Premium menswear brand Psycho Bunny is in expansion mode these days as it aggressively rolls out new stores in Canada and abroad.
And it’s also engaging in strategic partnerships to continue to grow its presence in the retail landscape.
The brand will be opening its 100th North American store in Quebec City in November. There are about 60 stores in Latin America – Mexico, Colombia, Panama and some of the Caribbean islands. There’s one store in Dubai and a new store coming soon in Kuwait. Next week it’s opening in South Africa. The brand has 15 stores in Canada.
Anna Martini, CEO of Psycho Bunny, said Psycho Bunny has opened 17 stores in the past year.
“It started off call it in 2018, 2019 where the first pop up store was opened in Florida. It’s kind of the beginning of the story of the pretty rapid expansion in terms of North America,” said Martini. “It was a pop up store that was hugely accepted from the point of view of people falling in love with the brand instantaneously. So that sort of started off the rollout of the stores.
“And even through COVID Psycho Bunny was opening stores in the U.S. So we only started opening in Canada at the end of 2022.”
Psycho Bunny looking for premier shopping malls
Martini said Canada has amazing retail real estate across the country.
“So for sure, we’re looking to partner with premier shopping malls in the country. And we have a few. If you look at our Canadian portfolio, we have definitely already entered into amazing shopping centres in Canada. So obviously, we look for shopping centres that have pretty high traffic, like most retailers do. One is a great location within the mall. Two the great mall is high traffic, great, great co-tenancy – all of the ingredients that make for it to be like a great shopping centre.”
She said the brand is also opening at Vaughan Mills in a couple of weeks.
“Next year again we already have some stores, you know, in the roster. So next year we’re going to be continuing our expansion in North America. Obviously we’d like to open in Calgary, so we’re working closely with the landlord to see if we try and find a spot there because we are in Alberta at West Edmonton Mall, and in Vancouver, we got three stores in Vancouver. So Calgary is hopefully going to be our next market, untapped market. We’re looking at a few things, looking at Ottawa and also in Greater Toronto, Greater Montreal, we still have room for expansion in these existing markets,” added Martini.
She said the brand is successful because it’s premium, high quality product with 80 per cent of the products sourced out of Peru with premium Pima Cotton.
Jeff Berkowitz at Aurora Realty Consultants represents Psycho Bunny in Canada.
Reason for Psycho Bunny’s success
“And second thing is our guy, so our muse, his name is Liam. He’s the guy that we think about every day as we’re designing products, as we’re figuring out what we’re going to do from a marketing perspective, what we do in terms of store and store experience. So we’re really focused on being a big part of Liam’s life, whether it’s his work life, his casual hanging out with the guys, or going on a date. He’s really our focal point, and that’s been obviously an important part of our success.
“And of course our Psycho Bunny logo, which brings a smile to most people when they look at this logo. So it’s fun with a little bit of edge. A little bit of edge is always good in life.”
This year it completed its first year in partnership with Tennis Canada.
“We really love the space, the tennis space. We think it’s very aligned to Liam and to the Psycho Bunny brand . . . We wanted to create beautiful product for what we would call all the ball boys and all the people that are working, all the volunteers at the tennis tournament, everybody from the ball boy to the security guard (at the National Bank Open),” said Martini.
“We had pop up shops basically on premises for both Montreal and Toronto. So it was a great place for us to meet and greet existing customers, new customers, and bring the brand to life in a great environment. The thing about tennis it’s a it’s a beautiful sport, it’s an elegant sport. It’s competitive, it’s fun, it’s bold. And Psycho Bunny is a bold brand. So the fit’s pretty amazing.”
The multi-year Tennis Canada partnership will see Psycho Bunny as the official athletic apparel sponsor of all the Canadian teams. The brand also launched a new consumer lifestyle collection, which includes their cult-favorite polos, hoodies, sweatshirts, track jackets and more. Psycho Bunny’s partnership with Metaverse Group and Super League in launching their Summer Splash Storefront in Roblox led to the inventory selling out in the first 30 minutes.
Martini said that with the success Psycho Bunny has had with Tennis Canada it is looking at other potential partnerships, both in Canada, in the US.
“We’re working on a few right now, so hopefully we’ll have a few things to announce for next year,” she added.
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- Psycho Bunny Opens Canadian Flagship Store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre [Photos/Interview]
- Psycho Bunny Opens 1st Canadian Storefront at CF Toronto Eaton Centre [Images]
