*EXTERIOR OF NEW BOUCLAIR CONCEPT STORE. PHOTO: BOUCLAIR*

By Mario Toneguzzi

After a restructuring process that included the closure of about a third of its stores, Bouclair, a leading destination for home decor in Canada, has embarked on an ambitious initiative to launch new concept stores in the chain.

Cesar Morales, Marketing Operations Manager of Bouclair, said the new Bouclair concept was first launched last year with the openings of the Brossard, Boucherville, Boisbriand, Mascouche, and St-Jérôme stores. “Bouclair continues to grow and plans to open more new concept stores in 2021,” he added.

“When you arrive you feel at home,” he said. “We basically have a multi-sensorial environment where you feel cozy and welcome by the fragrance that we have. We have a curated playlist. All the products are placed in an easier way to shop for people and with our store advisors that will help you find the right solutions for you.”

“We have images by collection showing you how to decorate so you are also learning at the same time that you are shopping through the different images and the different setups that we have there.”

Sid Lee Architecture partnered with Bouclair to design the prototype and subsequent stores.

BOUCLAIR PLANS TO ADD MORE CONCEPT STORES IN 2021

The company currently has 55 stores open in Canada in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick. The first store opened in 1970 in Montreal.

“Bouclair is basically a home furnishing retailer that offers coordinated decor to customers. We are their interior designer for them with complete decor solutions they can apply to their home,” said Morales.

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PHOTOS OF INTERIOR OF NEW BOUCLAIR CONCEPT STORE. PHOTOS: BOUCLAIR

Chicoutimi and Barrie, as well Mega Centre Sainte Foy and Les Galeries de la Capitale, both located in Quebec City, will all undergo a transformation of their current brick-and-mortar concept to one that offers a multi-faceted experience where customers can easily imagine recreating the looks in their own home, making it more enjoyable to shop for home decor pieces.

Morales said customers will enjoy the new Bouclair atmosphere and be inspired by decor accents displayed in a way that showcases each collection’s style, furniture displays full of arrangement ideas, rich visual tools that express the vibe of each collection, and decor experts available to help with any decor project. Each store has been revamped with the black store logo and storefront, along with natural woods mixed with greenery, adding to the brand’s new, sleek and trendy image.

“We are also going to be renovating 10 more stores next year,” he said.

Morales said through its restructuring process Bouclair kept the company’s stronger and best locations.

“We have also been growing the ecommerce to support the markets where we don’t have stores. For us, it’s very important that our customers are still able to order our products. We have seen a tremendous increase in demand where people are still in many markets that we don’t have stores and are ordering now online,” he said.

“It’s actually basically working very well for us. The online business is something that we’re growing. We have every week a new decor to propose to our customers on our home page so we can inspire them. We have videos where we basically show them how to dress their windows, decorate and we are also trying to have new gadgets for people to visualize the decor on their houses.”

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary, has more than 40 years experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He now works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training.

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