About
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Ariella Kanner
MBA, B.Arch
With over 25 years of experience, Ariella has spent an equal amount of time working in an Architectural Firm as an associate for Young + Wright Architects (2000) and in the corporate world, with both Indigo Books (2007) and Service Inspired Restaurants (2014) as Director of Design and Construction. Having embraced an understanding of how projects are planned within a corporate environment, her project management, and director experienced in both design and construction has been paramount in the successes she’s achieved for her clientele.
With the exposure of the corporate process Ariella provides an advantage in engaging retailers on a higher level of expectation, development and execution. Ariella’s strengths have always been how construction works with design and as such has benefitted her clients with a design approach that considers the importance of details. With the exposure of working along side exceptional design studios such as Burdifelik, GH+A, Hariri Pontarini, and Fish Agency to name a few, Ariella has produced drawing packages that considers the constructability aspect of the project while still maintaining the vision of the design.
Ariella’s past retail work experience includes renovations for Holt Renfew at 50 and 60 Bloor St. including shop with shop concepts for cosmetics, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, Holt Café Restaurant, new Indigo stores, Indigo Kids Department roll out across Canada, American Girl, October’s Very Own in both Square One and Chicago, Petvalu with over 100 new retail stores across Canada, Fika Cannabis in 18 locations, 40 stores for Fire and Flower and Metro Canada design team’s new store concept engineering.
James Hargreaves
OAA, MBA, B.Arch
In collaboration with Padstow Inc, we introduce James Hargreaves Architect. With over 35 years of experience in the design and construction industry, James has worked extensively in both consulting and corporate environments, managing and executing substantial retail, industrial and institutional capital programs. His corporate experience includes major retail rollouts for Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws, Wellwise, Murale, and Fire & Flower. Recent consulting clients have included Pet Valu, Action Car & Truck Accessories, and the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
During his tenure as Vice President, Design & Construction for Shoppers Drug Mart, and subsequently Loblaw Companies Limited, James developed the current Shoppers drug store model, Shoppers Beauty Boutique, Shoppers Enhanced Beauty, Wellwise and standalone Murale cosmetic and beauty store concept. He delivered more than 1100 stores, over 2.5 MM sf of warehouse and distribution space, and several thousand store renovation and enhancement projects. More recently, James developed the current store model for the Fire & Flower Cannabis Company and delivered 40 stores as VP, Real Estate & Construction for that organization.
James has been a practicing architect since 1999, currently holding professional licenses in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia. He is a member of the Disciplinary Committee for the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), and a Certified Adjudicator for the Ontario Dispute Adjudication for Construction Contracts (ODACC).
