Excluding Grocery & Drugstores, more traditional multi-supplier retailers are hitting rough waters; many went Chapter 11 eg Sears, Woolco, Zellers, The Bay, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Saks*, JCPenney*, Nordstrom Canada, Shopko, etc. We still have Holts, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Canadian Tire, Walmart, Kohl’s, and some (salvaged) Saks & JCPenney stores. They all feel pressure to adapt or suffer and that’s one reason many are experimenting w ‘Store in a Store‘ -a hybrid of traditional Multi-Supplier Store on one end, and a fully Brand-run Flagship outlet at the other end, of a control/selection continuum.
Examples: FedEx courier stores in Staples; Bouclair home decor & UPS package delivery in Walmart; Party City & Petco in Canadian Tire; Wine Rack in Metro, Sobeys & Zehrs.
Holt’s has long used ‘Store In a Store’ (SinS) for designer lines. The brands themselves influence selection, layout & merchandising of sub-footprint zones w/i the overall store. What varies in the different Hybrid experiments is the extent to which supplier brands influence/manage staff training, in store promotion & checkout. SinS formats can’t match the brand autonomy, ambience & selection control of an Own-Store eg a flagship outlet run by a brand like adidas, Nike, Boss, Cole Haan. But fashion brands are foremost interested in brand management & marketing, not in being a retailer, so I bet many brands quietly hope retail chains’ SinS efforts work out & win consumers (as long as the purchases are not by shoppers who would have bought the brand at the flagship store or on the brand’s website anyway!)