Business and Real Estate | Dispute Resolution | Estate Planning & Litigation
BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2017 BCBUSINESS 87
compares store sales with the same
period of the previous year—in nine
out of 10 consecutive quarters. In the
fourth quarter of 2017, same-store sales
jumped 11.5 per cent. "It's no secret to
anyone on this call that the industry's
struggling a little bit," he said, "and
we're just so excited about the opportu-
nities that are in front of us."
Those opportunities are signi€cant,
including what Hill called a "heightened
interest" in Aritzia from landlords in U.S.
cities. Thanks to its ability to draw foot
traˆc, the chain is getting o‰ers to lease
prime real estate in Class A malls and
high-street locations. In April it launched
a ‹agship store in Los Angeles at the new
West€eld Century City; with the shop-
ping centre's restaurants and parking
lots yet to open, the location quickly
became Aritzia's top sales performer on
the West Coast. This year the company
will open at least €ve new stores, includ-
ing one across from Dior in Chicago's
high-end Gold Coast shopping area and
several private-label Wilfrid and Babaton
locations in Toronto and Vancouver.
But as multitudes of young women
snatch up its spaghetti-strap dresses,
ru–ed blouses and short shorts, retail
consultant Stephens raises a red ‹ag
about Aritzia's recent debut on the stock
market. Going public is a great way to
raise capital and allow businesses to
scale, he says, but fast growth can be an
enemy. Aritzia, he points out, has well-
trained and engaged sta‰, but €nding
and training the right people becomes
challenging while a company is open-
ing multiple new locations. He cites
Lululemon's experience as an example
of these perils.
"Here you had a company that was
profoundly unique and mainstreamed
a category of merchandise and were
wildly successful, and then all of a sud-
den they became public and they were
a di‰erent company," Stephens says,
explaining that bowing to short-term
pressure from shareholders forced
management to make bad decisions on
manufacturing processes. "That led to
all kinds of problems in terms of defects
and headlines in the news," he adds.
"I €nd that all of the really quirky yet
intriguing things about companies that
are often just a consequence of their
founders are things that somehow get
watered down when they scale up."
■
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