La Maison Simons

La Maison Simons
Private
Industry Retail
Founded Quebec City, Quebec (1840)
Headquarters 20 Côte de la Fabrique Quebec City, Quebec
Key people
 Peter Simons, John Simons
Products Twik
Contemporaine
La Guêpière
La Lingère
Le 31
Number of employees
 1,800 (2006)
Slogan Offrir.
Website http://www.simons.com/

La Maison Simons, commonly known as Simons, is a fashion retailer in Canada, based in the province of Quebec.

History

La Maison Simons was founded by the Simons family in 1840 in Quebec City, and is headquartered in that city. The store began operations as Simons House, where retail operations began in 1889. Simons is a retail chain consisting in seven store locations, currently headed by Peter Simons.[1] The birth of the family business took place in 1812. Peter Simons who was born in Scotland in 1785 settled in the Quebec City area where he lived on a farm where he raised five children. His 17 year-old son, John Simons, opened a dry goods store where he sold imported products from England and Scotland. In 1870, La Maison Simons moved to its current location at 20 côte de la Fabrique. Since then the store has grown and become even more successful. In 1952 the Postwar boom brought brand new market opportunities. This is when Donald Simon entered the company and led the store into a new era, transforming it into a department store where it became leader in popular fashion. As well as high quality fashion, La Maison Simons sells home decor. 1961 marked a turning point for Simons as it entered a growth phase with its new store in Place Sainte-Foy where home decor was introduced as well as new brands for men and women in their thirties and forties. In 2012, Simons expanded to its seventh and largest location at West Edmonton Mall. On March 27, 2013, Simons announced it will open a new location in Ottawa's Rideau Centre in the spring of 2015.[2] [3] According to recent images, it will take the place of the former Ogilvy's on the corner of Rideau and Nicholas Streets. On December 6, 2013, Simons announced it will open a flagship store located at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, in the spring of 2016. According to the press release, the new store will occupy a large portion of the existing Sears store.[4] In early 2015, Simons announced a new store in Edmonton at Londonderry Mall opening fall 2017. This is the first time outside of Quebec that Simons has two stores in one city.

Operations

Montreal store

The chain includes ten stores throughout Canada including:

It also has business offices in London, Paris and Hong Kong.

Cultural

As a gift to the city of Quebec for its 400th anniversary, La Maison Simons offered a restored fountain, imported from France. The fountain was originally positioned in Bordeaux's Allées de Tourny, named after Aubert Tourny, a French intendant remembered for his contribution to the beautification of Bordeaux, Quebec City's sister city. The Fontaine de Tourny, which was built in the mid-19th century, won a gold medal at the Paris world exposition of 1855. The fountain was installed in front of the Quebec provincial legislature in April 2007.[6]

In August 2008, the retailer chose to withdraw its fall catalogue after complaints its models were too thin.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Canadian Business Magazine
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Accueil - Simons - Our history
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Gatineau mall set to expand". Ottawa Sun. 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  6. ↑ Hansard
  7. ↑ "Quebec retail chain pulls catalogues over too-thin model photos". Ottawa Citizen (canada.com). 2008-08-27. Retrieved 2008-10-01.

External links