It’s an all-Canadian day here on Effortless Anthropologie! Thanks so much to Allison who sent along this report about the recent opening of Anthropologie’s Calgary location. I love all the beautiful photos in this post. The new location looks beautiful and it’s great to see Anthropologie building more brick & mortar locations up north. If you’re interested in writing a guest post email me or click the “contact” link near the top of the blog. On to the report!
Breaking all previous opening weekend sales records, on December 17th, Anthropologie opened its latest store in Calgary, Alberta – the fourth in the Canadian market.
The wait is over! On December 17th, Anthropologie opened its newest store in Calgary, Alberta. The 6,500-square-foot store is the fourth Canadian store to open, joining its sister store in Edmonton, and two other locations in Toronto, Ontario. For those of you unfamiliar with Canadian geography, Calgary is located in Western Canada, bordered by the Canadian Rockies, and home to a diverse population of over 1 million residents. The city is well known for its annual 10-day party, the Calgary Stampede, and was also the host city of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
The newest Anthropologie is located in Chinook Centre, Calgary’s largest indoor mall, which just completed a $275-million expansion. Prior to the store’s official launch, a special VIP preview evening was held for over 200 invited guests. Attendees were treated to a wine and cheese reception, but the store, and its beautiful offerings were definitely the main attraction. Guests enjoyed the evening chatting with kindred spirits, checking out the well-stocked sale room, and of course, getting in some holiday shopping. Everyone was definitely in the festive spirit as the event, originally scheduled to end at 8 p.m., saw guests still enjoying the store’s hospitality well past 11 p.m.!
The successful VIP event was only a sign of exciting things to come. Opening such a highly anticipated store less than 10 days before Christmas was ambitious. But the Calgary team rose to the occasion, and customers responded in droves. Ultimately, the Calgary location broke all sales records for any Anthropolgie store opening, anywhere. This impressive distinction is not surprising when you consider Calgary’s young affluential demographic and Anthropolgie’s target market – they are a perfect match. The average Calgarian is 35 years old, well-traveled, and has a greater than average disposable income. Sound like anyone you know?
Expansion into the Canadian market will continue as Anthropologie recently announced that Vancouver, British Columbia – on Canada’s west coast – will see two new stores open this year. I can already hear the collective sigh of relief from those Vancouverites who currently make trips south to Seattle to get their Anthro fix!
I’m glad to see that Anthropologie is continuing to increase its store locations here, but there are still a considerable number of Canadian shoppers who do not have access to a brick and mortar store. Currently, the Anthropologie on-line shopping experience is very challenging for Canadians. Additional duty and shipping costs make it very costly to purchase on-line and some items are not internationally shippable.
Also, Canadian shoppers are not regularly offered a sale section on the international web site. And lastly, while our Canadian dollar presently sits at par to the U.S. dollar, there are still considerable price discrepancies on some items. So along with this increased focus on Canadian store expansion, my hope is Anthropologie will also consider making the Canadian on-line shopping experience friendlier and more equitable, too.
But, I digress.
Anthropologie, Calgary is so excited you’re here.
