Standing between the racks at a Simons store in Mississauga, Ont., Luke Gillet was on a mission to buy his dream wedding suit. "They have a crazy colour that I want to wear," Gillet explained.
"There's a pink suit here that I was really hoping to find and it matches my fiancée's dress, which has sort of a blush pink." Gillet is happy to support a Canadian-owned business, but that's only one part of the retailer's appeal, he said: "The selection is great. The fashions are current, the prices are really good.
" The Canadian fashion and homeware retailer is betting on happy customers like Gillet as it continues its gradual expansion. With a 10-store presence in Quebec, and a handful of others sprinkled between Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Halifax, the brand is opening two locations in Toronto this year at Yorkdale Shopping Mall and the Eaton Centre — in addition to its Mississauga and Ottawa stores. Yet, as the company relocates to a space haunted by the ghosts of big retailers past — Nordstrom, Eatons and Sears are all former tenants of the Eaton Centre space — it's a stark reminder that department stores have struggled to gain a foothold in the Canadian market.
The aforementioned brands (and Target) have each met their demise in this country over the last two decades, some because of the challenges posed by transplanting a U.S. business into Canada.
Even as rising costs, picky customers and online competition roil an unpredictable retail industry, Simons says it's d.
