Intimate apparel brand Aerie has opened at Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver, B.C. within the “Park Royal South – Exterior” section of the complex. This marks the first stand-alone Aerie location in the Vancouver area for the sub-brand owned by US-based American Eagle Outfitters.
The lifestyle brand was launched in February 2006 in South Carolina. As of May 2022, the store locator on Aerie’s website noted 34 locations across Canada, including:
- 4 in British Columbia (Park Royal was not included in the list);
- 4 in Alberta;
- 16 in Ontario;
- 6 in Quebec; and
- 4 in Maritimes.
The store replaces an RYU store that once occupied the space. Retail Insider was onsite in late-May 2021 for the Retail Tour Update: Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver and the former RYU location had been emptied with no indication of the future tenant at that time.
A casualty of restructuring, Vancouver-based RYU (Respect Your Universe) Apparel issued a flurry of news releases in the past few months as it has embarked on stabilizing the retail operations with an optimistic outlook for the future. In Retail Insider’s CEO interview in March 2021, it was noted that the athletic brand RYU announced in February of 2020 several store closures to coincide with its restructuring. In a letter to shareholders, Marcello Leone, the company’s CEO, President and Chairman of the Board at the time, described 2019 as the retailer’s most challenging year since inception. Just over a year ago, the company had a total of 11 stores — there are now just three left in Toronto, Vancouver, and Williamsburg, NY.
Specific to the Park Royal location, the former 3,967 square foot retail space had been designed by architect Tony Robins with the same industrial-modern aesthetic look as RYU’s award winning flagship store in Vancouver’s Kitsilano. The brand’s third retail store location opened at Park Royal Shopping Centre in 2017.
