I visited the Montreal store (Simon's) and was very impressed. And my daughter told me that she finds things she likes in store and stalks them online till they go down (ie they have regular enough sales to be worth doing that).

I have been to the Montreal Simon's and liked it. There is also one in Mississauga. It is very popular. Nordstrom's always seemed to be lacking something, at least for me, and the stock was nothing like the US store.
I like The Bay. They carry Citizens jeans and a few other things I like.

I just love going to Simons, its one of my favourite stores here in Montreal. They offer designer, contemporary classics and lots of trendy fun fashion too. Its a really popular place to shop.

I know in Ottawa there’s already a Simons in the same mall as the Nordstrom and that maybe the case in few places across the country, so there could be problems finding new tenants when Nordstrom leaves.

We have one Simons here, in Toronto but it’s far from downtown and I haven’t been there . I haven’t bought anything online either. They have a very small designer section with the brands I know.

Oh that's great to know!!

I think this one analyst from CBC news had a very interesting take on it
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They said Nordstrom didn’t end up working in Canada because “They just overestimated how rich we are and how much we spend on luxury goods," and "We just don't have as many people who would desire that kind of merchandise they needed to break even."

Dee, I came here to post the same quote! It strikes me as probably true. Combined with the idea I think was in another article that Canada Goose was doing way more business than Nordie’s on a given day… maybe the expensive items we need/want aren’t exactly the same.

Personally for me, when I wanted a belt and was hoping for a department store selection of multiple brands, all they had were a few scattered designer ones as an afterthought to purses. The store inventory in general felt flashy & surface level rather than deep to me. Nice displays but spending some time never yielded anything practical. The online inventory was as disappointing as everyone has mentioned already. However, I think our population and spending ability just don’t warrant the same volume as the US - how could they? Combined with import tax and other limitations around eg. footwear - Zappos didn’t last here, nor did the Canadian copycat business that gave it a try.

I like Simon’s, got fed up with an aspect of their online return policy but would shop in-store if there were one in the city. The housewares are good.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/busine.....-1.6767321

Yes Jules, I think you’re absolutely right on what expensive items Canadians are willingly to spend their money on, with Canada Goose coats being a prime example of that.

I was a little shocked to read that bit (forget where now) about how a few ultra-rich Chinese in Vancouver who were Nordstrom shoppers had taken their business elsewhere recently (likely to Holts or a couple of indie boutiques ) and that had a huge impact on Nordstrom sales. Can you imagine a handful of people spending so much it affected an entire business?

I agree they overestimated the Canadian market. I remember being surprised when they open so many stores in Toronto. They would’ve done so much better with a half of it.

I wonder how much the issue they are having with an activist board member had on this decision
https://www.seattletimes.com/b.....es-stake-i

I’m sorry for those of you who love it. Sometimes this happens with Australian brands coming to NZ. Some do well and make profits but others don’t and pull out a few years later. The markets are similar but not exactly the same. Maybe Canadians just don’t have quite the same tastes overall? You all hastened to tell me that you were not culturally the same 3 years ago when I made a grouping of you as “North Americans”!
But it is a shame that the goods you have liked are not so easily available.
Plus all the staff who will lose their jobs

I can’t comment on Canadian situation, but just this Friday, biggest department store in this part of the world, Peek&Cloppenburg announced that they are struggling and filing for bankruptcy.
https://globeecho.com/news/eur.....ankruptcy/

That's a Dutch company. SOOOOO sad

Department stores struggle everywhere, it seems! It's a tough, tough business.

I think it is true that we don't have the population to support very many higher end stores -- and the availability of online shopping may make it more complicated. When Nordstrom's opened in Canada, they stopped us from choosing the US site for online orders, and didn't offer the same stock within Canada. Without Angie's "top sale picks" and forum discussions, I wouldn't have bothered with the NAS at all. And more often than I can say, I had in mind to order something but could not get it up here.

Meanwhile you could sometimes get the same item from Bloomingdale's online and they do allow you to order on their site and they deliver up here. There's also, always, Holt's for the higher end stuff. And The Room at the Bay, although that is a sad simulation of what it once must have been. '

My observation about Nordstrom in Calgary - half the second floor was high end designer clothing- the other half was inexpensive and mostly cheaply made clothing geared to a younger demographic. Where was the middling priced clothing for customers such as me? (Middle aged and relatively affluent). Not sorry to see it go. It did, however, have a pretty good footwear department. I will miss the Rack though

I would not underestimate the impact of a board member/investor like that… full stop.