John Fluevog opens two new Canadian stores

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Apr 12, 2017

Canadian footwear brand John Fluevog kicked off the year with two new Canadian store openings in 2017.
 
The expansion is promising for the niche Vancouver retailer who’s been around for over 45 years, as other footwear brands are failing. Payless ShoeSource filed for bankruptcy this month, while fellow Vancouver-based online retailer Shoes.com shut down operations completely earlier this year.
 
“If we’re opening some [new stores] you can tell we did well the year before,” explained John Fluevog’s CMO, Stephen Bailey, to Fashion Network.
 
Some impressive 2016 media coverage may be to thank. The brand was the subject of international press attention when Beyonce donned John Fluevog’s Seraphina heeled lace-up boots in her “Formation” video, launched last April.
 

Following the opening of a second store location in Montreal in February, John Fluevog will open its 22nd store in Edmonton this month.
 
“Edmonton has always been at the top of our long list of cities where we ought to have a store, so we’re pretty delighted to finally be opening at a great space on Whyte Ave.” said John, in a news statement.

Though the Canadian footwear giant is interested in opening stores in new markets such as Austin, Texas, and second locations in popular cities like San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver, there aren’t any further expansion plans in the works for this year.
 
“The hard part for us is we don’t have a dedicated person in every single city,” Bailey’s explains. Adding that they are always looking for new store locations and that new store openings are always possible.  
 
Though John Fluevog also retails in other stores, Bailey’s says the focus has always been on brick and mortar and has taken a priority over wholesale.
 
John Fluevog currently operates stores in 17 cities in North America including Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Seattle, and more. Prior to their Montreal opening, John Fluevog opened stores in New Orleans and Los Angeles in 2015. They equally did a top to bottom renovation at their Boston store in 2016.