Canadian Retail Thread

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ It's interesting to see the steady march of luxury retailers into Canada over the past six years or so. It seems that we are going from being a nation of Bay and Sears shoppers to Nordstrom and Saks shoppers. I wonder if Canada really is that much more prosperous than before, or is this just the combination of easy credit and consumerism taken to the next level?

Or it could be that the US retailers have maxed out or bottomed out in their home market and are looking to Canada as an untapped market that is doing relatively well compared to the States.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ It's interesting to see the steady march of luxury retailers into Canada over the past six years or so. It seems that we are going from being a nation of Bay and Sears shoppers to Nordstrom and Saks shoppers. I wonder if Canada really is that much more prosperous than before, or is this just the combination of easy credit and consumerism taken to the next level?

I know it isn't where Nordstrom probably makes the most of their money, but they have pretty reasonable prices in their online store for pants and shirts. Especially their rather good house brands.

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

I know it isn't where Nordstrom probably makes the most of their money, but they have pretty reasonable prices in their online store for pants and shirts. Especially their rather good house brands.

That's exactly where they make most of their money. Private label/house brands cost little to produce and the mark-ups are huge versus vendor or leased depts. where the mark-up can be as little as 30% for the store.

[esquire]

^ Being a Winnipegger, I'm more of a Nordstrom Rack kind of guy... lots of their private-label stuff available there at very good prices... great value for the money.

[SignalHillHiker]

Despite the fact that it will be the company's Canadian flagship, the Toronto Eaton Centre Nordstrom will be its second-largest Canadian store location. Its Vancouver store will be larger at almost 230,000 square feet.

That line cracks me up somehow.

[losername]

^it is strange that it is called the flagship store at almost half the size of Vancity's.

[caltrane74]

Nordstorm Locations

Toronto - 213,000 sq feet
Vancouver - 230,000 sq feet.

[Martin Mtl]

I'm not sure what the concept of "flagship" stores means exactly. It always seems kind of arbitrary.

[caltrane74]

Maybe it's their showcase store, that will show to the media? or perhaps it's the store with the most foot traffic and sales. In either case, the Eaton Centre location would be premier, outside of Yorkville and Yorkdale perhaps...

[SignalHillHiker]

Vancouver's Rio's Brazilian Steakhouse will be opening its second Canadian location in St. John's. Across the country in one go, , interestingly unusual.

And, on the other end of the spectrum, Coco Cupcakes has closed shop and is moving their business to Toronto. Sad to lose any business but their location was out in the middle of nowhere and they're far from the best cupcake shop in town.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

I'm not sure what the concept of "flagship" stores means exactly. It always seems kind of arbitrary.

It is totally arbitrary. So far as I can tell, the flagship store is the undisputed number one in terms of size, sales, prominence, etc.

For instance, the NYC Saks is massive and is by far their biggest and best store. It's clearly the flagship of the chain. In comparison, Canada's Nordstroms so far look to be quite similar in terms of their size and offerings... I don't honestly know how one could say that any one of them stands out as "the flagship".

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Maybe it's their showcase store, that will show to the media? or perhaps it's the store with the most foot traffic and sales. In either case, the Eaton Centre location would be premier, outside of Yorkville and Yorkdale perhaps...

It's just marketing nonsense, they also call their vancouver store their flagship, it means nothing so they just throw it around in press releases to make the story bigger.

The two stores will certainly be the largest in Canada though, and likely to stay the two largest.

[SpongeG]

flagships should offer all brands and departments whereas non-flagships may not offer them all

nordstroms seattle flagship has chanel instore whereas northgate mall nordstrom doesn't etc.

h&m is a chain where the larger flagships carry all the lines and designer collaboraions vs the suburban or mall stores that may only offer a limited selection. some of the stores don't even carry mens.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by esquire

It is totally arbitrary. So far as I can tell, the flagship store is the undisputed number one in terms of size, sales, prominence, etc.

For instance, the NYC Saks is massive and is by far their biggest and best store. It's clearly the flagship of the chain. In comparison, Canada's Nordstroms so far look to be quite similar in terms of their size and offerings... I don't honestly know how one could say that any one of them stands out as "the flagship".

Nordstroms sadly does not really know how to do grand flagship stores, save for maybe their downtown Seattle store.

The size of the Toronto store is much too small for such a prominent location, and is a disgrace for Canada's busiest retail corner. SEARS should first of all not be using the upper floors of that store for offices, and the entire building should be retail again.
This is the heart of Canada's largest city, and we can for sure support 1,000,000 sq feet of retail space which has been under utilized since EATONS closed.


North American stores just don't know how to do retail anymore. If this was Europe, they would have a grand architectural design, tons of selling space, etc.

And if this was Asia, it would probably be even better. A department store in South Korean just opened not long ago the worlds largest department store, surpassing Macy's in New York.

The big large department store is not dead. North American retailing is dead with no style, passion, or sense of thinking big anymore.

Nordstrom and their peers put way too much energy into building tons of branch stores which are small and have mediocre selections. Instead of focusing on building stores that actually offer you something.
You really notice this when you go to Europe and see the amazing selection in their large stores, which we can only dream of having hear. Save for a few legacy stores in some of our downtowns.

It is concerning to see Canadian downtowns getting retail that is no better than the suburbs. That is no way for downtown to compete and stay strong. The Bay and Eatons put so much effort into making their downtown stores destinations with the best of the best. But what point is there to say going to a downtown Nordstroms if it is the same size as their suburban counterparts?

Even Australia beats Canada. Sydney's main high class department store has a main store, and across the street a mens store. Two huge buildings.

[miketoronto]

Just to show how Toronto and Canada are getting the short end of the stick.

This is the size of the new department stores which opened in downtown San Francisco:

Bloomingdale's (338,000 ft²; opened 2006)
Nordstrom (350,000 ft²; opened 1988)

And just for fun.

Shinsegae in Busan which opened in 2009 us over 3,000,000 sq feet.

[GreaterMontréal]

35 millions people is the answer.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Just to show how Toronto and Canada are getting the short end of the stick.

This is the size of the new department stores which opened in downtown San Francisco:

Bloomingdale's (338,000 ft²; opened 2006)
Nordstrom (350,000 ft²; opened 1988)

And just for fun.

Shinsegae in Busan which opened in 2009 us over 3,000,000 sq feet.

Indeed! Busan has the largest department store in the world. My jaw dropped when I saw the Lotte department store in Daegu, which put to shame anything I had seen in Toronto or Montreal.

[SpongeG]

they also have over 20 million people to serve

[ue]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Nordstorm Locations

Toronto - 213,000 sq feet
Vancouver - 230,000 sq feet.

What about Calgary and Ottawa?

[SpongeG]

nordstrom calgary will be smaller than the previous sears

but these are the sizes:

Fall of 2014: Chinook Centre, Calgary — two levels, approximately 140,000 square feet
Spring 2015: Rideau Centre, Ottawa — two levels, approximately 157,000 square feet

from: http://www.cadillacfairview.com/note...open+in+Canada