Saks Fifth Avenue makes its Canadian debut

  • 2016-02-23
Toronto’s Queen Street is home to the first Saks Fifth Avenue store, an addition to the retail sector that many Canadians have welcomed with open arms.

Saks Fifth Avenue is a high-end fashion retailer that will give the iconic Holt Renfrew brand a true rivalry for the first time. According to Marc Metrick, president of Saks, if the store gives people the level of service they expect and the fashion they are demanding, Canadian consumers will choose to shop there.

The opening of this brand in Canada required a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make its entrance successful. The company has been working on sourcing the perfect locations to open its stores, researching what type of fashion the Canadian population truly wants, and hiring and training Canadian staff. This work required a degree of other support services from temporary accommodations to business card printing.

One of Saks’ key differentiators from current and future high-end retail competitors in Canada is its selection of women’s footwear, which it will follow up with a similar offering in the men’s section. It has decided on this direction after conducting research into the Canadian retail landscape, but does not plan on establishing many differences between its American and Canadian stores.

Saks plans on opening a second location in Sherway Gardens mall shortly after the downtown Toronto location’s debut.