UPDATE: It seems that the Yonge/Bloor spot has been abandoned (for now, anyway) and the Queen Street store will be 150,000 square feet – half the size of the originally planned Yonge/Bloor store. It is going to be very interesting!
According to the Globe and Mail, Saks is coming to the Eaton Centre, on Yonge and Queen (the building has been sold to mall owner, Cadillac Fairview, with the deal closing at the end of February). I’m actually surprised to hear this – I thought they were only going to the Eyesore on Yonge and Bloor. I guess they’re doing that ALONG with taking parts of the flagship, since it might take a really long time to renovate The Eyesore (though they could be abandoning the project now that they’re converting Queen Street). Plus Saks is probably a better competitor with Nordstrom than Hudson’s Bay.
The Bay at the Eaton Centre, before it was branded as “Hudson’s Bay.” It will be rebranded once again as Saks Fifth Avenue
I think it all has to do with target market. I think the Hudson’s Bay brand name will remain in more mid-range, suburban markets such as Fairview Mall or Scarborough Town Centre, while aspiration higher end markets like Yorkdale, the Eaton Centre and perhaps The Eyesore (which I HOPE will be converted) to Saks. I am still surprised they’re moving along with Eaton Centre, though – but they probably want to get Saks up and running long before Nordstrom opens its first stores in Ontario. Eaton Centre is attempting to be Yorkdale South (i.e. becoming more high end), but remains somewhere in between, so maybe this will bump it up a little. In addition, I think Top Shop will remain at Saks/Hudson’s Bay for now, but will move over to Nordstrom once the stores open in 2016 (Nordstrom has a contract with Top Shop in the US). After all, they spent a lot of money on building an area for the store.
Speaking of Top Shop, I wonder how contracts will work for other branded stores that have signed on to open at Hudson’s Bay. For example, I assume that Kleinfeld’s signed on to open at Hudson’s Bay, not Saks (though it’s too late to do anything at the Eaton Centre store, since the space is slated to open in a few months). I realize that it’s owned by the same organization, but if the contracts state a specific brand, will they be okay with it if other Bay stores rebrand to Saks? Will Saks stores in the US want to open Kleinfeld’s boutiques?
What are your thoughts on this?
Image credit: By Danielle Scott [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
