The largest sporting goods store in the world is set to launch in Canada. Retail-Insider is reporting that value-priced large-format French sporting goods retail chain Decathalon has set forth plans to open their first Canadian store.
Industry experts expect Decathlon will disrupt the Candian market in a big way. The Canadian sporting goods market is already extremely competitive with huge players like Sports Chek, Sporting Life, Altitude Sports, Canadian Tire and the list goes on and on.
Decathlon is expected to make waves in Canada due to their value proposition includes a massive inventory of high-quality private-label products that will supposedly be cheaper than most Canadian competitors.
If you’ve never head of Decathlon don’t feel left out. Decathlon employs more than 78,000 people globally and has sales in excess of $15 Billion a year. For a brand that is considered the biggest sporting goods retailer in the world, it has very little name recognition in Canada. Experts refer to Decathlon as being the “Aldi” of sports retailers. Aldi is a world-renowned German grocery chain known for its inexpensive private-label products and is rapidly setting up shop all around the globe.
Decathlon has announced that their first location will open on Saturday, April 21, at Mail Champlain in Brossard just outside of Montreal.
The Brossard store is expected to be 45,000 square feet and house more than 6,5000 products at the time of opening.
Over the past year we’ve run several articles extolling the virtues of Dollarama. The prices are right, the selection is good, and the store seems to have everything you could ever want from a store. While many Canadians are completely enamoured with Dollarama, there are some that are getting increasingly upset with Dollarama’s return policy. The truth about Dollarama’s return policy is that it’s actually quite strict. It’s not a policy with give and take, it’s a hard line in the sand.
While we are big fans of the store, The Toronto Star is reporting that Canada’s largest dollar-store chain has a strict policy of not accepting returns, and has done a poor job at communicating that fact to customers. While many of you probably realized that most dollar stores don’t take returns, it seems that some Canadian consumers expect a liberal return policy at every chain store in the country. According to the store, most Dollarama customers only learn about the return policy when they attempt to bring something back to the store. While Dollarama does state their return policy on receipts, you can imagine that most customers don’t check this out, and are upset when they come into the store.
The real question is, what is the responsibility of the retailer? Does Dollarama need to have huge signs about their return policy? Is it not assumed that if you buy a set of tweezers for a dollar that you can’t return it?
Source: The Toronto Star
Hypebeast is reporting that Virgil Abloh who heads popular fashion brand Off-White™ will be debuting a more affordable brand to cater to Off-White’s ™ massive customer base. The new line will be dubbed “For All” and will feature a collection of graphic T-shirts, hoodies and more at a significantly lower price point than Off-White™ prices. The “For All” collection will be priced similarly to other med-high end streetwear with T-shirts priced around $95 (still expensive) and hoodies around $170. In an interview with the Business of Fashion, Virgil Abolh is quoted as saying “the price tier allows for a new customer to see themselves within the overall concept of the fashion label. Off-White™ can be luxury at a traditional luxury price point, or equally, it can be relevant at an affordable price point.”
The “For All” Collection will be available at most Off-White™ locations globally.
Source: Hypebeast
Who remembers 2011? That was probably the last year that True Religion Jeans were cool. While some of you may disagree, it looks like the market has spoken and True Religion is in hot water.
According to Fortune, premium denim retailer True Religion has filed for bankruptcy protection. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise as True Religion’s style of denim has been slowly falling out of fashion. The brand filed for creditor protection under Chapter 11 in the U.S. and has listed its worth between $100 million and $500 million.
There has been no word as to what this will mean for the brand in Canada, but if True Religion behaves like every other faltering brand, you can probably expect some store closures and scaled back operations.
Mid-range upscale store from the H&M family – COS has announced that their newest location in Ontario will be housed at Square One Mall in Mississauga. This will be the brand’s fifth store in Canada and will span 5,060 square feet.
This will be the brand’s fifth store in Canada and will span 5,060 square feet. As expected, COS will bring their familiar interior aesthetic of clean and modern lines combined with natural elements to the new store space. COS plans on opening the store in Autumn 2017 and will feature COS’ AW17 collection.
Marie Honda, Managing Director of COS notes, “We are extremely happy to be opening our fifth location in Canada. We hope that this new store will allow our customers to continue to explore COS in a great new environment.”
It’s been more than a year since the Toronto Jordan Brand store at 306 Yonge closed its doors after a successful stint during the 2016 NBA All-Star game in Toronto.
Fans that got a chance to check out the store were treated to the most coveted Jordan Brand kicks and an interactive and innovative retail concept.
Luckily, shoppers that missed a chance to check out the store will now have an opportunity to check out the store whenever they want because Toronto’s first Jordan Brand store will officially open this weekend.
On Saturday, May 27 at 6:23 am, the Jordan Brand store will open its doors to Toronto customers. Expect big lines and access to coveted Jordan brand sneakers, as the company always has a few tricks up their sleeves for store launches.
Regular store hours will resume on Sunday (11 am to 7 pm). Regular hours will be 10 am to 9 pm on weekdays and 9:30 am to 9 pm on Saturdays.
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German athletic and fashion brand Adidas is launching a uniquely Canadian store expansion that will include new ‘experiential’ locations, renovated and repositioned existing stores, as well as a new focus on hockey-related uniforms and team gear in select locations. Adidas has partnered with the National Hockey League (NHL) for a period of seven years and beginning with the 2017-18 season, Adidas will become the official outfitter of the NHL’s on-ice uniforms, as well as the official supplier of licensed apparel and headwear.
John Summers, Vice President of ‘direct to consumer’ for Adidas Canada, explained that Adidas has three types of stores in Canada — ‘sport performance’ branded stores, outlets, and fashion stores. The company’s outlet stores have seen tremendous growth over the past several years, prompting the company to further expand and refocus its sport performance-branded stores in Canada’s largest cities, as well as its fashion stores which operate under the Adidas Originals nameplate…
To Read More About Adidas, Head Over To Our Retail Contributors @Retail-Insider
Innovative Portuguese footwear brand galibelle (spelled with a lowercase ‘g’) has opened its first Canadian boutique, and a second location is set to open next month. The concept is particularly unique for its versatility and customization, and its Canadian master franchisee plans to expand galibelle into new markets over the next several years.
The concept is unique and simple — consumers first pick a desired shoe sole, then choose from a variety of potential top straps that interchangeably button onto the sole. With over 30 different sole styles and over 1,000 different interchangeable straps of various colours and materials, women are able to customize their sandals, heels or boots, depending on the occasion.
They opened their first store last month at 10640 82 (Whyte) Avenue in Edmonton’s trendy Old Strathcona area. A second store will open next month in downtown Kelowna.