(Southcentre Store)
Montreal-based multi-brand footwear retailer Browns Shoes will open three stores this spring, including a Browns Outlet as well as two full-line Browns stores. The retailer is in the process of expanding its store operations for its Browns, B2 and Browns Outlet concepts and after the spring expansion, it will operate 63 locations coast-to-coast.
The first of the three new stores will open on Thursday, February 16 in Calgary. Located at Southcentre Mall, the 3,949 square foot store replaces another location that has operated in the mall since 1995, which was also Browns’ first freestanding store in Calgary. Browns Shoes currently operates five locations in Calgary, including four stores under its Browns banner (Southcentre, CF Chinook Centre, The CORE and CF Market Mall) as well as a Browns Outlet at CrossIron Mills.
(Southcentre Store)
The second location to open this spring will be on March 16, when Browns opens a new 3,919 square foot store at Oshawa Centre, east of Toronto. It’s the latest upscale retailer to open in the mall, which recently saw a $230 million redevelopment that added 375,000 square feet of retail space, and improvements are ongoing. Browns Shoes currently operates 17 stores in the Greater Toronto Area, including 12 Browns stores, four B2 stores, and one Browns Outlet.
Winnipeg will see the opening of the company’s seventh outlet location when on May 3 of this year, a Browns Outlet will open at the highly anticipated Outlet Collection Winnipeg. The 3,930 square foot store will join a number of other popular retailers set to open in the outlet mall, which will be anchored by Manitoba’s first Saks OFF 5TH. Currently, Winnipeg has two Browns stores — one at CF Polo Park, and one at the St-Vital Centre.
(Oshawa Centre store, above and below)
Browns Shoes will open between four and six stores each year between 2017 to 2020, according to Senior Operations Manager Eric Ouaknine. Browns Shoes is a national retailer that operates stores coast-to-coast, from Vancouver to Halifax. The retailer is represented in Canada by brokerage Oberfeld Snowcap.
Browns Shoes is a family-owned business, founded in 1940 in Montreal by Benjamin Brownstein. The company is now third-generation run. Stores feature designer brands as well as in-house brands including Mimosa, Browns Couture, The Wishbone Collection, Luca Del Forte, Intensi and B2.
*All renderings were provided by Browns Shoes.
Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: February 15, 2017
