is a Canadian department store. Originating in Brossard in 1994, it expanded to over five locations around Canada including a flagship at Montreal Eaton Centre. Initially a high-end chain of the now-defunct San Francisco Group from Boucherville, Quebec, it was acquired by Fairweather in 2005.

In 2017, the chain closed its last traditional store but continued operating a handful of clothing boutiques with the nameplate. In May 2026, a full-line branch opened at Promenades Saint-Bruno in suburban Montreal, while the boutiques removed the name from their stores early on.

History Founding and early growth

was founded by Paul Delage Roberge as a division of its San Francisco women's clothing chain. The name derived from a magazine of the same name that was founded in 1988 also by Paul Delage Roberge.

opened its first store in 1994 at Mail Champlain in Brossard, Quebec. At the time, the two-storey location featured a pianist who would play throughout the store, a restaurant, a coffee shop named , and a talking bear in the children's section. The popularity of inspired an IMAX theatre which was opening at the same mall in 1996 to call itself .

established an image as an upscale department store selling high-end apparel and cosmetic brands, including Hugo Boss, Versace, G-Star, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, Nautica, Polo Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Diesel, Jones New York, Calvin Klein, Guess, Lancôme, and Chanel.

In 1996, opened a store at Carrefour Laval, in a space which occupied a Pascal hardware store five years before.

The third store opened in 1997 at Place Sainte-Foy in Sainte-Foy, Quebec. As with the Brossard store, it had a as well as a restaurant in the mezzanine. In this particular store, there was a small play area for kids.

In 2001, opened its fourth store in Bayshore Shopping Centre in Nepean, Ontario.

The long-awaited downtown Montreal flagship store of opened on August 7, 2002, in the former space of Eaton's department store which had been converted into a new shopping mall called and named after . Upon its opening, the , four-floor flagship store included a karaoke (where Musique Plus broadcast its television program Karaoclip ), an art gallery, a wedding registry service, a shoe waxing service, a vodka bar, many breast-feeding rooms, a carousel and amusements in the children's section as well as many other attractions. The store also featured four restaurants: 1) Kouros Bar, a bar selling exclusively vodka 2) Kouros Tea Room, a tea bar 3) Stto Shushi Bar and 4) Kouros Restaurant, which offered tapas and Mediterranean snacks. The downtown store employed 1,000 people.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, was at its peak. In 1998, its stock was worth $54 per share. The company had its own foundation, , which raised funds for the health and education sectors. It participated in charity events and annually held a prize home lottery called . The foundation raised $1,600,000 in 2002 for many established organizations. Shoe waxing, wedding registering and many other services were offered in stores. During December each year, the stores designate a portion of their floorspace as a Christmas section where children met Santa Claus in his kingdom.

Decline

's problems began in 2003 as a direct result of the openings of the Bayshore and Montreal stores. The company's quick expansion was more than it could afford. The downtown Montreal store was particularly too large for what the market could handle, and it saddled the company with debt that forced it into bankruptcy.

The Bayshore store was closed down in 2003, less than two years after its opening. In January 2004, the size of the downtown Montreal store was reduced to across two floors: roughly a third of its former size. Despite these drastic measures, however, never recovered from the troubles initiated by these two stores.

Meanwhile, these troubles began to be reflected across the chain. and its programs were terminated. Plans to open new stores in Fairview Pointe-Claire, Marché Central and Lac-Mirabel and expand in Toronto, Vancouver and the United States were scrapped.

's underperformance drove the entire San Francisco Group into bankruptcy in December 2003. After exiting bankruptcy in July 2004, the San Francisco Group was renamed , with being one of its just two remaining divisions (the other being Bikini Village).

Change of direction In August 2005, sold to Fairweather Group (currently named Fairweather I.N.C Group), who heavily modified the concept of from an upscale department store to a discount store.

magazine ceased publication and was discontinued. stopped selling prestigious apparel and cosmetic brands, including Hugo Boss, Versace, G-Star, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, Nautica, Polo Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Diesel, Jones New York, Calvin Klein, Guess, Lancôme, and Chanel. Instead, sold discount merchandise from the various store banners and in-house brands of parent company Fairweather I.N.C Group, including International Concepts, International Clothiers, Stockhomme, Pinstripe, Fairweather, and Randy River. These brands, largely unknown to Quebec consumers due to the absence of several of these store banners in the province, rendered stores as outlets for all merchandise of Fairweather I.N.C Group.

In-store restaurants and beauty salons were all shut down, and the stores no longer sold cosmetics and pianos. Most checkout and fitting rooms were closed, leaving several of 's shuttered sections unoccupied. The size of the downtown Montreal store reduced so drastically that it began using the mall corridor, Complexe Les Ailes, to display and sell merchandise. 's return policy became restricted to exchanges only for items on regular price, with no returns at all for items on sales.

Final years as a department store

The management of Carrefour Laval, unsatisfied with 's new identity and lack of cachet, decided not to renew the store lease upon expiry in February 2011. The management of had also questioned the future of the store in their mall for similar reasons.

The closure of the Place Ste-Foy store was announced in March 2014 and completed on February 25, 2015.

The at closed in early 2016. Most of the remaining locations (Drummondville and Chateauguay) unceremoniously closed throughout the rest of the year.

The Brossard location closed in 2017, effectively ending the last piece of the 23-year-old retailer as a major department store chain. has nonetheless continued operating on more modest spaces in a handful of Quebec shopping malls.

Revival In 2025, Fairweather I.N.C. entered into negotiation to secure a former Hudson's Bay leasehold with the intention of opening a new location.

In August 2025, it was revealed that the owner of Fairweather and International Clothiers had acquired the intellectual properties of Zellers and will open a new store with that name in the space of a former Hudson's Bay location in Edmonton. A trademark filling indicated that the Hudson's Bay Company transferred the Zellers brand to on August 6, 2025.https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/opic-cipo/mc-tm/rd-dr/action/open/20882908/666151-project%2520horizon%2520-%2520ip%2520assignment%2520agreement%2520(zellers%2520apa)%2520%255Bexecuted%255D_redacted.pdf/PDF;jsessionid=00013u5stukUFuLISy4Zis_sqDZ:-A20FDI

In October 2025, RioCan REIT announced that Fairweather I.N.C was intending to open a store in the former Hudson's Bay location at Toronto's Yorkdale Centre. Oxford Properties, the mall's owner, took legal action to block the Hudson's Bay lease transfer to Fairweather. In February 2026, the lease transfer was successfully blocked.

In January 2026, it was revealed that had finalized arrangements for two stores in ex-Hudson's Bay locations in Quebec, both in shopping malls belonging to Primaris REIT, the owner of and Promenades Saint-Bruno. The few small stores that were still carrying the name, at Place Vertu and Decarie Square, had already removed the signage from their storefronts in preparation for the revival and are planned to rebranded to other Fairweather nameplates. In May 2026, the first new branch was opened at CF Promenades Saint-Bruno.

Warehouses In addition to the aforementioned department stores, had warehouses at Le Faubourg de l'Île in Pincourt, Les Galeries de la Canardière in Quebec City, Place Fleurs de Lys in Quebec City, Centre Les Rivières in Trois-Rivières and Place du Royaume in Chicoutimi.

Les Ailes de la Mode Xpress The chain was a smaller version of . It consisted of 9 boutiques, 2 of which are still open.

was a unisex retailer, and all of its goods were also sold in large stores. shared the same logo as department stores, with the addition of the term Xpress underneath. The shopping bags at the Xpress stores were the same as those at the department store.

Fairweather I.N.C. Group launched the "" sub-banner by renaming its GLAM chain. GLAM was an acronym for , the former parent company name of , despite being operated by Fairweather. Before the rebranding of GLAM to Les Ailes Xpress, the chain was also named I&F. In 2012, the Xpress stores were rebranded under the "La Compagnie INC Fairweather" brand, except for two stores and later two more mall stores opened.

References

External link

Official website (archives)