The Ultimate Toronto Thread

[NVPG]

I just heard on the radio that Nordstrom is closing all stores in Canada by June. I hope the deals will be good.

I’m not surprised at all. Speaking to the men’s department they absolutely failed at keeping a cohesive selection of high end brands. So many brands came and went and the buyers didn’t seem to know what they were doing. It seems like they eventually gave up and focused on low end brands/ sportswear. My wife used to be a manager there and it was a **** show. I called this a few years ago….I’m gonna miss finding E. Zegna suits at Rack marked down to $120 (plus my old discount).

 

[Kappelan]

I’m not surprised at all. Speaking to the men’s department they absolutely failed at keeping a cohesive selection of high end brands.

When they just opened there was possible to find something interesting on a rare occasion. Right now they sell basically the same stuff as TheBay and Saks.

 

[NVPG]

When they just opened there was possible to find something interesting on a rare occasion. Right now they sell basically the same stuff as TheBay and Saks.

They always stocked the worst selections or the same selections as previous seasons and wondered why it wasn’t selling. They’re buyers didn’t pay attention to what customers wanted and they gave up on smaller brands right away without giving them a chance. I should add that I will not be surprised when Saks pulls out of Canada too.

 

[KaleidoscopicK]

Oof, that's a shame.

Brand-wise, it's not as if they didn't try: on the CM side they did carry John Lobb at Yorkdale when it opened, among a couple of other brands that I don't recall. On the streetwear/casual side, they made an honest attempt to carry interesting or well-known labels (Yohji Yamamoto, Lemaire, Norse Projects etc. at Eaton Centre; Dries Van Noten, Alyx, JW Anderson at Yorkdale).

They had already removed most of the non-hype casual/streetwear labels in their Eaton Centre and Yorkdale locations at least three years ago, because most of it didn't sell in Toronto without a heavy discount. (IIRC their Vancouver store still maintained a decent section.)

I still have an unused Nordstrom gift card that I now need to use in a hurry: their CM offerings don't interest me at all and I usually didn't like their casual buys or it was beyond my comfort zone price-wise. Time for me to head to the Eaton Centre and buy a Reigning Champ shirt or something.

 

[Bersabee]

I just heard on the radio that Nordstrom is closing all stores in Canada by June. I hope the deals will be good.

I think for men Canali/Jack Victor/Calvin Klein and Eton inventory is owned by Nordstrom. Some brands like Gucci, Brunello, Burberry is on consignment and will be returned to respective companies.

Sales will most likely start at 20% and then work it’s way down since the inventory is most likely owned by a liquidator now.

 

[shoewarma]

They always stocked the worst selections or the same selections as previous seasons and wondered why it wasn’t selling. They’re buyers didn’t pay attention to what customers wanted and they gave up on smaller brands right away without giving them a chance. I should add that I will not be surprised when Saks pulls out of Canada too.

I had the exact same thought when I heard this news. The merchandise in all these luxury departments stores, including Holt Renfrew, just fails to excite and targets a rather limited demographic. They've never bothered to diversify.

Every time I walk into Nordstrom, Saks, or Holt Renfrew, I'm surprised by how little the product seems to change. I just can't seem to find anything worthwhile in mall-type brick and mortar shops anymore.

That said, I wonder what's going to happen to this tier of department stores here later down the line. If HBC is already struggling so much, it'll be lights out for the high-end stores very soon.

 

[NVPG]

I had the exact same thought when I heard this news. The merchandise in all these luxury departments stores, including Holt Renfrew, just fails to excite and targets a rather limited demographic. They've never bothered to diversify.

Every time I walk into Nordstrom, Saks, or Holt Renfrew, I'm surprised by how little the product seems to change. I just can't seem to find anything worthwhile in mall-type brick and mortar shops anymore.

That said, I wonder what's going to happen to this tier of department stores here later down the line. If HBC is already struggling so much, it'll be lights out for the high-end stores very soon.

I agree to a certain extent. I think Holts does the best job if I were to pick one. They’ve focused on a lot of contemporary so it’s not for everyone but I find that they at least will try to get a few interesting pieces or follow trends (as you should with that clientele). At Nordstrom they would always pick the most boring, most likely to end up on the sales rack items. This is just one example I can think of but I know it happened in other circumstances as well….a couple years ago I was really into Acne Studios sweatshirts, which they release in different vibrant colours every season. I had one in black but was always looking for other colours (and naturally wanted to buy at Nordstrom because I had a discount). Time would pass and new collections would come out and I’d return to the store and they would only stock the same colour over and over. Now if I’m a customer that likes a brand and am coming back to buy more, how to you expect to keep me returning as a customer with the same selections? I’d of course return again and discover they got rid of the brand altogether. This happened with a lot of brands, the same failed cycle….

 

[induere_to]

How many of you have actually ever bought anything at Nordstrom at regular price?

Nordstrom ships product back and forth to the States, Vancouver or wherever their statistics recommend it being allocated. This is Toronto, people don't shop regular price. I've been employed by so many retailers in the past that I know how it works, I've befriended many buyers and would talk regularly to help get as good product as I could. On Styleforum, we sit back and talk about discount codes and which stores are having sales and when to expect them. I've said it before: a friend of mine worked in the shoe department at Harry Rosen and said Harry Rosen has pulled out brands in the past because people walk in to try on sizes just so they can buy them on sale elsewhere. How do you really expect these places to survive?

On a computer, places like Nordstrom can see what sells at regular price and what doesn't. If a brand like Ring Jacket keeps going on sale before it sells out, why keep it in that store? If I was a business owner I'd ship it all back out to a store like New York City where statistically Ring Jacket has a better chance (just an example).

No matter which retailer I have worked for, I've had fussy 'fashion heads' complain about the inadequacy of buyers and the awful selections. It's simple, basics and the less expensive offerings are the only things that sell at regular price.

If you don't buy product at regular price, you cannot complain about a companies product selection.

 

[7_rocket]

How many of you have actually ever bought anything at Nordstrom at regular price?

Nordstrom ships product back and forth to the States, Vancouver or wherever their statistics recommend it being allocated. This is Toronto, people don't shop regular price. I've been employed by so many retailers in the past that I know how it works, I've befriended many buyers and would talk regularly to help get as good product as I could. On Styleforum, we sit back and talk about discount codes and which stores are having sales and when to expect them. I've said it before: a friend of mine worked in the shoe department at Harry Rosen and said Harry Rosen has pulled out brands in the past because people walk in to try on sizes just so they can buy them on sale elsewhere. How do you really expect these places to survive?

On a computer, places like Nordstrom can see what sells at regular price and what doesn't. If a brand like Ring Jacket keeps going on sale before it sells out, why keep it in that store? If I was a business owner I'd ship it all back out to a store like New York City where statistically Ring Jacket has a better chance (just an example).

No matter which retailer I have worked for, I've had fussy 'fashion heads' complain about the inadequacy of buyers and the awful selections. It's simple, basics and the less expensive offerings are the only things that sell at regular price.

If you don't buy product at regular price, you cannot complain about a companies product selection.

I bought two pairs of shoe trees at regular price

 

[RapFan]

I bought a pair of John Lobbs at the rack when they first came here for $350.

 

[TimothyF]

Even when regular price is 8x the cost? Traditionally clothing is marked up 2-3x cost

 

[goatamous II]

Even when regular price is 8x the cost? Traditionally clothing is marked up 2-3x cost

This is where things get fuzzy.

@induere_to, I get your point, but if I can walk into Harry Rosen, try on pair of shoes, then turn around and easily find them at a significantly cheaper price online (something I have done), then we can open the can of worms about whether "regular price" is actually representative of "market price"

There are a ton of factors at play, with rent / overheads / etc that exist in brick and mortar and not nearly as much in online.

I can walk into Nordstrom and potentially find something I like. The first thing I'm going to do is pull out this little computer of a phone and google comparable pricing to gauge whether or not I want to buy it at that moment or not.

I personally wouldn't ever compare about buyers or selection at the stores, but I will complain about prices.

 

[Bersabee]

People walk in to try on sizes just so they can buy them on sale elsewhere.

This is me. I’m people.

 

[NVPG]

How many of you have actually ever bought anything at Nordstrom at regular price?

Nordstrom ships product back and forth to the States, Vancouver or wherever their statistics recommend it being allocated. This is Toronto, people don't shop regular price. I've been employed by so many retailers in the past that I know how it works, I've befriended many buyers and would talk regularly to help get as good product as I could. On Styleforum, we sit back and talk about discount codes and which stores are having sales and when to expect them. I've said it before: a friend of mine worked in the shoe department at Harry Rosen and said Harry Rosen has pulled out brands in the past because people walk in to try on sizes just so they can buy them on sale elsewhere. How do you really expect these places to survive?

On a computer, places like Nordstrom can see what sells at regular price and what doesn't. If a brand like Ring Jacket keeps going on sale before it sells out, why keep it in that store? If I was a business owner I'd ship it all back out to a store like New York City where statistically Ring Jacket has a better chance (just an example).

No matter which retailer I have worked for, I've had fussy 'fashion heads' complain about the inadequacy of buyers and the awful selections. It's simple, basics and the less expensive offerings are the only things that sell at regular price.

If you don't buy product at regular price, you cannot complain about a companies product selection.

Definitely some points I agree with, but I don’t think it addresses the very real shortcomings that Nordstrom had in relation to other stores. Nordstrom didn’t really mark down most of their high end stuff. So if people went to other stores for the price point, that’s on them (I also heard they didn’t do heavy markdowns because they “are a luxury store”, which seems lacking in self awareness given the direction they went in). I personally found myself shopping at other stores, not because of the price point, but because they didn’t have anything. I had access to a staff discount but shopped at Holts. Also, they opened as many Nordstrom Rack stores as Nordstroms, which says something about the profitability of sales items…those stores made a lot of money at first.

 

[Pomegranates]

How many of you have actually ever bought anything at Nordstrom at regular price?

Nordstrom ships product back and forth to the States, Vancouver or wherever their statistics recommend it being allocated. This is Toronto, people don't shop regular price. I've been employed by so many retailers in the past that I know how it works, I've befriended many buyers and would talk regularly to help get as good product as I could. On Styleforum, we sit back and talk about discount codes and which stores are having sales and when to expect them. I've said it before: a friend of mine worked in the shoe department at Harry Rosen and said Harry Rosen has pulled out brands in the past because people walk in to try on sizes just so they can buy them on sale elsewhere. How do you really expect these places to survive?

I hear you, but this isn't about survival, it's about growth of profits. Generally speaking the margins in the luxury mass produced industry are generous. In addition, luxury goods have increased their retail prices significantly in the past decade, well and above inflation pressures. From reader opinion here, it sounds like there were issues with product selection and lack of sales. From what I've read anecdotally stores in Toronto were getting outsold by much smaller business in the same mall, in the luxury goods industry.

Frankly, people can complain about product selection, especially if they bought a comparable product for cheaper.

I feel for the 2,500 jobs lost.