Winners on Bloor
From today's Star:
_______________________________
Nov. 6, 2005. 01:00 AM
MINK MILE on the MARKDOWN
There's just one weekend to go until Winners opens its doors on that luxe stretch of Bloor between Yonge and Avenue. Right on time for the holiday rush, the wildly successful discount retailer gears up for battle with its haute new neighbours.
By Dana Flavelle
Canada's most exclusive shopping district is just one weekend away from an extraordinary event: the official opening of a no-frills, no-holds-barred discount fashion retailer.
Winners is "crashing" the elite fashion enclave on Bloor St.
"It's a bit like having a hot dog vendor next to a nice restaurant," says Nicole Sibonney, a long-time Bloor St. aficionado.
The sprawling suburban "wannabe," with its fluorescent lighting and jam-packed racks is setting up shop next to European luxury goods retailer Gucci, a study in granite, glass and understated elegance.
"It's a signature high-end retail destination and Winners ain't — at least that's the perception," says Councillor Kyle Rae, whose ward encompases homeless shelters as well as Rosedale mansions.
But it's not just the clash of ambience and architecture that has raised eyebrows among Toronto's moneyed elite. For established retailers like Holt Renfrew, there's the prospect of having to compete with a neighbour that carries much of the same designer merchandise at 20 to 60 per cent off.
Is it the end of the "Mink Mile" or just the inevitable next step in the "democratization" of luxury goods retailing?
Winners' arrival on Bloor speaks volumes about the way people shop, particularly in the two fastest-growing segments of the market, women under 34 and over 45, according to market research firm NPD Canada.
Their wallets dictate value but their hearts yearn for luxury so they're splitting their purchases between the two extremes, says NPD's director of fashion Kaileen Millard.
There's a parallel trend: It's no longer embarrassing or a badge of class to shop at a thrift store. Getting something cheap has become chic.
"Remember 40 or 50 years ago when people sent their maids to Honest Ed's?" says Millard, referring to the discount emporium at Bloor and Bathurst. "Now it's: `Isn't this too cool and can you believe I got it at Wal-Mart?'"
The two fastest-growing categories of jeans are those priced under $29 and over $69. "Everything else in between is decreasing. The same thing is happening in bras. You've got polarization of price points," Millard adds.
John Williams, a principal in the retail-consulting firm J.C. Williams Group Inc., calls it the "democratization" of Bloor St.
Toronto is treading a path already forged on Manhattan's Fifth Ave. and Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive, the most exclusive shopping district in North America, he says.
Bloor is already home to Zara and H&M. Both specialize in runway knockoffs at cut-rate prices.
Even well-heeled Bloor St. shoppers who will pay $2,000 to $3,000 for suits at Harry Rosen privately admit to picking up khakis at the Gap for $69.95.
But will they shop at Winners?
"Disgusting," said Sandra Sherman, while browsing Bloor St. yesterday afternoon with her husband Ronald Sherman, who works in finance. "It's disgusting that Toronto can't support two blocks of high-end retail stores," she said.
"I don't think it's the right thing," adds George Corbo, owner of Corbo Boutique, across the street from the new Winners. "We've worked hard to develop Bloor St. as a high-end shopping area and this detracts from the whole thing."
Take a walk on Mink Mile, starting at Yonge St. and work your way west to Avenue Rd. There's Holt Renfrew, the luxury goods retailer owned by Galen and Hilary Weston. The 137-year-old company was once the official furrier to Queen Victoria.
Just ahead, Adrienne Clarkson, former governor-general of Canada, wrestles with an unruly umbrella outside the Chanel boutique, where the less-is-more aesthetic flashes from the single handbag ($2,175) on display in the window.
Security guards prowl the entrances.
On the left is Royal de Versailles, purveyors of fine jewellery.
Maple Leaf hockey star Tie Domi peeled off crisp $1,000 bills at least once here to buy baubles for his wife, or at least so the MFP leasing inquiry at City Hall heard earlier this year.
The store's owners, Irit and Michael Shay, are as much part of the social scene as their customers. Irit co-chaired one of the city's most fabulous fundraisers, the Brazilian Ball, earlier this year. Proceeds go to Toronto General Hospital.
The Shays have seen a lot of changes on Bloor since they opened their shop 30 years ago. Most of it has been for the better, says Irit, citing the arrival of Louis Vuitton and Prada.
"It's the best street in Canada. It's a destination for people who are after the high end," she says.
Winners is opening directly across the street. What does she think?
"The way we handle our business, we don't look right, we don't look left, we just look at what is right for us. Whatever happens on the street? I don't know," she says.
David Margolis opened the first Winners in 1982 on Spadina Ave. near Front St., in the heart of what used to be a thriving "rag trade" before cheap imports from China decimated Canada's apparel manufacturing sector.
The brash newcomer pioneered the concept in Canada of selling wholesalers' excess inventory at steep discounts in warehouse-style stores, a sort of permanent garage sale where the merchandise changed weekly and customers could find Calvin Klein jeans alongside Roots bags and the occasional Chanel sweater.
Twenty-three years later, Winners has 170 stores across Canada and is part of the $14.9 billion a year TJX Cos. Ltd. empire, the United States' leading off-price retailer, with buying clout that extends to Europe and Asia.
Margolis has retired but the business continues to thrive.
The Bloor St. location, which opens Nov. 17 in a space once occupied by a Chapters bookstore, will sport a distinct look from the franchise, one that is more in line with its haute new neighbours. The discounter is also sparing its fellow retailers the insult of living next to a no-frills window display. Access to the store is gained only through an interior hallway between a new La Senza lingerie store and a Nike sportswear outlet.
Winners has unveiled a sleek new sign intended to signal to shoppers that the store is more high-end than people might think, said Nigel Smith of HahnSmith Designs, the Toronto company hired to redesign the logo. Slender silver lettering on a black background replaces the fat blue lettering on stark white.
"We think it's a natural extension of our business," says Sherry Lang, vice president of communications for TJX, of Winner's Bloor St. location. "We think it's a perfect fit."
That's not what they're saying behind closed doors at the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area.
"It's come up," says Eric Abugov, vice-chair of the 2,500-member business association, says of Winners' move to Bloor St.
He's also a vice-president at ICI Construction Ltd., a company that has built such Bloor St. retail landmarks as Christian Dior, Tiffany's and Harry Rosen.
The problem for some BIA members wasn't just that Winners was coming to Bloor St. but that it was locating in the "luxury block" at the Avenue Rd. end of the district, Abugov explains.
Didn't Winners realize there was a pecking order on the street? The lower-end stores are supposed to locate closer to Yonge St., where the younger people shop.
An ardent free-market capitalist, Abugov figures consumers will decide who succeeds. "And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work."
In any case, no one else wanted the peculiar space at 110 Bloor St.
The trouble with the space is it's inverted, Abugov explains. All the square footage is on the second floor with a very small window at ground level. Most retailers want lots of street frontage to showcase their wares, while second floor space usually goes to offices, fitness clubs and other services. But it's ideal for a fashion discounter, looking to cut its window dressing costs and rental rates.
Caryn Lerner is the 48-year-old American retail whiz at the helm of Holt Renfrew, Canada's best-known luxury goods retailer
Coming into the job 13 months ago, Lerner inherited a small nine-store chain that she says has enjoyed several years of "double digit" sales growth. (The privately held firm doesn't disclose actual numbers.)
Her challenge, she says in a telephone interview just off the plane from New York, is to build on that success. With Lerner, who has worked at Barney's, Jones New York and ran Escada USA, came the depth of experience that owner Weston hoped would help Holt Renfrew become "an emerging international brand," he said at the time of her appointment.
She has already brought back children's wear, a category the retailer exited 20 years ago, because she noticed the top two trends in retailing were luxury goods and infant wear. Why not combine them, she thought?
Next, she's planning to overhaul the shoe department. And in the ready-to-wear category, she wants to add even more prestigious international brands, such as Gucci, Chanel and Dior, a move that will put her in direct competition with other boutique owners on the street.
Lerner believes there is room for everyone on the street, a philosophy underscored by an event the retailer launched last Thursday when Holt Renfrew held its first annual holiday window unveiling.
The festivities featured an outdoor ice rink, performances by Olympic skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, and a flurry of artificial snow to herald the season.
Lerner defines Holt Renfrew's core customer as a sophisticated person who travels widely, is fashion savvy and appreciates fine quality. She's not worried about them defecting to places like Winners, or anywhere else for that matter.
"There's something to be said for walking into a nicely lit store and being waited on in a nice way, as opposed to shoving a shopping cart up to a steel rod and diving into the merchandise while another woman is driving her shopping cart into the back of your knees," Millard says. "I don't see Holt Renfrew panicking by any means."
Sibonney agrees. She and her husband owned a store at Bloor and Avenue Rd. before moving to funkier Queen St. W., where she co-owns The Beadery.
She's a supplier to Holt Renfrew and still loves to shop Bloor St.
Her favourite haunts include luxury goods retailers Corbo and Prada as well as Holts.
She doesn't see herself switching to Winners, where a prized Gucci bag may be hidden beneath heaps of more pedestrian Nine West or Liz Claiborne satchels.
"I'm a speedy shopper. I don't have the time or patience to go through racks of stuff," says Sibonney. She also believes that at better stores she's paying for higher quality. "I buy expensive items because of the way they're made."
Still, Sibonney thinks there is room for everyone on Bloor St. Winners could help attract more younger shoppers to the area.
"Maybe it will create a balance in the somewhat stuffy atmosphere. Things may change for the better."
