Furniture and photography

Furniture retailer Leon’s will be opening the doors of its downtown Toronto location to photographers and art fans this weekend, as it hosts a photography exhibit entitled Toronto CLICKS.

The pop-up gallery, presented by online photography community Streets of Toronto, takes over the Leon’s at the Roundhouse store near the Steamwhistle Brewery on Saturday, Oct. 18th.

Streets of Toronto is an online photography community with more than 25,000 followers. Contributors use the hashtag #StreetsOfToronto on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to showcase urban photography of landscapes, architecture and public spaces across the city.

Saturday’s exhibit will showcase the work of 50 Toronto photographers, and will mark the launch of StreetsOfToronto.com – the official website for the organization’s upcoming digital and print magazine, as well as a branded line of merchandise.

The 40,000 square-foot furniture store boasts a modern, loft-like atmosphere that’s certainly appropriate for this kind of artistic event.

The exhibit will be open to the public from 1 pm to 5 pm on Saturday. Visitors will be able to purchase photographs, and can enjoy light refreshments as they take in compelling images of this dynamic city.

Celebrating past and present at CBD

The newest addition to Toronto’s King Street East Design District celebrated its official grand opening this week, and showed off its hefty collection of furniture and home decor items.

Creations By Design (CBD Co.), located at 81 King Street East, specializes in the concepts of reinvention, reusing and renovation.

The shop’s owners travel extensively in Canada and abroad, in search of unique pieces that can be revamped into stylish new items that appeal to a variety of different tastes and budgets.

Elements of both new and old are very evident in many of the items at CBD. For instance, drawer units made from rustic wood are refinished with rich new stains or repainted with modern patterns, and metallic finishes are used to add a contemporary feel to vintage items.

The result is an eccentric collection of furniture that embraces the history of each item, with a fresh spin.

With similar elements of past and present in the boutique itself, including exposed brick alongside freshly painted walls and rich hardwood floors, CBD has created a very appropriate backdrop for its collection.

In a market that’s largely dominated by major mass-producers of merchandise, it’s refreshing to see the emergence of new independent retailers promoting unique items that aren’t found on other stores’ shelves.

Veering out of the virtual world

Online marketplace Etsy appears to be branching out of the e-commerce world and making strides into the face-to-face retail space.

Etsy, an online marketplace where consumers can browse and purchase creative items by artists from around the world, has been experimenting with a variety of projects this year that bring merchandise off of the website and into bricks and mortar stores and markets.

Later this month, Etsy will host a cross-country event called Made in Canada, in which pop-up markets will appear across the country. The one-day event, on Sept. 27th, will take place in more than 20 cities across the country, allowing vendors the opportunity to sell their merchandise to shoppers face-to-face.

In Toronto, the event will take over the atrium of the MaRs Centre, showcasing one-of-a-kind goods from 100 local sellers.

The Made in Canada initiative follows #EtsyRoadTrip – a road show in which a 30-foot custom AirStream trailer brought Etsy merchandise to shoppers Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto during the first week of August.

Beyond these pop-up marketplaces, Etsy has established a longer term strategy around the concept of bringing Etsy merchandise into the real world.

The initiative, called Etsy Wholesale, connects the artists and designers within its marketplace with retailers who are interested in carrying their products. The initiative provides artists with a new channel on which to sell their products, and it gives retailers access to unique new items to feature on their shelves.

Earlier this year, the company announced that Indigo Books & Music Inc. has signed on as one of the participating retailers, and Indigo began selling a selection of Etsy merchandise in certain stores, including the Toronto Eaton Centre location.

The steady growth of online shopping shows no signs of slowing down, and most bricks and mortar retailers have responded to that in recent years by establishing comprehensive websites and e-commerce capabilities alongside the physical stores that they operate.

Against that backdrop, it’s interesting to see some retailers moving in the opposite direction by first establishing themselves online, and then shifting into the physical retail space.

It’s a sign that despite the digital times in which we live, innovation in the retail industry is not a one-way street. Although the internet has opened up a variety of new sales options, marketing practices and alternative ways of connecting with consumers, there continue to be opportunities to innovate in the traditional retail world.

Bricks and mortar stores, it turns out, serve an important function that cannot necessarily be fulfilled online.

The final chapter for a big retail landmark

In an era where a growing number of consumers get their news online and read books on handheld devices, it should be no surprise that books and other paper products are not generating strong sales.

Still, it somehow seems unexpected when a bookstore as notorious as the World’s Biggest Bookstore – a Toronto landmark that’s been around for more than three decades – closes its doors.

Photo courtesy of World’s Biggest Bookstore Facebook Page.

By now, most Torontonians are likely accustomed to seeing ‘Going out of Business Sale’ signs in the windows of neighbourhood bookstores. Back in January, for instance, we learned that Book City’s flagship store in the Annex was shutting down after almost 40 years.

It’s pretty clear what’s driving this trend. As bookstores compete with online retailers like Amazon.com, along with a growing array of tablets and e-readers that enable us to consume books in a compact, portable, paperless fashion, people are simply not going to stores to buy books nearly as often as they did in the past.

Meanwhile, many of the bookstores that are still around are rapidly diversifying their product shelves to give shoppers other reasons to come into their stores, as books do not have the draw they once did.

Shoppers who have visited a Indigo store in the past year or two, for example, could be forgiven for mistaking it for a home décor retailer, given the growing selection of candles, throws and vases in those stores. That strategy appears to be paying off: the company has seen double-digit growth in sales of lifestyle products, toys and other non-book items in recent quarters.

In the case of the World’s Biggest Bookstore, it had certainly seen better days. Last time I stopped by, the store looked dated and run down – especially compared to Indigo’s other stores. In that sense, its looming closure is not too surprising.

Still, the closure of this store seems somehow symbolic, reflecting the end of an era in the world of books. The store was more than a bookshop – it was a landmark. Given our rapidly changing world, however, maybe this landmark was simply no longer a relevant one.

The future of the book retailing business does not look particularly promising. But, for now, Toronto shoppers still have various destinations to buy books – even once the city’s biggest book hub has officially closed shop.

The doors will close for the last time tomorrow, on March 30th. So get your final fix before it’s too late.

Olympic Spirit: In Stores Now

The Olympic Games tend to permeate all aspects of society each time they occur, dominating workplace conversations, media coverage and television airtime for two weeks straight.

This time around, the games also gained a prominent presence in stores and malls, as the retail industry showed its support for the games, and Canada’s athletes in particular.

Whereas we’ve long seen retailers such as Roots and Hudson’s Bay Company embrace the games by providing Team Canada merchandise – including those red mittens that became ubiquitous during the 2010 Vancouver Games – a variety of other retailers got in on the action this year.

Companies such as Sport Chek and Canadian Tire, for example, launched aggressive marketing campaigns demonstrating their support for Team Canada, with floor-to-ceiling advertisements at certain TTC subway stations.

Shopping centres also seemed to get into the Olympic spirit more than ever before. The Toronto Eaton Centre, for example, set up a viewing lounge where people could take a break from shopping to catch up on the latest Olympic action.

Olympic Viewing Lounge at the Toronto Eaton Centre

On Family Day, the Eaton Centre showcased the viewing lounge during a special event featuring Jason Burnett, an Olympic silver medalist in trampoline, who took photos with fans and signed autographs. Burnett also made an appearance at Fairview Mall during the long weekend, which had a similar viewing lounge set up for shoppers to enjoy.

It’s a smart strategy from a business perspective, enticing consumers to stick around at the mall longer than they might otherwise in order to see Olympic events they don’t want to miss. The more time shoppers spend at the mall, the more likely they are to make more purchases – even if it’s just a latte to sip on while watching some figure skating or bobsledding.

Support for Team Canada on display at the Toronto Eaton Centre

The Winter Olympics clearly resonate with Canadians, providing an exciting event to rally around during the cold and dark winter months. The games also elicit a strong sense of pride among Canadians, so it’s understandable that retailers would want to find a way of associating themselves with this event.

Although retailers have their business reasons for getting involved, it’s nice to see the industry showing its support. I’m sure the athletes appreciate all the support they can get, and from a fan’s perspective, it’s one more element contributing to the exciting spirit of the games.

Style Faux Pas strives for stellar service

In a world where personalized customer service is increasingly being squeezed out by online retailers, mobile apps, and perhaps – as we learned this week – even drones, a new Toronto boutique is striving to bring back the customized service that many shoppers still crave.

Style Faux Pas (@stylefauxpas), a new fashion retailer that opened last week on Church Street, north of Queen, claims to be “more than a traditional boutique”.

Launched by Alisha Hanif, an entrepreneur from B.C. with a passion for fashion styling, the shop offers such services as personal shopping and image consulting. Hanif’s goal is to provide a customized fashion experience, helping each client to find her own unique look.

This retail concept – although not at all new – seems strangely refreshing in these digital times.

The shop carries handpicked pieces from such designer clothing brands as Whitney Eve; Love, Zooey; Label + Thread; and Maurie & Eve. It also features accessories from such Canadian designers as Jessica Jensen and Melanie Auld, along with a selection of men’s wear.

The 600-square-foot boutique is located in a neighbourhood that’s not exactly known for its fashion, but since it’s just a short walk east of the Eaton Centre and the trendy retail strip on Queen Street West, Style Faux Pas will likely have no trouble attracting nearby shoppers.

The boutique is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm.

Targeting Toronto tweens

Young fashionistas in Toronto celebrated this weekend, as niche Canadian retailer Triple Flip launched its first location in the city.

Triple Flip, a retailer that specializes in apparel for pre-teen girls, held a grand opening celebration at its new store at Yonge and Eglinton.

Triple Flip’s Newmarket store.

The company, which began as a single store in Calgary, Alberta that was launched by two local moms in 2005, has expanded to include 11 locations across the country, as well as a comprehensive e-commerce website.

Fly Girl Hoodie, $29.95

Although the chain already operates two other GTA locations – one in Oakville and one in Newmarket – the new boutique provides a more accessible location for urban families.

Triple Flip aims to offer stylish and comfortable attire for pre-teen girls with active lifestyles. The collections include such items as tops with bold patterns and sassy catch-phrases, multi-coloured skinny jeans, stretchy and colourful active-wear, and fun accessories such as rhinestone-embellished ear muffs and furry pencil cases.

Jazlyn Tee $35.00

Given the solid demand for trendy clothes and accessories among 10-to-12-year-olds, Triple Flip will likely have no trouble attracting customers in the Toronto market.

However, this segment of the market can be tough – especially for retailers focused exclusively on this young demographic. La Senza Girl and Jacob Jr., for instance – both of which catered to the pre-teen market – seemed to struggle to establish enough of a core market, and both chains eventually shut down.

Considering the success it’s had so far, however, perhaps Triple Flip has found a formula that works in this competitive market. If the company’s Facebook page is any indication, it certainly appears to have won over the hearts of tweens and moms across the country.