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Way more than rumours. Ogilvy did announce it would be opening a second store in Brossard. Even after the Weston purchase, there was an article in Les Affaires at the end of last year that said the store would still be opening, although the banner had yet to be decided (IIRC, "Ogilvy by Holt Renfrew" was one of the options).

Do you have this article? The rumors of Quartier dix30 were going around when Devimco and the Bombardier family were in the process to purchase Ogilvy. As soon as the Weston family purchased Ogilvy all the rumors were that they would be moving Holts to the Ogilvy location and completey shutting down Ogilvy.
 
Do you have this article? The rumors of Quartier dix30 were going around when Devimco and the Bombardier family were in the process to purchase Ogilvy. As soon as the Weston family purchased Ogilvy all the rumors were that they would be moving Holts to the Ogilvy location and completey shutting down Ogilvy.

You might want to google it - I will try too. And rumours are just that -- rumours. Media speculation doesn't get new owners out of signed deals. Not that they won't prove true, but one should take all rumours with a grain of salt until they actually do come to realization.
 
Here it is:

http://www.lesaffaires.com/archives/generale/le-dix30-accueillera-plusieurs-primeurs/536171

The story is from October 2011. According to the article, the store was at that time already under construction, and Ogilvy (already acquired by the Westons at that point) was building a smaller concept store (compared to their downtown store), designed for suburban locales in Canada (not sure if that meant that they planned locations beyond Brossard and Quebec). Opening planned for Christmas 2012. Name up in the air but "Ogilvy by Holt Renfrew" was one option under consideration.

All this may have changed since Oct 2011. The Westons did not comment for the article. But the Brossard store certainly appears to have been more than a rumour. And who knows whether the Ogilvy banner will continue. Until the Westons make up their mind, it's all just speculation.
 
WRT Ottawa - anyone remember Brettons? That was the Canadian answer to Nordstrom back in the late 1980s. Its first store was in Ottawa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton's
I vaguely remember the Square One location from my youth. It was very green with wooden accents and I think was over two floors. Much smaller than a typical department store, but still bigger than any other non-traditional department store in the mall. There was also a store I recall called Aikenheads maybe? It was sort of housewares and home decorating. I think it was in the former Dominion's location, but is also long since gone.

And Simons opening in West Edmonton Mall was in all the papers. At the time, Simons made clear it had a plan to expand elsewhere in English Canada. There is a Simons thread somewhere here on Urban Toronto.
I was in West Edmonton Mall last week and the store is well under construction with Simons hoarding advertising the new store! I think it said "Summer, 2012" as an opening date.
 
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I was in West Edmonton Mall last week and the store is well under construction with Simons hoarding advertising the new store! I think it said "Summer, 2012" as an opening date.

So jealous. Where's Toronto's Simons??
 
They were both rumored but i don't think anything was ever confirmed by any of them.

I'm not very familiar with Barney's but isn't that the more high end department store?

Barney's is fairly high end. But Barney's Coop is slightly lower priced and geared to a younger customer.

The issue with Ogilvy was its business model. A majority of their floor space was given over to leased departments.
 
Barney's is fairly high end. But Barney's Coop is slightly lower priced and geared to a younger customer.

The issue with Ogilvy was its business model. A majority of their floor space was given over to leased departments.


I think leasing out to other brands worked for Montreal. When I was there during the summer, I noticed that outside of Ogilvy, they didn't have many of the luxury stores that are in Toronto and Vancouver.
 
Barney's is fairly high end. But Barney's Coop is slightly lower priced and geared to a younger customer.

The issue with Ogilvy was its business model. A majority of their floor space was given over to leased departments.

Why is that a problem? While many of the old-line downtown department stores across North America have disappeared, that model has allowed Ogilvy to survive and seemingly prosper.

And what about your post earlier about Lord & Taylor? Where did you get that news?
 
Well the Bay is owned by the same company that owns Lord&Taylor.
Considering there are 2 Bay locations downtown i wouldn't be surprised if the Bloor location was changed.
Have they even done any renovations on the Bloor Bay like they have with Queen location?
 
I would be surprised if Lord and Taylor opened in Canada. Richard Baker has never indicated a desire to bring L+T to Canada. Lord and Taylor's brand positioning is way too similar to the Bay's (especially the direction they are going). Lord and Taylor and the Bay are not like, the Gap which has its middle of the road Gap, low-end Old Navy and higher-end Banana.

If anything I'd start to see similar private label brands carried at both stores, which I believe is already happening.
 
I spoke to the Regional VP of The Bay today, and they won't bring Lord & Taylor to Canada. They are, however, bringing some L&T brands to The Bay, including Z-Spoke by Zac Posen handbags (they're currently at your Queen St. store). America's Lord & Taylor will also get their own version of The Bay's 'The Room' in a few selected stores, starting with their Manhattan flagship.
 

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