Canadian Retail Thread

[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

[IMG]http://media.winnipegfreepress.com/images/648*418/2401293.jpg[/IMG]
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/bus...100963324.html

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

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]

Originally Posted by 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

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]

Originally Posted by Plus15

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

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#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]

Originally Posted by freeweed

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]

Originally Posted by CondoKing

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

its so preppy it hurts my eyes to go in there

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by isaidso

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...#ixzz0xewNUAO2

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by 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

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.

[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]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

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]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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
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