A man cave that happens to sell sweats
Lululemon’s Local Toronto shop takes brand in a new direction
You thought you knew Lululemon, the Vancouverbased yoga brand that makes rear ends look svelte, and has been doing so for nearly 20 years.
At the Local Toronto, a new men-only concept store on Ossington Ave. north of Queen St. W., the clothes, the decor and the whole vibe says the brand wants everyone — particularly guys — to think of it differently.
For starters, we have the threads. Instead of the usual style-forward tanks and curvy hoodies, on display are simple black bags, trim jackets and slender pants he could wear to the gym or even work.
This isn’t Lulu’s entire men’s line: it’s been edited to suit the local demographic, which leans more to running than hard-core yoga, plus will wear their upmarket sweats all day.
“It’s modern, but still has a bit of grit to it,” says Mike Krupica, Lululemon’s Toronto community manager, of the look.
Men’s clothes make up 18 per cent of Lulu’s sales right now, but Krupica says that could change. “We expect the men’s growth to outpace our overall growth.”
While the company has been launching other Local locations around the globe, this is just the second one featuring men’s clothing only — the first is in New York City.
Fashion takes up just a part of the 2,200-square-foot store’s space. Like the huge Queen St. W. flagship location that opened last summer, this place is going for that community hub thing.
(The Queen St. store is not part of the Local concept, but it’s very similar.)
So there’s a couch and coffee table, a ping-pong table by Kwest — a former graffiti artist who also did one for Drake — and Station Cold Brew on tap.
There’s a long communal table and a huge touchscreen that links out to the Lulu online store, info about local amenities and maps of neighbourhood running routes.
You’re supposed to stop by for meetings or meetups, just to chill or to attend events. The space is already running weekly yoga for runners classes on Thursday nights.
To further those community connections, the Local brings in rotating pop-ups: the first was Way of Will, a local men’s essential oil body care line.
Krupica says Lululemon plans to open more Locals across Canada, including one soon in Montreal. Each spot will be different, catering to its specific neigh- bourhood. It’s all an on-trend reinvention of this long-standing brand.
And while in no way resembling your typical mall Lulu location, when you walk in the Local, the first things you see are the words of Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
So, still the same old yoga company we all know.