging mixed-use developments – is available and in rife supply to mimic, Stephens says that there is a challenge in getting all stakeholders to equally buy into the solution.
“The biggest problem for shopping centre developers is around the whole idea of evaluation,” he says. “The question comes down to how we evaluate the financial health of a shopping centre. And, unfortunately, most of the industry remains pretty archaic in this sense. So, it’s fine for an enlightened shopping centre developer to shirk the selling of product and writing of leases as their core business in favour of becoming a production company and a place where human energy can be manipulated. But at the end of the day, when they apply for a loan, they need to provide information concerning their gross leasable square footage and how much of that space is tenanted versus vacant, essentially determining their credit-worthiness. As a result, we need to start accepting the idea as an industry, across the board, all the way from the investors to the developers, that the goals today when building a shopping centre are fundamentally different than they were 20 years ago. The new revenue model will not be based on sales per square foot or writing ten-year leases. It’s going to be about brands buying space as a media channel to reach consumers at opportune times for the purposes of customer acquisition. That means we need a completely different model for how we value that square footage and the ways we judge success within the industry.”
A revitalized shopping centre industry
It seems like a relatively tall order for shopping centre developers and mall landlords to create a venue that reflects the four pillars of place, population, production and platform that Stephens describes. And, ensuring the unique mix of brands, food and beverage, attraction and entertainment that’s required in order to elicit meaningful foot traffic and provide something for everybody is likely to be equally challenging. However, if the right pieces are put in place, helping to build the pillars of support that Stephens recommends, a return of the shopping centre to its status of hubs of commercial and social activity may very well be inevitable. And then the next step, Stephens adds, as we continue headlong into a new digital world, will be the sharing and leveraging of data in order to drive and hone the future of the shopping centre experience in Canada.
“Ultimately shopping centres will need to become adept at understanding the movement of consumers through their space. And in conjunction, they need to become a data engine for brands, speaking to them in media terms, providing them with specific information related to the number of consumers that have been at its threshold, the number of consumers that have crossed over it and how many took action downstream of the experience. Developers and landlords need to have an acute understanding of that dataset and share it with their tenants for optimal success. It’s not going to be an easy lift, and will involve skillful work to create a reason for visitors to share their data and mindfulness with respect to privacy concerns. But my belief is that the development of special memberships with unique privileges may be the enticement consumers will need. As important as data will be going forward, however, simply creating a shopping venue of this nature will go a long way toward providing visitors with the sense of community that people crave. From the beginning of time, we’ve sought out gathering points to commune, gather information and experience things. Shopping centre developers are beginning to realize this and have the opportunity to create some amazing spaces that will fill a fundamental human need while revitalizing and reenergizing the Canadian shopping centre industry.”
Hunch, a certified global Facebook business partner, teams up with leading global brand and performance marketing teams to consistently drive operational efficiencies, revenue uplifts, and faster go-to-market initiatives. Brands and agencies rely on Hunch’s market leading automation platform that combines unique data-driven creative performance workflows with automated media buying processes to help today’s marketers focus on what matters most – Growth.”
Founded in 2017 by Siggi Rakovic and Igor Simovic along with a small group of creative technology pioneers in Los Angeles and Belgrade, Hunch has become a global leader in data driven creative solutions for social commerce marketing and has helped launch over a billion automated creatives for hundreds of brands including Bavaria Automotive, Qatar Airways, Wavemaker, Telenor and G Adventures.
Performance marketers use Hunch to build highly contextual customer journeys on Facebook and Instagram and deliver the right creative at the right time leading to better engagement. Achieving the same result requires hundreds of hours of manual work and additional resources to create, update and test each element of an offer.
Although most social platforms have a native ad studio, there are some limitations. Hunch’s Creative Studio is the answer to both these problems. It is designed to save marketing teams time and resources while creating aesthetically pleasing video and image ads for hundreds of products at once.
Hunch lets marketers turn their data into creative. Once you connect your product or data feeds to Hunch you can use them to build personalized creatives. Using the product data, third-party data, and Hunch Studio, advertisers can launch thousands of personalized ads automatically and combine brand and performance at scale.
Brands and agencies that have used Hunch growth playbooks report a 30% increase in performance using dynamic and automated ads, a 60% decrease in time required to launch and manage campaigns, and 25% more conversions using customized on-brand templates.
G Adventures, Canada’s largest adventure travel company and a world leader in the adventure industry, leveraged the power of Hunch to get back in the game after COVID-19 with Hunch’s automated ad solution for catalogs.
Image: Hunch
Not only did G Adventures reduce the time and effort needed to set up and launch these campaigns but they were also able to get more granular and personalize customer journeys.
With Hunch, e-retailers can target users based on the time of day with automated localized campaigns, trigger weather-based personalized messaging, and use localization techniques to cater to a global audience.
Hunch offers custom packages and pricing plans without locking companies into a long-term commitment. Self-serve plans for brands or agencies that are already running ads but need to start automating ads and creatives. Fully-managed plans are for teams that require tailored services and extended support and Hybrid plans for those in between.
Last week the American Dream shopping centre and entertainment complex in East Rutherford New Jersey unveiled a glossy new luxury retail wing called The Avenue that looks unlike anything in North America to date. American Dream was developed by Triple Five Group which got started in building entertainment-focused shopping Centres with West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton.
The Avenue luxury wing at American Dream is anchored by a new Saks Fifth Avenue store. The luxury wing is home to 20 retailers and spans about 300,000 square feet. Several stores opened there last week including Hermes, Mulberry and Dolce & Gabbana — the Hermes store spans an impressive 8,000 square feet which is larger than any location in Canada. Soon, other retailers will open including Saint Laurent, Tiffany & Co., Anne Fontaine, Gentle Monster, Alexander Wang, Jonathan Adler, Zadig & Voltaire and a Brut Champaign bar will also be featured at The Avenue.
A 113,000 square foot Saks Fifth Avenue store also opened at American Dream, housing a range of luxury brands including concessions for Louis Vuitton and Gucci. The design of the Saks store is visually different than the three Saks stores in Canada located in Toronto and Calgary. American Dream is home to Saks’ only store in New Jersey — the retailer exited The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack in 2014 and the Mall at Short Hills in 2016.
Don Ghermezian at The Avenue at American Dream (Image: GH+A Design)
In front of the Hermes store at The Avenue at American Dream (Image: GH+A Design)
Montreal-based design firm GH+A designed the space and Toronto-based Adamson Associates Architects were the architects for the Avenue — the two firms have been collaborating on the project since 2012.
In 2019, Triple Five hired Ken Downing to be Chief Creative Officer at American Dream. He introduced New York City-based Jonathan Adler to the project who designed the furniture for The Avenue. Landscaping was designed by Miami-based Plant the Future.
Interestingly, The Avenue luxury wing is so large that it is made up of two buildings. Building ‘E’ was completely remodelled and Building F is the new expansion featuring a glass skylight.
The Avenue features natural light shining from skylights as well as real trees and shrubs. Curving architecture characterizes the space and flooring is made of black and charcoal-coloured marble tile laid in a fishtail pattern. Included is a crystal chandelier under a rotunda and a grand staircase.
The Avenue at American Dream (Image: GH+A Design)
The Avenue at American Dream (Image: GH+A Design)
A 50,000 square foot Barneys New York store had been intended to open at American Dream, but the chain filed for bankruptcy and shut all stores last year.
The $6 billion 3.3 million square foot American Dream has been under construction for years and in 2019, attractions including Nickelodeon Universe and The Rink opened along with several kiosks. The pandemic delayed opening other sections of the megamall until recently. The entertainment component to American Dream now also includes the Big Snow ski slope, the Sea Life Aquarium, mini golf, Legoland and other attractions.
Triple Five, owned by the Ghermezian family, developed the fist phase of West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton in 1981 and the shopping centre has become the largest in North America with more than five million square feet. In 1992 Triple Five unveiled its second megamall project, the Mall of America in Bloomington south of Minneapolis. Both feature a mix of retail, food & beverage and entertainment.
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Young woman is outdoors, holding Christmas presents. She is holding paying card and smart phone
As vaccination rates increase in Canada and globally, shopping trends in 2021 are poised for yet another shift from last year’s surge in eCommerce transactions. The path to purchase is increasingly complex as retail searches grew at a rate 3X higher than the same time last year, according to Google.
Retail Council of Canada is bringing together experts and their latest 2021 learnings to help retailers of all sizes navigate their strategy for holiday 2021 at the Retail Holiday Shopping Forum on October 5, 2021.
Insights on consumer shopping behaviors for the holiday season will be presented by Luc Dumont, Vice-President, CPG at Leger. Leger will share the most important findings of the 4th annual RCC Leger Holiday Shopping survey, that is yet to be released, of over 2,500 Canadians coast-to-coast.
Retailers are also increasingly aware of the value of understanding their local communities and the cultural nuances. John Stevenson of CulturaliQ will share strategic insights covering multicultural consumers and their shopping patterns. John will also speak about the changing face of Canada, cultural holidays and trends, and how to connect the dots from a 360 DEI perspective.
Navigating the holidays wouldn’t be complete without talking about your digital strategy and leveraging the knowledge of Google. Jamie Garatsougias, head of Direct-to-Consumer and eCommerce Retail at Google joins us to share the critical insights to bolster your strategy.
Whether you are finalizing your holiday strategy and want to fine-tune it based on the latest learnings or figuring out where to go, Retail Council of Canada’s Holiday Shopping Forum will help you gain the critical insights you need to stand out and build meaningful connections with your customers and drive sales.
Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Holiday Shopping Forum will be hosted October 5, 2021, fully virtual from 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET. View the agenda or purchase tickets today
Strategic Partnership between GetintheLoop and Retail Insider
Retail Insider and GetintheLoop have partnered to bring Canada’s shop local platform to life inside the Retail-Insider platform. As the pandemic has evolved, brands big and small have turned to digital and mobile solutions to reach more customers and ultimately re-imagine their marketing in an increasingly digital world. As a part of this evolution, Retail Insider has launched an integrated partnership offering additional digital capabilities and reach for shopping centres, national brands, and now local retailers and businesses coast to coast.
Craig Patterson
“We got to know GetintheLoop over the past few years and have been increasingly impressed with the company’s technology and their commitment to helping retailers and local businesses attract and retain local customers during the pandemic,” said Craig Patterson, Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider. Our partnership allows us to add further value to Canadian businesses big and small while providing another avenue and touchpoint for our 500,000 + visitors each month.”
Under this newly minted partnership, GetintheLoop’s rapidly expanding shop local platform will become integrated into the Retail Insider ecosystem. The partnership creates expanded reach for GetintheLoop business partners while bringing new products and services to the Retail Insider customer base and expanding Retail Insider’s reach coast-to-coast with an evolving focus on local stories and growth.
“In our conversations with brands and shopping centres, we know their strategies are evolving to become digital-first strategies, and we are excited to bolster what we can offer our shopping centre and retail partners,” Patterson added.
GetintheLoop currently works with over 6,000 local and national businesses across the country, including Sunrise Records, Hudson’s Bay, T.Kettle, The Body Shop, and Chapters-Indigo, helping them reach and engage with over 1 million shoppers each week. This partnership with Retail Insider will see GetintheLoop’s audience grow by significantly adding further value to its local and national business network, including partnerships with REITs like Cushman & Wakefield, Kingsett Capital, BentallGreenOak, and Trio Vest coast-to-coast and award winning properties like Hillside Shopping Centre, Halifax Shopping Centre, and Burlington Centre.
Matt Crowell
“Retail Insider is the authority of what’s new, what’s happening, and who’s growing in the Canadian retail landscape. We are super excited to be working with their team to expand our capabilities to help local and national businesses connect with engaged consumer audiences. It’s early days, but I think this partnership is a great example of the innovation that’s happening in media and the retail landscape,” said Matt Crowell, founder of GetintheLoop.
The two parties expect the integration to be live in time for the upcoming busy shopping season and view the partnership as a constant evolution that includes expanded localized content on the Retail Insider platform. Together, GetintheLoop and Retail Insider plan to enter new markets like the USA based on GetintheLoop’s recent announcement of international expansion.
Anyone interested in learning more is encouraged to reach out here to speak with the Retail Insider team.
ABOUT GetintheLoop
GetintheLoop is Canada’s leading Shop Local Community, providing businesses with an easy and effective way to attract and retain local customers. Members join to receive local offers and rewards while discovering and supporting local businesses like restaurants, retail, and things to do, from coast to coast. For more information, visit www.GetintheLoop.ca.
GetintheLoop is expanding into new markets with local owner/operators through our innovative approach to franchising. For more information, visit www.GetintheLoopLocal.com.
Third-party apps and websites can apply GetintheLoop’s software development kit (SDK) and API to integrate local offers right into their app and website, providing users with our network of relevant and local offers with one simple integration.
ABOUT Retail-Insider.com
Retail Insider (retail-insider.com) is Canada’s most-read retail industry news publication. It was founded in 2012 and has grown to report on happenings across the country. Retail Insider also has a notable podcast network, including The Weekly and The Interview Series.
