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American-based women\u2019s fashion brand Windsor is launching its first five stores in Canada this Spring with plans to significantly grow its footprint in the future. <\/p>\n
The new stores will open in southern Ontario at CF Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton, the Oshawa Centre in Oshawa, Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket, and Dufferin Mall in Toronto.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are beyond excited to serve the Canadian market with the opening of five new stores this Spring. We look forward to providing an opportunity for our customers in the region to experience the brand in-person and have access to our unique value proposition,\u201d said Catherine Seaton, VP Marketing of Windsor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue to make fashion accessible to all, we\u2019re eager to invite women to experience the Windsor oasis that inspires and empowers through an ever evolving assortment of apparel and accessories for all of the meaningful moments in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The brand, which is based in Santa Fe Springs, California, and today has about 350 locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, was founded in 1937 by the Zekaria family.<\/p>\n \u201cOur founders were two brothers with their wives and really what they were trying to bring to the market is fashion that was accessible for the broader public. They saw a lot of celebrities with these gorgeous gowns that a lot of people couldn\u2019t afford,\u201d said Seaton.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted to be in a space and provide so when a woman has a special occasion in her life and she needs a special dress she could have somewhere to go that would have styles that were beautiful, that she was beautiful in, but were much more affordable and accessible from a price point perspective. That\u2019s really the whole heart of where we come from as a brand in terms of making that accessible and we service her across any of the occasions in her life.<\/p>\n \u201cOur assortment really is very broad. We\u2019re almost like a mini department store from an assortment perspective for women in that we dress her from head to toe, inside out, with everything from casual denim to formal dresses and everything in between . . . We really focus more on where she\u2019s going and what she\u2019s looking to dress for, the occasion that she\u2019s dressing for.\u201d<\/p>\n Seaton said the brand expanded to Puerto Rico a few years ago and when it began to think of where to expand next it took a look at its existing customer base.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually have a lot of customers in Canada, the majority of which are in the Greater Toronto Area. So there\u2019s a very natural affinity that we already saw with customers purchasing online from us and even going across the border into our stores in New York and shopping from us there as well. So it just seemed like a really natural next step for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cCanada is also a large market in that there is an opportunity for more than five stores for sure. We see a lot of potential there.\u201d<\/p>\n Carm Sivers, VP\/Managing Director, Canada, said she was approached by Windsor at the end of 2022 about expanding into the Canadian market. She had experience in this previously for a number of different brands including The Gap, American Eagle and Psycho Bunny.<\/p>\n \u201cI did my research. I talked to them a number of times and I said \u2018you know, you\u2019ve got something here because there\u2019s a void for sure in the Canadian marketplace when it comes to just a place where any girl\/woman can go to get what she needs to feel pretty and feel special\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Sivers felt moving into the Canadian market was a \u201csure-fire win\u201d for the brand. With her experience in the Canadian market with other brands, Sivers looked at what real estate would be best for the initial expansion into the country.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really going to the landlords. We were knocking on doors, explaining who we were, selling our brand. I knew once they saw it and once they see the stores open they\u2019ll be sold,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada is different from the U.S. when it comes to vacancies . . . There\u2019s not a lot of vacancy. Whereas in the U.S. I think the brand where it was able to go into 10 malls and get 10 spaces just like that, it wasn\u2019t that easy in Canada. So it was about what was available, was it the right size, was it the right place?\u201d<\/p>\n The first store opens at CF Lime Ridge on April 11. Oshawa Centre will open April 18 followed by Upper Canada and Hillcrest on April 25 and Dufferin Mall on May 9.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be able to serve a lot of the Toronto market because of the locations that we\u2019re in,\u201d said Seaton.\u00a0<\/p>\n The stores opening in Canada have an average space of about 3,800 square feet. The brand usually looks for spaces of between 3,800 to 5,000 square feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think this has a lot of legs,\u201d said Sivers. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have joined if I thought it was five and done. To me, I\u2019ve got my first five and I\u2019ve already got my next five kind of in my head after that and then it\u2019s Ontario and then I truly think we branch out to the West Coast so we look at the B.C. and Alberta market. We want to get our brand out that way and really spread across Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at it and kind of did the malls, honestly it could be a 60-store chain, an 80-store chain. We could probably go up to 100 if we wanted to dependent on the availability in the malls. We don\u2019t want to oversaturate the market. I don\u2019t believe in doing that. I\u2019ve been in places where that\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Seaton said the brand is growth oriented. Over the last two and a half to three years, the brand opened about 200 stores. The last two years it has opened 30 to 35 stores. The year before that it was 65 and then it was 30 the year before that. Even in COVID in 2020 it still opened about 12 stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe know (Canada) is a different market than the U.S. We\u2019re not going on with that U.S. consumer mindset. We understand it\u2019s a different consumer, it\u2019s a different market and we want to make sure that we\u2019re really understanding what the Canadian customer is looking for from us and how we can service them in the right way and so we\u2019ve done a lot of research there. We\u2019ve done focus groups . . .\u00a0 to understand how do we really become a part of the community in a meaningful way as we step into these markets,\u201d added Seaton.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call it the oasis \u2013 the oasis experience for the girl. And it truly is giving her that special experience, making her feel special. Customers can be fickle, and we want to differentiate ourselves by providing her that oasis and by giving her the right guest experience so that when she thinks of those special occasions or when she thinks of just wanting to go out and feel pretty one night that she thinks of Windsor and we become the brand of choice,\u201d said Sivers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/retailinsider.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/windsor-1.png\")
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