By Craig Patterson

Toronto-based fashion brand Canada Goose, known particularly for its outerwear, has opened its largest store in Canada to date in downtown Montreal. The standalone 8,000 square foot store, located at 1020 Ste-Catherine Street West, saw protests over the weekend from animal rights activists.

The store is Canada Goose’s largest to date in this country, and is located in a former HMV location at the southeast corner of Ste-Catherine West and Peel Street. It features a ‘cold room’ where visitors can test parkas in temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius.

The beautiful looking store features curated artwork throughout, including polar bear sculptures from Canadian artist Jason Carter. The overall feel is contemporary and luxurious — white marble is used throughout including a solid stone cash desk, contrasting with dark accents and wood trim. A glass display case in the store contains the brands first coat design, the ‘Langford parka’ in a VIP seating area.

JLL Retail Montreal acted on behalf of the landlord Canpro Investments in the lease deal.

*Store exterior on Friday, November 16. Photo:* ***Mondo_Grosso*** *via* *mtlurb.com*

The new Montreal store is the company’s 11th globally, and its fourth in Canada. Canada Goose’s first store in the world opened at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in October of 2016, spanning about 4,500 square feet. A second Canadian store opened in Calgary, measuring about 4,000 square feet, in the fall of 2017. Earlier this month, Canada Goose opened a 4,018 square foot store at CF Pacific Centre in Vancouver.

Canada Goose also operates international stores in New York City, Chicago, Boston, London UK, Tokyo, Short Hills NJ, and most recently in Hong Kong. The goal is to operate 20 locations internationally by the year 2020.

This year as well, Canada Goose will open a store in Beijing as it further penetrates the Chinese market with direct-to-consumer stores. Canada Goose also launched an e-commerce presence on Alibaba’s Tmall platform, and will open a regional head office in Shanghai.

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Bonjour Montréal, notre boutique sur la rue Sainte-Catherine est officiellement ouverte. Venez découvrir et tester nos parkas dans la première Chambre Froide au Canada avec des températures pouvant atteindre jusqu’à -25°C. Venez nous voir et explorez nos exclusivités montréalaises, telles que notre tuque unique à Montréal nos cabines d’essayage uniques et découvrez des œuvres d’art extraordinaires qui mettent en valeur notre patrimoine arctique. . . Bonjour Montréal, our location on rue Sainte-Catherine is officially open. Welcome to the only Canadian store with a Cold Room, where you can experience and test our parkas for yourself in temperatures as low as -25C. Pop in and explore our Montréal exclusives like our Montréal toque, our unique fitting rooms, and discover hand-picked artwork that showcases our Arctic Heritage.

A post shared by Canada Goose (@canadagoose) on Nov 16, 2018 at 3:09pm PST

Several more stores are expected to be announced soon, as landlords have confirmed completed deals. One US landlord said that they have secured Canada Goose as a tenant, and that the store will also include a ‘cold room’ as does the Montreal store as well as at its location in Short Hills NJ.

Publicly traded Canada Goose made news earlier this week when it announced that it had acquired footwear manufacturer Baffin Inc. for $32.5-million. The entities will be operated separately, according to Canada Goose.

Canada Goose’s first parka design on display in a sitting area in the store. Photo: Canada Goose

Canada Goose, which was founded in 1957, was primarily a wholesale brand prior to launching its standalone brick-and-mortar store expansion. Some multi-brand retailers carrying Canada Goose have expressed concerns as the brand goes direct-to-consumer, with some stores offering exclusives as well as a comprehensive brand experience. The Yorkdale store is said to sell more than $60-million annually and if other units come anything close to that in terms of revenue, wholesaling could become secondary as Canada Goose targets consumers directly without a retail ‘middleman’.

Animal rights protesters gathered outside the store on Friday morning for much of the day, and they were back Saturday. Maxime Frechette said that there were over 100 protesters shouting ‘shame on you’ to customers entering an exiting the store on Saturday afternoon, delaying his visit. Some claim that Canada Goose uses suppliers that are cruel to animals, though the company disputes this.

*Screen shot of a Google review of the new Montreal store.*

Some complained about the lineups during the opening and that included some online negative reviews. Canada Goose only allows so many people in its stores at once in order to control crowds, and there’s no doubt a concern that protestors could become an issue if they get in as well. Lineups are common in part, as well, because some make it their business to re-sell Canada Goose jackets overseas and because of this, Canada Goose has limited jacket purchases to five per day. Some resellers are said to pay others in line to make purchases for them in order to surpass their daily quota limit.

Craig Patterson, now based in Toronto, is the founder and Editor-in-Chief Retail Insider. He's also a retail and real estate consultant, retail tour guide and public speaker.

Follow him on Twitter @RetailInsider_, LinkedIn at Craig Patterson, or email him at: craig@retail-insider.com.

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