devjohnson
Active Member
No doubt in my mind the Bloor location will become Saks. It now makes sense Hudson's decided not to renovate the Bloor location even just a little.
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Filip
Senior Member
The Bloor location is pretty awful. They're going to have to demolish and rebuild to have any impact.
Main issue are the floor heights. They're extremely low in that location. I hope the rebuild is attractive...
Main issue are the floor heights. They're extremely low in that location. I hope the rebuild is attractive...
sixrings
Senior Member
I have my fingers crossed for a Yorkdale location. That would give Yorkdale a Nordstrom, Holts, Saks and potentially a Simons if they take over the Sears location.
Filip
Senior Member
I'm honestly thinking the Bay at Sherway is going to be converted into a Saks. There's little crossover between Nordstrom and Saks, plus Holts is vacating.
sixrings
Senior Member
I was thinking Yonge/Bloor Sherway and Yorkdale will become Saks.. Possibly the downtown location beside Eaton Centre but if that goes then it would take away Hudsons Bays presence which is why I assume it stays what it is.
prosperegal
Senior Member
If Bloor turns into Saks, then Eaton Centre will not. It doesn't make much sense for two Saks stores to be about a 5 minute subway ride from each other. I'm also not sure if Yorkdale will be converted, either, since they spent so much money on the Topshop. I see Sherway as the other possibility. As for Bloor itself, the store is so ugly! Would it be possible to even give it a decent makeover? Would the money be better spent demolishing and rebuilding along Yonge, south of Bloor, for example?
Filip
Senior Member
Ya I don't believe Saks will even touch the Queen St. flagship. The Bay hasn't invested a penny into the Sherway store so I'm thinking it's a prime candidate for conversion. Maybe even take up the space Holts left in play when they decided to relocated to SQ1 (LOL).
gabe
Senior Member
Toronto will probably only get one Saks store, maybe two max. Saks are more expensive than Nordstrom. There isn't enough demand for multiple Saks stores in the GTA. Chicago and NYC are popular shopping destinations and they still only have one store.
prosperegal
Senior Member
While Sherway looks like it's a candidate, I don't really like the idea of opening in a more "residential" part of town rather than somewhere more "urban." At the same time, the Bloor Street store might be difficult to convert. Would One Bloor be a possibility?
devjohnson
Active Member
I know for a fact the Queen Street location will never turn into Saks Fifth Avenue. That store is HBC's baby. It wouldn't make sense for them to convert it, especially when they have invested so much money into the location over the past five years under the Hudson's Bay name.
As for Bloor Street, the whole stretch of shops is high end. It would make sense for HBC to retire the Hudson Bay name on Bloor and convert it to something that can compete with Holts. Saks Fifth Avenue is arguably a higher class brand than Hudson's. They will push that name on Bloor out of all locations they have to choose from. The less ritzy Hudson's brand can stay on Queen and cater to the middle-class demographic that shop near the Eaton Centre.
Mark my words, there will only be one Saks in all of Toronto. Saks isn't like a Nordstrom, they usually don't build multiple locations in one city. Hudson's at Sherway can renovate, and as for Yorkdale, it'd be a bit risky considering Nordstrom and Simons are also pushing for the mall.
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Filip
Senior Member
I think residential for Sherway would be pushing it. It's practically surrounded by miles of industrial uses.
prosperegal
Senior Member
But it's not a pedestrian-friendly area either. Saks should be in a space that is more walkable than...ummm...parkable.
Filip
Senior Member
Well their urban locations are probably outnumbered by a factor of 10:1.
This is a typical mall anchor. Malls are not usually pedestrian-friendly...
prosperegal
Senior Member
Toronto doesn't need a mall anchor in the form of Saks. I was very surprised at the two 416 Nordstrom stores that have been announced are at Sherway and Yorkdale while Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa are downtown. It doesn't make much sense to me (can you tell that I'm not a car person?).
Filip
Senior Member
I think it's safe to say that if Toronto gets only one (1) Saks, it will be at Yonge/Bloor. If it gets two, then most likely the second is in a mall.