SHOES MAKE THE PLAN
Saks Off 5th puts focus on footwear as it opens its first Canadian discount location at Vaughan Mills shopping centre,
Shoes are centre stage at the new Saks Off 5th store at Vaughan Mills shopping centre, which opens today.
Stacked along tall shelves in boxes sorted by size, they take up about 25 per cent of the 32,000-squarefoot luxury discount store, one of three opening under the banner as it launches in Canada.
“The channel is very developed in the U.S. and it’s underdeveloped in Canada,” said Jonathan Greller, president of off-price channels at Hudson’s Bay Company, which owns Saks Off 5th and Saks Fifth Avenue.
The two other discount Saks stores will be located at Toronto Premium Outlets and Outlet Collection at Niagara.
There will be 110 Saks Off 5th locations in the U.S. by the end of 2016 and the plan is to move as quickly as possible to ramp up to 25 stores in Canada, starting with nine by the end of this year, said Greller.
Saks Fifth Avenue opened two locations in the GTA in February, at Toronto Eaton Centre and Sherway Gardens.
The Off 5th stores are aimed at millennial shoppers who follow fashion but can’t afford luxury labels. The hope is that they will eventually migrate to the luxury division.
“I believe in bricks and mortar. Retail is in flux, but we’re winning,” said Greller.