Season 3, Episode 1: Changes Coming to Toronto and Vancouver Luxury Retail Districts

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This week, Craig & Lee return for 2021 and discuss Vancouver’s Alberni Street “Luxury Zone” and Toronto’s Bloor Street “Mink Mile” for recent announcements of openings/closures.

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. Luxury Brand Thom Browne to Open 2nd Canadian Storefront in Vancouver
  2. BRIEF: SEE Eyewear Exits Canada, LCBO Scores Coveted Corner Mink Mile Retail Space
  3. BRIEF: GAP Shuts All 3 Mink Mile Stores
  4. Luxury Multi-Brand Retailer ‘The Webster’ to Open 1st Canadian Store in Toronto’s Yorkville Neighbourhood
  5. German Skiwear Brand Bogner Opens ‘Winter Boutique’ on Toronto’s Mink Mile
  6. Major Optical Chain Secures Mink Mile Space at the ‘Best Retail Corner in Canada’

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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/

1 COMMENT

  1. 2021 will be a disaster for retailers in North America. I’m seeing stores that opened a year or two ago go dark in the Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC left and right. I know that the CELINE, Berluit and GIVENCHY store openings at Copley Place have been scraped and the brands will instead open shop in shop at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue in the same mall. I’ve always believed that not all brands need their own stores.

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