LA MAISON SIMONS OPENING AT OTTAWA'S RIDEAU CENTRE || SPRING 2015

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La Maison Simons will open a 105,000 square foot store at Ottawa's Rideau Centre in the Spring of 2015. This will be Simons' ninth store (after its Galeries d'Anjou store opens this August) and its second location outside of Quebec.

Today's announcement is surprising. In November 2012 we reported Simons was shut-out of Rideau Centre by Nordstrom.  Simons subsequently sought space in an Ottawa-area mall in Gatineau, Quebec. Despite the signed Rideau lease, Simons may still open a second Ottawa-area store, according to Simons President and CEO Peter Simons.

Negotiations between La Maison Simons and Rideau Centre landlord Cadillac Fairview commenced about five years ago. Negotiations stalled in November 2012. Renewed talks led to a signed lease agreement between Simons and Rideau Centre about two weeks ago. 

Simons' first non-Quebec store opened at West Edmonton Mall in October of 2012. That store recently won Chainstore Age's International Store of the Year award. Peter Simons says they are actively seeking space in and/or around Vancouver and Toronto as well as in other Canadian cities.

Construction is underway for an expansion of Ottawa's Rideau Centre. This week, unfortunately, part of the facade of the historical Ogilvy department store collapsed with preservation efforts. Its historical elements are to to be integrated into the mall expansion.

We will update readers with further La Maison Simons Rideau Centre store details, including store size, location, and Rideau Centre expansion renderings and floorplans. 

Thank you to our source, Retail Insider Geoffrey Hall, for providing us with the link to this article source. 

La Maison Simons website: www.simons.ca

Rideau Centre website: www.rideaucentre.net