It looks as though Crossiron Mills will be be the home of Calgary's 2nd Bath & Body Works location now (not the first as expected)
...Story from the Herald
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Bath & Body lathers up for Calgary
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
April 18, 2009
International retailer Bath&Body Works has chosen to make its foray into the Calgary market at Chinook Centre, the Herald has learned.
Construction has begun in the existing mall to accommodate a summer opening by July for the retail giant in more than 3,300 square feet of space on the upper level of the shopping centre.
"With Calgarians being so well travelled, people continue to bring back Bath&Body Works products. They bring it back for themselves. They bring it back for their friends," said Paige O'Neill, retail property manager at Chinook.
"It's been on the list of our consumers to bring into this shopping centre for a very long time. It's definitely a need in this city, or should I say a want in this city. It's a great product line. It's a great price point. It can cater to everything from the high-end consumer to the not-so-high-end consumer."
The retailer's only location in Alberta is at West Edmonton Mall.
Bath&Body Works was founded in New Albany, Ohio, in 1990. It now has more than 1,600 stores. There are six stores open in Canada with two more stores opening within the next three weeks in Ontario.
"We're thrilled to be bringing this world-class brand of personal care and home fragrance to Calgary," said Carole Teitelbaum, executive vice-president of Bath&Body Works (Canada) Corp.
With the fall of 2008 opening in Edmonton, she said many customers were driving from Calgary north to shop at the new store and the customer service line was getting many requests for a Calgary store.
"So we really felt we'd love to bring this brand to Calgary and what better mall to start off with than Chinook Centre," said Teitelbaum.
Meanwhile, O'Neill said construction on the mall's multimillion-dollar redevelopment and expansion is on schedule with an anticipated opening of fall 2010.
The $275-million expansion will bring dozens of international retailers to the Calgary mall.
It will add 180,000 square feet to the mall, two levels of heated under-ground parking with 1,200 stalls, and 80 new stores, of which more than 30 are global brands not currently in the Calgary area.
The new retailers committed to opening at the new Chinook expansion include Harry Rosen, Lacoste, Coach, Miss Sixty/Energie, Anne Klein, BCBG, Kiehls, GEOX, Aldo Collection, Marciano, DC Shoes, Parasuco, Michael Kors, Diesel, Teenflo, Oakley, Guess and Calvin Klein Jeans.
"We're still plugging away and we're still finding leases,"said O'Neill, adding about 60 per cent of the expansion has been leased to date.
Also, last fall Chinook said about 120 leases expire in the next two years in the more than one-million-square-foot, 200-store centre. Many new stores in the mall will open because of that changing environment.
The mall undertook a$250-million redevelopment in 1998 that encompassed the entire shopping centre. The project was completed in 2001 and added numerous features, including an expanded food court.
O'Neill said the mall's most recent sales per square foot have remained steady at about $900.
"In this economy, it's one of our goals to try to hold that number," she said.
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© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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