Hudson’s Bay Company opens concept stores in Winnipeg

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This article was published 31/03/2016 (3512 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Canada’s leading retail chains — Hudson’s Bay Company — is trying out a new concept and Winnipeg is the only city where it’s being tested.

The stores are at three former Home Outfitters locations — 710 St. James St., 1580 Regent Ave., and 1585 Kenaston Blvd. But unlike Home Outfitters, which carried mainly bedroom, bathroom and kitchen products, the new stores feature items “for every room” in the home. That includes indoor and outdoor furniture and accessories, big and small appliances, pots, pans, dishes, cutlery, beds, bedding, and towels.

The stores have been rebranded as Hudson’s Bay Home and are having their grand opening today through Sunday.

“This is a new concept for HBC, and the first of its kind in Canada,” company spokesperson Tiffany Bourré said in an email. “HBC has a long history with Winnipeg, and we are very excited to celebrate another milestone here by bringing this new store concept to the city.”

Asked why Winnipeg was chosen as the testing ground, Bourré said, “Winnipeg is a very strong market for HBC. These (the three former Home Outfitters outlets) are already successful stores, and the city is a proven market with three diverse locations.”

When asked whether the concept will be rolled out across the rest of the country if it’s well received in Winnipeg, Bourré said, there are no other Hudson’s Bay Home stores planned at this time.

“Our focus is on these three Winnipeg stores.”

She said all three of the former Home Outfitters stores have undergone extensive renovations, with new store fixtures, new signage and a redesigned “flow” that’s designed to improve the shopping experience.

She said the new stores will carry all of the brands Home Outfitters carried, as well as ones previously found only at HBC’s regular department stores.

“We are introducing new, designer brands like Le Creuset, Kate Spade, Smeg, Vitamix, Lacoste, Lauren Ralph Lauren – including several exclusive to Hudson’s Bay, like Martha Stewart and Hotel Collection,” she said.”We are also expanding and delivering new offerings, like major home appliances, enhanced furniture and decor.”

She noted all of the products in the new Home stores also will be available online at thebay.com/home.

Bourré said despite now having three stores dedicated to home furnishings and decor, HBC’s department stores in the city will continue to carry furniture and other home-furnishing items.

Two Toronto-based retail analysts contacted earlier Thursday were surprised to hear that three new Hudson’s Bay Home stores were opening in Winnipeg.

“I haven’t heard anything about it …,” Maureen Atkinson, senior partner with J.C. Williams Group, said in an interview. She and John Winter, of John Winter Associates, said it sounds like HBC wants to see how Winnipeg consumers respond to the concept before deciding whether to expand it to other Canadian cities.

“If it works in Winnipeg, it will work everywhere,” Winters said. “It is a unique environment, so you can test new ideas there.”

Kyle Romaniuk, vice-president of corporate initiatives and a branding expert in the Winnipeg office of CHR Group, said Winnipeg also a makes a good test market because of its size.

“It’s a large/small city where you can reach the whole city fairly cost effectively because it’s smaller, but it’s also large enough that its probably a good sample size,” he explained.

“If it’s not successful, that’s fine, too,” Atkinson added. “At least they found that out in a less expensive way.”

Winter said having dedicated home furnishing stores also makes sense for HBC because it can offer a wider selection of those products in those stores, and then has the option of freeing up more space in its department stores for fashion clothing and accessories.

“Fashion clothing and accessories has a bigger (profit) margin… and you’re specializing in retail things that move fast and have various seasons. You also want to be able to promote that adequately, and you could probably do that better in the old department store space and set up your home furnishings at other accessible locations.”

But Atkinson said even if the concept is eventually expanded to other cities, “I don’t think they will take that (home furnishings) out of their big downtown stores.”

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca