*(Rendering of thor equities' 1327-1333 Sainte-Catherine Street property)*

Danish footwear and accessory brand ECCO has secured a larger retail space on Montreal’s Sainte-Catherine Street, next to its current location. ECCO signed a long-term lease at a rate in excess of $200 per square foot annually. The new store will be the third in Canada to feature an expansive leather goods and accessory shop-in-store component, and it will also become the largest ECCO store in Canada.

The building at 1327-1333 Sainte-Catherine Street is owned by New York City-based Thor Equities. As part of the deal, ECCO is growing its downtown Montreal presence — its current space is about 1,250 square feet on one level, and the newly leased space includes 1,690 square feet on street-level, as well as an additional 1,535 square feet of lower-level space that will be used for storage.

In a recent interview, ECCO Canada President Jordan Searle confirmed that the new Montreal ECCO location would become the largest in Canada, and would also feature a dedicated leather goods and accessory shop-in-store. The new Montreal ECCO will be the third in Canada to feature an extensive accessory offering — in September of 2016, ECCO unveiled North America’s first ECCO accessory store in Vancouver, and this summer the company opened a beautiful new Yorkdale ‘prime concept’ flagship in Toronto that also features expansive leather goods and accessory offerings.

David Bishop of Northwest Atlantic represented ECCO in the lease deal with Thor Equities, which was represented by Alexandra Frangos and Sam Polese.

“With a number of quality retailers opening along Sainte-Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal, and pedestrian traffic along the already popular corridor continuing to increase, the area is primed for even further growth,” said Joseph Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities.

The new Montreal ECCO location is idea — 1327-1333 Saint-Catherine Street is situated near the expanding Ogilvy/Holt Renfrew department store on Sainte-Catherine Street, which will be directly connected to a new $250 million project featuring a 163-room Four Seasons Hotel, 18 super-luxury private residences, three restaurants, and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom. Other nearby retailers include Apple, Dr. Martens, Aritzia, Starbucks, Aldo, Fossil, Armani Exchange and Vans.

*(PROMOTIONAL INSTALLATION IN FRONT OF THE NEW YORKDALE STORE which opened earlier this summer. SHOPPERS had MINIATURE VERSIONS OF THEMSELVES CREATED, VIA TORONTO-BASED SELFTRAITS)*

Thor Equity’s 1327-1333 Sainte-Catherine Street property is a six-level Art Deco building with approximately 16,800 square feet of retail space, and over 18,000 square feet of office space.

ECCO is in expansion mode — in 2018, it will open at least two more stores, including an Edmonton store at the Premium Outlet Collection at Edmonton International Airport in the spring of 2018, as well as a location at Quebec City’s Galeries de la Capitale.

ECCO currently has 31 stores in Canada, and in a recent interview, Mr. Searle revealed that the company plans to eventually operate about 45 Canadian stores as it continues to open a handful of locations each year in this country. Founded in Denmark in 1963, ECCO is unique in how it manages every aspect of the value chain from tanneries and shoe manufacturing to wholesale and retail activities. ECCO’s products are sold in 88 countries from over 2,000 ECCO shops and more than 14,000 sales points. The company is doing exceptionally well — in 2016, it saw the number of shoes sold increase by 5% over the year prior, with currency-adjusted sales through brick-and-mortar boutiques increase 10%, and online sales growth of 46%. ECCO opened about 100 new concept shops (including partner stores) last year.

Canadian Retail News From Around The Web: August 31, 2017