The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

nice, I would have filled up a few suitcases shopping at kmart there lol.
I find it cheeky that the two articles I have read both make it sound like Zellers is designing these products in-house as their own.

I also saw a few articles that anko had opened some stand-alone stores in the USA but they didn't seem to make it.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

nice, I would have filled up a few suitcases shopping at kmart there lol.
I find it cheeky that the two articles I have read both make it sound like Zellers is designing these products in-house as their own.

I also saw a few articles that anko had opened some stand-alone stores in the USA but they didn't seem to make it.

Seemed like bad timing with Covid. Seems to be a Daiso/Muji type play.

[officedweller]

Interesting, thanks.

Brettons was an in Canada only store, and was sort of the Canadian Nordstrom, since it only had clothing.

You can add Marks & Spencer to the failed foreign imports, which I think took over a number of the Brettons locations (i.e. Manulife Centre, Toronto, and maybe even Eaton Centre Metrotown).

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Does anyboy remember Brettons? they had a dept store at Eaton Centre, now Called Metropolis. Another failed foray into Canada.

Remember Brettons very well, absolute Nordstrom clone at the time, beautiful store and great service. Bought a few dress shirts there a during my last year of uni for interviews. They included a card with the salesperson's name and he followed up with a call about a week after my purchase.

Made the Eaton's at the other end of the mall look like crap.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Interesting, thanks.

Brettons was an in Canada only store, and was sort of the Canadian Nordstrom, since it only had clothing.

You can add Marks & Spencer to the failed foreign imports, which I think took over a number of the Brettons locations (i.e. Manulife Centre, Toronto, and maybe even Eaton Centre Metrotown).

We had a small Marks & Spencer on Robson in the 90s about where Zara is now and another slightly larger one in Oakridge roughly where the food court was.

Never liked the Canadian stores, they were a fraction of the size of the UK M & S stores and lacked most of the variety and amazing food options found in the UK.

[madog222]

Wow, I never knew M&S had tried stores in Canada.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by madog222

Wow, I never knew M&S had tried stores in Canada.

Their flagship location at Harbour Centre

https://placesthatmatter.ca/location/spencers-department-store/

[madog222]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Their flagship location at Harbour Centre

https://placesthatmatter.ca/location/spencers-department-store/

Unless I’m misunderstanding, that article is about a local company named Spencer’s unrelated to the British Marks & Spencer.

From Wikipedia M&S first opened in Canada in 1973, had up to 47 stores, and closed in 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marks_%26_Spencer#International_expansion

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by madog222

Unless I’m misunderstanding, that article is about a local company named Spencer’s unrelated to the British Marks & Spencer.

From Wikipedia M&S first opened in Canada in 1973, had up to 47 stores, and closed in 1999. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marks_%26_Spencer#International_expansion

That's true. David Spencer was a Welshman who operated a store in Victoria from 1873 (and before that a private library). He gave up control of the company to his five sons, who quickly moved to establish a store in Vancouver in 1905 and a significant expansion in 1907. The company continued to grow, taking over the Standard Furniture Company and their premises in 1911 to create a store that equalled or exceeded Woodwards.

David Spencer died in 1920, but his name lived on in a huge new 1926 store. In fact, only 100 feet of frontage was built, and the remaining buildings on the block were retained and reworked into the Spencers store. This 1926 illustration shows that Spencers had much more grand plans to fill the entire lot., and explains why the existing frontage has a corner feature that isn’t replicated on the western end.


Source: 'Romance of Vancouver', 1926, on the Changing Vancouver blog.

Eaton’s took over Spencers in 1948, and then moved on to Granville Street in 1972, leaving the Spencer building facade to be incorporated into the Harbour Centre redevelopment. That included a Simpsons-Sears store which closed in 1987, replaced by SFU’s Downtown campus in 1989.

Marks and Spencer were founded in Leeds, and Thomas Spencer was from Yorkshire, so not related to David Spencer. One of their Vancouver stores was on Granville Street, at 546 Granville, (seen here in 1981).


[CVA 779-E02.01]

[officedweller]

I remember that M&S on Granville, and the one at Oakridge replaced (and maybe expanded on) the Abercrombie and Fitch that closed.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Interesting, thanks.

Brettons was an in Canada only store, and was sort of the Canadian Nordstrom, since it only had clothing.

You can add Marks & Spencer to the failed foreign imports, which I think took over a number of the Brettons locations (i.e. Manulife Centre, Toronto, and maybe even Eaton Centre Metrotown).

Brettons was the name they used for their Canadian stores but they were the same company as C&A which has dept stores in Europe.

They had a hard time getting established here and pulled out. I remember the one in WEM was smaller and it was small compared to the one at Metrotown which was two levels.

Bretton's was a high-end department store in Canada from 1985 to 1996.

The first two Bretton's stores were opened in Ottawa in 1985 by the parent company, Comark Incorporated. Comark (founded 1976), owned by the Brenninkmeijer family of the Netherlands, had owned many retail chains including Ricki's, Bootlegger, Clark Shoes, Collacut Luggage and D'Aillards. The family also owns the C&A chain of department stores in Europe.[1]

Brettons sold clothing and cosmetics, in order to focus on high-margin, high-turn merchandise. Their stores were typically 60,000 square feet (6,000 m²), smaller than a typical department store.

Comark aimed to establish 40 to 50 branches of Bretton's, but was blocked by existing department stores who generally had clauses in their shopping centre leases allowing them to approve or reject leases to other stores

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton%27s

Marks & Spencer was in Canada for a long time, I remember their Robson Street store was quite small and replaced a much larger store they used to have, i used to love their potato hoop chips. The clothes seemed to appeal to seniors. Coquitlam Centre had a store as well, Park Royal and I forget the rest. At one time they had 47 stores in Canada.

You can shop at them online https://www.marksandspencer.com/ca They have a website for Canadians with not bad shipping prices, there is this info on it:

Delivery update
Please note some orders to the British Columbia region are currently taking longer than planned, we apologise for any inconvenience.

[officedweller]

Oh yeah, M&S also had those shrimp cocktail chips too.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Brettons was the name they used for their Canadian stores but they were the same company as C&A which has dept stores in Europe.

They had a hard time getting established here and pulled out. I remember the one in WEM was smaller and it was small compared to the one at Metrotown which was two levels.

Great info thanks, had absolutely no idea Brettons was owned by C&A which I've shopped at many time in Europe back a few years ago. Brettons had no resemblance to C&A which is a much more mid-market, almost discount looking retailer, very H&M looking.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by connect2source

Great info thanks, had absolutely no idea Brettons was owned by C&A which I've shopped at many time in Europe back a few years ago. Brettons had no resemblance to C&A which is a much more mid-market, almost discount looking retailer, very H&M looking.

Yes, C&A in Germany is very basic. Almost Zellers-like!

[djh]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Oh yeah, M&S also had those shrimp cocktail chips too.

Prawn cocktail. Prawn cocktail!

It's to us Brits what All Dressed is to Canadians.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by djh

Prawn cocktail. Prawn cocktail!

It's to us Brits what All Dressed is to Canadians.

And "Hedgehog"? What's the Canadian equivalent?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by connect2source

We had a small Marks & Spencer on Robson in the 90s about where Zara is now and another slightly larger one in Oakridge roughly where the food court was.

Never liked the Canadian stores, they were a fraction of the size of the UK M & S stores and lacked most of the variety and amazing food options found in the UK.

Yes, the M&S in Robson was more like a biscuit shop than anything else. There are small moms and pops British shops around town that sell better things than that M&S. Coincidentally, I saw a British shop in Victoria's Chinatown selling M&S biscuits and crisps last time when I was there.

https://goo.gl/maps/cns4YjwR3SjnQsMh8

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Vin

Yes, the M&S in Robson was more like a biscuit shop than anything else. There are small moms and pops British shops around town that sell better things than that M&S. Coincidentally, I saw a British shop in Victoria's Chinatown selling M&S biscuits and crisps last time when I was there.

https://goo.gl/maps/cns4YjwR3SjnQsMh8

there was a grocery store chain that used to carry M&S products, I can't remember which one, but it was one I don't really go to much.

these were my must buy, potato hoops, just a plain flavour


ocado.com

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by djh

Prawn cocktail. Prawn cocktail!

It's to us Brits what All Dressed is to Canadians.

Yes!
That's the same flavour.

[madog222]

^And they're crisps