Canadian fashion brand Danier, known for its leather clothing and accessories, has recently opened three new locations in the country in key markets.
Stores have opened in First Canadian Place in Toronto, the Halifax Shopping Centre in Halifax and CrossIron Mills just outside of Calgary, bringing the total store count to 13 locations in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
“We plan to expand our brick and mortar locations to 10-20 stores across major cities in Canada in the next one to five years. We do not want to oversaturate the market with redundant locations, rather focus on creating a more exclusive feel, where customers view us as a destination shop. Our brick and mortar stores are critical to the success of our business as there is still no substitute for being able to touch and feel the products before buying,” said Olga Koel, Executive Managing Director at Danier.
“Our products have a sensory element that invokes a strong feeling of richness and satisfaction – nothing beats the experience of getting into that perfect leather jacket and seeing how it transforms your look in an instant or wrapping yourself up in a luxurious wool coat and the confidence that comes with it.
“We expect to continue growing our online business to provide a robust omni channel experience to allow our customers the freedom and flexibility of shopping with us at their convenience. We look to incorporate integrated systems to create a seamless shopping experience that will work hand in hand with our brick and mortar locations.”
Koel said a critical component of selecting a retail location lies in understanding its target market.
“We want to be easily accessible and have stores that best display our products and the modern, sophisticated feel we want to emulate. We choose spaces with large windows and attractive entrances to draw the eye in and help us stand out in the area. When selecting a location, we thoroughly study our competition and the adjacencies to the retail space to ensure that the environment is complementary to our offerings. Most importantly, we look at the overall experience through the point of view of our customers to ensure the best fit through their eyes,” she said.
Danier relaunched its operations in the fall of 2016 under new ownership and a new strategy, dropping ‘Leather’ from its name and focusing on a variety of men’s and women’s fashion categories. It has expanded its product assortment from what the former Danier had.
The previous Danier Leather brand sought creditor protection in February 2016 and closed all of its stores. New owners came in during the summer of that year.
Koel said the Danier store today “evokes trend and modern possibilities.”
“Clean lines and light colours create a canvas where our products are displayed with pride. While all stores have their own unique character, we keep a certain consistency through single bag display and no overcrowding to ensure that our customers feel comfortable, relaxed and welcome in our stores. We enhance the mood with selected playlists and trendy mannequin displays to complete the look,” she said.
“We strive to provide a top-level, in-store experience to match the high quality of our products. We have full service teams ready to help our customers achieve their style goals through trend and fit. These professionals work to make the Danier experience complete with the knowledge and attention to detail one could only expect from the best.
“It’s our leather that differentiates us from everybody else. It’s the history, our heritage of leather.”
Koel said the retailer is always looking at new locations.
“We still believe definitely in the retail market and being in more locations. We’re actively looking at expanding all the time in all the different areas, especially in BC, in Alberta . . . We are looking in BC more actively and that’s the area we’d really like to develop more there,” she said.
“We definitely want to look in key market areas. We want to be more in all of the upscale malls. So right now we’re actively looking at all of the top malls in BC and we want to get the right space wherever it is. It has to be the right space in the right area. If you don’t get the right space, you’re not going to get the right foot traffic and you’re not going to get the right recognition if you’re not in those areas.”
