As my week in Toronto came to an end, one thing was clear to me: I could not leave Toronto without going to Bloor Street. I knew I had go on Bloor Street to see what all the hype was about — many people informed me that this was the street to find luxury brands and that the H&M on this street was something to see. I decided that the best way to get down there was to take the subway in order to get in as much shopping as possible. I got on the subway at Queens Street and off at the station on Bloor and Yonge. When I exited, I headed down Bloor past Yonge going North.

The first stop on my trip was the Swarovsky store. While I had no intention of buying anything, I wanted to take a look inside to see if it resembled the one in Montreal. Upon entering the layout and colors of the store very closely paralleled the one I was familiar with back home. The walls were red and all the crystal pieces remained incased on glass shelves behind locked doors. I spent around five minutes in the store and was the only customer the entire time. There were two sales clerks both standing behind the cash and within in two seconds of them spotting me, one greeted me and offered her assistance. I thanked her and said that I was just looking.

Before exiting the store, I walked over to the cash to ask a question. As a traveler, I was interested to know what the store policy was for shipping merchandise to Montreal. They said they don’t do that and presented me with some other options such as mailing something home or ordering something from there was once I get home. The sales clerk was very polite and her tone was friendly. I then thanked them both and left the store.

My next stop was RW & Co. This is a store that I frequent at home and was curious to see how it measured up against this store. As soon as I walked inside, I spotted a jacket on the mannequin that I really liked and began to look for it in the store. After five minutes of searching, I became frustrated and asked a sales clerk on the floor for help. It took her some time as well to locate the jacket I liked but after about a 1 minute she found it. It would probably have been better had the jacket been closer to the mannequin on which I had seen it originally. She handed me the jacket and I saw that it was $88. While I liked the jacket, I found it too expensive and not worth the money. After placing the jacket back on the rack, I left the store.

I then crossed the street and went into H&M. From across the street I could see the H&M sign in big, bold, red letters. In the window were the token orange and yellow mannequins that appear in all H&M stores. Similar to the H&M at Eaton’s Centre, this one was also three floors. The main floor carried the classier and fancy clothes, the bottom floor had the men’s line, and the top floor carried the more basic casual line. As soon as I walked in the store, I began looking at dresses. While sifting through dresses on the racks, I saw a black piece that I thought would be perfect for me. I was surprised that when I asked a sales clerk where the changing room was, she said that there was none on the main floor and that I would either have to go upstairs or downstairs to try the dress on. I found this to be slightly inconvenient for people walking in with strollers or wheelchairs. There was however an elevator at the back of the store which made it easier.

I decided to go downstairs to try on the dress but was disappointed to find that there was no one in the dressing room to assist me or to bring me another size if this one did not fit. Luckily, it fit well so I brought it upstairs to the cash. There were three cash registers in the store, one on every floor. I decided to go to the top floor to look around and then went to the cash to pay for my dress. I was happy that I did not have to wait in line. While I was 95% certain I wanted to keep the dress, I was curious to know what the return policy was in case I changed my mind. The clerk informed me that I had 30 days to return it for a full refund and that I would be able to bring it back to any H&M. Knowing this reassured me and I bought the dress, I did not realize until I was at the cash paying that the dress I bought was from Madonna’s line. I found this rather strange as I though that it would have been indicated more clearly that this was from the Madonna line.

Upon completing my purchase, I left the store and headed into Holt Renfrew. I just wanted to look around. The lighting inside seemed appropriate and helped to highlight the merchandise. The sales people inside were not very friendly and kept a close eye on me in every section I entered making me feel very uncomfortable and causing me to leave very quickly. I had three more stops on my trip before breaking for lunch.

After leaving Holts, I headed right next door into Zara. I had gone into Zara in Eaton’s Centre and Square One and was curious to see how this one compared. One thing is for sure about all Zara stores in both Toronto and Montreal: the sales staff are unbelieveably unfriendly. I walked into the store and within five minutes of being spotted by two sales associate, neither of them greeted me or offered their assistance. This did not surprise me considering I was used to this treatment from being in other Zara stores. The one thing I truly love about all Zara stores in their layout is the way that their merchandize is grouped by colours. I my opinion, it makes it easier to find an outfit. I also like the way the lighting in the store accentuates the merchandise. After spending about seven minutes in the store looking around, I walked out and went to the Gap.

The previous day I had gone into the Gap in Square One and they had their display for the new design edition from Vogue with the different styles of white shirts. I was curious to see if this Gap was carrying this new design edition as well. As soon as I stepped inside, I saw the models wearing the new design edition and the posters on the wall promoting the exclusive line. I personally love this new collection and I think that it was a very smart move by Gap. Women in the store all seemed very happy with this new line as well. There were four ladies at the display looking at different white shirts and each brought at least one shirt to the cash. One of the women brought two shirts. The cash was pretty busy with around ten people waiting in line. All people in the line were women who appeared to be in their late thirties.

The last stop of the day was the Tiffany store. I really did not know what to expect since I had only been to Tiffany’s in Montreal, which was a small area in Holt Renfrew. I had to ask people on the street where the store was. They all kept telling me to keep going north and I would eventually hit it. When I finally got there, I went inside. The store was pretty busy. There were two floors. The first floor was mainly rings and necklaces. There were stairs that led to the second floor. This floor was more familiar to me carrying the more familiar merchandise the bracelets and other silver jewellery I had seen. The second floor appeared to be busier than the first. There were lots of people looking around. They were mostly middle aged different races both men and women with young children.

Overall my shopping experience on Bloor Street was quite pleasant. The one thing that bothered me was that all along Bloor between Yonge and Bay, there were no places to stop and eat. I found this to be frustrating as I was getting tired and there were no restaurants in site. I decided to walk back along Bloor in the other direction and luckily when I got to Bloor and Yonge, I spotted a strip of restaurants along Yonge. After eating I got back in the subway and headed back for my hotel.


The Canadian Value Investor © 2007