The evolution of Bloor: From Mink Mile to discount aisle
DEIRDRE KELLY
June 7, 2008
Is Toronto's Mink Mile in danger of losing its sheen?
A Labels 4 Less outlet opened yesterday at 83 Bloor St. W., the gilt-and-marble retail palace that once housed Toronto's first stand-alone Versace boutique.
The new discount shop is the latest purveyor of cheap chic to move to Bloor Street, where affordable clothing chains have, in the past few years, begun to muscle out the strip's traditional high-end stores.
"There goes the neighbourhood," declared Julie Enfield, executive director of Ports 1961, a prestigious Canadian fashion house nestled among international brand-named boutiques such as Gucci, Prada and Chanel on Bloor.
Barry Weinberg, co-owner of the exclusive Max Mara boutique, also located a few doors down from Labels 4 Less, echoed Ms. Enfield's sentiments.
"The perception is that Bloor Street is becoming like the Eaton Centre," he said. "It used to have a Bal Harbour feel - it was Canada's mecca of luxury. The arrival of a Labels 4 Less just seems to undercut what Bloor Street has historically been all about. It's creating an uneasy feeling for the other retailers on the strip."
There is a paradox behind Bloor's changing storefronts: Rents on the stretch between Yonge and Avenue have become so high that the kind of independent boutiques that gave Bloor its cachet in the first place can't afford to stay.
Take Indiva, the expensive Indian fashion store that vacated 83 Bloor St. W. late last month to make way for Labels 4 Less. Indiva's owner, David Anselm, said rent at the 12,000-square-foot location was $85,000 a month.
When the high Canadian dollar, construction on Bloor Street and a brutal winter combined to drive down his sales in the past year, he had no choice but to move around the corner to a 3,000-square-foot location on Yorkville Avenue, he said.
Space on the Mink Mile goes for an average of $198 per square foot, according to a Cushman & Wakefield LePage report released last year.
The price seems to be rising: Bloor Street retailers interviewed this week said today's price is closer to $300 per square foot.
Ida Lipreti, a spokeswoman for Labels 4 Less, said selling designer labels for reduced prices is the only way for independents to survive on the new Bloor Street. "With H&M, Winners and Zara now on the street, you have to be competitive," she said.
Ms. Lipreti works for George Elian, a veteran retailer who operates other fashion stores in Yorkville, including Noir and V Hazelton, and holds the lease on 83 Bloor St. W.
"You have to know how to sell luxury for less," Ms. Lipreti continued, while a Labels 4 Less staffer wielding a black marker slashed the price of a $495 Valentino Jeans denim jacket to $195. Disco music thumped in the background.
"It takes a lot of ingenuity, a lot of know-how, to be 60 to 80 per cent lower than retail. Bloor Street won't be disappointed.
