Quebec City-based large-format fashion retailer La Maison Simons has opened its first Calgary location in downtown Calgary's ‘The CORE’ retail complex.

The 96,000 square foot store occupies five floors of the nine-level Lancaster Building (built in 1919), as well as three levels of the adjacent The CORE shopping complex. The main floor of Simons runs an entire city block on 2 Street SW between Stephen Avenue and 7 Avenue SW. Local design firm McKinley Burkart led Simons’ architectural and design plans, with a vision to integrate the two buildings.

Art plays an important role in the new Calgary location. Simons commissioned local Calgary artist Maya Gohill to install a three-storey painted mural which runs along the escalators in the Lancaster Building, as per the photos below. Several other Calgary artists are also represented in the store, including a large graphic mural by Megan Jentsc, and a portrait (called ‘Poet #2) by internationally recognized artist Chris Cran.

When entering the store from street-level, "a ribbon-like curved floor-to-ceiling windowscape," creates "visual continuity around both buildings”, according to Simons. The photo below is by Ryan Massel.

*(women's accessories. Photo: Ryan Massel)*

The store also features the 40-seat Ève café, with a menu of hot and cold, sweet and savoury treats. The café acts as a transition area between women’s departments on levels one and two, and men’s on levels three and four.

**(Twik** department for young female shoppers, decorated in pinks and peaches with decorative panels of weaving and a large vintage inspired billboard sign,)

**(Djab**, the young men’s collections department, features a "raw feel with concrete walls, industrial lighting and cityscape graphics.

*('The brief' men's underwear department, part of the **Le 31** deparment. Photo: Ryan Massel)*

The upper level windows of the Lancaster Building are lined with softly lit green drapery (as per the top photo), creating a glowing exterior façade and a dramatic skylight illuminates the asymmetrical multi-floor opening visible from all levels. A set of walnut stairs connects all five floors from Customer Service on the lower level up to men’s departments on the fourth floor. The staircase features a frame of blackened steel chevron rails that creates a dramatic focal point in the store.

**(Edito**, features both men’s and women’s international designer collections, and is defined with feature entrances and uses elegant darker tones for a more luxurious feel. This department features some designer fashion pieces priced into the thousands, by designers such as Balmain, Martin Margiela, Moschino and DSquared2.

**(Maison** — Simons’ home collection, is housed in a warm grey environment with pops of bright green tiles, featuring kitchen, bath and bedroom vignettes)

The Calgary store is Simons’ 14th location in Canada, and is the second for the province — Simons’ first Alberta store opened in October of 2012 at West Edmonton Mall, and a second Edmonton store will open on August 24 of this year at Londonderry Shopping Centre.

Simons was founded in 1840 by John Simons as a dry goods store in Quebec City, and is now led by brothers Peter and Richard Simons. Other locations include: Quebec City (three stores), Montreal (four stores), Sherbrooke, Ottawa (two locations), West Vancouver, Edmonton, and Mississauga, Ontario.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: March 17, 2017