IF YOUR STORE IS GENERIC TODAY ... PEOPLE WILL MIGRATE TO THE WEB.

drilling 27 geothermal boreholes to 500 feet beneath the mall’s parking lot and installing solar panels on the structure’s roof to generate 1.3 million kWh of energy per year.

While such a project will generate energy savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the upfront infrastructure costs are substantial, Simons said, and the system requires a detailed computer interface to manage it.

“We really wanted to build something that might provoke a discussion, to see what’s possible” in terms of sustainability, he said, noting the energy-saving features and the company’s hallmark design touches helps bring customers through its doors.

“Idon’tregretthat…itmakes it worth the visit,” he said. “If your store is just generic today, you will suffer because people will migrate to the web.” now and some say it is a really great time to be expanding — Brown’s Shoes, Aritzia, and Lululemon are doing great everywhere,” Patterson said. “And Simons’ stores are beautiful. I’d be embarrassed to be The Bay in (Londonderry) mall, because the Simons in there is so much nicer. They put a lot of effort into their stores.”

Additionally, the company has been bolstering the creative team behind its private label merchandise, sold by Simons under brands such as Twik and Icône and accounting for close to a third of its sales. House-branded goods are viewed as a good hedge against retail competitors due to their exclusive nature and higher profit margins and Simons has a team of 150 people working on its house brands.

“Private label has always played an important role,” Simons