Loblaw’s Joe Fresh rolls out south of border

Loblaw’s Joe Fresh fashion line opened a temporary store on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue last week and Thursday it will open its first permanent store in a mall outside of New York City, followed by another one in a shopping centre in a few weeks.

The Joe Fresh line has been a bright spot in a grocery sector with flat or declining sales, said a report in The Globe and Mail.

Loblaw is looking to enter the competitive fashion retail market that is dominated by affordable fashion brands such as Zara and H&M.

On Nov. 3 Joe Fresh will open its flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, where rental rates are estimated at $2,250 a square foot.

But experts say that the brand, led by its head Joe Mimran, is in good hands as he has had previous experience with the U.S. market with fashion chain Club Monaco, which was later acquired by Ralph Lauren.

The Joe Fresh brand launched in Canada in 2006 and its on its way to hitting $1-billion in sales.

In a conference call in July, the then president of Loblaw Allan Leighton said that Joe Fresh’s performance relative to other apparel businesses would be something that most people would die for, said the Globe and Mail.

In the summer, it opened a “pop-up” shop in just outside of New York City.

Mimran said he sees as many as 500 to 800 U.S. Joe Fresh stores and further expansion into Europe and Asia.