La Maison Simons Opens at CF Fairview Pointe-Claire in Montreal with Plans for Halifax Store: CEO Interview/Photos

Simons is reinforcing its existence in the Bigger Montreal location with the opening of a West Island department at CF Fairview Pointe Claire.

The retailer said the new 91,000-sq.-foot site required an expenditure of $26.5 million and established just about 200 jobs.

And Retail Insider has figured out that Simons has also secured a site in Halifax for upcoming expansion.

Bernard Leblanc, President and CEO of La Maison Simons, said he will be in a position to examine the company’s Atlantic Canada existence a lot more in a several months from now.

“We have confirmed a new location in Halifax a several weeks back. So we have declared that to our internal groups and we’re truly at the embryonic phase of that job but that will finish our coastline to coast existence,” he said. 

“So additional to arrive on Atlantic Canada in the next handful of months.”

Leblanc said the latest Montreal keep secures the retailer’s existence in the west side of the metropolis.

“Consumers are now in hybrid manner and are searching for an omnichannel offering that is accessible the two in-retail outlet and online,” he explained.

“While on-line shopping has grown immensely in current decades, the resurgence of in-store revenue is a clear indication that customers want to take pleasure in a hybrid buying encounter and the in-keep working experience remains necessary. That is why we are self-confident we manufactured the appropriate decision in opening this new place.”

A native of the West Island, Leblanc is opening his to start with retail store given that staying appointed to guide the business by Peter Simons in March.

“In Montreal, which has been and carries on to be a productive sector for us, we have been present north, south, east and central with the downtown retailer. There was a major piece missing in the demographics of Montreal in the west side. This was something we had been pondering about and working on for some time. It was slowed down by the pandemic and then at some place where by we noticed we had assurance to exit the pandemic positively we re-activated this job but it’s been numerous a long time in the making to total,” claimed Leblanc.

“As we deploy our brand name throughout the place we’ve had a regular eyesight to give our total assortment and it is no various listed here where by we have introduced that exceptional mix of our special models along with the national brand names and the global models and the discovery manufacturers that make our Simons supplying what it is.

“And like in any marketplace we’re likely to permit the client information us. They’ll tell us what they value and we’ll adapt from there. But the intent is consistency in every single of our shops and this keep is no diverse. We have invested to make this retail outlet one of a kind in the presentation. For just about every site we want to do the job with the canvas which is been specified to us. The architecture, the style, the structure is optimized for this particular place. So there’ll be discovery in phrases of the decor and the textures that you are going to uncover but the assortment will be the constant assortment that individuals have gotten to know from Simons.”

Leblanc said CF Fairview Pointe Claire is the important shopping mall in the West Island of Montreal.

“As a enhance to our investment, there is a large amount of development expenditure that’s occurring. There is the REM (the new Réseau convey métropolitain, a new automatic mild metro community) station for the west stop that is appropriate next to the store. So a great mass transit enjoy as nicely for the very long phrase,” he claimed.

“There’s some redevelopment that is heading to happen among the west conclusion of Fairview by way of to what’s named Saint-Charles Boulevard wherever there’s new multi-use initiatives that are likely to evolve out of that as properly. As you know from the Simons family, we’re often invested for the extensive play but in this context even far better that there is that long term improvement that is coming. So extremely bullish on what this website will grow to be and the upcoming for us in Fairview Pointe Claire.”

The previous Simons new retail outlet opening was in Ottawa about 5 years in the past.

The retailer mentioned numerous is effective of art punctuate the shopper journey in the new Montreal spot, together with a monumental do the job by Vancouver artist Brendan Tang. Pareidolia, a established of clouds suspended higher than the staircase in the north foyer, draws notice and contributes to the volumetry of the space. Pareidolia joins several performs that enhance the partitions and ceilings of the Simons outlets, including Walter Crane’s La Coupole de Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Guido Molinari’s luminous kaleidoscope, Solstice, and ceramist Pascale Girardin’s Au Pied des Grumes, to identify but a several, stated the firm.

La Maison Simons was started in 1840 by John Simons in Quebec City. Initially a dry merchandise shop, the loved ones corporation is acknowledged right now for accessible and impressed fashion. 

The new keep has a a few-storey completely glazed north entrance vestibule. It has a two-storey mall entrance facade with direct entry to Amount 2 and perspective of Level 3. It also has a central skylight illuminating Amounts 2 and 3 in the centre of the shop. 

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Supplemental Images from the New Simons retail outlet at CF Fairview Pointe Claire