The first West Elm stores outside the United States were opened in
Canada. The
Toronto King Liberty store opened in October 2008,
Vancouver on the
South Granville strip in September 2012, and
Montreal at 995 Rue Wellington in June 2013,
Calgary’s
Mount Royal Village shopping centre Summer 2015. In Mexico,
El Puerto de Liverpool retail group operates the West Elm stores there, which number 10 as of January 2024. In 2010, Jim Brett began as president and sought to "humanize" the products which he characterized as machine made and "soulless" to be more creative. A growing concern was sustainability, such that by 2020 60% of the products were supporting one of the company's sustainability initiatives. During 2019-20, West Elm was Williams-Sonoma's fastest growing brand. ==References==