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Giant shoe store opening in Saanich, part of DSW expansion

The new DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse opening in Saanich next month will pave the way for other such big box stores in B.C., says a company official. U.S.
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U.S.-based DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is coming to Saanich.

The new DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse opening in Saanich next month will pave the way for other such big box stores in B.C., says a company official.

U.S.-based DSW will open 11 stores in Canada by the end of September and more are on their way, said Bruce Dinan, president and chief executive of Town Shoes, a 63-year-old Canadian shoe company. DSW owns 49.2 per cent of Town Shoes, which includes Shoe Warehouse, The Shoe Company and Sterling.

Dinan is responsible for rolling out DSW in Canada.

“It really comes down to availability of real estate. We’ve done a map of Canada of where we’d like to be with our stores and, as we can find real estate, that is how we are prioritizing it,” Dinan said from Toronto.

DSW opened its first two stores in Canada last year with two outlets in Ontario and plans to open more in 2016, Dinan said.

It opens Aug. 20 in the Island Home Centre at Blanshard Street and Cloverdale Avenue. The store will be more than 20,000 square feet and carry more than 24,000 pairs of shoes, Dinan said.

“This is going to be our first store in B.C., but we would like to have some other stores in B.C. Certainly we have identified other markets where we want to be,” Dinan said. Locations are not being revealed yet. “We are still working on deals, but we plan to announce more stores this year.”

DSW is the latest U.S.-based retail giant to move into Canada. Target grabbed headlines when it opened and then shut 133 stores in two years after losing more than $4 billion. Other American retailers are moving more cautiously.

As a big box store offering “warehouse prices,” competitors will include Marshall’s and Winners, said Dinan, who also noted “When you are in the footwear business, you compete with every body. It is definitely big box footwear retailing and it is all about brand names.”

On Thursday, GT Hiring Solutions Work B.C. Employment Services Centre staged a job fair, attracting 60 applicants seeking about 45 staff positions for DSW and another 10 for Wireless Wave.