‘Guys’ Night Out’ at Hudson’s Bay Queen Street

There’s something brilliant and exciting happening in the downtown core. Surely, you can smell a hint of men’s cologne in the air. Hudson’s Bay on Queen Street (right next to Toronto’s Eaton Centre) had its grand opening of the newly renovated men’s department on the fifth floor last Thursday. Shopping wasn’t the only item on the agenda with an exclusive 20% off men’s regular price items deal during the event. It was definitely a hit with its open bars (yes, more than one), attentive volunteers, great eye candy and a photo op with Toronto Raptors player DeMar DeRozan.

Most people were in line for the open bars, trying different creative cocktails and going back for more. I tried their signature drink, the “Guys’ Night Out“, which was essentially a mojito made with gin instead of rum. The house wines also proved to be quite popular.

There were many ways for guests to engage. If you visited the girls at the Calvin Klein table and showed them your Calvin’s, you would’ve got a free CK t-shirt. Ultra soft and 100% cotton? I just might be wearing it now.

If you fancy hoops, there were mini arcade-style basketball stations to play at. These were mostly frequented by children, which I was surprised there were even any, since there was an open bar in pretty much every corner!

Can you change your pants in under eight seconds? It’s harder than you think! If you are used to changing really quickly in the morning, then a visit to the Dockers booth was a great way to win some free pants. The top ten contestants who could change into their Dockers fastest got to keep them!

The most popular station was the photo wall with DeMar DeRozan. Placed relatively central to everything else, there was a long line to grab a quick photo with him and another to submit your email in order to receive said photo. He was a good sport but was unfortunately only there for an hour.

A well-organized event and fantastic idea to invite DeMar DeRozan to entice and bring out the guys.

Well played.