By Craig Patterson

Holt Renfrew has announced the completion date of its highly anticipated Holt Renfrew Ogilvy store in Montreal, and the retailer has also revealed how the store will be configured along with some of the brands that will be included. When it opens next month, Holt Renfrew Ogilvy will become the largest luxury store in Canada, by far, spanning 250,000 square feet and boasting almost 100 luxury brand concessions over its six-levels.

Holt Renfrew says that Holt Renfrew Ogilvy will mark its completion with an opening on Friday, April 10th. The store, which is currently under construction, is located at 1307 Ste-Catherine Street West at the corner of Rue de la Montagne. Montreal’s existing Holt Renfrew store, which has operated nearby at 1300 Sherbrooke Street West since 1937, will close to coincide with the opening of the expanded Holt Renfrew Ogilvy store. Selfridges Group, the parent company of Holt Renfrew, bought the 180,000 square foot Ogilvy department store on Ste-Catherine Street in 2011 and subsequently announced that it would merge the two stores into one that would be named ‘Holt Renfrew Ogilvy’.

Last spring, two of the six retail levels at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy were completed. That included a 25,000 square foot basement beauty hall which is the largest in the Holt Renfrew chain, housing many of the world’s leading beauty and fragrance brands. Holt Renfrew Ogilvy’s fourth floor men’s store opened at the same time, spanning a whopping 40,000 square feet with 25 luxury brand concessions, a personal shopping suite, and an entrance directly into the adjacent newly built Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences.

*Click for interactive Google Map. Photo: Google Maps*

*Basement level beauty hall which opened last spring. Photo: Holt Renfrew*

*Fourth level men’s floor which opened last spring. Photo: Holt Renfrew*

*Ground floor construction at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy. Boutiques include, left-to-right: Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton. Photo: Maxime Frechette*

*New stairway at at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy. Photo was taken in the beauty hall on the lower level. Photo: Maxime Frechette*

This week, the retailer revealed that a total of 11 luxury brands will operate boutique concession spaces on the main level with street-facing entrances onto Ste-Catherine Street and Rue de la Montagne. Boutiques that are already open include Tiffany & Co., David Yurman, Bottega Veneta, Prada and a 3,300 square foot bi-level Chanel boutique which carries the brand’s range of ready-to-wear as well as bags, accessories and footwear. Other brands set to open in the coming weeks facing Ste-Catherine Street will include Louis Vuitton and Hermes. Gucci, Dior, Saint Laurent and Fendi will soon join them with entrances facing into the luxury hall.

Additional space on the second floor of Holt Renfrew Ogilvy will also house various leather goods brands. The second floor will also house a large women’s footwear department featuring world-renowned luxury brands as well as women’s contemporary fashions, jewellery and watches, and a Café Holt restaurant that will be operated by Toronto-based Chase Group. The brand assortment currently offered in the nearby Holt Renfrew store will be expanded given the additional space at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy.

*Rendering of the new ‘Café Holt’ on the second floor. Image supplied by Holt Renfrew*

The ‘Café Holt’ will locate on the second floor of Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, directly above the small green car in this photo. Image via Maxime Frechette, taken March 10 2010.

*Rendering of ‘the apartment’ on the second floor. Image supplied by Holt Renfrew*

The store’s third floor will house women’s designer brands that will include a collection of luxury boutiques housing women’s ready-to-wear. That will include concessions for Prada, Saint Laurent, Gucci, Balenciaga and others, according to Holt Renfrew.

The fifth floor will house personal shopping suites that will include ’the Apartment’, a luxury shopping area for top VIP clients as well as events. The historic Tudor Hall (a 300-seat music facility built in 1928) has been refurbished and will be unveiled next month as well.

*Progress at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy on March 1st. Photo: Maxime Frechette*

At 250,000 square feet, Holt Renfrew Ogilvy will become one of the largest dedicated luxury stores in the world. In North America, only three similar stores are larger according to our research. Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York City flagship spans nearly 650,000 square feet, and the combined men’s/women’s Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York City span just over 315,000 square feet. The Neiman Marcus store in San Francisco spans just over 250,000 square feet according to the company. In Beverly Hills, California, Saks Fifth Avenue will downsize its presence according to a report in WWD when the retailer relocates into the 125,000 square foot storefront vacated by Barneys New York. The 175,000 square foot ‘Saks East’ and 110,000 square foot ‘Saks West’ stores will close for redevelopment once the new Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue’s renovations are completed.

We’ll follow up on this article with a visit to Montreal next month to report on Holt Renfrew Ogilvy’s grand opening.

Now located in Toronto, Craig is a retail analyst and consultant at the Retail Council of Canada. He's also the Director of Applied Research at the University of Alberta School of Retailing in Edmonton. He has studied the Canadian retail landscape for the past 25 years and he holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws Degrees. He is also President & CEO of Vancouver-based Retail Insider Media Ltd. Email Craig: craig@retail-insider.com

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