De Beers Opening First Canadian Store in Vancouver

/ 1088 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1X6, Canada/

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De Beers will open its first Canadian store on Alberni Street in Vancouver. It will be located within 'The Carlyle' retail complex, currently under renovation at the south-east corner of Alberni and Thurlow Streets. De Beers will join Tory Burch and another luxury womenswear retailer (NOT Chanel) in the new retail plaza. We'll announce the womenswear retailer once lease negotiations are finalized.

We're waiting to hear back from De Beers head office as to the Vancouver store's opening date. We anticipate it to be late summer/early autumn 2013.

For those unfamiliar, De Beers is a diamond company that also retails its wares in a few select cities around the world. De Beers stores are beautiful, product is pricey, and having a De Beers store is considered a prestigious addition to any retail location. De Beers currently has 10 North American locations, all in the United States. De Beers has 45 stores world-wide, 24 of which are located in Asia.

According to the De Beers website:

"For a century and more, De Beers diamonds had been set, anonymously, into the creations of master jewellers around the world; now the finest natural diamonds, both rough and polished, have a home of their own. Fusing the essential timelessness of the diamond with dynamic, contemporary yet classic designs, we are the leaders in diamond jewellery innovation in both artistry and craftsmanship. De Beers Diamond Jewellers was established in 2001 as an independently managed and operated company by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury goods company, and De Beers SA, the world’s premier diamond mining and marketing company."
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Retail Insider consulted with a retail analyst who speculates De Beers' Vancouver store will cater to Asian tourists as well as Vancouver residents. The location is up the street from one of North America's top-selling Tiffany & Co. stores, and joins a city with other luxury jewellers such as Cartier, Roberto Coin, Van Cleef & Arpels @ Birks and Frey Wille, amongst others.

Some readers might chuckle, noting 'The Carlyle' also includes a 12,000 square foot dollar-store tenant called 'Dollar Tree on its Thurlow Street side. Its street entrance leads shoppers to the lower-level store via escalators. These luxury retailers will be located directly above the dollar store.

Thank you to our source Van23H of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum.

De Beers website: http://www.debeers.com


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