Goodbye Gap.

Say hello to Simons.

The retail clothing landscape in Ottawa and Gatineau is in for yet another change in the coming months.

One-time trendsetter, The Gap, has announced it is closing 175 stores across North America due to weakening sales. It follows the slimming down or closing down of other stores in recent months, including Mexx Canada, Smart Set, Jacob, and Holt Renfrew.

Meanwhile Simons, a relatively small family-owned, Quebec-based chain of clothing and homewares stores, is expanding into Gatineau, Ottawa, and other locations in Southern Ontario, Alberta and B.C.

CEO Peter Simons offered a sneak peek into a new 80,000 square foot Simons under construction at Les Promenades Gatineau. "We have a really unique assortment of merchandise that I think relates to how people shop today. It goes really from exclusivities in the middle range up to high-end, world class designers," says Simons.

The store is slated to open in mid-August. Another store in Ottawa’s Rideau Centre will open next year.

The question is, how can Simons succeed where huge multi-national chains have failed?

“Simons is an above-average type of department store,” explains Barry Nabatian, an industry analyst with Shore-Tanner and Associates. He says the chain’s focus on mid to high-end merchandise will appeal to more affluent shoppers.

The problem with so many other chains, says Nabatian, is that their demographic – the middle class – is being squeezed in recent years. So it’s the mid-range stores that are suffering. “The middle is what has lost its cache, its attractiveness,” he says. “And unless they re-invent themselves it’s going to be more bad news for them.”

Some analysts also blame increased on-line shopping for taking chains like The Gap to the cleaners. Nabatian disagrees. He says on-line sales only account for around 5-percent of the clothing business. He says the bigger danger is when stores get too stale with their merchandise and their stores. Clothing buyers always want something new.

Which makes Simons a bit of an interesting case. The store began 175 years and 5 generations ago in Quebec City. It has managed to evolve over time and become something of an institution in Quebec.

We’ll soon see how well it looks on the rest of Canada.