*New Ottawa store. Photo: chantsy via IG*

Danish footwear brand ECCO will open its first accessories boutique in North America this month, and it will also continue to open stores to serve consumers nationwide. The company will operate 30 Canadian locations by the end of 2016, with a goal of eventually operating about 45 nationally.

The new accessories boutique will be contained within the existing ECCO location at 2675 Granville Street in Vancouver, according to ECCO Canada president Jordan Searle. A second ECCO accessories shop will open within ECCO's new Yorkdale Shopping Centre store in Toronto in the second quarter of 2017, he said.

ECCO's 29th Canadian store location opened at the end of last month in the new expansion wing of Ottawa's CF Rideau Centre. On October 5, ECCO will open its 30th Canadian store at Tsawwassen Mills, south of Vancouver.

The company is on track to eventually operate about 45 locations nationally, according to Mr. Searle, with three new locations anticipated in Canada for 2017. The company will continue to open between three and four stores yearly for the next several years.

ECCO was founded in Bredebro, Denmark, in 1963. It's products are sold in 88 countries worldwide in over 3,000 ECCO shops and shop-in-stores, at more than 14,000 sales points around the world. The brand has since expanded into accessories and small leather goods. ECCO Canada was founded in 1996, and is celebrating 20 years of operations in this country. Northwest Atlantic represents ECCO as brokerage in Canada.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: September 15, 2016