According to Construction Canada, over $400 million is being invested by Holt Renfrew & Company to renovate and enlarge stores as it expands its luxury apparel and beauty brand.
Plans call for the transformation of how customers experience luxury retail with updates, expansions and renovations at its network of stores.
"As the Canadian luxury retail landscape evolves, so too is Holt Renfrew. These investments will help us to enhance the first-rate, luxury shopping experience our customers expect from Holt Renfrew."
President of Holt Renfrew | Mario Grauso
The two year, 40,000 square foot expansion of Holt Renfrew Vancouver is almost completed. This project was designed by Janson Goldstein. The store includes a renovated women's footwear area that is three times larger in size and an expanded beauty hall, personal shopping and a men's department.
The enhancements and renovations done in phases to Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal will expand the store to over 250,000 square feet. This will make it the country's largest Holt Renfrew. Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates is the interior designer who worked along with architectural firm Lemay from Montreal. The store will include an expanded beauty hall, leather goods shop, and an enlarged women's footwear department. The store will also have a new facade led by global architecture and design firm Gensler and a cafe designed by Paris based Laplace.
A new expansion and renovation is planned for the Holt Renfrew's Toronto flagship store which will open in the winter of 2018. Alex Cochrane Architects will be designing a new cafe which is slated to open at this location at the end of 2019. Kramer Design Group and Gensler will be designing this renovation.
Holt Renfrew Yorkdale, also in Toronto, will expand from 10,000 square feet to 129,000 square feet. This store's interior will be designed by Kramer Design Group in partnership with Gensler and will include the store's facade, expansion and renovation.
Per MR-Mag, the way people shop is also changing the way it meets customers' needs. Holt Renfrew is investing in new technologies that will enhance the way in which the company interacts with its customers. They are updating its entire online operation including different sections being made available for purchase through e-commerce. The integration of these new technologies into current customer touch points including the Holt Renfrew magazine.
According to Retail Dive, the company which has been in operation for the past 180 years, will close its Bloor Street menswear store in Toronto and expand the flagship men's department instead. Plans call for a 55% increase in size over the stand-alone store.
Per Retail Insider, Holt's is expanding at a time when two upscale U.S. based competitors, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, have spread out into Canada by opening large stores. Nordstrom entered Canada in the fall of 2014 with a store in Calgary. The company now runs six stand-alone stores in Canada and also has stores in Ottawa, Vancouver and three in Toronto. Saks Fifth Avenue opened two stores in Toronto in February, 2016 and has since opened a Calgary store at CF Chinook Centre which just happens to be in the same mall as Canada's first Nordstrom store.
In a report in the Globe & Mail, Mr. Grauso stated that Holt Renfrew's annual sales exceeded $1 billion, up from about $800 million in 2013. The company is also seeing double digit growth at its existing stores. This is a remarkable feat because of the fact that the chain has closed underperforming stores in Ottawa, Quebec City and Winnipeg as well as its two off-price HR2 stores in the suburbs of Toronto and Montreal. Many of the brands that Holt Renfrew carries are opening stand-alone stores. Chloe has just opened its first stand-alone Canadian store and Bottega Veneta and Valentino will be announcing very shortly their store expansions as brands strongly embrace direct-to-consumer retail.
Holt Renfrew is recognized worldwide for an inspired shopping experience according to Business Insider. It was founded in 1837 as a modest hat shop. Holt Renfrew soon after became a purveyor of fashion to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. In the 1930's, He began to establish exclusive accounts with leading European designers and hosted Monsieur Christian Dior himself in 1947 when he started his "New Look". The company was acquired in 1986 by W. Galen and the Honorable Hilary M. Weston. Weston helped Holt Renfrew to become Canada's destination for luxury retail.
