Simons is a rare success story during tough times for department stores | Canada Voices

Simons, the Quebec department store that stocks everything from $4.99 cotton panties to $1,250 designer skirts, is opening its first Toronto outpost on Aug. 14 at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. It will be followed by a 110,000-square-foot flagship location at the Eaton Centre later this fall, occupying part of the space that formerly belonged to Nordstrom.

Inside the unlikely reinvention of the Canadian department store

The allure of a great department store has always been about discovery and enchantment, whether it’s getting lost in the whimsical window displays at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue or being swept away by the magnificent holiday lights at Harrods in London. But if the department store’s prospects in Canada these days could be summed up in one word, it would be “dim.” Hudson’s Bay Co., the country’s oldest department-store chain, signalled the end of an era when it filed for creditor protection in March. Nordstrom ended its Canadian presence in 2023, after just nine years in the market.

It would be easy to assume that the traditional department store has become irrelevant in a world where consumers can purchase anything with the tap of a finger. But the expansion of Simons – which will soon have 19 locations in total, including a Mississauga store that opened at Square One in 2016 – tells a different story.

Craig Patterson, founder of Retail Insider, attributes the Canadian chain’s appeal to a combination of curation, architecturally beautiful stores and excellent customer service. “It skews a little bit towards young, trendy and well-dressed, while also being fairly value-driven,” he says. Patterson also notes how Simons strategically positions its products. “They’ll have an $89 pair of pants, and not too far away will be a pair of $890 pants that makes the other ones look like a pretty good deal,” he says. The key to success, in other words, may lie not in the variety of merchandise a store carries but in its unique point of view. Here are four international chains that prove the department store isn’t dead.

Selfridges, Britain

Britain is home to several popular retail chains, including the Absolutely Fabulous-approved Harvey Nichols and the more prosaic Marks & Spencer. But when Brits want to browse luxury labels alongside more affordable brands, they head to Selfridges. Its innovative displays – including a 25-foot sculpture of Rick Owens to mark the 2014 opening of the designer’s concept store – transform retail into spectacle. London’s Oxford Street location spans six floors of clothes, shoes and beauty products, while the Duke Street store features its own movie theatre. This year, Burberry launched an in-store pop-up, offering customers the chance to restore, repair and customize old pieces. Selfridges even has an unexpected Canadian connection: From 2003 to 2021, it was owned by the late grocery kingpin W. Galen Weston.

Printemps, France

The grandeur of Galeries Lafayette might make it the most well-known department store in Paris, but clued-in shoppers know to never discount Printemps. In addition to a superior selection of emerging and cutting-edge designers such as Coperni and Collina Strada, the stores are known for their jaw-dropping art nouveau architecture and chic brasseries offering light French classics such as beef tartare and marinated salmon. Founded in 1865, Printemps now operates a total of 19 stores across France, plus an outpost in Doha, Qatar, and a luxurious, 54,000-square-foot New York location designed by Laura Gonzalez that opened in March. The maximalist Wall Street bazaar features hallucinatory undulating walls, sculptural light fixtures that resemble metal butterflies, and giant birdcage-inspired displays.

Lotte Department Store, South Korea

You can’t go anywhere in South Korea without running into the Lotte brand – it’s splashed across everything from hotels to ginseng chewing gum. Lotte is also the country’s largest department-store chain, selling diamond earrings alongside genmaicha tea. It owns the exclusive Korean rights to Jimmy Choo and Polo Ralph Lauren, as well as to a wide range of K-beauty brands. The retail behemoth even operates a theme park, Lotte World, in a Seoul complex that also houses a shopping mall, folk museum and hotel – not unlike West Edmonton Mall. Last year, the brand announced plans to invest seven trillion won (nearly C$7-billion) in shopping malls by 2030, which will include a focus on fashion, food and experiential stores targeting younger consumers.

De Bijenkorf, The Netherlands

Founded in 1870, De Bijenkorf, Dutch for “the beehive,” started out as a modest shop selling yarn and ribbon. Today, it stocks a delightful array of international and homegrown brands, such as Amsterdam-based Aaiko and luxury denim label G-Star. The impressive architecture of its stores is almost as big of a draw. After being damaged during the Second World War, the chain’s Rotterdam location was rebuilt in the mid-1950s with a design by Marcel Breuer; its store in The Hague, designed by Piet Kramer, is a charming example of the Amsterdam School. All that history blends seamlessly with contemporary style: De Bijenkorf recently hosted a pop-up for Kim Kardashian’s edgy shapewear brand Skims.