Forever21 opening in Montreal!

Good news for Montrealers, F21 will open it's door in Montreal this year. One in Complexe Les Ailes and the other on St. Catherine street. It is about time, I'm so excited!H&M & F21 & Zara on the same street, what can you ask for more?


Original Article:
Montreal : Forever 21 takes flight at Les Ailes
L.A.-based retailer to open here; 'These guys are on fire, they're one of the hottest retail brands in the U.S. right now'





By MIKE KING, The GazetteJanuary 20, 2009
Forever 21 operates this store at the West Edmonton Mall.
Photograph by: BRUCE EDWARDS, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE, The Gazette

Montrealers' sense of style could be the city's saving grace during the current economic crunch, commercial real estate and retail experts suggested yesterday.

Top names in the clothing business have set up shop around town or will be moving here this year.

"Montreal is a very desirable and vibrant city for retailers," Jeff Berkowitz, president of Aurora Realty Consultants Inc., said yesterday. "There's a lot of growth potential despite the economy."

In March, one of Berkowitz's clients, Los Angeles-based Forever 21, is taking possession of the prime Ste. Catherine St. location of the former Archambault music store as well as an adjoining space on the métro level in Complexe Les Ailes.

Johanne Marcotte, general manager of Complexe Les Ailes, confirmed the "excellent news" about Forever 21 and added: "We will help them open as soon as possible."

"These guys are on fire, they're one of the hottest retail brands in the U.S. right now," Berkowitz said of the California company that sells what it advertises as "cheap, fun and fast apparel and accessories aimed at teens and college kids."

Forever 21's 18,000- to 19,000-square-foot Complexe Les Ailes location in the heart of downtown is expected to open in time for this year's back to school rush.

Another store will open in the Champlain Mall in Brossard by the end of the year.

And in the spring of 2010, the company is taking over the three-floor, 30,000-square-foot Gap store location at the corner of Ste. Catherine and de la Montagne, Berkowitz said.

The private retailer operates more than 400 mainly mall-based stores in the United States and Canada, including two existing locations in Ontario and one at the West Edmonton Mall.

He said he puts Forever 21, "one of the top performers in retail the past two years," in the same category as two popular international players that recently arrived here - Zara of Spain and H&M of Sweden.

The three retailers are known for quickly getting inexpensively priced, ripped-from-the-runway fashions on their sales floors.

Gilles Fortin, owner of the Tristan & America chain, said there is "definitely a trend" of all the fashion firms wanting to be in Montreal, especially on Ste. Catherine, which he describes as one of the busiest streets in North America for retail.

"We were about two years behind Toronto (in attracting U.S. fashion retailers) because of certain fears about (French) signage, but with the arrival of Forever 21, the big international players are almost all here now," Fortin said.

Louis Burgos, senior vice-president for Quebec at property management firm Cushman & Wakefield LePage, acknowledged the economy is more stable here than south of the border, adding that "Quebecers have always been very fashion conscious and spend more disposable income on clothes" than elsewhere.

Nathalie Verge, vice-president of operations for the Retail Council of Quebec, said the group's survey found Montrealers spent 9.4 per cent of their disposable income on clothes last year - more than 50 per cent more than the Canadian average per population.

mking@thegazette.canwest.com

For more information, visit www.forever21.com
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