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Hudson's Bay Company

Two new boutiques have opened in the concourse level of the Queen Street store: Porsche Design and DXR Co. (DRX Co.?) They are located to the west of the Drake General Store, where Brika and that Scandinavian stationery outlet (the name of which escapes me) used to be.
 
Skeezix said:
Two new boutiques have opened in the concourse level of the Queen Street store: Porsche Design and DXR Co. (DRX Co.?) They are located to the west of the Drake General Store, where Brika and that Scandinavian stationery outlet (the name of which escapes me) used to be.
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It's LXR & Co., which specializes in "vintage luxury" - previously loved high-end label handbags, jewelry, accessories, etc.

The Scandanavian stationery shop was Ordning & Reda.
 
This hasn't been publicly released yet.

HBC will be officially re-branding, re-structuring and renovating all their Home Outfitters stores as "Hudson's Bay Home". "Home Outfitters" will not be its own separate store within the HBC banner. It will now be considered a Hudson's Bay store but obviously just focused on Home fashions and appliances. Some low performing locations will be re-evaluated and expansion into downtown Toronto and other targeted markets is currently in the works. Online stores will be integrated. The Bay's long term plan is streamlining just on fashion.
 
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Flagship? What flagship?

Yesterday I was in the Queen Street store for the first time and was unpleasantly surprised. Apart from the first floor shoe department, most of the store is stodgy and in dire need of updating. For a store that is supposed to be a crown jewel in the HBC chain, it doesn't appear as though near enough money has been invested in that location. The clock is ticking to the premier of Nordstrom's in the Eaton Centre; am starting to become skeptical if Hudson's Bay will be able to compete. They certainly have their work cut out for them!
 
The seventh floor of the Queen St. HBC store is wonderful. The basement and ground floors are also pretty nice. It seems every other floor is in need of renovation.
 
I feel that store needs to be more cohesive design-wise. It's kind of all over the place. Maybe that's what they're going for, I don't know.
 
While "stodgy and in dire need of updating" is a gross overstatement (and the assertion that the only exception is the first floor shoe department is just plain wrong), the store renovation was always intended to be a work in progress (albeit moving more slowly than people anticipated, I suspect). Most of the ground floor, the east half of 2, much of 3, and 7 all look great. (I agree with benito that the seventh floor housewares and wedding floor is fantastic). I love how they've opened up the windows on 2. The introduction of Saks will presumably expedite the whole process. I recently overheard (okay, eavesdropped) HBC (head office) staff with clipboards in menswear on 2 saying that menswear was being relocated to 5 as part of that process.
 
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UnclePhil said:
This hasn't been publicly released yet.

HBC will be officially re-branding, re-structuring and renovating all their Home Outfitters stores as "Hudson's Bay Home". "Home Outfitters" will not be its own separate store within the HBC banner. It will now be considered a Hudson's Bay store but obviously just focused on Home fashions and appliances. Some low performing locations will be re-evaluated and expansion into downtown Toronto and other targeted markets is currently in the works. Online stores will be integrated. The Bay's long term plan is streamlining just on fashion.
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Thanks for that update, Uncle Phil. I hope the shift to "Hudson's Bay Home" also means a shift to better products, more in keeping with quality and price points of the housewares found at mainline Hudson's Bay stores. I always found Home Outfitters to be full of a lot of junk that could just as easily be purchased at Wal-Mart or even Canadian Tire.
 
Skeezix said:
I recently overheard (okay, eavesdropped) HBC (head office) staff with clipboards in menswear on 2 saying that menswear was being relocated to 5 as part of that process.
Click to expand...

5? I hate riding escalator after escalator, getting stuck behind lazy-ass types who don't walk up or down them. Crap.

42
 
Could be worse. The Lord & Taylor store on Fifth Avenue that the Bay owns has the menswear department on the ninth floor if I recall correctly.
 
If they do move menswear up to the 5th, I hope they move ALL of it there because having the menswear split on different floors is just stupid
 
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