By Craig Patterson

Paris-based women’s luxury brand Chloé has opened its first Canadian standalone store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The impressive looking boutique is the first in North America to feature the brand’s newest concept.

Stone, glass and polished brass characterize the bright space, which features a series of salons housing the brand’s selection of leather goods, jewellery and accessories, footwear, as well as ready-to-wear. Each room is framed in warm oak and includes hand-plastered walls in the front salon, as well as hand-tooled wall finishing in the ready-to-wear salon at the rear of the store. Chloé’s iconic powdery rose beige colour scheme can be found throughout, along with shades of white and mustard, offset with brushed or polished natural brass. Vergo Construction built the new Yorkdale store, as well as the Ladurée salon located directly across from Chloé.

Suspended mannequins on the window-pane storefront showcase Chloé’s latest collections, and the store was remarkably busy when we visited last week. The store is said to already be doing exceptional business, which makes sense given its location amongst other luxury brands — Chloé is bookended by standalone locations for luxury brands Saint Laurent and Mr. and Mrs. Italy, and is also across from the prestigious multi-brand David’s Shoes which will commence its national store expansion this fall.

Click Image for interactive Yorkdale mall floor plan

Looking from the front of the store back towards the ready-to-wear salon.

Ready-to-wear salon at the back of the store.

Over the past several years, Chloé has been growing its presence in Canada through its wholesale accounts including upscale retailers such as Holt Renfrew, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom. Over the past three years, Chloé has opened several shop-in-stores in Canadian locations for Nordstrom and Saks, beginning with separate ready-to-wear and accessory boutiques at Nordstrom in Vancouver in September of 2015.

As well, in February of 2016, Chloé boutiques opened at both of Saks Fifth Avenue’s Toronto stores — CF Toronto Eaton Centre and CF Sherway Gardens — and in October of 2016, Chloé shop-in-stores opened along with Nordstrom’s 200,000 square foot location at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Yorkdale is Chloé’s eighth standalone store in North America. In the United States, Chloé operates boutiques in New York City (850 Madison Avenue and at 93 Green Street), Las Vegas (Forum Shops at Caesar’s and Wynn), Los Angeles (Melrose Place), Costa Mesa CA (South Coast Plaza) and in Miami at the Bal Harbour Shops.

Accessory area at the front of the store.

Yorkdale is Canada’s top mall in terms of annual sales per square foot, and the clustering of luxury brands at Yorkdale is becoming world-class. More first-to-market luxury brands will be announced for Yorkdale this month — the centre continues to attract wealthy shoppers and because of this, Holt Renfrew is also in the process of expanding its highly productive store at the mall, with construction commencing this fall.

Chloé is part of the Richemont Group conglomerate, which includes some of the world’s top luxury brands. Designer Natacha Ramsay-Levi joined the company as Creative Director in the spring of 2017. Several of Richemont's brands already operate at Yorkdale near the new Chloé boutique, including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger LeCoultre, Montblanc, Panerai, Vacheron Constantine and Piaget. Chloé, which was founded in Paris in 1952, has stores globally as well as a network of concessions and wholesale partnerships that include a presence in some of the world’s top multi-brand stores.

*Photos are courtesy of Chloé.

Craig Patterson, now based in Toronto, is the founder and Editor-in-Chief Retail Insider. He's also a retail and real estate consultant, retail tour guide and public speaker.

Follow him on Twitter @RetailInsider_, LinkedIn at Craig Patterson, or email him at: craig@retail-insider.com.

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