Canadian Retailer - Store 2017 - 18

RETAILER PROFILE

Simons' new location at Edmonton's Londonderry
Shopping Centre.

Simons retail model was an expensive one. New
stores were conceptualized as spanning about
100,000 square-feet each, resulting in a cost-perstore in the tens of millions. Groundbreaking
architecture and artwork added to the expense.
In October of 2012, La Maison Simons took a
leap, and in partnership with landlord Triple Five
Group, opened an impressive 125,000 square-foot
store at North America's largest shopping centre-West Edmonton Mall. The new store reportedly cost over $50 million to build (including a
$10 million investment from the mall's owner, the
Ghermezian family) and an extensive $500,000
marketing campaign helped gain the retailer further brand awareness in the Alberta market.
The new Edmonton store took off, and it even
changed the way many Edmontonians dress. Cutting-edge fashions had never been so common in
that part of Alberta, and the store's success saw
Simons endeavour to open more stores nationally.
In the fall of 2015, Simons opened a
100,000-square-foot unit at West Vancouver's
Park Royal shopping centre. Crowds converged
upon the opening, having recognized Simons'
fashion-forward styles and mix of affordable

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CANADIAN RETAILER

| THE LOSS PREVENTION ISSUE

private-label product integrated with designer
and luxury brands. Peter Simons explains that
he partnered with Larco Investments, owners
of Park Royal, and the fact that the two shared a
similar vision for the future. "It's about relationships," noted Mr. Simons when describing negotiations for the new store location, as well as
subsequent stores.
In the spring of 2016, Simons opened its first
store in Ontario, at the busy Square One shopping centre in Mississauga. The 113,000-squarefoot two-level store was modelled on the look
of the West Edmonton Mall prototype as well
as the West Vancouver store-and at the same
time, each store had unique design elements. In
August of 2016, Simons opened its second Ontario store, at CF Rideau Centre in Ottawa, in the
mall's newly-launched expansion wing.
Most recently, in the spring of 2017, Simons
opened a five-level, 96,000-square-foot location
in downtown Calgary. The store incorporates a
heritage building as well as part of an adjacent
shopping centre property, in a configuration unlike anything seen in Canada to date. The Calgary store, as with all Simons stores, features
local artwork as part of the decor. Each Simons
store features at least one significant work of
art from a Canadian artist-while adding to the
cost of building each location, Simons believes
that it's an important component to its stores' designs, while supporting artists nationwide. Peter
Simons notes that if the company wasn't privately-owned, adding such costly artwork likely
wouldn't be possible for such a retailer.
Looking to the Future

In an interview, Peter Simons says that at 53
years of age and with two children, he wants to
leave a better world behind. With that in mind,
future store locations, as well as renovations to
existing stores, will have a focus on environmental sustainability.
Simons' next store will open towards the end
of August at Edmonton's Londonderry Shopping
Centre. The 90,000-square-foot space will feature
new initiatives in environmental sustainability,
with over 50 per cent of the store's electricity usage
to come from onsite renewable energy sources. An
adjacent parking lot will include approximately
80 car parking spots that will be covered with
canopies featuring 720 bifacial solar modules
(the latest in solar technology), with glass on both
surfaces to capture both direct and reflected sunlight. There will also be 950 high efficiency solar
modules on Simons' roof-the entire solar-electric

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