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HOW SEARS USED A REDESIGN TO RECAST EATONS

By Susan Thorne

The revamped Eatons stores set a stylish tone in an effort to lure upper-midprice shoppers.

When Sears Canada acquired the T. Eaton Co.’s assets in December 1999, the company recognized the goodwill and sense of tradition attached to the Eaton name, which had been a leading retail banner and community fixture in Canada since 1856. But in resurrecting seven former Eaton’s locations as Sears-run “eatons” department stores, the new owners wanted to differentiate their new concept — hence the lower-case “e” and the dropped apostrophe — from the earlier store to project a dynamic and stylish image that would demonstrate the store’s positioning and bring back the upper-midprice shopper.

Design played a key part in this strategy. The stores’ main target market was identified as the urban-lifestyle shopper between 20 and 50, a well-educated consumer more fashion-forward and with a larger disposable income than the typical suburban Sears customer. A design and decor were needed that would appeal to that shopper’s sophisticated, upmarket taste.

“We wanted to create a new department store for Canada — classic but stylish and contemporary, with a unique sensory environment that would make shopping a pleasant experience,” said Kathleen Toman, national manager of design for both Sears and Eatons.

A first step was the development of new graphics and color theming. The signature color chosen for signage, banners, printed materials and some store accents is aubergine (eggplant), a rich dark purple suggestive of understated luxury. The brand’s new logo, the lowercase “e” within a circle, has a modern, e-commerce look.

Sears inherited seven quite different downtown department store properties of varying ages, sizes and floor plans scattered from Victoria, B.C., to Ottawa, with a total area of 2.5 million square feet. The makeovers of these properties were carried out under the gun, because Sears was determined to open the refurbished stores for the 2000 Christmas shopping season — an ambitious goal that gave it just 10 months to prepare staff, merchandise, interiors and exteriors. The design and renovation team threw itself into a brainstorming blitz.

“We just got on a plane and went from one location to another,” Toman recalled. “I remember sitting in these empty Eaton’s stores trying to visualize the new look. It was amazing — an incredible project.”

No two restoration jobs were alike: The stores range from 260,000 to 730,000 square feet; two (Calgary and Victoria) were constructed in the 1980s with vintage Eaton’s features, but the remainder dated from the 1970s, 1960s and earlier. The imperative to renew all these stores was even greater because Eaton’s had made minimal investment in the buildings during its financially troubled final years.

However, the C$200 million renewal by Sears went far beyond surface refurbishment. It included the large-scale stripping of interiors, and the reconfiguration of floor plans, fixtures, counters and entrances. The Vancouver store was given a new, three-story entrance atrium. The flagship Toronto store at the Eaton Centre, previously accessible only from within the mall, was opened up to pedestrians on Yonge Street with see-through glass and five doors at the sidewalk level. Just inside, the ambience is closer to that of intimate streetfront shops than a large-scale store, with boutique-like areas showcasing different fashion brands — BCBG, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY Jeans, Polo Sport Ralph Lauren and Kenneth Cole.

Despite their differences, the stores do share some common features. One improvement is enhanced visibility between floors. A wider escalator well was created to give customers traveling on the escalators a view of multiple levels at once to encourage further exploration. A balcony is provided around the multifloored opening, where shoppers can stand at wrought-iron railings and look up or down at other floors.

“These clear sight lines bring a larger store together, with three floors at a time opened up,” explained Toman. “It’s a huge strength.”

In the downtown Toronto and Vancouver stores, which have more floors than any of the others, the see-through effect encourages shoppers to visit the upper stories where furniture and home goods are available. A 56-foot catwalk spanning the escalator space makes dramatic use of the open area at the Eaton Centre store, and is used as a walkway for fashion shows.

A more spacious feeling also comes across in the wide, serpentine aisles, sometimes positioned to lead customers to one of the circular “nodes” — areas where displays or promotional merchandise are on view. While some have argued that the opening up of store spaces and the generous use of floor area sacrifices precious merchandise display capacity, Toman dismisses this. “I don’t see it as a loss. It’s part of creating a more interesting experience for the customer.”

The stores are streamlined and sculptured, with curved counters and aisles, interesting ceiling designs and attractive features such as, for instance, a 200-foot diagonal aisle leading through the Pacific Place, Vancouver store. The color palette draws heavily on subdued, soothing neutrals, such as the porcelain off-white shade of floor tiles throughout much of the Eaton Centre store.

A lot of work has gone into lighting, too. The street-level floor of the Eaton Centre store, for instance, is lit by recessed colored lighting around the ceiling perimeter and is changed for different seasons. Multifaceted, cylindrical lighting columns are suspended from the ceiling and ringed at the top by a white band of illumination.

There are wall waterfalls in, appropriately enough, the bath department as well as in a demonstration theater in the kitchenware area, where shoppers watch food preparation by visiting chefs.

The merchandise itself, in some cases, plays a part in the design. The furniture gallery in the Vancouver and Toronto home furnishings departments features aubergine-finished chairs in wall niches, presented almost like works of art. This kind of tailored design for individual departments is typical of the approach at Eatons, Toman explained.

“We want to match the [design] concept with the merchandise we’re selling,” she said. “Each department is designed for that specific merchandise category, even though there is a classic approach throughout.”

Shoppers are reacting very positively to the new look, according to Rick Brown, senior vice president of strategic initiatives for Sears Canada. While declining to provide data, he said company research shows that shoppers are spending more time at Eatons than in a suburban Sears or Bay store.

“Customers enjoy shopping there, they feel comfortable, and overall their reaction to the store has been very good,” he said. “It’s been a home run from a design point of view.”

John Williams, principal partner with the J.C. Williams Group, a Toronto retail consultancy, gives the Eatons refit an “A” on several counts. The Eaton Centre location, he said, “is as nice-looking a department store as you will see anywhere in the world. It’s not flamboyant — they’re not trying to be Harrods or Saks — but for the upper-middle price range, it is very successful.” Williams cites as strengths the new spatial openness, the lighting and fixtures, the greater accessibility from the outside and the contemporary/classic style. “I think they [the owners] had to send a signal that things had changed, and they certainly have.”

The Retail Council of Canada has also been favorably impressed with the new look, giving Eatons its 2001 first-place award in the category of Retail Store Design and Layout. Yet the sales performance has not matched expectations. While Sears does not break out figures for its individual operations, Brown acknowledged that the new stores have failed to meet original sales targets.

“As a result, merchandise inventories proved to be excessive, putting pressure on margins,” he said. “But now margins are beginning to normalize, and we think we’ll reach a profitable situation — not this year, and maybe not next year, but eventually. This is a long-term strategic investment.”

 

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