Edge Rewrite
translate Source code View original
Jump to content

La Maison Simons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La Maison Simons Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryRetail
GenreDepartment stores
Founded1840; 186 years ago (1840) in Quebec City, Lower Canada
FounderJohn Hamilton Simons
Headquarters20, côte de la Fabrique
Quebec City, Quebec
G1R 3V9
Number of locations
19 (2026)
Area served
Canada
Key people
  • Bernard Leblanc (president & CEO)
  • Peter Simons (chief merchant)
Products
  • Clothing
  • accessories
  • footwear
  • fragrances
  • jewellery
  • beauty products
Number of employees
2,500 (2017)
Websitesimons.ca

La Maison Simons (colloquially Simons) is a Canadian department store chain founded in 1840 by John Hamilton Simons. The business was first established as a dry goods store and remains privately owned by the Simons family.

While historic Canadian department stores such as Eaton's, Sears, and Hudson's Bay have closed or downsized, La Maison Simons and Holt Renfrew continue to operate and expand; they are among the last large-format department-style clothing retailers in the country.[1]

Founding to 1950s

[edit]
Simons & Foulds store in 1895 on côte de la Fabrique, Quebec City.

Peter Simons, born in Scotland in 1785, arrived in Lower Canada in 1812 and settled on a small farm in Beauport, near Quebec City. He raised a family of five, including a son – John Simons – who opened a small dry goods shop in Quebec City in 1840 at the age of 17. John Simons is reported to have made more than 70 crossings of the Atlantic Ocean to source English and Scottish goods for the store.[2] The business operated under successive partnership names, including Simons & Foulds and later Simons & Minguy, before the Simons family became its sole owner in 1934, when it began shifting from dry goods toward ready-to-wear clothing.[3]

In 1870, John Simons moved his shop to 20 Côte de la Fabrique, where it remains today. Business increased following the move, and in 1952, the post-World War II boom brought new market opportunities. This is when Gordon Donald Simons entered the company and led the business into a new era, transforming it into a department store. The company introduced youth-oriented, fashion-focused brands such as Twik, named after the model and cultural icon Twiggy, reflecting fashion trends of the period.[2]

1960s to 2008

[edit]

In 1961, La Maison Simons entered a growth phase with a new store at Place Sainte-Foy in Quebec City, its first location beyond the original flagship, where home decor was introduced as well as new brands for men and women.[3] In 1981, a new store opened in Galeries de la Capitale, also in Quebec City. La Maison Simons opened new Quebec locations in Sherbrooke and Montreal in 1999. Two years later, in 2001, a store was opened at Promenades Saint-Bruno. The final new location in the burst of expansion was in 2002, when La Maison Simons opened a new store in Laval, Quebec.[4]

Celebrating the 400th anniversary of Quebec City in 2008, La Maison Simons gifted a restored fountain, the Fontaine de Tourny [fr], 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. It was built in the mid-19th century and won a gold medal at the Paris World Exposition of 1855. The Fontaine de Tourny was installed in front of the National Assembly of Quebec in April 2007.[5]

In August 2008, the retailer chose to withdraw its fall catalogue after complaints its models were too thin.[6]

2012 to present

[edit]
Simons store in 2014 on côte de la Fabrique, Quebec City.

In 2012, Simons expanded to its seventh and largest location at West Edmonton Mall, its first outside of Quebec.[7] It spent nearly $50 million on the store alone.[8] The success of the location led other shopping malls to seek out La Maison Simons as an anchor tenant.[9] On March 27, 2013, Simons announced it would open a new location in Ottawa, Ontario's Rideau Centre in 2015 (although the store did not actually open until August 2016).[4][10] This was followed by an announcement on December 6, 2013, stating that a flagship store was to open at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, in spring 2016. The new store, which opened in March 2016, occupies a large portion of the former Sears Canada store.[11]

Simons designs each store individually, incorporating art installations and distinctive architectural elements. In a 2015 interview with Canadian Business, then-CEO Peter Simons said, "We're trying to hold on to this belief in creativity and architecture and art. We're working with Doug Coupland, for instance, on an art piece in Vancouver, and we try to do that with all the stores we build."[12]

A new store in Gatineau, Quebec, opened on August 13, 2015, investing $21 million in the location.[13] Furthermore, in 2015, a location opened at Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver, British Columbia.[9] A store in Calgary, Alberta, opened on March 16, 2017, in the Lancaster Building as part of The Core shopping mall. In August 2017, La Maison Simons opened a new store in Edmonton, Alberta, at Londonderry Mall.[14] In May 2018, La Maison Simons received outside investment for the first time in its history as part of efforts to open a new distribution centre in Quebec City.[15]

In February 2020, Canada Goose ended its wholesale agreement with La Maison Simons, which accounted for millions in sales for the company. At the same time and through the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Simons was having troubles with credit insurance on deliveries and all stock from designers, such as Balmain, had been moved to Simons' website. In August 2020, La Maison Simons claims to have regained profitability and sent letters to vendors in July assuring payment in full and fall deliveries will be delayed to preserve cash.[16]

In March 2022, Bernard Leblanc succeeded Peter Simons as chief executive officer, becoming the first person outside the Simons family to lead the company.[17]

Entrance of Toronto Eaton Centre store

In March 2024, Simons opened its first store in Atlantic Canada, at the Halifax Shopping Centre in Nova Scotia.[18] On August 14, 2025, La Maison Simons opened its first Toronto store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, occupying a 118,000-square-foot, two-storey space formerly held by Nordstrom.[19][20] A second Toronto store, at the Eaton Centre, opened on September 18, 2025; the two locations together represented a $75 million investment.[21][19] Simons projected that the expansion would increase annual sales by 15 percent to $650 million, and said recent U.S. tariffs had encouraged more Canadian consumers to buy its house brands, which account for about 70 percent of its merchandise.[19]

In April 2026, Simons announced it would open a location at the Pacific Centre in Vancouver, in a space previously occupied by Nordstrom, expected to open in 2027.[22]

Locations

[edit]

The chain operates 19 stores across Canada. It also has buying offices in London, Paris, Florence and Hong Kong.[citation needed]

Downtown Montreal store on Saint Catherine Street
Park Royal store in West Vancouver
Place Sainte-Foy store in Quebec City

Alberta

[edit]

Quebec

[edit]

Ontario

[edit]

British Columbia

[edit]

Nova Scotia

[edit]

See also

[edit]
[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Harris, Sophia (2025-03-18). "Hudson's Bay's demise marks the death of the traditional department store in Canada". RCI. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  2. 1 2 Kosonen, Elisa (December 9, 2015). "La Maison Simons: The retailer's cross-Canada expansion". Nuvo. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "La Maison Simons". EncycloFashionQC. McCord Stewart Museum. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  4. 1 2 "Accueil - Simons - Our history". simons.ca. Archived from the original on May 30, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Hansard". Archived from the original on 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2006-09-16.
  6. ↑ "Quebec retail chain pulls catalogues over too-thin model photos". Ottawa Citizen. canada.com. August 27, 2008. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ Csernyik, Rob (June 26, 2017). "Amid retail turmoil, Simons stays focused on culture and people, rather than aggressive expansion". Financial Post. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ Babin, Barry J.; Harris, Eric G. & Murray, Kyle B. (2017) [2014]. CB (Consumer Behaviour) (Second Canadian ed.). Toronto: Nelson Education. p. 68. ISBN 0-17-657038-1.
  9. 1 2 Kelly, Deirdre (July 15, 2014). "Simons fashions itself into major anchor tenant". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  10. ↑ Schnurr, Joanne (March 27, 2013). "Simons coming to Ottawa Rideau Centre". CTV News. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Simons to open first Ontario store at Square One Shopping Centre". newswire.ca (Press release). December 6, 2013. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  12. ↑ Toller, Carol (March 30, 2015). "Simons CEO Peter Simons on the new department-store wars". Canadian Business. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  13. ↑ Wilson, Janet (October 16, 2015). "Simons store opens to much fanfare in Gatineau". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  14. ↑ Kornik, Slav (August 23, 2017). "Simons ready to open its doors at Edmonton's Londonderry Mall". Global News. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  15. ↑ Franson, Jason (May 29, 2018). "Simons acquires outside investment to help fund distribution centre". The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Simons voit " la lumière au bout du tunnel "". La Presse (in French). 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  17. ↑ CA, FashionNetwork com (2022-03-20). "Simons names Bernard Leblanc president and CEO". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  18. ↑ "La Maison Simons Opens Store in Halifax, Marking Milestone in Coast-to-Coast Canadian Store Expansion". Retail Insider. 2024-03-21. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  19. 1 2 3 "Simons opens first Toronto store at Yorkdale mall". The Globe and Mail. 2025-08-14. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  20. ↑ "Simons opens its 1st Toronto store at Yorkdale mall". CBC News. 2025-08-14. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  21. ↑ "Simons marks grand opening at Toronto's Eaton Centre". CP24. 2025-09-18. Retrieved 2026-07-27.
  22. ↑ "Simons to open 92,000 sq. ft. store at former Nordstrom in downtown Vancouver | Daily Hive | Urbanized". Daily Hive. Retrieved 2026-04-29.
  23. ↑ "Simons confirmed to move into old Nordstrom store in downtown Vancouver!". Vancouver Sun. Apr 28, 2026. Retrieved Apr 28, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Simons is coming to Halifax - opening the 1st store in Atlantic Canada!". iheartradio. May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Maison_Simons&oldid=1366445364"