Last month we asked readers what stores they’d like to see in Canada, and responses flooded in. Here are your top 10 choices:
1) Uniqlo
2) DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse
3) Muji
5) Trader Joe’s
6) Kohl’s
7) Macy’s
9) Madewell
(by J. Crew)
Many of these choices are of no surprise to us. Our articles about Uniqlo consistently have the highest readership on Retail Insider and given Uniqlo’s popularity, it’s very surprising it hasn’t already opened in Canada. We’ve been told that Uniqlo could still be introduced to Canada through the Hudson’s Bay Company, though we’re not aware of the progress of any current negotiations.
DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse was also an expected choice. The company carries thousands of pairs of shoes. We’ve got good news: DSW is already looking to expand into Canada To make things even better, The Shoe Company is reportedly looking to open a chain of similar shoe stores Bloomingdale’s could open in Canada and for a while it was in talks with The Hudson’s Bay Company to open in-store concessions. The deal unfortunately fell through, though Hudson’s Bay instead bought Saks Fifth Avenue, which it will bring to Canada within the next couple of years.
Specialty grocery store Trader Joe’s is definitely a top pick of ours, and we think reasonably priced organic food would do well in Canada. We’re not yet aware any intentions for the company to open in Canada. Interestingly, an attempt by a Vancouver-based entrepreneur to sell Trader Joe’s products in Canada was met with litigation Kohl’s is looking at the Canadian market, though it may be deterred by recent problems encountered by Target’s Canadian expansion. We’ve been told that Kohl’s could be a possible purchaser of Sears Canada, though we’ve also been informed that Sears Canada could be purchased by a large Canadian retailer (and we don’t mean Hudson’s Bay).
Macy’s was a surprising choice in our opinion, given how similar it is to our own Hudson’s Bay. Having visited both stores regularly, we’re seeing Hudson’s Bay actually surpassing Macy’s as a retailer in many respects, and we’ll do an article specifically discussing this.
We’ll be contacting these retailers directly, letting them know that you want them in Canada. Are there any other stores you’d like to see open in Canada? We’ll update this article in the New Year. Please leave your comments below or follow this link to our Facebook page. Also, you can leave comments via our Twitter
As an experienced retailer and a consumer I would look to the UK for better retailers. Many EU retailers have faired better than US retailers in Canada, Target maybe the exception. My vote is for John Lewis, Next (not sure who they are owned by) and Primark. As long as I'm dreaming a bit, how about House of Fraser and Debenhams.
I agree with Maggie (my vote was for Thomas Pink and Liberty!), except perhaps for John Lewis and House of Fraser that don't really do much anything drastically different than Hudson's Bay. I'm surprised more people didn't vote for Primark, given that the Weston connection makes an expansion into Canada an interesting possibility. I suspect that the people who voted for M&S never shopped there when they had actual locations in Canada.
We like Primark, as well. We'll contact them based on your comments. We may update this article in the New Year, as it appears there are other retailers Canadians would like to see here as well.