Canadian Retail Thread

[Taller, Better]

I'm only guessing, but my last few trips to the Simons in Montreal left me thinking they were going downmarket somewhat. I used to love the selection of men's clothing, but found in the past few years it was becoming pretty standard department store stuff. I'm not a major shopper, so may be wrong.. it just seemed all their previously nice Simons brand clothing was pretty ordinary stuff now.

[spongeg]

i think thats fashion in general right now its pretty boring retailers have to play it safe in this economy

[spongeg]

Carrefour Laval to welcome Quebec's first Crate and Barrel store in Spring 2012

LAVAL, QC, Aug. 4, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited is pleased to announce that Crate and Barrel will open its first store in Quebec at Carrefour Laval. Known for its furniture, décor accessories and kitchenware, the 25,000 square foot Crate and Barrel store at Carrefour Laval will open its doors in Spring of 2012. Construction starts next week and will continue until next Spring.

This will be Canada's fifth Crate and Barrel store, the company's first in Quebec and the first to be located in a Cadillac Fairview shopping centre. Crate and Barrel anticipates hiring approximately 50 associates. The new store will occupy one level and take over a portion of the space used by the former Les Ailes de la mode store. The remaining 16,000 square feet of the site will be transformed to accommodate lifestyle restaurants. The redevelopment of the former Les Ailes de la mode store is the final stage of Carrefour Laval's revitalization project, which began in 2008.

"We are extremely excited to welcome the renowned Crate and Barrel to one of our centres," said Normand Blouin, Senior Vice-President, Eastern Canada Portfolio, for Cadillac Fairview, owner and manager of Carrefour Laval. "Offering exclusive contemporary designs at accessible prices, Crate and Barrel is a leader in its industry. Today's announcement reflects our desire to offer our customers the most prestigious brands and provide the products modern consumers are seeking. We are certain that the arrival of Crate and Barrel will help generate increased traffic at Carrefour Laval."

For her part, Barbara Turf, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crate and Barrel, declared: "We were eager to find just the right opportunity for our first Quebec store. As the leading shopping destination in the market, Carrefour Laval is the perfect choice for Crate and Barrel, offering customers an exciting array of retail and entertainment choices, combined with great convenience. After nearly 50 years in retail and with stores in most North American markets, we are pleased to finally be able to introduce Crate and Barrel to the dynamic and stylish Quebec market."

Crate and Barrel Collections

Crate and Barrel offers beautiful, unique, useful products for every room in the home, from living room to bedroom, to kitchen, bath and home office. In addition to 'best-in-category' core products, customers will find an ever-changing assortment of vibrant seasonal items and accessories, creating a shopping experience that is exciting and easy. A favourite destination for gift purchases, Crate and Barrel is also known for its kitchenwares collection, its exclusive stemware and dinnerware and its well-priced furniture collection.

...

http://dcnonl.com/nw/28691/re

[Taller, Better]

J. Crew is open now, whatever that is. Oh, and so is the Intermix store on Bloor; supposed to be quite nice.

[spongeg]

you don't know what J Crew is??? :O

I hear it sucks - the prices are way more than the USA stores and its womens stuff only - I read Jenna Lyons - the J Crew something was backtracking and explaining why the jump in prices - mostly online - apparently they changed the online costs (like shipping and fees) to much higher than they were in Canada before they had a store here

on some blogs I read some women said they were going to take all the clothes back to the store and never shop there again - they are that pissed off

[Taller, Better]

I read the article about the higher prices, but have never been in a J Crew store. Awful 70's sounding name.

[isaidso]

J Crew, Target, Crate & Barrel, blah, blah, blah. It's the same old sh*t, different pile. I stopped paying attention about a decade ago. If it increases competition fine, beyond that it's neither here nor there.

[koolio]

Not sure why people are constantly surprised at American retailers charging higher prices in Canada. When was the last time an American retailer came to Canada and started offering American prices rather than the prevailing Canadian prices? American corporations have been setting up shop here for decades ... we should all know the drill by now.

[Taller, Better]

If we start complaining a bit, the prices will magically go down. The excuse of "tariffs" is grossly exaggerated in this day and age of free trade.

[Gerrad]

Well technically the whole free trade thing would work, if Canada and the U.S. still manufactured anything.

You're paying the duty on stuff that was made outside of the free trade zone (like mostly everything).

[Taller, Better]

I'm guessing that the clothing is already manufactured and shipped from the US, but I don't know. I don't understand the Free Trade agreement, but would think that if it was all shipped from the States, regardless of country of origin, that it would be okay by the Free Trade Act, no? That is to say, if the tariffs have been paid when the clothing entered the States, it would not be re-taxed, would it? The article I read pointed out that some tarifs were higher into Canada for fabrics like cashmere, and some were higher into the US, like cotton.

[Gerrad]

Nope. Even though it's been imported to the U.S. and presumably a duty has already been paid on it by a U.S. retailer, you still have to pay duty on it when importing it into Canada.

Dumb, yes. But it's meant to protect our (phantom) manufacturers.

[Taller, Better]

Ah, okay, thanks. In that case I can understand a small markup.

[koolio]

The tarrifs are an obvious excuse. Well, maybe they justify the increased prices to a certain extent but the primary reason for price discrepancies is the state of competitiveness within the retail industry. In the US, there are a hundred retailers in pretty much every market that are constantly competing over offering the lowest prices possible in order to gain as much marketshare as possible. In Canada, the number of retailers is much, much smaller. This means that the retailers can charge higher prices without losing out on sales as there are not a lot of competitors out there who can or are willing to steal their customers.

[spongeg]

old navy and gap are pretty good at keeping costs close across the border - like they had jeans for $10 in the US and $12 in Canada a couple weeks ago

hollister is really bad $39.95 US and $59.95 Canada

[The Gibbroni]

Let the franchises take over, kill all local initiative, cross border shop if it will save you a buck, it's the Canadian way!

[Taller, Better]

One Canadian trait I do not like is that often we are good at starting up businesses, and then quickly selling them for the fast buck instead of maintaining them for generations. Maybe as a nation we are more interested in the quick buck than long term investment.
As regarding J Crew, Abercrombie and Fitch, etc.... the article I read said their sales in Canada are way down, and people have been not shopping at these American franchises because they do not like the massive price differentials. Everyone said that big American hardware stores would kill the likes of Canadian Tire, and how wrong they were.... Canadian retail has to work hard to stay on top of the local markets. Canada is a huge trading nation, and not an island. Foreign investment and retail outlets are the way of the world, and it is not possible to simply exclude them like we used to do back in the '70's with shoe companies. We expect to be allowed into other nations to trade, therefore we are obligated to allow others to trade in our back-yard as well.

[koolio]

I think the sales of J Crew and A&F are down in the US as well. It just isn't an appealing brand (at least it never appealed to me). Gap seemed to be in a freefall several years ago but I believe they have regained a portion of their lost sales.

[Taller, Better]

The article compared sales levels in Canada compared to sales levels in the US and said that backlash against the price differential was rising.
I rarely buy books imported from the US anymore in our huge conglomerate books stores, because I am fed up with the ridiculous price spread between what we pay and what they pay for the same book in the States.

[koolio]

True. Yes, I think these companies need to rethink their pricing strategies. As it stands right now, the only variables that go in their analysis is the number of competitors present in Canada and what the prevailing prices are in the market. They fail to take into account the "perception" problem because quite frankly no one likes to get ripped off. I think a similar thing happened in New Zealand recently. Adidas was charging people in NZ $200 per rugby shirt where as the exact same product was being sold for $100 in other countries. In this day and age, corporations should realize that people are not the sheep they think they are. Every now and again, we do display the ability to think rationally rather than acting on impulse