Simons enters capital region with Gatineau store on Thursday

Simons, a fashion and home decor retailer based in Quebec City, opens its first store in the national capital region on Thursday.

The 80,000-square-foot space is an anchor in the newly renovated Les Promenades Gatineau shopping mall on Maloney Boulevard, employing about 175 people.

At the opening of Simons and the unveiling of the mall's new look Thursday, city Coun. Mireille Apollon praised the fashion retailer and mall owner, Oxford Properties, for spending construction dollars in the local economy and for creating 400 jobs.

The mall is also better positioned to compete in the National Capital Region retail scene, and keep Gatineau shoppers spending their money in the city, Apollon noted.

A fixture in Quebec retail, Simons is known for carrying labels by a range of designers, including a number of in-house brands such as Twik and Le31.

Simons opened its first store outside the province of Quebec in 2012, in the West Edmonton Mall.

The store in Gatineau, Que., is the retailer's 10th, to be followed by stores in Vancouver, Mississauga, Calgary and other Canadian cities in the coming years.

Simons is scheduled to open an Ottawa location on Aug. 11, 2016, at the Rideau Centre mall, as part of the shopping centre's $360-million redevelopment.

The new Simons location in Gatineau opened to the public at 11 a.m. on Thursday.