Furniture brand Cozey has opened a pop-up location in Vancouver as it continues to expand its physical retail footprint in Canada.
Frédéric Aubé, founder of the brand, started the furniture retail idea when he was a student at McGill University in Montreal studying finance and economics. The idea began in 2019 and the brand was launched initially online in June 2020.
The concept was purely digital until about a year ago when it opened a pop-up location at Stackt Market in Toronto. It opened its first store in Toronto on Queen St and Ossington Avenue in March in 3,600 square feet of space in March of this year.
“It’s been a tremendous success so far. It’s pretty amazing to see. It’s our first permanent store and it was really a test for us to see whether we wanted to go into physical retail or not and learn the ropes. But so far it’s been a great success,” he said.
“So we’re going to dive into even more retail locations in the future across Canada and the U.S. as well.”
Aubé said the Toronto market initially appealed to the brand because it was its largest market on ecommerce. Toronto is also a city that does well with its concept – modular, small and easy to maneuver products.
“It’s a product that does very well in Toronto and we said if we’re going to launch a store let’s do it in our biggest market and we picked a spot where we thought our customers like to go. Not just live in but like to go on week nights, on weekends. That’s why the location was perfect for us,” he added.
Cozey has launched a pop-up in Vancouver on Granville Street and Robson Street in 3,000 square feet of space.
“It’s one of our biggest markets but one of the markets that we did not put a lot of effort in. We’re Montreal based. We did a pop-up last year in Toronto. But the western market we didn’t really pay attention to it before this pop-up,” he said. “So it’s our first chance to really connect with our customers, connect with new customers, connect with the community and really drive awareness and conversion in the market. But it’s one of our largest. We just haven’t gotten involved that much. We think connecting will drive even more customers to Cozey.
“This is a pop-up for now but we’re looking for a permanent location for 2025 or 2026 in Vancouver.
“The sky’s the limit for Cozey. In the short term, we want to make sure that we do things right. We’re a profitable company growing very fast and we don’t want to lose tons of money on retail either. We want to do things right, carefully plan out the expansion. We’ll start out with Canada because it’s our biggest market but 2026 and beyond the U.S. is a market that we’re doing really well in as well and we will launch stores in big metropolitan areas.”
Cozey is represented by Oberfeld Snowcap for its real estate needs.
In a previous Retail Insider story, Aubé said:“The idea for Cozey at first was just to create one simple sofa, elegant, easy to move, in boxes that could be assembled tool free, shipped to your door in a few days at a really attractive price point.
“It was a test to see if other people had the same problem as me of moving sofas around in a move or assembling sofas that take four tools and 12 bolts. And if so, can I sell those sofas on the internet.
“It was one sofa, four colours, really simple. And that’s how it started.”
Aubé said there’s a combination of reasons why the concept has resonated with consumers.
“Our value proposition, the quality we have for the price of our furniture I think is unbeatable in Canada. I think our approach to customer experience as well, the fast shipping, the risk free trial, our attention to customer service. All that together with the design of the products that are smart products that are thought for the customers, all of that I think make us a winning combination for customers in North America so far.”
