Canadian Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

according to Sephora page on facebook:

There is a Sephora store opening at Halifax Shopping Centre in Halifax, NS in August 2011.

[SpongeG]

there is another FIVE GUYS opening - this one is in South Surrey at Grandview Corners - near the FutureShop

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2762/dsc00384p.jpg
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3995/dsc00383f.jpg

looks like Ontario is getting its First FIVE GUYS too:

Kingston
Coming Soon!

185 Princess Street
Kingston, ON K7L 1A9

[Doug_Cgy]

Was at the Lego store opening at chinook centre in Calgary today! Very cool, but man was it busy! 20-30 minute wait just to get in!

[1ajs]

LEGO store you say??

[SpongeG]

i love the LEGO stores

they are always busy the same way apple stores are

i like that you can buy piece by piece if you want to

[1ajs]

i love the LEGO stores

they are always busy the same way apple stores are

i like that you can buy piece by piece if you want to

indeed one can and its spereatic what they have on the PAB wall as its surplus from the factory

[srperrycgy]

:previous: The Lego store had the grand opening @ Chinook this weekend and the lines were long (a few tweets about it), but it was open last Sat. and it was busy, but not insane.

You can get a small bucket of whatever pieces you want for one price and a larger one for about $20. The new colours are impressive from what I had as a kid. :cool:

[yaletown_fella]

For a salad at Williams it's like $5.00 for a little plastic tray. Pricey.

But Williams coffee is the same price as Tim Hortons, $1.52 for a large coffee.

I payed $1.72 for the large double double I'm drinking now. Vancouver's HST is driving me insane.

[kirjtc2]

there is another FIVE GUYS opening - this one is in South Surrey at Grandview Corners - near the FutureShop

looks like Ontario is getting its First FIVE GUYS too:

Kingston
Coming Soon!

185 Princess Street
Kingston, ON K7L 1A9

New one just opened in Vaudreuil, Quebec, today...just saw it on twitter.

[SpongeG]

Marshalls heading to Canada

Marshalls is headed to Canada with plans to open six new stores in the coming months, the discount retailer’s parent company TJX Companies Inc announced Tuesday.

TJX, which also owns Winners, expects to open its first Marshalls store north of the border in spring 2011.

The off-price retailer is not unlike Winners and carries thousands of fashion and housewares brands for less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

TJX has seen retail success in Canada since opening its first Winners store in 1990, Home Sense in 2001 and Stylesense in 2008.

“I am delighted to announce that we are bringing our Marshalls chain to TJX Canada, where we have our highest financial returns, with the planned opening of six stores in 2011,” said TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz.

“We believe Marshalls will offer Canadians yet another avenue to great brands.”

TJX currently operates more than 800 Marshalls stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. And Meyrowitz believes the Canadian market can support between 90 and 100 stores.

...

http://www.torontosun.com/money/2010.../14771511.html

[SpongeG]

Cabela's to grow here, elsewhere

CABELA'S Canada plans to build a new flagship store in Winnipeg to replace the small one it inherited three years ago when it acquired the S.I.R. outlet on Ellice Avenue.

Company president Carl McKay said the new store will be more than twice as big as the existing 38,000-square-foot store at 1300 Ellice Ave. And it will boast a "Conservation Mountain" display and all of the other eye-catching features shoppers find when they visit one of its U.S. stores, including its 60,000-square-foot outlet in East Grand Forks, Minn.

The only catch is its Manitoba customers are going to have to wait a couple of years to set foot in the new digs.

That's because after months of stalking its prey, the hunting, fishing, camping and outdoor-merchandise retailer has finally bagged its first expansion location outside of Winnipeg. And McKay said it also plans to build two more stores on the Prairies between now and August 2012, and those expansion projects take priority over building another store here.
"We definitely need a new store in Winnipeg. And because this is where our head office is, we obviously want our (Canadian) flagship store to be here... " he said. "But you can say it will be a couple of years before we'll have a new store here."

In order tide it over until then, the company will build a 5,000-square-foot addition onto its Ellice Avenue store to give it some much-needed extra floor space. McKay said work on that will begin next month.

The first store for Cabela's Canada outside Winnipeg is a 70,000-square-foot outlet expected to open in Edmonton in the fall next year. It will be followed by another store opening in April 2012, and a third in August that year.
McKay said Cabela's wants to have at least five stores on the Prairies, including the ones in Winnipeg and Edmonton. He wouldn't say where the other three will be located. But a good guess would be Calgary, Regina and Saskatoon.

McKay said the company's goal is to establish Canada's first coast-to-coast network of outdoor-merchandise stores. So after establishing a strong presence on the Prairies, it will be setting its sights on British Columbia and Eastern Canada.
Cabela's Canada's U.S.-based parent company -- Cabela's Inc. -- broke into the Canadian market in 2007 when it purchased the former S.I.R. Mail Order and Warehouse Sports Store on Ellice.

The company said at the time it planned to use Winnipeg as the launching pad for establishing a national chain of retail stores in Canada. And it laid the groundwork for that earlier this year when it acquired one of Winnipeg's biggest warehouses -- the 345,000-square-foot former DeFehr Furniture plant on Pandora Avenue East -- to serve as its new Canadian corporate headquarters and national distribution centre.

...

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/cabelas-to-grow-here-elsewhere-99610509.html

[SpongeG]

true Religion (http://www.truereligionbrandjeans.com/home.aspx?cec=t) to open store in Toronto

Store Openings

During the 2010 second quarter, True Religion Apparel opened five stores in the US, bringing its total store US count at June 30, 2010, to 81 stores, compared to 59 stores at June 30, 2009. The Company opened its first international full price retail stores in May 2010 in Tokyo, Japan and London, England. The Company anticipates opening 12 additional retail stores in 2010, including a full-price store in Toronto, Canada.
source (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/true-religion-apparel-announces-financial-results-for-second-quarter-2010-2010-08-03?reflink=MW_news_stmp)

http://www.downtownbellevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/photo-300x225.jpg
downtownbellevue.com

[SteelTown]

I payed $1.72 for the large double double I'm drinking now. Vancouver's HST is driving me insane.

You got screwed. In Ontario there's no HST for food items under $5. So with HST my coffee is still $1.52.

[Me&You]

true Religion (http://www.truereligionbrandjeans.com/home.aspx?cec=t) to open store in Toronto


source (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/true-religion-apparel-announces-financial-results-for-second-quarter-2010-2010-08-03?reflink=MW_news_stmp)

http://www.downtownbellevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/photo-300x225.jpg
downtownbellevue.com

A little late on that fad, no?

[SpongeG]

its part of their international expansion along with tokyo and london they are opening in toronto

[Coldrsx]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/3390418.bin?size=pu460

Photograph by: Larry Wong, edmontonjournal.com
EDMONTON — For hundreds of shoppers who lined up outside Canada’s first Victoria’s Secret, the wait is over — the iconic lingerie retailer’s first Canadian store opened at West Edmonton Mall Thursday morning.

Brittany Passante, 26, was one of the first in line. She and a friend arrived at the mall at 5 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m. they were near the front of a line which security guards estimated at 150. The store didn’t open to the public until 10:30, when reports pegged the lineup at about 300.



Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Edmonton+gets+Canada+first+Victoria+Secret/3389949/story.html#ixzz0wPyEGhij

[Jay in Cowtown]

A little late on that fad, no?

That's the problem with retail in Canada... by the time these stores get here their popularity has dropped for the "next big thing". I have to admit though, these stores are jumping the border alot faster than they used to, which they should!

[SpongeG]

U.S. retailer Hot Topic says it will open three stores in Canada this year

TORONTO - U.S.-based music and pop culture clothing retailer Hot Topic plans to open stores in Canada before the end of this year.

The company says it will have three locations operating in Ontario by October.

The first two stores will launch this Friday in Mississauga and Scarborough, while a third is slated to open in Burlington this fall.

Hot Topic is a popular chain with about 680 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico

...

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/headline_news/article.jsp?content=b4183487

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRC3-s8Msibd9ghj67k1Zl8Z6Wsmhd24re5PYOOOM1LwEROqF4&t=1&usg=__EZzsZ-UPfECxmAQDuxP4OGJpRgI=

[Plus15]

Clothier Brooks Brothers opens Calgary location
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald August 17, 2010 9:25 AM

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Clothier+Brooks+Brothers+opens+Calgary+location/3408497/story.html?cid=megadrop_story#ixzz0wsYDfLLv


CALGARY - Legendary American clothier Brooks Brothers opens is third Canadian location in Calgary today - a three-storey retail store as part of the redevelopment of the downtown CORE shopping centre.

The 22,000-square-foot store will feature the brand's complete collection for men and women.

"We're thrilled to bring Brooks Brothers to Calgary and expect that the store will be welcomed as a fresh addition to the city's growing fashion market," said Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and CEO of Brooks Brothers, in a news release. "Calgary has a rich corporate culture rooted in traditional clothing, but it is rapidly evolving to include new elements of style and comfort. As such, it is the ideal location for Brooks Brothers' next Canadian location."

Established in 1818, it now operates stores in the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Chile, Canada and Dubai.

The first Canadian store opened in May 2009 in Vancouver with a Toronto store opening in August 2009.

[miketoronto]

Do you guys actually get excited that all these American stores are opening here?
I was just living in Cleveland this summer, and to be honest the shopping was so boring, because we have about 99% of the stores they have. I walked through their mega mall in about 20 minutes. It was just like walking through Square One or Scarborough Town Centre. Everything almost the same as here.

I really do not get the obsession with these American chains.

I just saw the Hot Topic store at Scarborough Town Centre. I had to go to the mall for something and walked by it, and totally thought it was a local hip hop store for the gangster dudes. Not very impressive at all.

[Jay in Cowtown]

Do you guys actually get excited that all these American stores are opening here?


yes, yes I do

[freeweed]

When you live in Toronto and already have these stores, it's no big deal. But hell yes I get excited about them. When I travel to the US, I do nothing but shop. Sorry, but TipTop only has so much in the way of nice affordable men's dress clothing. Plus, it really really pleases the females in our lives (and as they say, happy wife = happy life).

As of right now, Calgary has maybe 10-20% of the stores I can find in any sizeable city in the US. It's a vast difference down south. Mind you, this will eventually take a lot of the fun out of vacations, so it's a mixed bag.

[WhipperSnapper]

If it looks good and the price is right than who cares if it's American or Swedish. I also don't care if it's from some massive multi-national chain either. It's mostly all manufactured in the same city factories anyways.

[Jay in Cowtown]

speaking of which, here's the new stores opening in the Chinook Centre expansion at the end of September...

A/X Armani Exchange (opening Dec 2010)
Abercrombie & Fitch
Aerie
Anthropologie (opening Nov 2010)
Apple
BCBG Max Azria
Bench
Bloke & Bird
Boathouse
Browns
Buffalo
Burberry
Calvin Klein
CHACHI's
Coach
Costa Blanca
Crisca
Discovery Hut (store expansion)
Ecco/Sole Comfort
Eddie Bauer
Femme by Sandra Angelozzi
Flatiron Restaurant & Bar (opening 2011)
Forever 21
Fossil
Geox
Godiva Chocolatier
Guess?
Harry Rosen
Hollister
Iris
Joneve Shoes
Judith & Charles (Teenflo)
Jugo Juice
Kiehl's
Koodo
Lacoste
Le Chateau Menswear
Le Creuset
Lush
Magenta
Marciano
Mexx/Mexx Kids
Michael Hill
Michael Kors
Miss Sixty / Energie
Nine West
Oakley
Pandora
Phil & Sebastian
Pusch
Roots
Skechers
Stuart Weitzman
Urban Outfitters (opening Nov 2010)
Via Uno

not to mention Lego, Volcom & Levis which opened recently

[isaidso]

When you live in Toronto and already have these stores, it's no big deal. But hell yes I get excited about them. When I travel to the US, I do nothing but shop. Sorry, but TipTop only has so much in the way of nice affordable men's dress clothing. Plus, it really really pleases the females in our lives (and as they say, happy wife = happy life).

As of right now, Calgary has maybe 10-20% of the stores I can find in any sizeable city in the US. It's a vast difference down south. Mind you, this will eventually take a lot of the fun out of vacations, so it's a mixed bag.

Surely Calgary has lots of good independent clothing outlets? It's the boutiques that have all the neat stuff. The chains are a giant snore. Honestly, I don't think I've ever stepped foot in the majority of these chains and I love clothes. Then again, I don't seem to be nearly as materialistic as most other people. Lining up for the opening of a store? Good grief! Are people's really lives that tedious and dull? (Not directed at any one in particular!)

:shrug:

[freeweed]

Surely Calgary has lots of good independent clothing outlets? It's the boutiques that have all the neat stuff. The chains are a giant snore. Honestly, I don't think I've ever stepped foot in the majority of these chains and I love clothes. Then again, I don't seem to be nearly as materialistic as most other people. Lining up for the opening of a store? Good grief! Are people's really lives that tedious and dull? (Not directed at any one in particular!)

As mentioned by someone else above, I don't care if it's a tiny 3' wide shop, or a large faceless chain. What I care about is variety and quality of merchandise, and price. Independent clothing stores (or "boutiques") tend to be either ridiculously expensive, open only during the day (you know, when real people work), or sell a lot of used garbage that hipsters think is great clothing. Which places like Hot Topic have now commoditized.

Do I personally line up for a store opening? Hell no. Do I look forward to some more retail variety and competition? HELL YES!

And to be honest I don't see anything different between lining up for an opening of a store, or lining up to get concert/show tickets (FAR more common occurrence). I just don't smugly assume that people's lives are "tedious and dull" because their interests are different than my own.

[Jay in Cowtown]

As mentioned by someone else above, I don't care if it's a tiny 3' wide shop, or a large faceless chain. What I care about is variety and quality of merchandise, and price. Independent clothing stores (or "boutiques") tend to be either ridiculously expensive, open only during the day (you know, when real people work), or sell a lot of used garbage that hipsters think is great clothing. Which places like Hot Topic have now commoditized.

Do I personally line up for a store opening? Hell no. Do I look forward to some more retail variety and competition? HELL YES!

And to be honest I don't see anything different between lining up for an opening of a store, or lining up to get concert/show tickets (FAR more common occurrence). I just don't smugly assume that people's lives are "tedious and dull" because their interests are different than my own.


Exactly, I can remember not too long ago ('05) having to head south to buy almost everything I wore, now everything is here with the exception of a few sports stores that are light years better than Sport Chek... and I like the fact my money is staying in this city instead of Vegas, Houston, etc when I shop now.

I hope somebody has the balls to ask the hundereds of kids that will line up in front A&F and Hollister on Sept 29 why they aren't lining up at a small boutique instead.

[freeweed]

:previous: Annoyingly, clothing is still far cheaper down south. We're finally starting to see decent sales in Calgary but until very recently, I could easily save 30-50% on the exact same items by buying in the US. Especially shoes, we've noticed.

There still seems to be a good 20-25% premium on clothing up here. The same $20 shirt in the US is $25 here, that sort of thing. It doesn't exactly pay for a trip anymore, but it sure does make it cheap to hit up Vegas for a weekend and stock up for the year - if you avoid the casinos!

[Jay in Cowtown]

There still seems to be a good 20-25% premium on clothing up here. The same $20 shirt in the US is $25 here, that sort of thing. It doesn't exactly pay for a trip anymore, but it sure does make it cheap to hit up Vegas for a weekend and stock up for the year - if you avoid the casinos!

Very True! but I swore if these stores opened here I would patronize them, and I'm sticking by it, now the problem I'm faced with is trying to find a pair of jeans I'd actually wear... I'm a little old to be wearing jeans with stupid flaps over the pockets or rips & tears! ;)

I still buy all my running shoes and anything with a sports team logo on it in the US... way cheaper and way more selection than just fucking NHL stuff like here!

[miketoronto]

To be honest, I don't see the cheaper prices in the USA. I visit the US a lot and the exact same clothing is about the exact same price in Canada and the USA. In the only thing I found that really had a cheaper price in the USA was a jacket I just bought. The jacket was $100 cheaper in the USA. But other than that, shirts, pants, etc I never find are cheaper. And if they are only by a dollar or two.

[freeweed]

To be honest, I don't see the cheaper prices in the USA. I visit the US a lot and the exact same clothing is about the exact same price in Canada and the USA. In the only thing I found that really had a cheaper price in the USA was a jacket I just bought. The jacket was $100 cheaper in the USA. But other than that, shirts, pants, etc I never find are cheaper. And if they are only by a dollar or two.

Much of it obviously depends on what you buy and where you shop. The ones that came to mind earlier are some Banana Republic t-shirts I'm newly fond of. $20 in the US, $25 in Canada for the exact same shirt, exact same store. And the US stores have far more frequent sales (20% off, etc), although again that's finally changing here with the recession and all.

Canada also does not have a lot of selection for cheap Men's dress clothes - Van Heusen as a start. You simply cannot find a $12 Men's dress shirt in this country that isn't at Value Village. But it's more than just that. Even slightly better brands (Geoffrey Beene) that are regularly on sale at Macy's just never seem to get cheap here. $30 US, $50+ at the Bay in Canada.

You guys in Toronto might face stiffer cross-border competition so stores there might have to lower their prices. Calgary unfortunately is too far to do a day trip to anywhere in the US for shopping. Maybe that's part of it.

Hint for Jay re: jeans without rips/flaps in Canada: Old Navy. They still sell some of the plainest jeans around. They're definitely not designer fashions but they're comfy as all hell, and cheap.

[SpongeG]

Surely Calgary has lots of good independent clothing outlets? It's the boutiques that have all the neat stuff. The chains are a giant snore. Honestly, I don't think I've ever stepped foot in the majority of these chains and I love clothes. Then again, I don't seem to be nearly as materialistic as most other people. Lining up for the opening of a store? Good grief! Are people's really lives that tedious and dull? (Not directed at any one in particular!)

:shrug:

the store give away gift cards thats why they line up - when H&M opened they gave cards away as high as $500 most were not that hight but ranged from $10 + up free stuff is worth lining up

as for more US stores here - when you can't get to the states everyday its nice to have the stores here - besides online shopping has made it less exciting anyway - loads of US stores without stores physically in canada ship here so you can shop there

[SpongeG]

To be honest, I don't see the cheaper prices in the USA. I visit the US a lot and the exact same clothing is about the exact same price in Canada and the USA. In the only thing I found that really had a cheaper price in the USA was a jacket I just bought. The jacket was $100 cheaper in the USA. But other than that, shirts, pants, etc I never find are cheaper. And if they are only by a dollar or two.

you must shop high end or something - most clothes expecially shoes are so much cheaper - maybe its in the west where things are cheaper - you can get converse at ROSS for $15 plus a pair of sketchers which is like $100 here is like $45 at Kohls

[SpongeG]

Buffalo Wild Wings to expand operations to Canada


BANGALORE (Reuters) - U.S. restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings said it plans to expand into Canada and would open more than 50 company-owned and franchised restaurants in the next five years there.

The expansion, which will be its first outside the United States, will add over 3,500 jobs, with each restaurant looking to hire between 50 to 75 employees, the casual dining chain said in a statement.

The company, known for its Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings, said Southern Ontario will be home to the first two locations, slated for spring 2011.

Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings, which has over 680 locations across 43 U.S. states, will also look to expand in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, it said in a statement.

...

http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/18082010/6/finance-buffalo-wild-wings-expand-operations-canada.html

http://www.buffalowildwings.com/

http://www.weallscheme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/342px-buffalo_wild_wings_svg.png

[WhipperSnapper]

the store give away gift cards thats why they line up - when H&M opened they gave cards away as high as $500 most were not that hight but ranged from $10 + up free stuff is worth lining up



My favourite hobby ... lining up for free stuff ... beats working ... usually some eye candy too

[jlowry24]

Kohl's and Target have talked about expanding to Canada in the next few years, so that should help. I've probably bought about 90% of my clothes in the US the past few years - better prices, service and selection, not to mention actual outlet malls (CrossIron Mills doesn't count!) I wonder if Zellers could survive Target coming to Canada? I'm always surprised by how junky their stores are, even the ones that were recently renovated.

[miketoronto]

Kohl's and Target have talked about expanding to Canada in the next few years, so that should help. I've probably bought about 90% of my clothes in the US the past few years - better prices, service and selection, not to mention actual outlet malls (CrossIron Mills doesn't count!) I wonder if Zellers could survive Target coming to Canada? I'm always surprised by how junky their stores are, even the ones that were recently renovated.

I do 90% of my clothes shopping in Quebec. Better selection, unique designs you can only get in Quebec, and great prices. And they are local Quebec only stores which give back to their communities.

Target is just like Zellers. I don't understand why people think these stores are so much better than Zellers. They all carry the exact same stuff. Really there are only so many cleaning products and cheap plastic closet dividers. And Zellers has them all.

I think we are stuck with the grass is greener on the other side.

[SpongeG]

zellers is not the same

target teams up with hot designers like john derian, michael graves, rachel ashwell, jean paul gaultier, liz lang, jemma kid, zac posen, thomas o'brien, liberty of london etc.

zellers teams up with Alfred sung

http://thisislavie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/alexanderm_target.jpg
thisislavie.com

http://mocoloco.com/archives/target_modern_dec_04.jpg
thisislavie.com

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Fx32BiJj8Ksy0M:http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/sweetcontemplation/Beauty/zac_posed_target.jpg&t=1
sweetcontemplation

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JwKcIkr8tIo/S6wam1pJGjI/AAAAAAAAJbA/tuKr7-wEgIA/s1600/LIBERTY-OF-LONDON_TARGET.jpg
3.bp.blogspot.com

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:3h-RKalynXx6OM:http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh173/glucksolutions/Target20line1.jpg&t=1
daily vogue

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CloHJu8QJvk/SNce5Cf-FLI/AAAAAAAAJ7o/PIn1AwvXCW4/s400/John+Derian+for+Target.jpg
4.bp.blogspot.com

[jlowry24]

I (and many other people) think Target is better because...well, it's better. Both stores have red colour schemes; that's the only similarity as far as I'm concerned. Zellers stores tend to be old, dark and dingy, with merchandise strewn all over the floors. The one closest to me (Market Mall, Calgary) was renovated a couple of years ago, but even so it looks about one step above a flea market. On the few occasions I go there to look for something specific, I'm usually greeted by an empty shelf. Target stores are clean, bright and attractive. I can always find what I'm looking for, and the clothes I've bought there over the last few years have held up really well.

It's not just a case of "because it's American, it's automatically better"...I think that Wal-Mart and Sears in Canada are nicer than their American counterparts. I'm just really not sure how Zellers stays in business, and I don't think they'd last long if Target made a major expansion here. Of course, they could just buy Zellers (as has long been rumoured) and kill two birds with one stone!

[ZeDgE]

I'm just really not sure how Zellers stays in business, and I don't think they'd last long if Target made a major expansion here. Of course, they could just buy Zellers (as has long been rumoured) and kill two birds with one stone!

That would be nice. Zellers are shit for the most part. I would rather go to Walmart SuperCentre. I would also like to see ROSS come up here and buy out Winners. :tup:

Cross Iron is not too bad though. Funny story. Picked up a pair of Lucky Jeans in the states for $30 bucks, thought that was an awesome deal. Was at Cross Iron a few weeks ago and went into the Lucky store, picked up the same pair (slightly different color) for $19.95. LOL Score one for Canada!

[SpongeG]

most of the zellers here leave stock in the middle of the aisles so you can't walk down them, there is merchandise all over the floor and no staff seems to care, the checkouts have 2 at the most open if you're lucky, you can go back months later and see the same item in the clearance section at the same price it was months ago

at least they have price scanners cause the tags don't always match what rings out - often its cheaper which is a nice surprise but if they were tagged properly maybe people would buy the stuff

[SpongeG]

and speaking of Zellers...

City test market for new-look Zellers stores

By: Martin Cash

http://media.winnipegfreepress.com/images/648*418/2401293.jpg
Adrienne Pavlik displays produce available at the Zellers in Grant Park mall.

IT'S one thing for a retailer to spend a few bucks sprucing up the place.
It's another thing to spend $20 million doing that in a competitive market with an uncertain near-term economic environment.
But that is exactly what Zellers has done in Winnipeg with a store makeover that it will officially launch on Friday.
What's the goal of the project?
According to Adrienne Pavlik, Zellers' Winnipeg district manager, the No. 1 goal is to make the shopping experience easier "for Mom and family" and to provide "a full offering" to the shopper. This is likely the first stage of a radical new look that the discount retailer will start to roll out across the country.
What is it doing to the stores?
Aisles have been widened and product assortment has been streamlined to add depth of selection. A "decompression area" has been created in the entranceway with sight lines all around the store. Separate "shops" are created throughout with merchandise on lower-profile shelving marked off by high shelving to distinguish between bedding, bathroom, home decor and housewares. Items are located in the store using "logical adjacencies" so that, for instance, high-chairs and children's car seats are across the aisle from the toy department.
Are there new product offerings?
The most notable addition is an expanded 4,500-square-foot full convenience "neighbourhood market" with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and bread products adding to a full dairy section that Zellers has had in the past. Its Alfred Sung-designed Pure line of women's affordable fashion and Sportek Platinum line of active wear that includes the kind of high-tech fitness features that retail at much higher prices points from the likes of Lulu Lemon have been in Zellers stores for more than a year now.
Why roll out the new look in Winnipeg?
Winnipeg is a competitive market with a discount-oriented consumer -- a perfect scenario to test new merchandising strategies, Pavlik said.
What's the likelihood that this will be a successful exercise?
Maureen Atkinson, a retail industry consultant with J.C. Williams Group in Toronto, put it this way: "Obviously, Zellers is up against Walmart. It puts them in a difficult position regardless of how much sprucing up they're doing." She said this move is likely not the "magic answer" to beat Walmart at its own game, but it could be a good first step.

...

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/city-test-market-for-new-look-zellers-stores-100963324.html

[Acajack]

you must shop high end or something - most clothes expecially shoes are so much cheaper - maybe its in the west where things are cheaper - you can get converse at ROSS for $15 plus a pair of sketchers which is like $100 here is like $45 at Kohls

I have to agree and was going to make the same comment about shoes.

I can get designer shoes for $30 in Syracuse that would cost close to $100 or more up here. Even low-end shoes at Yellow (a Quebec chain of middling quality footwear) are around $50 or $60 here.

Same with kids' shoes. Skechers for $25 in the States generally sell for $75 or more in Canada.

[Taeolas]

Sounds like Zellers is going for the Target look actually, whether it's in response to the possibility of Target coming up, or to make them more tempting to be bought out remains to be seen.

And yes, generally, when I go to Zellers, their stores always feel run down and dirty, even if they've been renovated recently. (Burger King always feels the same to me too for that matter). When I've been to a Target down in the States, the stores may not necessarily be brighter, but they do feel cleaner overall, and I enjoy browsing around in there.

As for shopping in the states vs in Canada, it all comes down to what you are looking for. More and more things I'm finding though are better to get up here though. While shoes may be cheaper down there, the styles I'm looking for normally seem to be the same cost down there vs up here. (ie I was in the Outlet Malls in Vegas, and couldn't find a pair of shoes I liked since the styles/brands I was looking for were selling for the same costs I could get at Sports Check). Then again, I'm an extreme creature of habit; once I get a style I like I stick with it for a long time so I tend to be very picky about what I buy and where.

[MolsonExport]

most of the zellers here leave stock in the middle of the aisles so you can't walk down them, there is merchandise all over the floor and no staff seems to care, the checkouts have 2 at the most open if you're lucky, you can go back months later and see the same item in the clearance section at the same price it was months ago

at least they have price scanners cause the tags don't always match what rings out - often its cheaper which is a nice surprise but if they were tagged properly maybe people would buy the stuff

Yeah, Zellers really is totally shitty and depressing. What is the deal with the Valentine's Day colors? Red Icing on a dog turd is still nothing but a frosted dog turd.

And never but never get behind somebody buying clothing at Zellers (who the fark would buy clothes at this unfashionable place, but I digress). Chances are 100% that (1) something is missing a UPC, (2) the scanned price does not equal the customer's price (Customer: "it said right there on the shelf that the jeans were $2.99"...Clerk: "but it scans at $29.99..."), (3) the item is missing all tags/idenfication, and employees cannot figure out how to key it in.

[CondoKing]

Clothier Brooks Brothers opens Calgary location
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald August 17, 2010 9:25 AM

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Clothier+Brooks+Brothers+opens+Calgary+location/3408497/story.html?cid=megadrop_story#ixzz0wsYDfLLv


CALGARY - Legendary American clothier Brooks Brothers opens is third Canadian location in Calgary today - a three-storey retail store as part of the redevelopment of the downtown CORE shopping centre.

The 22,000-square-foot store will feature the brand's complete collection for men and women.

"We're thrilled to bring Brooks Brothers to Calgary and expect that the store will be welcomed as a fresh addition to the city's growing fashion market," said Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and CEO of Brooks Brothers, in a news release. "Calgary has a rich corporate culture rooted in traditional clothing, but it is rapidly evolving to include new elements of style and comfort. As such, it is the ideal location for Brooks Brothers' next Canadian location."

Established in 1818, it now operates stores in the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Chile, Canada and Dubai.

The first Canadian store opened in May 2009 in Vancouver with a Toronto store opening in August 2009.


I went to Brooks Brothers, and it seems very expensive. I don't mind expensive if the quality and design is above par, but there wovens (2 for 299.00) are basically the same as Banana Republic's wovens, but BR only charge $74.00 per woven. Plus if I'm in that price range I would rather go to Holt Renfrew.

[isaidso]

Do I personally line up for a store opening? Hell no. Do I look forward to some more retail variety and competition? HELL YES!

And to be honest I don't see anything different between lining up for an opening of a store, or lining up to get concert/show tickets (FAR more common occurrence).

But it's almost always the same stuff sold under a different banner. It's a proliferation of independents that is going to give you better variety and probably good prices too. You can haggle at an independent. Try doing that at a chain.

Lining up for a store that will be open the next 364 days of the year is vastly different than lining up to see a concert or show that is a one off and will sell out. Honestly, I won't do either but they are quite different. Do people really need to get an iPAD that day instead of the next week, month, or never? They behave like they're lining up for bags of rice in some famine plagued disaster area in Africa.

People have lost all sense of perspective and what's important when they act like materialistic-product crazed zombies. You may not agree, but lining up for a store launch is ridiculous. People who do that have lost the plot.

[SpongeG]

I went to Brooks Brothers, and it seems very expensive. I don't mind expensive if the quality and design is above par, but there wovens (2 for 299.00) are basically the same as Banana Republic's wovens, but BR only charge $74.00 per woven. Plus if I'm in that price range I would rather go to Holt Renfrew.

they also have a $12,000 watch :yes:

its so preppy it hurts my eyes to go in there

[SpongeG]

But it's almost always the same stuff sold under a different banner. It's a proliferation of independents that is going to give you better variety and probably good prices too. You can haggle at an independent. Try doing that at a chain.

Lining up for a store that will be open the next 364 days of the year is vastly different than lining up to see a concert or show that is a one off and will sell out. Honestly, I won't do either but they are quite different. Do people really need to get an iPAD that day instead of the next week, month, or never? They behave like they're lining up for bags of rice in some famine plagued disaster area in Africa.

People have lost all sense of perspective and what's important when they act like materialistic-product crazed zombies. You may not agree, but lining up for a store launch is ridiculous. People who do that have lost the plot.

thats society today hollow and empty lives that they need to feel so they line up to feel "a part of something" a movement, a moment, lending some feelings of "belonging" and with it and part of something before going back to their dull boring empty lives

or lives that are so busy and scheduled down to the minute that lining up seems so rebellious and crazy to waste so much precious time doing something different...

[SpongeG]

i am sure many on here are happy to hear this one...

American Apparel going out of style: Bankruptcy looms for Canadian bad boy retailer

BY NICOLAS VAN PRAET, FINANCIAL POST

Montreal - Dov Charney, a 41-year-old eccentric Montreal native, built American Apparel Inc. into a global retail powerhouse in seven short years while taking substantial heat for his loose hiring policies, risqué ads and alleged sexual harassment of former employees.

Now, with regulators breathing down his neck, lenders shying away and the chain warning it might not have enough available cash to keep operating another year, Mr. Charney could be forced to relinquish control of the company he built from the footless plush pantyhose up.

“Dov Charney is at the moment of truth,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail consulting and investment banking firm based in New York City. “And all roads for him lead to hell. He’s got to pick the best of the worst choices.”

The company’s shares plunged further into penny-stock territory to a new low yesterday after it reported a preliminary second-quarter loss this week. It also raised doubt about its ability to continue as a “going concern,” a standard warning by companies teetering towards a bankruptcy protection filing.

American Apparel has ballooned to 280 stores in 20 countries in recent years, but also has double-digit drops in same-store sales in its last two quarters and a US$120-million debt as of June 30. That is, if the company’s numbers can even be trusted.

American Apparel disclosed this week it received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is probing the company’s auditing after Deloitte & Touche LLP quit as its bookkeeper late last month. Deloitte told American Apparel that its 2009 financial statements might not be reliable.

Federal prosecutors requested documents used to prepare financial statements, an American Apparel lawyer said. Those files will also be given to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, he said.

The flamboyant Mr. Charney owns 53% of the company’s stock and is also its chairman and chief executive. But his involvement in the retailer goes far beyond that.

According to people familiar with the company’s operations, he is extremely hands on, evaluating fabrics in his Los Angeles factory and weighing new designs.

In a last-ditch effort to improve flagging sales, Mr. Charney is quickly repositioning the company’s image and clothing style. Earlier this month he declared the hipster trend which has been powering his expansion through the past three years “over.” He is moving his product with its ageing customers, swapping neon bike shorts for preppy blazers.

But he seems less obsessed with financials than he is with fashions.

When a Los Angeles Times reporter phoned him last week to ask him about the second-quarter sales information disclosed in a recent filing, he replied: “I don’t know anything about it.”

Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a consulting firm in New Canaan, Conn., said it is a company in need of radical surgery.

American Apparel once sold new and fresh-styled clothing but that reputation has faded, he said.

Beyond style choices, its woes now include corporate governance foulups, an overexpansion in its boom times and the embarrassing loss of 1,500 of its U.S. factory workers after an immigration bust in Los Angeles last summer.

Observers probably saw the immigration woes coming.

Two years ago, Mr. Charney started a fight with the U.S. authorities by running American Apparel print ads picturing two Guatemalan-born employees and criticizing that country’s immigration law as amounting to “an apartheid system.”

The ensuing loss of factory workers from the immigration raid meant shortages in key products and exacerbated the company’s financial woes. Things spiralled out of control from that point on.

The clothier might now be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange Amex because it will be late with its second-quarter financial statements after the auditor change. It also warned it will probably breach a debt covenant on a US$75-million loan from Lion Capital LLP, the London-based private equity fund.

American Apparel needs a new source of funding to stabilize itself, Mr. Davidowitz said.

Any new investor that swoops in will almost certainly push Mr. Charney out of the driver’s seat.

...

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/American+Apparel+going+style+Bankruptcy+looms+Canadian+retailer/3423956/story.html#ixzz0xewNUAO2

[Winnipegger]

i am sure many on here are happy to hear this one...

American Apparel going out of style: Bankruptcy looms for Canadian bad boy retailer

BY NICOLAS VAN PRAET, FINANCIAL POST



No doubt that American Apparel creates controversial clothing, but as a fan of some of their clothing myself, I hope that they can clean up their act. I know lots of people see their more edgier stuff as "hipster", but the truth is that they make some great quality normal clothing too including their pants, hoodies, and tshirts. Not all their stuff is abhorrently sexually charged, revealing and brightly hideous, and I hope they can do much to change that stereotype.

Here is to hoping they can straighten out their finances and fashion niche, keeping the label-less and comfortable apparel in production. Perhaps it is time for a better CEO. :cool:

[niwell]

I quite enjoy American Apparel's more basic stuff. I have a couple of their zip-ups, hoodies, t-shirts and a windbreaker. Fits great and actually pretty good quality.

What they need is someone else in charge who will hire management on merit, not based on how much of a hipster one looks like, or if they're willing to sleep with Dov in exchange for blow.

[SpongeG]

they have tons of stores freeing up a lot of prime retail estate at least here in vancouver if they shut doown

[CondoKing]

they have tons of stores freeing up a lot of prime retail estate at least here in vancouver if they shut doown

If they close down, do you guys think, ALDO group will uses that oppourtunity to use the space to launch there Locale brand, espically in Vancouver.

[youngregina]

The store would do just fine even if it was online only. They came in with an unforgettable bang. Save lots of money too.

[MolsonExport]

I do 90% of my clothes shopping in Quebec. Better selection, unique designs you can only get in Quebec, and great prices. And they are local Quebec only stores which give back to their communities.


Unless of course the shops are owned by the Montreal mafia.

[niwell]

There are plenty of local Toronto shops as well. Mike probably doesn't care for them because they aren't in what he considers "downtown" (West Queen West).

Seriously, the assertion that you can only get unique designs in Quebec is a bit offensive knowing local artists and the like. You know, people who make things that benefit the local economy. But whatever...

We all know Simon's is great but if you go out of the box there are a ton of great Toronto places.

[SpongeG]

Armani Exchange is opening a 3rd Vancouver area store - this one will be in Oakridge centre - opens Fall 2010

and according to the women at Benetton - the company has decided that they will no longer be carrying the mens collections at the stores in Canada and this is the last season for it - so if you're a fan time to get some unless you go to europe a lot

[miketoronto]

There are plenty of local Toronto shops as well. Mike probably doesn't care for them because they aren't in what he considers "downtown" (West Queen West).

Seriously, the assertion that you can only get unique designs in Quebec is a bit offensive knowing local artists and the like. You know, people who make things that benefit the local economy. But whatever...

We all know Simon's is great but if you go out of the box there are a ton of great Toronto places.

Quebec has designers that actually sell unique Quebec designed stuff at a middle class pricepoint. In Toronto unless you are willing to spend half your savings on clothing, you can not buy made in Toronto stuff. Toronto should have a local store like Simons but we don't.

I have been to the West Queen West stores and the are some gems and for sure and it is a great street. However a large number of stuff that is sold in those Queen West stores are brands you can get at The Bay. And the brands that are fully unique to Toronto are way over the top expensive. I have found the odd item on Queen, but it is because it was on a super sale. I usually go to Queen for other things like cards, etc.

Anyway I just bought a nice new jacket from Yorkville. It is a jacket designed and made in Cleveland, Ohio. The design is totally unique and looks great. And it is even better that it is made in North America and designed here.
My only issue is that I wanted to buy it in Cleveland while I was working there, as it was only $150.00 on sale in Cleveland(but they did not have my size). In Toronto, the only store that carries it is in Yorkville, and they had it for $250.00 on sale.
I also buy dress pants out of Detroit from this lady who designs and makes them. Again her price points are good, etc. And she gets to know you and even has me on facebook. And he designs just have cool little quirks that you don't get from the mass produced designers.

The Toronto designers think they are too good for everyone, act snobby, and charge way to much for their stuff. Toronto has a attitude that you don't get from designers in other cities.

I just don't find the fact that our malls are becoming carbon copies of malls around the world that interesting. Our neighbour just got back from Italy and said how sad it was that they had this mall in Venice that was just like the malls here in Canada with the exact same stores we have.
Makes it very boring and takes the individuality out of a place.
Canada used to have a strong base of Canadian stores that populated our malls, etc. And that has all been eroded by free trade.

And it is probably bad for the stores themselves, as who goes shopping on trips anymore if all the stores are the same as home. I know on my frequent trips to the USA I hardly buy anything anymore because it is all the same crap we have. The excetion if some of the local stores I go to in the cities. But overall I don't buy like I used to.
I used to do serious shopping at Marshall Fields in Chicago. Not anymore that it is Macy's, as they have all the same stuff like The Bay. No more unique designers etc like MF had. And the malls like I said have all the stores we have in Toronto. So why spend my money there.

[Plus15]

Harry Rosen opens flagship Calgary store
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald September 3, 2010

Showing confidence in the Calgary marketplace, Harry Rosen today opens its flagship store downtown -- an indication the city in recent years has moved upscale on the retail landscape.

"We're a 56-year-old proud Canadian company and we've been in Calgary now for 26 years. And obviously we've watched Calgary evolve from what it was to what I consider probably one of the most sophisticated and modern eclectic cities," Larry Rosen, CEO and chair of Harry Rosen Inc., said Thursday as he gave the Herald a tour of the new store.

The expanded flagship store in the CORE shopping centre (TD Square-Calgary Eaton Centre) is on two storeys, covering more than 30,000 square feet. It has six designer shop-in-shops including a first for Calgary -- an exclusive Tom Ford shop.

The company said the addition of Tom Ford "truly proves Calgary's place of importance in the global luxury market."

Other shops that are exclusive to Harry Rosen in Calgary include Ermenegildo Zegna, Brunello Cucinelli, Canali and Hugo Boss. The store will also feature an Armani Collezioni shop-in-shop.

"We wanted to bring to Calgary a store that really represented where Calgary is now with the best of what we have to offer," said Rosen. "We brought everything that we consider a world-class, modern city should offer. This is the A-plus version of Harry Rosen and it really reflects what the city is capable of delivering.

"Calgary's a young city. It's got a lot of head offices, entrepreneurs. It's got a lot of professionals. It's a place where a lot of action is happening."

Harry Rosen is also opening a new 8,000-square-foot store at Chinook Centre at the end of this month. The expansion in the Calgary market will add about 40 to 50 new positions to the company this year.

"The Harry Rosen brand is at the forefront of an emerging battle for customer loyalty in the local high-end men's apparel business. The winners in this competitive environment will be the image-conscious fashion consumers of Calgary who will enjoy a greater selection in a historically thin category," said Michael Kehoe, an Albertabased retail specialist with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc.

"As the head office capital of Canada's energy sector and an important financial centre, Calgary is a prime market for Harry Rosen."

Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said having three iconic retailers -- Holt Renfrew, Brooks Brothers and Harry Rosen -- in such close proximity at the CORE not only anchors the new and rejuvenated mall, but is a great indicator of the long-term viability of retail in downtown Calgary.

"It adds so much to the unique experience that downtown offers workers, citizens and visitors alike," she said.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[miketoronto]

They don't need a store at Chinook Centre. That totally undermines the downtown location. Sorry but if I am going to a luxury store, than I don't want it in every mall in the city. Why go spend money if it is everywhere.

Holt Renfrew has the right idea with just having the downtown store. And if I was Holts I would close the Toronto Yorkdale location and just focus on the Bloor location.

[Rusty van Reddick]

mike, the Core location is almost 4 times the size of what they're opening in Chinook. Chinook doesn't "undermine" anything. AFAIK Chinook won't have the Tom Ford store either- they'll be totally different shopping experiences.

The GTA has six Harry Rosen stores. Calgary can support two, especially since we're an incredibly prosperous white-collar city; precisely the market that Harry Rosen thrives in.

[Me&You]

mike, the Core location is almost 4 times the size of what they're opening in Chinook. Chinook doesn't "undermine" anything. AFAIK Chinook won't have the Tom Ford store either- they'll be totally different shopping experiences.

The GTA has six Harry Rosen stores. Calgary can support two, especially since we're an incredibly prosperous white-collar city; precisely the market that Harry Rosen thrives in.

+1

Plus, Chinook has some of the highest sales psf of any mall in Canada (maybe even the highest?). You don't achieve that by being a mall full of dollar stores and souvenir shops. As far as suburban-ish malls go, Chinook is quite high-end and Harry Rosen has chosen well to be a part of it.

[Plus15]

The Chinook Harry Rosen was originally to be 12,000 square feet...it has been downsized by 1/3 to a more conservative 8,000. It won't have the exclusive shop in shops that The Core will have either.

Side note - Brooks Brothers new downtown Calgary flagship is three floors of awesome, there is a pool table and a bar, full women and children's departments, the Country Club line and a Black Fleece designer boutique. The first in Canada to carry all product lines.

[MolsonExport]

They don't need a store at Chinook Centre. That totally undermines the downtown location. Sorry but if I am going to a luxury store, than I don't want it in every mall in the city. Why go spend money if it is everywhere.

Holt Renfrew has the right idea with just having the downtown store. And if I was Holts I would close the Toronto Yorkdale location and just focus on the Bloor location.

Just a wild guess, but maybe, just maybe, the folks at Harry Rosen did a cost-benefit analysis before committing to the new location. Just sayin.;)

[miketoronto]

+1

Plus, Chinook has some of the highest sales psf of any mall in Canada (maybe even the highest?). You don't achieve that by being a mall full of dollar stores and souvenir shops. As far as suburban-ish malls go, Chinook is quite high-end and Harry Rosen has chosen well to be a part of it.

They have some of the highest sales psf at at the expense of the downtown retail market. Chinook has the mainstream, high end, and everything in between market captured. Downtown is just going for high end which leaves Chinook as the place most people will still go to on a Saturday. And the crowds at Chinook compared to the quiet shopping environment of downtown Calgary shows that. Mainstream stores like ZARA have choosen Chinook as their Calgary store and not downtown. That would worry me if I was the manager of the Downtown Calgary BIA.

[SpongeG]

ZARA is a mall store no big loss for downtown

[Me&You]

They have some of the highest sales psf at at the expense of the downtown retail market. Chinook has the mainstream, high end, and everything in between market captured. Downtown is just going for high end which leaves Chinook as the place most people will still go to on a Saturday. And the crowds at Chinook compared to the quiet shopping environment of downtown Calgary shows that. Mainstream stores like ZARA have choosen Chinook as their Calgary store and not downtown. That would worry me if I was the manager of the Downtown Calgary BIA.

Oh, it was quiet last time you were shopping on a Saturday at the Core?

Do tell, when was that?

[SpongeG]

Specialty card chain chooses downtown Calgary for first Canadian store

Calgary's CORE attracts retailer

CALGARY HERALD SEPTEMBER 3, 2010 2:02 PM


U.S. specialty card store, Papyrus, is expanding into the Canadian market with the opening of its first store in the CORE downtown Calgary shopping centre on Tuesday.

"We will follow a Canadian rollout strategy similar to the one used in the initial roll out of Papyrus stores in the U.S., concentrating on the premium malls and streets that cater to the Papyrus customer," said Dominique Schurman, CEO of the Schurman Retail Group, the brand's parent company, in a news release. The retailer has more than 150 locations in the United States.

"We will begin with the key Canadian markets, particularly Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Montreal to establish top-tier stores that can produce brand identity. Since Canadians shop key U.S. markets, we think there will be a quick association to the brand."

...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Specialty+card+chain+chooses+downtown+Calgary+first+Canadian+store/3478491/story.html

[Rusty van Reddick]

That would worry me if I was the manager of the Downtown Calgary BIA.

We have BRZs, not BIAs.

[Rusty van Reddick]

I'll agree with Mike on on thing- it sucks that Urban Outfitters is opening in Chinook instead of downtown or, preferably (for UO) on 17th. At least it's not SouthCentre...

[SpongeG]

U.S.-based retail giant opening in Edmonton

EDMONTON — Restoration Hardware will open its first Edmonton store on Nov. 15 at Southgate Centre.

Despite its name, the U.S.-based retail giant is an upscale home furnishings and decor store rather than a traditional hardware centre. Its Canadian locations include Vancouver and Calgary.

The 11,000-square-foot Edmonton store will open in Southgate’s former food court area near The Apple Store.

“It’s a perfect fit in terms of the Southgate Centre brand being quality, premium and sophistication,” said Southgate general manager Paul Fairbridge. “The target customer is in that upper income area for the most part.”

Restoration Hardware will be a destination retailer drawing from across the city and beyond, he said.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/13082010/75/prairies-u-s-based-retail-giant-opening-edmonton.html

[davidivivid]

One of the Simons store in Quebec city just underwent massive renovations in order to double its floor space : from 57000 Sq Ft to 110 000 Sq Ft. The firm Burdifilek of Toronto was responsible for the interior design. It is meant to become the flagship store of the brand.

http://shopping.ca/cambridge/html/foy/images/maquette.jpg
http://shopping.ca/cambridge/html/foy/communique_presse.html

[SpongeG]

what is simons? is it like a dept store? like the bay or higher end like holt renfrew? or cheap like zellers?

[niwell]

I'll agree with Mike on on thing- it sucks that Urban Outfitters is opening in Chinook instead of downtown or, preferably (for UO) on 17th. At least it's not SouthCentre...

Yeah, Urban Outfitters really belongs on 17th. There might not be an appropriate leaseable space (they tend to like 2 story locations) though.

[SSLL]

Montreal — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Sep. 03, 2010 7:32PM EDT Last updated on Saturday, Sep. 04, 2010 8:16AM EDT

Aldo Bensadoun peers at rows of strappy high-heeled shoes, bejewelled sandals and soft loafers.

Standing in a mock retail space in his headquarters in Montreal, the founder of Canada’s least-known global retail juggernaut is pondering a window display destined for his Aldo shoe stores more than 10,000 kilometres away.

He suggests dropping a few styles to simplify the presentation. The changes made, an employee snaps a photograph of the reworked display and e-mails it abroad. Within a week, the exact same parade of footwear will appear in scores of his Middle East shop windows.

Welcome to a typical day at Aldo Group Inc., Mr. Bensadoun’s $1.5-billion-a-year international shoe empire. Anyone who has stepped into a Canadian mall knows the company’s namesake Aldo brand, as well as its FeetFirst, StoneRidge and Spring chains. But few appreciate the breadth and depth of this company that has quietly sprouted 1,500 stores in more than 55 countries.

With remarkably little in the way of fanfare, it has become one of the most successful shoe retailers in the world. In a tough economic environment, its emphasis on bringing products to markets lightning fast and constantly tempting customers with new trends makes this low-profile powerhouse a beacon to other merchants.

Mr. Bensadoun built his global empire by constantly re-inventing his privately held company. Nobody is quicker at adjusting shoe styles, retail concepts and factory sourcing to suit the demands of fickle, fashion-obsessed customers. His team races to stay on top of the latest trends by chasing down street fashions and runway hits in fashion capitals. Once it spots a workable idea, Aldo Group requires a mere five to 12 weeks to get shoes to stores, compared with an industry average of 17 weeks.

“You have to be fast and you have to renew yourself constantly,” Mr. Bensadoun, 71, said in a rare interview. “Our strength is to adapt. As the customer is changing, we’re adapting to the new face of the customer.”

Mr. Bensadoun has adapted his fast-fashion formula not just to different market segments in Canada, but to countries around the world. Aldo Group is prospering in the United States – where most other Canadian retailers have flopped – and in Europe and Asia as well.

“This is the most successful global retailer that Canada has ever built,” said Tim McGuire, a senior partner at consultancy McKinsey & Co., which has advised Aldo. “They’re the best in the world at what they do, and they’re doing it everywhere in the world.”

The numbers tell the story: By spotting emerging trends and jumping on them faster than competitors, Aldo manages to produce $1,000-plus sales per square foot in Canada, more than twice that of other mall shoe chains.

Even rivals pay homage to Aldo’s prowess. “They’re great in the world they live in – they’re the best,” said Stephen Applebaum, president of the group that runs Nine West and other shoe chains in Canada.

But Mr. Bensadoun can’t rest on his laurels. Today, battling for much the same customer as cheap-chic chains such as Zara and H&M, and facing limited growth opportunities in his core North American business, he’s raising the stakes by moving in new directions. His company recently launched an upmarket chain called Locale. It also set up a wholesaling division to supply shoes to U.S. retail heavyweights, while starting to help other companies set up shop beyond their borders.

“Everybody has shoes – there is no shortage of competitors,” said George Hartman, a former retail analyst on Bay Street and now a partner in investment banker Capital Canada. So how will Mr. Bensadoun find success? “He has a sense of control of where he’s buying and whom he’s targeting as his customers – better than anyone else,” Mr. Hartman said. When he’s not re-jigging window displays, Mr. Bensadoun and his team must spot the trends that will allow his company to reinvent itself yet again.

Aldo Bensadoun, founder and CEO of Aldo Group Inc., at the company's head office in Montreal.

For The Globe and Mail

Aldo Bensadoun, founder and CEO of Aldo Group Inc., at the company's head office in Montreal.

MASTER OF CHANGE

Mr. Bensadoun never intended to follow in the footsteps of his father, a shoe retailer in Morocco and France, or his grandfather, a cobbler in Algeria. He attended boarding school in Paris and studied engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. But after falling in love with Montreal on a weekend visit, he transferred to a commerce program at McGill University.

He later took a job at a plastics company and sold a shrink-rap system to Yellow Shoes, a Montreal retailer that wanted a way to protect shoes from pilferage. The work was so appreciated by the chain’s CEO that he hired Mr. Bensadoun. The young executive was put in charge of the Salon Six shoe chain; then in 1972, he mortgaged his house to buy the shoe division of Montreal-based fashion retailer Le Château Inc.

That was the year Mr. Bensadoun’s footwear career was truly launched, when he noticed hippies in Europe wearing wooden-soled clogs. He sensed that the footwear could become a hot trend in Canada, and he was right. Crafted in Italy and shipped to Le Château, the clunky footwear became a hit, with 500,000 pairs sold.

“I’m a strong believer that fashion starts on the street with political and economic events happening in the world,” Mr. Bensadoun said. His team, for example, recently introduced combat-style boots using distressed leather in reaction to what they were seeing on the evening news. “You have so many wars going on in the world.”

The success of the clog also taught him another important lesson: He needed to produce something different and run fast with new styles before others caught up to him. “If we were the same as every other retailer, then we never would have succeeded.”

He started his Aldo chain in 1980, rushing to find the next new fashion at an affordable cost – in effect, practising fast fashion before the industry coined the term.

In an era when retailers depended on domestic middlemen to source products from European manufacturers, he went directly to the source. After taking lessons in Italian, he travelled to plants in Italy, putting in his own orders and modifying a heel, sole or buckle as he saw fit.

His practices didn’t make him popular with the Canadian middlemen he was replacing, but it helped bolster profit. “He just broke the rules,” said David Bensadoun, 40, heir apparent and the elder of two sons who are on Aldo’s executive team today. “The reward was that his prices were sharper and his margins were a bit better.”

Today, Aldo Group sources about 60 per cent of its products in China. It also has shoes made in other Asian centres as well as in Brazil, Eastern Europe and Italy. Being able to switch quickly to a factory with the capability to produce, for example, wooden-based clogs – as the company did last year – is an advantage in an industry where success depends upon getting the latest fashions on the shelf within weeks.

Mr. Bensadoun insists on staying nimble in other ways as well. For instance, he runs multiple retail chains, each of which caters to different customers. His constantly shifting mix of banners and brands allows him to test new looks and adjust quickly to trends. “They are far better at understanding, interpreting and leading fashion trends than any other retailer I’ve seen,” Mr. McGuire said.

Aldo remains the company’s flagship banner, geared to serve 18- to 30-year-olds with a bit of disposable income. To draw a younger customer with less money, Mr. Bensadoun started Transit (now called Spring). “He defines segments of his business and he very astutely targets his stores to serve those different segments,” Mr. Hartman observed.

If a chain isn’t working, Mr. Bensadoun doesn’t hesitate to change it. “The worst thing is to run a concept that has gone stale,” his son said.

Case in point: FeetFirst, which the company launched in the early 1990s to appeal to baby boomers who wanted comfortable shoes. Today, boomers want fashion first rather than “granny shoe” comfort, David said. “So we figured out we just needed to make fashionable shoes that are secretly comfortable.” Starting late last month, Aldo Group began to convert its FeetFirst stores to a new higher-end chain – called Locale – which the company sees as its next global brand.

BEYOND CANADA

Aldo Group’s bumpiest ride came in the mid-1990s, when it struggled to break into the cutthroat U.S. market. Snatching prominent store locations was tough because landlords were unfamiliar with its name. The company’s handful of U.S. stores gave it no bargaining power.

That’s when Mr. Bensadoun took the unusual step of spending about $1-million to hire McKinsey to advise his tiny firm on its transformation into an international player. The high-power global consultancy rarely works with small private companies.

What did McKinsey see in Aldo? “Even when Aldo was only in Canada, its fashion footwear business was better than anyone in that segment in the world,” Mr. McGuire said.

McKinsey’s advice to Aldo Group was simple: Go big in the U.S. or go home. The retailer moved rapidly to open U.S. stores. With a minimal marketing budget, it managed to make a splash by buying up billboard space at just one conspicuous spot in each big city it entered.

In New York City, for instance, it invested in a “killer billboard” at the edge of the trend-setting Soho district, David recalled. “A lot of people said, ‘Wow, they must be a big player because they’re on this amazing billboard.’ But we didn’t have any other billboards anywhere. We just put all our money into that one.”

Pinching pennies on advertising helped to preserve one of Aldo Group’s key advantages: lower prices. By selling its products through its own stores, it could undercut competitors such as Nine West and Steve Madden, which sold much of their merchandise through department stores.

While offering low prices, Aldo Group was also careful to invest in well-designed stores, removing any perception that it was merely a discounter. “People want style and they want it at a good price, but they don’t want it to be perceived as cheap,” said Tony Grossi, a New York retail real estate consultant.

Today, Aldo Group operates 475 stores in the U.S. and another 471 in Canada. It is also a force in the U.K., Mexico and much of the Persian Gulf. In its core English-language markets, stores are company-owned; outside of those markets, Aldo Group teams up with seasoned local retailers as franchisees.

Those local retailers provide head office with a window on local preferences that can tilt footwear selection. In its Persian Gulf markets, for instance, Aldo Group stocks more men’s loafers and open-toed sandals than it does in North America, because Muslim men like footwear that can be easily slipped on and off for prayers five times a day.

Back in North America, though, sales growth is slowing. Aldo Group’s burgeoning competition includes discount titans such as Payless and Wal-Mart, as well as the fast-fashion trendsetters like H&M and Zara. It is also up against a sluggish economy, especially in the U.S.

To find new avenues for growth, it is trying to sharpen its fast-fashion advantage in what it internally calls Project Sunshine. “It’s actually not that hard when you’re growing at two stores a week to hide your mistakes,” David said. “Now that we’re not growing as much, we need to be a lot sharper with how we do our buying and inventory management.”

Head office now gets hourly – rather than weekly – sales data, allowing it to make faster decisions about restocking top sellers or ditching losers. The speedy updates shave the time it takes to get shoes on the shelf by as much as 30 per cent.

Mr. Bensadoun wants to expand in North America without the huge spending needed to open new stores. The solution: Wholesale products to other retailers. His company recently struck deals to supply products to department stores Kohl’s and J.C. Penney and online retail giant Zappos.com. And starting next spring, Aldo Group will ship its revived Pegabo line to the Bay department stores.

In yet another evolution, Aldo Group is using its retailing savvy to help other companies such as Italy-based Miss Sixty run their shops in foreign markets. “We said, ‘There’s got to be other ways to make money than just keeping on opening stores,’ ” David said.

Aldo Group itself is eyeing new markets, including China, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Germany and France. It believes it can double annual sales to $3-billion within five years. “It’s a playing field that’s in constant evolution and we’re always trying to change our recipe to fit into it,” he said.

______

HIT AND MISS

Aldo is not the only Canadian retailer to enter the U.S. market. But it’s one of the few to succeed.

HIT

Lululemon Athletica

The Vancouver-based yoga wear chain expanded rapidly in the U.S. after it went public in 2007, and now operates 75 of its 130 stores south of the border.

MISS

Le Château

Montreal-based Le Château entered the U.S. market in 1985, but has struggled since. This spring it closed one of the four U.S. stores it had left and will shut the remaining three when their leases expire.

Danier Leather

In 2005, the Toronto-based leather chain closed three struggling U.S. stores after four years in the market.

La Senza

In 2005, the then Montreal-based lingerie retailer was forced to shut its five U.S. stores after about two years in the market. Almost two years later it was taken over by the U.S. parent of rival Victoria’s Secret.

Mark’s Work Wearhouse

The Calgary-based work and casual wear chain entered the U.S. market in 1981 and peaked at nine stores before the U.S. operation filed for bankruptcy six years later.

Canadian Tire

Toronto-based Canadian Tire wasn’t able to turn around a U.S. chain it scooped up in 1982; it failed again in the early 1990s in its second attempt at the U.S. market.

[CondoKing]

They don't need a store at Chinook Centre. That totally undermines the downtown location. Sorry but if I am going to a luxury store, than I don't want it in every mall in the city. Why go spend money if it is everywhere.

Holt Renfrew has the right idea with just having the downtown store. And if I was Holts I would close the Toronto Yorkdale location and just focus on the Bloor location.

It actually makes more senese for Harry Rosen to open another location in Chinook Center in a financial sense. Chinook Center sees probably most traffic in the city. I currently work at Banana Republic in the CORE, the number of sales we make at the CORE is always matched or beat by Chinook Center. It surprising seeing how the CORE services the entier Downtown district.

[miketoronto]

It actually makes more senese for Harry Rosen to open another location in Chinook Center in a financial sense. Chinook Center sees probably most traffic in the city. I currently work at Banana Republic in the CORE, the number of sales we make at the CORE is always matched or beat by Chinook Center. It surprising seeing how the CORE services the entier Downtown district.

And that is the problem. Downtown should have the highest sales, etc. Not Chinook. What that says is that downtown is second best to Chinook and is not capturing the amount of shoppers that it could.

[Yume-sama]

And that is the problem. Downtown should have the highest sales, etc. Not Chinook. What that says is that downtown is second best to Chinook and is not capturing the amount of shoppers that it could.

Bingo. The majority of people don't *want* to go Downtown, and pay for downtown parking, and deal with the trouble of being downtown.

That, and, once you finish shopping at The Core... there's nowhere else to go, and it's a ghost town after 5PM.

[davidivivid]

what is simons? is it like a dept store? like the bay or higher end like holt renfrew? or cheap like zellers?

La Maison Simons is a department store selling clothing from the very affordable to the very expensive. It is present in 7 locations throughout Quebec. The management has always insisted to have the very latest fashion so at the end of each season very large discounts are found even on designer labels (I bought a 400$ Burton winter jacket for 150$). The store has developed 8 house brands over the years:

Twik (adolescents and young women : founded in 1967 and inspired by supermodel Twiggy), Contemporaine (mature women), Icône (young female professionals), Sport Actif (women's sports clothing), Miiyu (women's lingerie), La Lingère, Le 31 (men's fashion) and Djab (adolescents and young men).

These brands are more affordable but the store carries high end designer labels such as Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. It also works in collaboration with international designers. For example, this fall Simons will present an exclusive collaboration with the New York designer John Bartlett. It’s a limited edition collection called John Bartlett Collection Signature Simons.

[SpongeG]

cool thanks for the info

[CondoKing]

Bingo. The majority of people don't *want* to go Downtown, and pay for downtown parking, and deal with the trouble of being downtown.

That, and, once you finish shopping at The Core... there's nowhere else to go, and it's a ghost town after 5PM.

I would have to agree with you on parking, it ridiculous. I think not every store has to be in downtown. I think it would be more substainable if retail areas were spread acorss the city and not populated into one central area.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Bingo. The majority of people don't *want* to go Downtown, and pay for downtown parking, and deal with the trouble of being downtown.

That, and, once you finish shopping at The Core... there's nowhere else to go, and it's a ghost town after 5PM.

Are you completely fucking blind? This is one of the most ignorant comments I've ever seen about Calgary on here.

What is the "trouble of being downtown" exactly?

Parking is a complete bargain on weekends and after 6. Then during the day you have a workforce of 120,000 who PACK The Core during lunch.

Downtown is light years from a "ghost town" after 5. There is INCREDIBLY more to do after shopping- the best restaurants in the city, Chinatown, films, plays. You're so wrong it's pathetic.

[SpongeG]

its true for lots of people - if i am shopping i would rather go to a suburban mall where i can get free parking

if calgary parking is more expensive than vancouver it would be more of a reason to go to chinook - i hate going into downtown vancouver since is parking is a nightmare and way too expensive - i would do the same in calgary - avoid it when it comes to shopping

[Me&You]

its true for lots of people - if i am shopping i would rather go to a suburban mall where i can get free parking

if calgary parking is more expensive than vancouver it would be more of a reason to go to chinook - i hate going into downtown vancouver since is parking is a nightmare and way too expensive - i would do the same in calgary - avoid it when it comes to shopping

Parking at Chinook is generally a nightmare, so I prefer to pay a couple bucks to avoid the headache. That, and the Core is closer to my home than Chinook. I honestly can't remember the last time I was at Chinook for something I could have also got at the Core.

Plus, the stores we're discussing specifically cater to a demographic that is either already working DT, or don't mind spending a few extra dollars when their shopping at a store with $40 socks! Free parking isn't an issue.

This whole tangent started with Miketoronto's silly bitching about Harry Rosen not needing a second store at Chinook. So many things wrong with that, that I don't even know where to start. For one, the previous DT location was busy enough that the folks at Harry Rosen can obviously justify a huge new expansion. Along with that, they see the Calgary market as being such that their new DT location isn't sufficient in meeting demand. It's not like they're leasing space in Chinook just for fun - they know what they're doing! A second Chinook location will in no way "undermine" the DT store, but simply serve a different market segment. If Harry Rosen had pulled out of the Core to move to Chinook, I can see the point. But they're simply opening a second location and I honestly can't see how anyone could have an issue with that :shrug:

Suburban malls have their place. Downtown malls have their place. As long as the Holt Renfrews / Harry Rosens / Brooks Brothers etc operate downtown, I don't care what Chinook gets...

[niwell]

And that is the problem. Downtown should have the highest sales, etc. Not Chinook. What that says is that downtown is second best to Chinook and is not capturing the amount of shoppers that it could.

Please don't make blanket statements about cities you've never been to. Unless of course you've become an expert in corporate retail locational analysis (doubt it). Because I'm pretty sure people who actually are trained in that determined that Chinook is a pretty good location, and probably more central to the majority of Calgarians. If the downtown location was closed in favour of Chinook you may have a point, but it wasn't. And you don't.

[SpongeG]

well vancouver's harry rosen stores are both in malls pacific centre and oakridge centre - i guess miketoronto would disaprove - i think there are only 2 of em here and always empty other than pushy sales people

[miketoronto]

Please don't make blanket statements about cities you've never been to. Unless of course you've become an expert in corporate retail locational analysis (doubt it). Because I'm pretty sure people who actually are trained in that determined that Chinook is a pretty good location, and probably more central to the majority of Calgarians. If the downtown location was closed in favour of Chinook you may have a point, but it wasn't. And you don't.

By opening branch locations it is one less reason to go downtown. Why do you think Indianoplis was upset when Nordstromes decided to open a branch store at a suburban mall? Because they knew that downtown no longer had places that were different from the burbs and that means less people coming downtown.

This is the problem with North America with needing to have the same stores every couple km.

Chinook should not even have been built. The downtown area could have handled the shoppers just fine.

If you guys are fine with what is going on fine. Its not my downtown. But don't complain when people go to Calgary and complain the downtown is dead on weekends or has a very very very light crowd compared to the often packed Chinook Centre.
For the size Calgary is those destination stores should only be downtown.
Ottawa is like that. You want Harry Rosen, you gotta go to downtown Ottawa, etc.

These destination stores are what makes a downtown, and when you have too many of them in the suburbs it undermines the downtown as a metropolitan shopping destination.
The fact that other destination stores like ZARA and Tiffany have choosen Chinook over downtown further undermines downtown, as Calgary is the only Canadian city that these two famous stores have opened in the suburbs over downtown.

[AuxTown]

If you guys are fine with what is going on fine. Its not my downtown. But don't complain when people go to Calgary and complain the downtown is dead on weekends or has a very very very light crowd compared to the often packed Chinook Centre.
For the size Calgary is those destination stores should only be downtown.
Ottawa is like that. You want Harry Rosen, you gotta go to downtown Ottawa, etc.

Ottawa is a little bit different though. We have some terrible sprawl issues, but on the whole, most of the money in Ottawa has stayed in central neighbourhoods inside the Greenbelt (i.e. Westboro, Glebe, New Edinburgh, Rockcliffe). For most of them, downtown is still their shopping destination (mostly Rideau Centre but also Holt Renfrew and some trendy areas in the market). The image I have of Calgary is of thousands of 1/2 acre estates far out in the burbs, making suburban malls the obvious location for such destination stores. I'm not saying it's good or bad and, as you mentioned, it is only going to add to the problem of a 9-5 downtown that ALL Canadian cities face (even TO).

[Plus15]

Tiffany is not opening a store at Chinook. Toronto is the only city in Canada to undermine its downtown Tiffany with a suburban store at Yorkdale. Zara is in Edmonton with 2 locations, neither downtown. Plus, its not 1910. These are facts.

[Me&You]

Ottawa is a little bit different though. We have some terrible sprawl issues, but on the whole, most of the money in Ottawa has stayed in central neighbourhoods inside the Greenbelt (i.e. Westboro, Glebe, New Edinburgh, Rockcliffe). For most of them, downtown is still their shopping destination (mostly Rideau Centre but also Holt Renfrew and some trendy areas in the market). The image I have of Calgary is of thousands of 1/2 acre estates far out in the burbs, making suburban malls the obvious location for such destination stores. I'm not saying it's good or bad and, as you mentioned, it is only going to add to the problem of a 9-5 downtown that ALL Canadian cities face (even TO).

Calgary isn't really much different. The inner city is absolutely stacked with wealth in communities such as Mount Royal, Elbow Park, Roxboro, Elboya, Brittania, Hillhurst and million-dollar-plus infills in Altadore, South Calgary, Sunnyside, etc. People in these are more likely to shop at the Core over Chinook or other suburban malls for several reasons. For one, many of them likely already work DT. Also, the DT has the type of retail and services that best caters to this wealthy group, whether it's Holt Renfrew / Harry Rosen / Brooks Brothers or Bang & Olufson, the Cellar, or restaurants such as Chop, Rush or Centinni (among many others). These people don't go to Chinook because it's less convenient, doesn't have the stores they shop and and they couldn't care less about parking charges.

Simply put, there is enough of a market to warrant a second Harry Rosen in Calgary. The Core location is their local flagship and carries many lines that won't be available at their Chinook location. The opening of the second store will in no way impact their Core location. If anything, it will expose new customers to Harry Rosen that may in turn go to the Core location for the "full meal deal" once they've tried out the "junior" version at Chinook.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Chinook should not even have been built. The downtown area could have handled the shoppers just fine.

If you guys are fine with what is going on fine. Its not my downtown. But don't complain when people go to Calgary and complain the downtown is dead on weekends or has a very very very light crowd compared to the often packed Chinook Centre.

Chinook "should have been built" in the same sense that Yorkdale or, hell, Square One "should have been built." It was a suburban mall on the edge of town when it was built- or when the two malls that would become Chinook were built. Are you seriously saying that Calgary should have no malls?!?

The only people who "complain" about Calgary's downtown are people from other Canadian cities- those being, of course, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver- who rely on their own cities as TYPICAL of Canadian urban experience when they are in fact OUTLIERS, in a very good way, and models that a city of Calgary's size and age and location could never hope to emulate; they are also-- and I think this is the most important consideration-- prejudiced to despise Calgary and to not see the good about this city. If you ask people who AREN'T Canadian, especially Americans, they are completely impressed with our downtown- with its beauty, cleanliness, SHOPPING ("this is awesome- downtown Denver/Cincy/San Jose/etc etc doesn't have grocery stores/a real Chinatown/real department stores/such great restaurants/etc etc etc), cultural diversity and generally progressive vibe.

I hate to break this to you, but your professors are hateful douchebags- I taught at Ryerson and I had to run that gauntlet when I told my colleagues I'd taken a position at the U of C where I didn't get a tiny smidgen of support but instead was at one point LECTURED about how I could DARE to move the "the belly of the beast"- and your ex-Calgarian classmates are pretentious wannabes who, like pretty much every ex-Calgarian I've known in Toronto (and every other city in Canada) is seriously so deluded that they think they're refugees who escaped from a gulag. And they have an ignorant audience of people like you, Mike, who very much wants to hear that sort of thing.

If you're going to refuse to come here, and with an open mind, then stop posting about Calgary.

[niwell]

The assertion that "Chinook shouldn't have been built" is simply baffling. Really, absurd to the point where a response along those lines is barely warranted. So I'll just go ahead and point out that the mall is the the key amenity that will make intensification in the area viable (going to disregard the large lots across the street for sake of argument).

Really though I have no idea where these bizarre ideas of how cities should operate (presumably based on pseudo-history or some strange alternate reality) come from. Having worked with several Ryerson planning graduates and current students I can say it's probably not from there. Though the program really is lacking the critical analysis present in other Ontario planning schools. In other words it's very mainstream status quo, but graduates come out with a higher level of technical proficiency.

[WhipperSnapper]

This is the same guy who would have people from Guelph commuting to downtown Toronto for more than the bare essentials. Strange for a guy that supposedly visits downtown frequency not to see such lunacy is completely unwarranted for it to remain the centre of its universe in either Toronto or Calgary. For Toronto, not sure how he can be completely oblivious to the amount of commercial development that has recently been built and continues to be built. The city hasn't been throwing deep subsidies and parades either. They've been gouging developers out of millions of dollars.

[miketoronto]

My ideas on Chinook have nothing to do with what I am being taught. The current fad in planning is decentralization and believe me my ideas have nothing to do with what I am being taught as most people in school don't even worry about downtown health.

The simple fact is that Calgary is not that large of a city, and a mega suburban mall built only a couple km's from downtown was really never needed. All it did was suck the shoppers that did go to downtown Calgary away. Just like malls in almost every other city have done.

All these malls are not built because of a need. They are just built and they suck retail dollars from other areas of the city.

If Chinook was 50 km of the city I think there would be an argument for it. But with how close it is to downtown it really was not needed and just sucked life from the downtown. And it seems to be doing a good job at that, now that it is seeing stores set up their only Calgary locations there instead of downtown. There have also been newspaper articles written about how Chinook is the place to be in the city and not downtown.
Other comments such as shopping downtown on weekends is nice because it is so quiet compared to Chinook show that the downtown while high end is not performing as it should. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that the city still promotes and allows suburban minded development.

And the comments about Yorkdale are also correct. Yorkdale is becoming too much of a destination and it is undermining downtown Toronto to a degree.
Until about 10 years ago downtown Toronto was the only location for destination retail. But now places like Yorkdale are trying to get stores that only had downtown locations like Tiffany and Zara.

Go ahead and support Chinook if you want. But 8th Ave would be a hell of a lot busier if Chinook did not steel so much shoppers from the downtown.

I really don't understand how you guys think I am weird for wanting the destination stores downtown. It would be natural in most cities to have the destination stores downtown and not in a suburban mall.
But then that is why North American cities so much less busy than many of their international cousins. Because we like to give people reasons to never go downtown.

A key indicator to the health of a downtown area is if teens hang out there. I would bet that most teens head for a Saturday at Chinook over going to 8th Ave downtown.

And not everyone who is critical of Calgary are trying to impress Toronto people. I have talked a downtown Calgary BIA worker concerning downtown retail and she has admitted to me that Chinook does suck life out of the downtown and the downtown is very quiet outside of business hours, because people go to Chinook instead of going downtown.

And as for the comment about visiting Calgary. I actually do want to visit it. I just have not been able to fit it into my travels yet as it is far away from Toronto. But I do not hate Calgary or think it is bad. I in fact am always praising the Calgary LRT and the great job Calgary is doing at improving transit services. I don't see how wanting to see a more vibrant 8th Ave and a more vital downtown is seen as bashing the city. If anything it speaks to liking the city.

Do I come across radical sometimes with my push for supporting vibrant downtowns and not supporting malls. Yes I may. But I don't see how that is a shock on a forum that celebrates urbanism. Why am I going to defend Chinook Centre?

I don't hate all malls and sometimes malls have a place in a city. But lets face it. Most suburban malls in Canadian cities were not built out of need. They were built to divert downtown shoppers.

Hell they are even built to divert suburban shoppers. Vaughan Mills was not needed. Vaughan Mills Mall was built on the idea that shoppers would stop shopping at other suburban malls and downtown Toronto and shop at Vaughan Mills instead. The location for Vaughan Mills was choosen because it is equal distance from most major suburban Toronto malls and it was thought to make it easy for people to skip their local mall and go to Vaughan Mills.

Back to destination stores outside of downtown. This issue is not just a Calgary issue. Toronto last year saw Crate & Barel open their first Toronto store at Yorkdale. A decade ago a store would almost never think of opening their first Toronto store outside of downtown. This just shows how hard the suburban malls are trying now to undermine the downtown. They are not happy being second best anymore, and the cities have to address this issue of the malls becoming bigger destinations. Because it is for sure underminding the downtown areas. But then you only need talk to the average Canadian who almost never visits the downtown core of their city to see that. And adding destination stores to the malls just further adds to less people discovering the downtown area.

Anyway like this video says(I am a member of the IDA), "I love downtown". And I am not going to support further suburbanization of our cities. So if you love Chinook great. But don't expect me to support it. Click link to see video on downtown. The part of the video from 4:25 to 4:40 is a good comment.
https://www.ida-downtown.org/eweb//DynamicPage.aspx?WebKey=CB56291C-3BCE-45D8-BB2B-34942A679BEA&

[miketoronto]

This is the same guy who would have people from Guelph commuting to downtown Toronto for more than the bare essentials. Strange for a guy that supposedly visits downtown frequency not to see such lunacy is completely unwarranted for it to remain the centre of its universe in either Toronto or Calgary. For Toronto, not sure how he can be completely oblivious to the amount of commercial development that has recently been built and continues to be built. The city hasn't been throwing deep subsidies and parades either. They've been gouging developers out of millions of dollars.

Guelph has a very nice downtown that has also been undermined by suburban malls. In a city as small of Guelph there totally was never a need for Stone Road Mall(which has become the retail heart of the city now). All the retail that is at Stone Road Mall should have been in downtown Guelph. Calgary you could argue that a suburban mall or two is maybe justified. But cities like Guelph, Kingston, and other small cities really never needed malls. And all those malls did was divert shoppers from the downtown. Those malls were not built because there was a need for them. They were built to replace the downtown. Which the cities then had to spend millions of tax dollars to try and save.

[the sage]

The assertion that "Chinook shouldn't have been built" is simply baffling. Really, absurd to the point where a response along those lines is barely warranted. So I'll just go ahead and point out that the mall is the the key amenity that will make intensification in the area viable (going to disregard the large lots across the street for sake of argument).

Really though I have no idea where these bizarre ideas of how cities should operate (presumably based on pseudo-history or some strange alternate reality) come from. Having worked with several Ryerson planning graduates and current students I can say it's probably not from there. Though the program really is lacking the critical analysis present in other Ontario planning schools. In other words it's very mainstream status quo, but graduates come out with a higher level of technical proficiency.

I agree you cant say that it shouldn't have been built. I think its a cultural thing! North Americans like their cars and people cant be forced to shop downtown. My hometown of Newcastle has a sprawling metro area of about 800K with none of the oil wealth of Calgary and manages to have a vibrant retail sector downtown rivaling and perhaps exceeding anything I have seen in Canada despite having this 2million square foot mall only a few miles away....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCentre_(shopping_centre)

[Me&You]

When Chinook was built, it was on the southern fringe of Calgary. It's not as if it was plopped down in the middle of town to purposely steal shoppers from downtown.

I'd like to hear how you propose Calgary (or any other city) would change this. You expect the city to tell an existing business (Chinook) that they're now too close to downtown and they can't try to attract any new stores? Do you expect the city to tell companies where they can and cannot set up new stores? In the real world, it's survival of the fittest and he with the shiniest location gets the shiniest stores. The Core's spectacular reno is nearly complete and soon it will be even more competitive.

In reality, unaffected by warped ideology, this isn't the way things work.

I asked you before and you ignored - When was the last time you were shopping at the Core on a Saturday and how busy was it?

[miketoronto]

When Chinook was built, it was on the southern fringe of Calgary. It's not as if it was plopped down in the middle of town to purposely steal shoppers from downtown.

I'd like to hear how you propose Calgary (or any other city) would change this. You expect the city to tell an existing business (Chinook) that they're now too close to downtown and they can't try to attract any new stores? Do you expect the city to tell companies where they can and cannot set up new stores? In the real world, it's survival of the fittest and he with the shiniest location gets the shiniest stores. The Core's spectacular reno is nearly complete and soon it will be even more competitive.

In reality, unaffected by warped ideology, this isn't the way things work.

I asked you before and you ignored - When was the last time you were shopping at the Core on a Saturday and how busy was it?

Well Chinook is built now and there is nothing that can be done about it. But at the time Chinook was built, it probably should never have been approved by the city. Why did Calgary which was small when Chinook was built, even need a mall when downtown was more than enough for being the major retail area of the region? The construction of Chinook would be like Toronto approving a mall in the Beaches neighbourhood of the city. Why would a city need a major super regional mall so close to the downtown area?

Winnipeg did the same thing. Only about 700,000 people(and less when most of the malls were built), yet Winnipeg approved the construction of huge suburban malls only a couple kms from downtown on all sides of the city. These malls have totally killed the downtown retail district. A city like Winnipeg where everyone can drive downtown in like 10-15 minutes and where all these malls are only 5-10 minutes from downtown just did not need these malls. And what has happened shows that. These malls were not filling a retail void. They just took the shoppers from downtown and spread them out.

I asked you before and you ignored - When was the last time you were shopping at the Core on a Saturday and how busy was it?

I don't need to be there to know what it is like. Our own forumers on this forum have written in past posts(maybe a year ago) that they sometimes like to go into downtown Calgary on a weekend to shop because the downtown is so quiet and has so few shoppers that it is less stressful than Chinook.
I know a number of people who travel to Calgary including one person that just got back. And all have said the downtown area on weekends is very quiet and while the shops are open they are not busy at all.

[SpongeG]

malls serve a purpose as does downtown retail - the two will coexist and do coexist well

people who don't wanna go downtown to shop - like me will enjoy the hassle free parking and indoor convenience of having all the shops i want in one space

I like to go downtown for other reasons, shopping isn't the main one - when I say shopping i mean buying, not browsing