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New Toronto Brooks Brothers store opening soon

Recoil

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There is a new Brooks opening on the northwest corner of Bloor and St. George. I really don't understand why they chose this location but time will tell. I'm not sure when they plan to open, it's going into an existing building and the posters currently fill the windows. The physical building looks great and they could really make this into a great looking throwback store, I just wonder how many people in that neighbourhood are looking for this kind of clothing. The big-man-on-ivy-league-campus stuff, sure, but 1K for suits, I don't know.
 

MyOtherLife

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They'll be fine there. It is only a few minutes walk from Bay St. That whole stretch of Bloor Street has had a new facelift recently so perfect timing. Thank you for the heads up.
 
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Ivon

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Do they really need another downtown store? Picking retail store locations is more science than art those days, they should know what they are doing, although for the type of customers I see at Royal Bank Plaza, I would have thought something like Oakville Place might be better. Rosen has a financial district and Yorkville store, but there merchandise is somewhat different, more luxury and trendier stuff in Yorkville. Brooks Brothers is Brooks Brothers.
 

TRINI

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There's a ton of graduating students in that area who'll be entering the workforce and needing interview suits and work wardrobes
 
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WildeMan

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They are also opening in Bayview Village at Bayview and Sheppard.
 

bellyhungry

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Toronto is not very kind to high-end retailers if they sit on their reutation elsewhere and believe that they can just open a store and people will be gravitated to them.
 

Bill Smith

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Interesting choice of location. Bloor and St George is a little bit west of Yorkville and I'm not sure how many students from my alma mater (University of Toronto) will be core customers. It might come down to that magic combination of the square footage required for a store and the price per square foot and perhaps they want to be a little ahead of the curve in terms the neighbourhood changing. Bear in mind residential real estate is not cheap in that neck of the woods these days

Now as for Oakville Place, it's in my own back yard and honestly, it's a sad little mall. As much as I want a BB in my own backyard, reality is Sherway Gardens make a lot more sense in terms of potential locations.
 
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Nicola

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There is a new Brooks opening on the northwest corner of Bloor and St. George. .



Okay my memory is crap but isn't that walking distance to Queen's Park? Either that or they took over the campus bookstore. But that's college not bloor :)
 

saysomething

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They are also opening in Bayview Village at Bayview and Sheppard.


Saw the signs yesterday and was quite happy - BB will be getting a lot more of my business now with normal retail hours.

As for the U of T location, it'll be beside U of T; last I checked a lot of profs are employed there. And it's a 5 minute walk from Yorkville. I suspect there hours will be similar to the RBC location...iow, shite.
 
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Millerp

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Here's the location. NW corner of Bloor and St. George. The neighborhood is called
The Annex.


 
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othertravel

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I think BB deserves some credit. I used to be a Holts and Harrys shopper, and am really impressed by BB pricing during their sales. Their golden fleece suits (full canvas) are in the 800 range during their clearance event. A fully canvassed suit rarely drops below 1k at Harrys and Holts.
 

Bill Smith

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Here's the location. NW corner of Bloor and St. George. The neighborhood is called
The Annex.


That would be the perfect location, pre WWII building with character and I forgot, steps from the St. George subway station which intersects both the University and Bloor Lines. I'm starting to think BB's real estate office might a bit ahead of the curve playing the long game, lock in a nice long term lease at a reasonable rate and be the tenant that draws others to the neighbourhood.

Are they taking the whole ground floor?
 
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Bill Smith

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I think BB deserves some credit. I used to be a Holts and Harrys shopper, and am really impressed by BB pricing during their sales. Their golden fleece suits (full canvas) are in the 800 range during their clearance event. A fully canvassed suit rarely drops below 1k at Harrys and Holts.


Same here, I'm a convert from Harry's and Holt's too. I like Brooks Brother's customer service a lot better, they are nowhere as pushy especially compared to some of the associates working at Harry Rosen.
 

Ivon

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I think most of the Royal Bank Plaza SAs have worked at Harry at some point. I reconnected with one gentleman at BB who used to be my SA at Harry's on Bloor. I don't find Harry SAs to be any pushier than BB ones. I avoid Holt's like the plague, pushier and much more arrogant by far. I can see pushy at Harry's on Bloor, but I usually shop at the King St store and it's more relaxed, but then the older SAs are used to me. Lou is THE best suit guy I know, known him for decades. Steven is a real professional as well. Bloor SAs are hit and miss, but the woman in the shoe department is great.
 

Bill Smith

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I think most of the Royal Bank Plaza SAs have worked at Harry at some point. I reconnected with one gentleman at BB who used to be my SA at Harry's on Bloor. I don't find Harry SAs to be any pushier than BB ones. I avoid Holt's like the plague, pushier and much more arrogant by far. I can see pushy at Harry's on Bloor, but I usually shop at the King St store and it's more relaxed, but then the older SAs are used to me. Lou is THE best suit guy I know, known him for decades. Steven is a real professional as well. Bloor SAs are hit and miss, but the woman in the shoe department is great.


My experience has been with the Bloor St. Harry Rosen location. I think BB recruited well for their first Toronto location.
 

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