La Maison Simons West Edmonton Mall Wins 'Retail Store of the Year' Award

Simons West Edmonton Mall dressing rooms, viewed from above. [Image Source]

West Edmonton Mall's La Maison Simons department store has won Chain Store Age's prestigious 'International Store of the Year' Award. Simons opened its Edmonton store October 2012 as we previously reported. The store was designed by Toronto-based figure3 and will be profiled in Chain Store Age's March issue along with other category winners. 

Image from Canadian Interiors Magazine. [Image Source]

Simons also tied with two American stores for 'best fitting room' design. And pictures of Simons' fitting rooms from our previous post show why: These fitting rooms are VERY cool (as is the image of the men's dressing rooms below and women's, top of this article).

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Simons spends considerable sums making its store interiors beautiful, interesting and innovative. The retailer also integrates art into its stores, differentiating it from almost all Canadian retailers (and is possibly inspired by America's Neiman Marcus, which includes an extensive in-store art collection). "We continuously challenge ourselves to build stores that go beyond the norm.  We want to inspire and delight our customers, not only with our fashion, but with the surroundings, making the Simons experience unique and memorable," says Simons CEO Peter Simons in this press release. 

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During a telephone interview, West Edmonton Mall Leasing Agent Oren Rubin expressed his pride and gratitude for having Simons as a mall tenant, stating that he believes Simons deserves this award. We completely agree. 

Today (Wednesday, March 20th) Simons West Edmonton Mall will unveil a permanent art installation called 'Simons Aurora' by Canadian artist and architect Philip Beesley. It will be a canopy of "crystalline columns that uses sensory mechanisms to respond to human movement, creating a gently swelling and rippling ocean of light" according to a recent press release. We'll locate some images and provide them when available. 

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