Quebec-based department store Simons has announced the opening date for its first Toronto store

Retail expert Bruce Winder says Simons has been careful about their expansion and have accessible price points for their 'avant-garde' designs.

Quebec-based department store Simons will be officially opening its first Toronto location next month.

The company announced this week that it will be opening its doors to customers at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre location on Aug. 14.

The company previously announced plans to expand its brick-and-mortar footprint to both Yorkdale and The Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.

Simons will partially occupy the space that was previously home to Nordstrom at both the Eaton Centre and Yorkdale after the retailer’s exit from the Canadian marketplace in 2023.

“Simons is a bit of an enigma,” retail analyst Bruce Winder told CP24 on Friday.

“They’ve done very well. They’ve been very careful in terms of how they expand.”

Including the expansion in Toronto, the department store currently only has about 17 locations across Canada.

“I think the thing that really drives Simons is they have incredible designs that are curated for customers and they are a little avant-garde,” he said.

“They have price-points that are very high but they also have very accessible price points.”

Winder noted that with one store in the GTA already, located at Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre, there is a bit of a risk opening two new Toronto stores.

“There is a little bit of a risk that they have too many stores in Toronto but if they do a good job, I think they can make it work,” he added.

The company has not yet revealed when the Eaton Centre location will be opening, saying only that it is slated to open at the downtown shopping centre sometime in the fall of 2025 or the winter of 2026.