Walk past 1096 Yonge Street and you might miss it entirely. No towering beaver logo announces this as a Roots store. No red maple leaf screams Canadian heritage from the windows. Instead, warm Douglas fir shelving and vintage leather jackets hint at something quieter, more personal—a retail experiment that could reshape how one of Canada’s most recognizable brands thinks about growth.
Inside Roots Outpost, which opened Wednesday in Toronto’s Rosedale neighborhood, CEO Meghan Roach is betting that smaller can mean bigger. Not bigger stores, but bigger impact. Bigger connections. And potentially, bigger opportunities in global markets where traditional Canadian retail often struggles to find its footing.
“We’ve always wanted to test a smaller footprint in a community setting,” Roach said. “There’s something powerful about big stores in tourist areas, but there’s something completely different about community stores that create emotional connectivity.”
The location carries weight beyond its modest size. Roots’ very first store opened just down the street in 1973, making this both a homecoming and a departure from everything the company has done since.
Micah Cameron drove to Hamilton for work. Not for meetings or factory visits, but to buy a single vintage jacket from a stranger who won it on the radio 40 years ago.
“The Phantom jacket is one of my favorites,” Cameron said, pointing to a pristine leather piece hanging near contemporary sweatshirts. “I drove out to Hamilton and bought it from a man who won it in the ’80s. He won tickets to the Phantom of the Opera on the radio—tickets to the show, a dinner, a limo ride, and a Roots jacket. There were only three made.”
As Roots’ image director, Cameron has turned personal shopping into professional curation, scouring Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji for pieces that tell the brand’s hidden stories. This isn’t nostalgic window dressing. Cameron, who spent years as women’s fashion director at Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor before joining Roots eight years ago, sees vintage as validation.
“Every piece has such a story,” she said. “We also have a Days of Thunder jacket from the Tom Cruise movie that somebody already purchased before opening.”
The approach reflects Cameron’s broader mission: show people the Roots they never knew existed. During her first week at the company, she spent an entire day in the leather factory’s archive room, discovering contact sheets of Martin Short photo shoots and jackets made for Janet Jackson’s tour.
“I immediately thought, ‘This is what people need to see—this side of Roots that so many never get to experience,'” she said.
Only one of everything
Traditional retail logic says give customers choices. Cameron’s approach says give them stories. Walk through Outpost and you’ll see exactly one of each item on display. One sweater, one jacket, one pair of boots. It’s curated scarcity in a world of overwhelming abundance.
“I really wanted something where you get a true sensorial feel of Roots,” Cameron said. “You walk in the door and immediately understand what the brand is, what it stands for, the history, but it also feels modern and refined.”
The space itself reinforces this philosophy. Cameron and her husband—who owns Manita restaurant up the street—designed and built everything themselves. Original brick walls and tile floors from the previous tenant, Ellie Mae, provide the foundation. New Douglas fir shelving matches the wood from Roots’ original Algonquin Park cabin. Leather straps from the Toronto factory accent the walls.
Even decorative elements serve the narrative. A record player in the back corner spins a platinum Janet Jackson album—Roots made jackets for her tour. Martin Short grins from a framed photograph, one of 20 shots from an original contact sheet.
“When we were doing the design, I wanted everything to be purposeful—nothing here just to be here,” Cameron said. “We’re trying to tie everything back to the history in a very purposeful way.”
The path to this moment began with a year-long mystery. Ellie Mae, the previous tenant, had hung curtains in the windows for months while trying to figure out what to do with the space. When Roots founder Michael Budman’s wife, Diane Bald, mentioned Cameron’s interest to a contact who knew the landlord, the pieces aligned.
“When I actually got to walk the space, the bones are incredible,” Cameron said. “It was perfect, a perfect fit for the vision that we had.”
A laboratory for Asia
While the Rosedale location serves local customers, its primary purpose may be preparing Roots for global expansion. The company currently operates more than 100 partner stores in Asia and maintains an e-commerce platform serving international markets, but the concept store format could unlock new opportunities in markets where traditional retail footprints prove challenging.
Roach’s international perspective, informed by her role co-chairing the Asia-Pacific working group for the Business Council of Canada, shapes the strategic thinking.
“When we think of international markets, we always look at a combination between what makes sense for that local market and what makes sense for the DNA of Roots,” she said. “I’ve spent time in Tokyo, Korea, all over the place, and you always see these local collections. We wanted to bring that and infuse that into Toronto.”
The smaller footprint and emphasis on brand storytelling over comprehensive product selection addresses specific challenges in international expansion. Real estate costs in premium global markets often make large-format stores prohibitively expensive. The concept store approach allows Roots to establish meaningful brand presence without the capital requirements of traditional retail.
The strategy extends beyond international applications. Roots Outpost introduces exclusive “Roots Rosedale” merchandise—localized products that speak specifically to the surrounding community.
“The idea of almost being a tourist in your own community is kind of a fun idea,” Roach said. “We love it, we think it’s a really fun idea, and especially when you go internationally, you always see these local collections.”
She compared the approach to the company’s recent Vancouver opening. “That feels very different. It’s modern, it’s bright, it’s white, but it’s got the connection to nature through the moss. Here, people know the brand and we want to tell them the subtlety behind it.”
Beyond just selling clothes
The local brand partnerships represent perhaps the most radical departure from traditional Roots retail. The store features pottery, hand soaps, candles and other products from local makers, transforming Roots from pure retailer to platform or curator.
“We wanted to integrate local makers to expand the lifestyle aspect while truly entrenching ourselves in the community,” Cameron said.
The strategy leverages her background in brand procurement and relationship building, skills honed during her years identifying emerging designers for Hudson’s Bay’s advanced contemporary collections. But it also complicates the brand message and operational complexity, requiring different skills and systems than traditional wholesale purchasing.
Cameron’s concept of “experience as the new luxury” reflects broader trends in premium retail but applies them to a heritage mass-market brand.
“That’s what people want,” she said. “They want the experience. They want the tactile. They want to see the brand and the history and the modernity.”
The approach reflects her understanding that successful heritage brands must balance authenticity with contemporary relevance.
“I think some of the history gets lost along the way as the company continues and grows,” she said. “I wanted this to be a piece where you’re getting a piece of the past, but you’re still seeing it flow through to today.”
Can you measure buzz?
The financial model behind concept stores remains largely unproven in the Canadian market, but Roach’s approach suggests careful consideration of both immediate returns and long-term strategic value. Traditional retail metrics may not adequately measure success when primary goals involve brand building and market research rather than immediate profitability.
“The way people can support and think about the brand is to come to it in your local community, give us feedback, let us know what you like, what you don’t like,” she said. “That’s how we learn and continue to develop the brand on the global stage.”
This approach reflects broader trends among established brands investing in experience-driven retail as a response to e-commerce disruption. However, sustainability depends on converting experiential engagement into measurable business results—whether through direct sales, brand loyalty or insights that improve performance across other channels.
The vintage component adds another layer of complexity to the economic model. Items carry premium pricing reflecting their rarity and storytelling value, targeting collectors and brand enthusiasts rather than typical customers.
“It’s been such a huge hit,” Cameron said. “People are really loving the connection to storytelling, the quality, and the history behind it.”
For Roach, the concept represents an evolution in how Roots thinks about retail environments and customer relationships. The company has spent recent years positioning itself for growth, both domestically and internationally, and Outpost serves as a testing ground for strategies that could inform future expansion.
“I think we’re really excited about being able to now invest behind the growth, whether that’s domestically or internationally,” she said. “I just got back from Asia yesterday—I was in Hong Kong, Malaysia—and we look at those markets and you see the innovation that’s being driven from local communities there, the technologies they’re using, the way the brands are evolving.”
More than a store
The timing reflects Roach’s confidence in Canadian brand strength globally.
“I have never been more proud to be Canadian,” she said. “I think we have a fantastic country, whether that’s from the resources we have, the people we have, or the things we can bring to an international stage. When we go out there on an international stage, you can see the resonance that the Canadian brand has with people.”
This confidence informs the strategic thinking behind community-focused retail as preparation for international expansion. Rather than simply exporting existing retail formats, Roots is developing new approaches that could prove more effective in diverse global markets.
The broader implications extend beyond Roots to the Canadian retail landscape. As traditional retail faces continued pressure from digital commerce and changing consumer preferences, the success or failure of community-focused concepts like Outpost could influence how other established brands approach store development and customer engagement.
“What’s important to tell people about this experience, and about the Roots brand in general, especially as we come up to the holiday period, is that if you haven’t been into Roots for a while, come check it out,” Roach said. “Whether you buy something or not, I think you’re going to have an experience with the Roots brand that might be different than you’ve had before.”
For Cameron, the project represents the culmination of years of planning and the beginning of potential transformation. The ultimate test extends beyond local market acceptance to fundamental questions about retail evolution: Can personal touch, community integration and curated experience be systematized without losing essential character?
The answer could reshape how heritage brands approach global expansion and community engagement in an increasingly digital retail landscape.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes leadership roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, Starbucks and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024 and 2025, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.