It’s a sad day for beauty lovers all around. The hugely popular Canadian beauty brand, Bite Beauty, has announced it will be closing.
Bite Beauty posted on its Instagram account today thanking its dedicated community for the past 10 years.
There was no date attached to the shocking post, only that it will close later this year.
Many fans have commented under the post on how saddened they are after reading about the closure. Bite Beauty has definitely been a brand that introduced many of us to the beauty world, so it’s totally upsetting to see it go.
But, there is some good news.
You won’t have to fully say goodbye to Bite Beauty, as all nine locations of its Lip Lap will be staying open. This includes the spot in Toronto with more on the rise. So, if you do have a fave lipstick, you’ll just have to swing by the lab to mix it up yourself!
Plus, before closing, all Bite Beauty is on sale online for 50% off. That’s right, half off the brand’s entire collection. You can browse the deal at bitebeauty.com or sephora.com.
Shop our top Bite Beauty products before they’re gone!
Articles You May Also Be Interested In
Top Brands That Have Expansion Plans For Canada In 2022
40+ Top Brands That Have Expanded In Canada In 2021
The Running List Of Retail Store Closures And Bankruptcies In 2021
The Running List Of Retail Store Closures And Bankruptcies In 2020
6 American Stores Worth Crossing The Border For
Unfortunately, another one bites the dust. A popular Hudson’s Bay in Toronto is closing its doors in the next few months.
The Hudson’s Bay located at 44 Bloor Street East will shutter on May 31, after operating for almost 50 years.
According to an HBC spokesperson, Tiffany Bourré, the Hudson’s Bay Queen Street flagship is located so close to the Bloor Street one, that it makes sense to close it down.
On the other hand, CityNews reported that HBC actually had quite a bit of rent payment issues during the lockdown with a handful of its stores.
This could also be a major reason that led to the decision of closing.
Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of what has to come for other Hudson’s Bay stores in the future, as taking a browse around the department store is always a great shopping trip.
If you can make it out to the location before the closing date, it might be worth it in case of any large blowout sales!
Articles You May Also Be Interested In
Top Brands That Have Expansion Plans For Canada In 2022
40+ Top Brands That Have Expanded In Canada In 2021
The Running List Of Retail Store Closures And Bankruptcies In 2021
The Running List Of Retail Store Closures And Bankruptcies In 2020
6 American Stores Worth Crossing The Border For
We all know that retail isn’t have the easiest go and it seems that instead of brands and retailers hanging on until the end, some are shifting focus and making changes while they’re ahead. It’s just been announced that U.K.-based retailer Bench will close all of its Canadian stores so that it can better focus on e-commerce.
Freemark Apparel Brands, who have the rights to sell Bench merchandise in Canada, haven’t revealed when these stores will close or how many jobs will be lost.
“We are closing our bricks-and-mortar stores to focus more on our e-commerce business as well as our key wholesale customers,” said Lawrence Routtenberg, co-president of Freemark Apparel Brands, in an email to BNN Bloomberg.
A major retail trend we’ve seen is that the number of people leaving their homes to shop is constantly dwindling so Bench shifting its focus to e-commerce might be a very clever move. We all know how much more convenient online shopping is, so for a retailer to get ahead of it could be its saving grace.
Keep in mind that just because the retailer is closing its stores, it doesn’t mean the business is going under.
The same goes for retailers that file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — it doesn’t always mean they’re going out of business.
If you’re bummed that you won’t be able to shop at your local Bench store, you can shop the brand at a number of other retailers like Hudson’s Bay, WINNERS, Costco, Marshalls, Amazon, ASOS, and more.
Articles You May Also Be Interested In:
Links Of London To Close All Canadian Stores
10 Canadian Store Closings That Happened In 2019 And Why They Matter
Don’t Let Store Closing Sales Fool You — Here’s How To Spot A Real Deal
Carlton Cards & Papyrus To Close All North American Stores
Fair Trade Retailer Ten Thousand Villages Will Close Almost All Of Its Canadian Stores
While it’s only the first month of a new year, Canada has, unfortunately, already been hit with a number of store closure announcements.
In 2020 so far, retailers like Bose, Links Of London, and Carlton Cards have announced the shuttering of locations across the nation, and now we have one more retailer to add to the ever-growing list of retail store closures.
Fair Trade Retailer Ten Thousand Villages recently announced that it will be closing the majority of its Canadian locations.
For those unfamiliar with the store, Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit social enterprise that features everything from home decor and furniture to clothing and accessories made by communities across the globe. Its mission is to provide a stable income and platform for makers in developing countries to sell and showcase their crafts.
Unfortunately, after 74 years, Ten Thousand Villages will be closing its Canadian operations.
The closures affect the head office, distribution office in New Hamburg, ON, e-comm store, wholesale operations, and 10 stores.
In a press release, the brand noted that they “have been unable to achieve the level of sales that would continue to provide [them] with the ability to operate a sustainable business model,” leading the Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCCC) to close the social enterprise of Ten Thousand Villages Canada.
The anticipated date for the last store closure is May 29, 2020.
Shoppers can expect to see stores close in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Alberta. See a full list of closure dates on the Ten Thousand Villages Canada website.
However, it won’t be the very end of Ten Thousand Villages. Under the company’s current business model, a selection of stores are owned and operated by separate boards. Three stores — Port Colbourne, Ontario; Point Claire, Quebec; and Cobourg, Ontario — will remain open.
Articles You Might Be Interested In
The Running List Of Retail Store Closures And Bankruptcies In 2020
BiWay Will Be Reopening This Summer
Pier 1 Imports Is Shutting Down Its Canadian Stores
12 Places To Shop For Affordable Clothes In Toronto
11 Items You Should Never Buy At The Dollar Store
Say it isn’t so! It’s just been announced that greeting card retailer Carlton Cards and Papyrus will close all North American locations.
Both Carlton Cards and Papyrus are owned by The Schurman Retail Group (SRG) and according to CTV News, they’re expected to close within weeks.
Right now there are 78 Canadian locations and 178 locations in the U.S. which means approximately 1,400 people will be out of jobs.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Carlton Cards was founded in Toronto and according to its website, at one time was bigger than Hallmark as the market leader in the industry.
Going out of business sales have already started across the U.S and Canada.
While any store closing news is sad, at least there’s a silver lining here. Even though the Carlton Cards and Papyrus stores will close, you’ll still be able to shop the two brands’ greeting cards at over 6,000 retail locations at stores like Indigo, Shoppers Drug Mart, Sobey’s, and more.
Articles You May Also Be Interested In:
Pier 1 Imports Is Shutting Down Its Canadian Stores
10 Canadian Store Closings That Happened In 2019 And Why They Matter
Don’t Let Store Closing Sales Fool You — Here’s How To Spot A Real Deal
Forever 21 Is Making A Comeback Through A New E-Commerce Platform
Links Of London To Close All Canadian Stores
It’s been a sad year for retail in our home and native land, as we’ve kissed once retail staples – some which were pretty much Canadian institutions – goodbye.
If last year’s loss of Jean Machine in shopping malls across the country wasn’t a tough enough pill to swallow (even just for the nostalgia factor), other beloved stores have met a similar fate.
Here are some of the retailers who closed up shop in Canada in 2019 (RIP).
Payless ShoeSource
After a long run as a staple go-to discount footwear retailer, in February 2019, Payless ShoeSource filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for the second time in two years. It didn’t take long before the brand began closing up shop one North American location at a time, including 248 stores across Canada. It’s natural to question whether the emergence of other affordable – yet elevated – spots to score shoes like, Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off Fifth, played a role.
Zellers
In August, longtime go-to value-priced retailer Zellers announced the closing of its last two Canadian stores left standing – a move that came as no real surprise to everyone who had long ago switched to Walmart and others. The brand faced unprecedented competition among value-priced retailers and had sort of lost its shine in Canada. If you have a soft spot for Zellers, you can still hit the Etobicoke location until January 2020.
Forever 21
This past September, fast fashion retailer Forever 21 filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, announcing plans to close 350 stores worldwide, including all Canadian locations. The news came after the brand’s sales fell from $4.4 million in 2016 to $3.3 billion in 2018. Forever 21 has lagged behind its competitors in the sustainability department, is no longer the “fastest” in the fast fashion game, and has experienced no shortage of legal woos.
Green Earth
Another homegrown retailer to bite the dust in 2019 was London, Ontario-based retailer Green Earth, who announced that it would close down all 29 locations across Ontario after nearly 30 years in business. It’s closure is telling of the times: the store sold unique collectables, jewelry, and knit-knacks and took a major blow with the growing prominence of online shopping, when customers no longer needed to hit the mall for such finds.
Home Outfitters
HBC-owned home giant Home Outfitters was another victim to the retail apocalypse in 2019. In February, the parent company announced it would close the doors at all 37 Home Outfitters locations across Canada. Though popular, the 20-year-old company was relatively short-lived in the retail world compared its shuttered-in-2019 counterparts.
Gymboree
Once go-to children’s wear brand Gymboree closed all of its Canadian locations after a solid 40 years in business. Gymboree kicked off 2019 by successfully filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy after doing so for the first time in 2017 and managing to stay in the game for a little while longer. According to industry experts, fact that Gymboree Group’s own collection of brands were competing against each other contributed to the downfall of the brand. Most recently, however, Gymboree announced plans for a 2020 comeback.
Town Shoes
We started 2019 knowing that Town Shoes – a footwear brand exclusive to Canada – would soon be a thing of the past. By the end of January, U.S.-based shoe company DSW had closed all 38 of its stores across Canada. According to a spokesperson for the brand, the decision was made after a 90-day review that analyzed Town Shoes’ historical performance, competitive positioning, and future requirements.
David’s Shoes
While David’s Shoes was solely a Toronto and Ottawa institute for the cities’ fashionable footwear lovers, it’s relevant because it became iconic in Toronto in its 60-year run. Sadly for the brand (but not a bad thing for babes on a budget, who flocked to the store to scoop up the deals), it was placed on receivership in the summer and liquidated its five stores before closing up shop for good. Rising rents and increased competition in the designer footwear space are thought to have contributed to its demise.
Bentley
Most recently, in December 2019, Montreal-based Bentley Leathers announced a plan to liquidate and close 90 underperforming stores in Canada as part of a restructuring agreement. The retailer will, however, continue to operate its more elevated concept stores. The fate of those remains TBD; after all, who really wants to lug a suitcase home from the mall when you can have it delivered to your front door?
Motherhood Maternity
Earlier this fall, mom-to-be and new mom spot Motherhood Maternity announced the closing of all stores across North America, including 29 Motherhood Maternity and Destination Maternity stores in Canada. The announcement came after Destination Maternity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. and after the company’s name, website, and operating assets were acquired by Marquee Brands LLC.
So, what went wrong?
To be honest, many of the shuttered spaces are the result of good, old-fashioned shifts in consumer behaviour and growing competition. More than ever with the arrival of massive American retailers in Canada in the past decade and the availability of brands from around the world in just a few clicks. Canadian-based retailers face intense pressure to keep up to their American counterparts and their American counterparts face intense competition with one another.
Regardless of the retailer, brands need to do more to keep customers going into physical stores if they want to keep them.
Whether than means more interactive features, incorporating more tech, hosting in-store events, and influencer collaborations. In the meantime, it’s safe to say that more retailers are on their way out as we head into the fresh decade (Lowes and J Crew, we’re looking at you).
Articles You May Also Be Interested In:
Hudson’s Bay Co. Announced Closure Of All Home Outfitters Stores, Could Saks Off Fifth Be Next?
8 Of The Most Dramatic Things To Happen In Retail In 2019
11 Stories That Shaped Canadian Retail In 2019
10 Retailers That Opened Locations In Canada In 2019
Bentley Leathers Will Close 90 Stores Across Canada