La Maison Simons has officially opened its first store in Toronto, a long-anticipated move that brings the Quebec City-based fashion retailer to one of Canada’s most prestigious shopping destinations. The Simons Yorkdale store opening marks a major step in the company’s national expansion and its eighteenth location in Canada.
The new 118,000-square-foot store spans two levels of the former Nordstrom space at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Canada’s top-performing enclosed mall by sales per square foot. This location joins the retailer’s existing Greater Toronto Area store at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, which opened in March 2016.
The August 14 launch drew an enthusiastic crowd that included members of the Simons family, senior executives, retail colleagues, friends, and representatives from Oxford Properties, which owns Yorkdale. The atmosphere reflected both excitement for a new retail experience and pride in a Canadian brand’s ability to continue expanding in a competitive market.
A Store Designed for the Toronto Market
The Yorkdale store’s layout is tailored to an urban customer base, combining Simons’ private labels with an expanded mix of luxury and contemporary brands. The main floor features women’s fashion, footwear, bags, and accessories, while the second level houses men’s fashion, home collections, and a children’s department.
This location offers more expansive footwear departments and a larger assortment of designer bags than many other Simons stores. The Édito designer departments for men and women feature exclusive brands such as Balmain, Kenzo, Missoni, Vivienne Westwood, and Marni, alongside Simons’ private label departments including Twik, Icône, Contemporaine, Miiyu, Le 31, and Simons Maison.
Peter Simons, the company’s Chief Merchant and former President and CEO who led much of its national expansion before stepping aside in 2022, described the Yorkdale location as both a refinement and an evolution of the Simons format. “It’s 118,000 square feet and the design, the artwork—it’s always unique to every store,” he said during the opening.
“We’ve tried to refine how we fit the whole store together while keeping distinct locations for different sub-brands. I think the market’s going to be open to not only our private label but also a lot of discovery brands coming out of our offices in Korea, Italy, and Paris.”
Art and Architecture at the Forefront
The Simons Yorkdale store opening continues the retailer’s long tradition of incorporating art and architecture as central elements of the shopping experience. Designed in collaboration with Gensler Design, Lemay Michaud Architecture, and Reliance Construction, the store follows a “Perennial Ephemera” theme inspired by cycles of light, growth, and transformation.
Customers encounter “The Walk of Frames,” an interactive art pathway featuring 40 works by 24 artists, with QR codes allowing visitors to explore each artist’s story. French artist Nelio’s “CIEL” mural, painted above the central staircase, anchors the store’s artistic statement with a luminous, abstract interpretation of a cloudy sunset.
In addition, Montreal-based Rodeo FX, internationally recognized for its work on productions such as Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, created three large-scale digital installations for the store. These include:
- Solarium: An animated fabric installation visible from Yorkdale Road, evoking sunlight and stillness.
- Forest Diorama: A layered LED display above the entrance showing mannequins in a shifting seasonal forest.
- Fabric of Life: A digital animation inside the entrance blending blooming botanicals with fashion imagery.
Bernard Leblanc, Simons’ current President and CEO, emphasized the company’s vision: “We believe our spaces are more than just places to shop—they are places to discover, to be inspired, and to engage with fashion, Canadian art, and design.”
Sustainability Embedded in the Brand
Environmental responsibility has been part of Simons’ operations for decades. Peter Simons said the company began formally mapping its environmental footprint over 20 years ago, working with PwC’s sustainability division in the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.
The Yorkdale store incorporates elements from the company’s Vision program, which highlights garments made from recycled or lower-impact materials. The program aims to make responsible fashion more accessible while allowing customers to align their purchases with their values.
Building on a National Growth Strategy
The Simons Yorkdale store opening is part of a broader $100 million investment in the Greater Toronto Area, which includes the September launch of a second Toronto location at CF Toronto Eaton Centre. The downtown store will occupy approximately 112,000 square feet of another former Nordstrom space, sharing it with Eataly and Nike.
Combined, the two Toronto stores are projected to generate around $100 million in annual sales. That performance could place them among Simons’ most successful locations nationally. Currently, the retailer’s total sales exceed $650 million annually, with approximately two-thirds generated by its 17 other physical stores and the remainder from its e-commerce business.
From Quebec City to Coast-to-Coast Presence
Founded in 1840 by John Simons in Quebec City, the company began as a dry goods store and grew into a department store format focused on fashion. It remains Canada’s oldest privately owned family business.
For more than 185 years, Simons’ operations were limited to Quebec, expanding across the province to cities including Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke, and Saint-Bruno. In 2012, the brand ventured outside Quebec for the first time with a flagship store at West Edmonton Mall.
The years that followed brought new locations in Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton (Londonderry Mall), Mississauga, Halifax, and now Toronto. The retailer’s expansion strategy has focused on flagship-sized stores in top-performing shopping centres, often in redeveloped spaces formerly occupied by department store chains such as Sears and Nordstrom.
A Canadian Retailer Standing Alone
In a Canadian retail landscape where most homegrown department store competitors have disappeared, Simons has endured by differentiating itself from traditional department store models. Peter Simons resists the label entirely. “I don’t really consider us a department store,” he said. “We don’t do hard goods. It’s a unique concept of mixing brands and our own exclusive merchandise.”
He noted that long-standing stores continue to post strong double-digit sales growth. “We’re in a bit of a magic moment,” he said, acknowledging a mix of factors, from brand loyalty to the appeal of a family-owned Canadian business, that have helped fuel momentum. “Bay customers were used to larger-format store experiences. Ours is different, but still navigable, with unique assortments.”
Designer Brands and the Spirit of Discovery
Simons’ designer Édito departments have long been a point of distinction. While the company has carried well-known international brands since the 1960s — including early Canadian boutiques for labels such as Ralph Lauren and Kenzo — it also prioritizes introducing emerging designers.
“My heart’s with the younger startups and interesting new creatives,” Peter Simons said. “You live in a world where you have a hot brand here and a hot brand there, and you need to have them. But what I’m really looking for is creativity. If you’ve got that, I’m interested.”
Looking Ahead
With two new Toronto stores, an established e-commerce platform, and a continued focus on art, design, and sustainability, Simons appears poised for a strong next chapter. While the company is open to new locations, Peter Simons said it prefers to wait for the right opportunity. “We’re certainly looking at spaces and we’re open in discussion, but we’re looking for the right space at the right time.”
For now, the Simons Yorkdale store opening and the upcoming CF Toronto Eaton Centre debut reflect both the brand’s heritage and its forward-looking approach—an integration of fashion, art, and culture that is increasingly rare in Canadian retail.
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