Le Chateau, a Canadian fashion retailer that debuted in the 1960’s, is beginning to evolve After years of financial losses in the competitive Canadian retail sector, Le Chateau is moving into a more mature line to grow with their customers.
Herschel Segal, founder of the company, explained the change in an interview with Canadian Press following last Wednesday’s annual meeting, “We were young and rebellious when we started in the ’60’s and that whole era of society has changed so we’re now having to offer our product in the right way for today’s culture.”
Lena Dunham is a big fan of Le Chateau
Franco Rocchi, executive vice-president, shares the vision explaining their ideal customer now is older, and has great memories of shopping at Le Chateau, before work, marriage and children.
“We were a rite of passage and a lot of the market remembers us as that and we want them to know that our product today has grown up.”
Le Chateau has been moving in this direction over the last couple of years, with a new store design featuring more comfortable fitting rooms, better lighting, and clothing displays that group clothes by use.
About 10 per cent of the chain’s stores will revamped by the end of the year, That’s about 20 locations in Le Chateau’s Canadian organization.
While the company’s e-commerce business is growing, it accounted for only 10 per cent of the chain’s business. Meanwhile, stores with low sales will be closed.
American writer and TV star Lena Dunham is a big fan of Le Chateau, In an interview in the Toronto Star newspaper, this is how she described some of her favourite things about Canada:
“When I was in eighth grade, my parents decided to go to Montreal for Christmas and I’ve become this huge fan of Canada,” says the star of the HBO hit Girls in an interview with the Star. “There was a Le Château in Soho when I was growing up. And I remember knowing that it was a Canadian chain and being very excited to go to (Montreal) the home of Le Château, and it was different. I wore a Le Château jumpsuit in my freshman year at prom.”
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