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We are private and we have the luxury and the DNA to work longer term. We are old-school merchants

TORONTO —With the departure of Sears Canada, any business resembling a department store with a substantial percentage of apparel, softlines and home décor could hope to enjoy an upside from the retailer’s recent demise.

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But Peter Simons, CEO of the 178-year old family run Simons, at best sounds cautiously optimistic about the retail industry’s future.

While the Quebec-based retailer is on an expansion strategy outside of its home province, with 15 large stores and a fast-growing growing online business, worries abound about the future performance of bricks and mortar stores as online retailers siphon business away from mall-based retailers.

“We are certainly living in a world where the business challenges are profound — it’s a redefinition of a new business model,” Simons said last week after the opening of a store at Quebec City’s Galeries de la Capitale shopping centre, which replaced the retailer’s older location in the same mall. “Companies have to have the freedom over the longer term to invest in a new, more viable model. I think if you don’t, it’s incredible how fast you can fall behind, and the customer is very demanding.”