French fashion flavour at Square One
Quebec-based retailer Simons launches first Ontario location
Just shy of 48 hours before the first Simons store in the GTA is scheduled to open, sales associates are cramming product knowledge like they’re facing a final exam.
Sitting in hard-backed chairs facing vice-president of merchandising Richard Simons — one of the fifthgeneration owners of the growing retail chain from Quebec — they are learning that swing skirts are in this season and jean skirts are back.
“My thinking is, it’s time to really go longer at the knee,” Simons, 48, tells staff, holding up a red swing skirt from the Icône department for women.
In the Twik department for young women, meanwhile, an array of short skater skirts sell for $30.
In men’s, Alexander McQueen sweatshirts sell for $500 and in the privatelabel Djab, Billabong graphic t-shirts sell for $25.
The Simons brothers, Richard and CEO Peter Simons, are betting that GTA shoppers of all ages and incomes will love the French sense of fashion they are bringing to apparel at their new store at Square One in Mississauga.
It is the first Ontario location for the brand based in Quebec City and begun as a dry goods store 175 years ago by a Scot- tish immigrant. Simons has been in family hands ever since, and is now expanding across Canada, with stores in West Vancouver, Edmonton, Gatineau and Montreal.
Simons keeps profit margins high by focusing on private-label brands, including Twik, Icône and Contemporaine, each focused on a slightly different market. It does brisk business in men’s. It also sells a small selection of home wares focused on the kitchen and bathroom.
Simons said 19,000 GTA customers already have a Simons loyalty card or have made a purchase at Simons online or in-store in the past 12 months.
The store is opening at a time of flux in the Canadian marketplace, with some retailers falling like dominoes and new ones setting up shop.
Former prime Sears stores are being taken up by Seattle-based department store retailer Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, which opened two GTA stores in February.
A Saks OFF 5th fashion outlet for discounted designer clothing is set to open at Vaughan Mills on Thursday.