FASHION STATEMENTS THE SHOPPING landscape is changing on the North Shore, especially at Park Royal Shopping Centre. ~ You may have noticed The Bay has moved its home from the south to the north mail with some bold new changes. Bob Peter, president of The Bay, was in Vancouver recently from Toronto to promote the opening of the newly remodelled department store. He discusses the latest developments for the chain with the North Shore News. © North Shore News (NSN): How long have you been president of The Bay? Peter: 1 became president i in January , 1988. NSN: How does The Bay compare with other Canadian department store chains?’ Peter: | think our department store stays competitive with other national chains, and our mission over the next few years is 10 : dramatically change even that im- age." Our objective i is to earn the label-“*Canada’s fashion depart- ment store.”* NSN: Whew you say | fashion ‘store, does this mean you are upgrading — your fashion? Peter: We are expanding and upgrading the breadth and. - assortment of fashions. We are . going to add to our existing lines, rather than subtract, with a com- bination of high-fashion designer lines and more forward and trendy brands. -- HeadBeard ob Peter discusses changes at The Bay Ultimately our goal is to become a ‘‘category killer’’ in the fashion, accessorics and cosmetics departments. NSN: Es the future of retail to ex- pand the selection or to carry merchandise that is better priced than your competitors? Peter: It is a combination of both. We have major deficiencies in the selection of brand names at some of our smaller stores and we will change that. And certainly, in today’s economy, the key to winning your consumer over is providing good value. People now will go to any ends to find it. NSN: Do you agree with the mar- keting forecasts which claim that service is going to he a major aspect in retail in the 90s? Peter: 1 think it is certainly a fac- tor. However, you have to balance out how much you can afford to BOB PETER... store at Park Royal. spend to provide that service. There are several approaches. For instance, we could take the Nordstrom approach, providing a lot of personalized service, but they compensate that by doing less advertising and only placing their stores in very affluent areas. We're constantly trying to find the ways and means to be able to give more service. We are trying to get more cost out of the back of the operation to be able to provide more staff at the front of the operation. As we develop in the fashion depart- ments we will provide more service in those areas. NSN: Would you say then, ina department store, selection is stil! in Vancouver recently to open the new Bay more important than service? Peter: Yes. NSN: Are you upgrading par- ticular stores in the chain, remodelling some for a mucit more epscale market as Sears is currently doing? Peter: We are tackling all 13 of the former Woodward's stores and are revamping them all at once. The company will spend $45 mil- lion on these stores over the next three months. When we are finished, you will see a dramatically changed Bay store in all 13 locations. Currently we are upgrading the existing Lougheed Mail and “More bang for your buck! " Oakridge Mall stores. Next year we will tackle the Richmond and Coquitlam stores. NSN: What are the plans for the North Shore store in particular? Peter: We are going to spend $5 million on the Park Royal loca- tion, recovering space and totally reformatting it. We are putting new aisle patterns and new lighting in, and will recover 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of unused backroom space. We will be devoting substan- tially more space to high-end fashion than was in that store previously. NSN: Will there be home fur- nishings and other household depariments? Peter; We are not going to carry. furniture and other home-im- provement items in this store ex- cept for bedding, and a limited department for small appliances and electronics. There simply isn’t enough — - room. But we have decided to put furniture only in the larger stores such as the downtown location where we can devote enough space to it to do it well. NSN: Can North Shore customers look forward to continuous See Bay page 18 everything OFF inthe store SNOWBOARDS® SKATEBOARDS * ' CLOTHING + ° SHOES * ° Sale starts Thurs, 12 noon YP PSA ARAL ROKR E S CHINA FURNITURE & ARTS SHOW Thousands of kinds of China Furniture direct from the factory of China to you. 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