Holt Renfrew Announces Store Enhancements and Closures

Moves are part of a multi-year strategic refocusing on flagship doors.

Holt Renfrew Bloor Street

Holt Renfrew has confirmed details about plans to refine their operations.

"We are focused on Holt Renfrew's unique position as Canada's specialty luxury retailer," said Holt Renfrew President Mark Derbyshire. "As part of our dynamic growth strategy, we are announcing further updates in our plans to expand our flagship store network."

The Holt Renfrew Bloor Street flagship will be completely renovated and expanded and complemented with a new Holt Renfrew Men store at 100 Bloor Street. Modeled on Holt Renfrew Yorkdale's recently renovated menswear department, and set to open this fall, Holt Renfrew Men will be a standalone store with a focus on suiting.

Holt Renfrew Men 100 Bloor Street West

Last year Holt Renfrew announced the opening of a new 120,000 square foot store at Mississauga's Square One Shopping Centre. With the announcement came news that Holts was working to increase their total retail square footage by 40%, growing from 800,000 to over 1.2 million square feet. The move follows plans from Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue to open stores in Canada.

The Bloor Street flagship (along with stores in Vancouver and Calgary) will have a new Apartment private shopping suite. This new concept was recently unveiled at the Yorkdale location.

Holt Renfrew Yorkdale's Apartment

Holt Renfrew also confirmed it was developing an omni-channel e-commerce platform that is set to be unveiled in 2015. Models for this platform could be the websites of sister brands Selfridges and Brown Thomas. Both retailers maintain comprehensive e-commerce websites and carry a range of luxury labels.

Websites of Selfridges and Brown Thomas

Included in today's announcement was the planned closure of two small Holt Renfrew locations in Ottawa and Quebec City. Both locations were approximately 35,000 square feet and are slated to close in early 2015. Two small format Holt Renfrew doors remain at Toronto's Sherway Gardens and in Edmonton. Despite the closures, the company expects overall employment levels to grow through 2017 due to its expansion plans.

[Images and press release via Holt Renfrew]

News: Yorkdale Celebrates Fifty Years

One of Canada's most popular shopping destinations celebrates golden anniversary.

Coco Rocha models in the Yorkdale anniversary ad campaign

"When Yorkdale first opened its doors in 1964, we were the largest shopping centre in the world," said Claire Santamaria, General Manager of Yorkdale Shopping Centre in a news release. "Fifty years later, we can say that Yorkdale has helped transform Canada's retail landscape by being the number one destination for international retailers entering the Canadian market. We want to celebrate our golden anniversary as we continue growing to meet with the demand of shoppers and international retailers."

Yorkdale has planned a series of events to commemorate the milestone anniversary, including:

• a photo exhibit by Bryan Adams featuring Toronto's style mavens
• special Gold Collection limited edition items at retailers such as Michael Kors and MAC
• a golden anniversary gown commissioned from Lucian Matis will be displayed at Yorkdale and featured in an anniversary ad campaign featuring Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha
• the CN Tower will be illuminated in gold tonight to commemorate the anniversary

Yorkdale is in the midst of a  $331 million renovation and expansion which is adding almost 300,000 square feet of retail space including a new Nordstrom store. The expansion is slated to open in 2016.

[Image and press release via Yorkdale]

Review: Toronto Shopkeeper Shops AllSaints

Edgy British brand makes its Canadian debut at Yorkdale.

Location: AllSaints, Yorkdale (3401 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON)

Yorkdale has increasingly become a destination for first to market retailers in Canada and this spring AllSaints opened its first Canadian location there. The store opening marks a new wave of expansion for the retailer which has rebounded after suffering financial difficulties in 2011.

AllSaints is a brand with a finely tuned DNA, a British label that is both classic and trendy with a healthy dollop of vintage; a look that is echoed in its store design. Heavily influenced by an edgy London street aesthetic, AllSaints has a decidedly muted colour palette. Lovers of patterns or colour are advised that the new Kate Spade store is a few doors down.

Design: The AllSaints store measures 6,000 square feet and is found in the mall's recent southern expansion. Entering the store you pass under a wall of glassed-in vintage sewing machines (this quirky touch is repeated in all their stores and one imagines they must have a team scouring antique markets for vintage Singer sewing machines).

The store has a dimly lit loft/factory feel. The rails are distressed pipes, and the display tables look like clothes could have been sewn atop them (maybe with one of those Singer sewing machines). Underfoot is a distressed wooden flooring and the walls feature metal beams framing painted brick. Design wise the store is more Ossington Avenue than Yorkdale but provides a welcome dose of urbanity in suburbia.

Merchandise: To paraphrase Henry Ford, they have a garment in every colour you could want as long as its black. While the merchandise veers very heavily towards black, grey, and beige that is in many ways the whole point of the AllSaints brand. Basics with an edgy twist, signature leather jackets, and jeans with just the right amount of "wearing in." The target customer seems to be a hipster with cash who appreciates good design and isn't shy about paying for it.

Service: Unfortunately unique shop design and a compelling product offering are no substitution for great service. Visiting on a Saturday morning the store was fully staffed with a smattering of customers browsing. Passing three associates no one offered a greeting, nor when browsing the merchandise was any assistance offered. A second visit during the week offered an equally disinterested level of service which was hopefully both coincidental and atypical. 

Online: AllSaints excels with its online presence and offers shopping in Canadian dollars. Its website is easy to navigate with full collections for both men and women and provides the customer with immersion into the brand. Currently it's highlighting the new women's shoe collection with a series of unique films called "Below the Knee."

Grade: 55%

Lost marks for: A decidedly cool (in more ways than one) level of service which unfortunately detracts from many of the positive aspects of the brand.

Gained marks for: A great store design that really captures the urban essence of the brand, well designed and consistent collections, and an immersive website experience that makes buying that leather jacket a slightly friendlier experience than that found in store.

News: La Maison Simons Coming to Toronto?

Do Sears store closures open a window for Simons?

According to the Toronto Star, Quebec-based department store La Maison Simons is actively seeking real estate in the Toronto area. The recent sale of store leases by Sears Canada has provided a point of entry for Simons in two of the most coveted shopping centres in the region.

Last week Sears announced that as part of a continuing strategic review of its real estate assets it has decided to sell its Yorkdale and Square One store leases back to the mall landlord (the malls are co-owned by Oxford Properties and the Alberta Investment Management Corp.). The $191 million deal will result in the stores closing in March of next year. The retailer also sold an option for their Scarborough Town Centre location (which the landlords have 5 years to exercise for $53 million).

“In this case, we were presented with an opportunity that gives us a significant financial benefit without changing our plans to improve the business and make Sears more relevant to Canadians,” said Sears Canada President and CEO Calvin McDonald. Sears previously sold store leases back to mall operator Cadillac Fairview, which facilitated the entry of Nordstrom into Canada starting in 2014.

Simons confirmed that they are interested in the spaces being vacated by Sears at Square One and Yorkdale. Last year the retailer opened its first location outside Quebec at Alberta’s West Edmonton Mall and an additional location is planned for Ottawa’s Rideau Centre. The retailer is known for its mixture of on-trend fast fashion and high-end designer brands.

Also, at this week’s Annual General Meeting of the Hudson’s Bay Company, CEO Richard Baker welcomed the competition of both Nordstrom and Simons saying it benefits HBC and would rather have them as neighbours than embattled Sears.

[Click here for Sears press release]

[Photo via Simons]

News: Mulberry to Open Toronto Stores

British luxury brand Mulberry will open its first Canadian location this year at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, as part of a wave of new retailers arriving at the mall.

Mulberry was founded in 1971 in the rural English county of Somerset. The brand's clothing and accessories have a quirky English syle and its factory is one of the last large leather goods factories left in the United Kingdom.

The Willow is one of the brand’s iconic handbag styles, which also include the Alexa and the Del Rey.

A second Toronto store is planned for Bloor Street West.

[Image via Mulberry]

News: Nordstrom Announces Yorkdale Location

Today Oxford Properties Group confirmed that Nordstrom will be opening at its Yorkdale shopping centre in fall 2016 as the anchor store in a new three-level 298,000 square foot expansion. Last year Nordstrom announced its entry into Canada with 4 locations in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto (all in malls owned by Oxford rival Cadillac Fairview).

Yorkdale, which boasts one of the highest sales productivity rates in the country, has been a key Canadian gateway for many international retailers. Last fall it unveiled a 145,000 square foot expansion and added retailers such as Tesla Motors, the Microsoft Store, Kate Spade, and Ted Baker.

The new extension will be constructed adjacent to the Silver City cinemas, currently the site of a multi-level parking deck. The defunct department store Eaton’s used to anchor this end of the mall, before being shuttered in 2002 and replaced with a collection of retailers in a renovation completed in 2005.

This year retailers such as All Saints, John Varvatos, Zara Home, and Mulberry will mark their Canadian debut at the shopping centre. As well, department store rivals Holt Renfrew and Hudson’s Bay are completing multi-million dollar renovations to their Yorkdale locations. Construction on the expansion will commence in January 2014.

From the official Press Releases:

 “In the past year, Yorkdale has added an impressive number of new and innovative brands to the shopping centre, continuing on our legacy of providing the very best experience for our shoppers by bringing in the most in-demand retailers from around the world,” said Anthony Casalanguida, General Manager, Yorkdale Shopping Centre. “The introduction of Nordstrom continues that momentum, and we are very excited to help bring this exceptional retail experience to our shoppers. 

“Nordstrom’s reputation as an industry-leading fashion retailer is well known and respected globally and we are elated to open Toronto’s largest Nordstrom location at Yorkdale Shopping Centre,” said Blake Hutcheson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Properties. “Renowned for its exceptional customer experience and wide selection, Nordstrom will complement Yorkdale’s already exceptional mix of world class brands – and take Yorkdale to an even higher level of success.”

[For the official Yorkdale-Nordstrom jointpress release click here.]

[For the official Yorkdale expansion pressrelease click here.]
 

[Store Rendering via the Nordstrom Press Room website]