On Friday, September 18, Nordstrom opened its first Canadian flagship location. The 230,000 square foot Vancouver CF Pacific Centre store features substantially more luxury brands and amenities than its first two Canadian locations. Experts are now saying that Nordstrom’s heightened luxury experience in Canada could result in a meaningful shift in Vancouver luxury market share to Nordstorm, and we discussed the topic with two of Canada’s top retail experts.

Nordstrom’s flagship brand selection is particularly strong in the categories of women’s ready-to-wear, women’s handbags, and women’s footwear. The store carries an exceptional selection of luxury brands and in some instances, has opened individually branded hard-shops, placing it squarely in competition with nearby Holt Renfrew and to a lesser extent, Hudson’s Bay diagonally across the street. In fact, most luxury brands carried at Nordstrom are also carried at Holt’s and in some instances, Hudson’s Bay’s luxury department The Room. For reference, we recently provided a full list of brands carried at Vancouver’s Nordstrom, as well as a full list of services and amenities (which are also exceptional). 

We discussed Nordstrom’s new flagship with both the President and the CEO of leading retail consultancy HRC Advisory, who both attended last Wednesday’s Vancouver opening gala with a team of their consultants. They described the store as “an incredible addition” to the Canadian retail scene.

 
Antony Karabus, HRC Advisory’s CEO said that he believes this store will quickly become “a real and serious luxury competitor in Vancouver”, pointing out that Nordstrom’s CF Pacific Centre flagship features a meaningful broadening of its focus to include a serious luxury component including key amenities and customer service which will be attractive to luxury shoppers who currently have few comparable alternatives. He noted that the store’s personal shopping suites will be attractive to affluent shoppers, as are services such as a concierge, personal shopping, stylists and delivery services. The coffee shop, restaurant and bar area will also draw a wider variety of shoppers with its bright, upbeat environment and exceptional customer service, signalling a “game changer” for Vancouver’s retail scene. Mr. Karabus concluded by saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if Nordstrom’s Vancouver store became one of the chain’s top locations within a short period of time. 

Farla Efros, President of HRC Advisory, went on to explain how Nordstrom has created a compelling roster of brands at its new Vancouver flagship, and how its lighting, shelving, displays and shops-in-stores creates an appealing environment for a variety of demographics. She expressed how Nordstrom’s gala fashion show provided an introduction to the company’s increased focus on luxury brands, and how the new Vancouver flagship is evidence that Nordstrom is in Canada for the long-term.

In the Vancouver Nordstrom store, handbag shop-in-stores feature brands Céline, Saint Laurent Paris, Valentino, Balenciaga, Delvaux, Burberry, Loewe and Chloé. Other pricey handbag lines include MCM, Jimmy Choo, WANT Les Essentials de la Vie and Stella McCartney. This selection is remarkable and considerably broader than what’s available at Nordstrom’s Calgary and Ottawa stores. Furthermore, Holt Renfrew carries several of these brands, including Valentino, Balenciaga, Burberry, Chloé, MCM and Stella McCartney — with only Burberry featuring an in-Holt’s shop-in-store. Nordstrom’s brand exclusive Delvaux (a luxe Belgian brand) is an exceptional score and it’s remarkable that Holt Renfrew didn’t secure the brand when it had the chance. 

Nordstrom Vancouver’s selection of women’s designer ready-to-wear brands is also exceptional, as is its lineup of six shop-in-stores. Boutiques for Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Céline and Valentino line the perimeter of the store’s upscale Collectors designer department, which also features luxury brands Loewe, Milly, Missoni, Prabal Gurung, Anthony Vaccarello, Carolina Herrera, Carven, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Proenza Schouler, St. John Knits and Zac Posen. Of the boutiques listed above, all designers are carried at Holt Renfrew and none in shop-in-stores. Holt’s also carries Carven, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta in its Vancouver store and furthermore, Vancouver’s Hudson’s Bay’s ‘The Room’ features Prabal Gurung, Carven, Jason Wu, and Proenza Schouler. Despite the crossover, Holt Renfrew and Hudson’s Bay carry a variety of top brands not carried at Nordstrom, making one question if Vancouver could soon become oversatured with luxury brands. 

Nordstrom Vancouver’s women’s footwear selection is exceptional, with its Salon Shoes department anchored by a Christian Louboutin boutique — Canada’s second. Holt Renfrew also carries Louboutin and some speculate that it intended to open separate men’s and women’s Louboutin shop-in-stores, as Holts plans to do in its Yorkdale Shopping Centre store in Toronto. Nordstrom also carries top brands including Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, Charlotte Olympia, Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Jimmy Choo, Lanvin, Manolo Blahnik, Miu Miu, Prada and Valentino. Holt Renfrew carries all of these, while Hudson’s Bay’s ‘The Room’ carries Charlotte Olympia in Vancouver. 

Holt Renfrew still carries Vancouver’s broadest selection of luxury brands across all categories, including mainstream staples such as Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and others. The 150,000 square foot store is expanding by 40,000 square feet and by the end of 2016, it will be almost as large as Nordstrom, measuring almost 190,000 square feet. Holt Renfrew’s Vancouver location currently sees sales close to $150 million according to sources, and one questions if Holt’s can maintain these sales numbers if Nordstrom Pacific Centre does $200 million+ in annual revenues that some analysts are already predicting. Harry Rosen’s “very strong relationships with generations of luxury male shoppers and the company’s extensive store remodeling investments will likely protect its market share,” according to Mr. Karabus. 

Hudson’s Bay’s The Room also features an exceptional roster of luxury designers, though somewhat less mainstream than that of neighbouring Holt Renfrew. Time will tell how Hudson’s Bay fares in Vancouver in light of increasing competition, particularly given its dated interiors in some departments (and its elevators) and overall lacklustre customer service when compared to Nordstrom and Holt’s.  

Canada’s luxury department store wars will especially heat up next February when Saks Fifth Avenue opens its first Canadian locations in Toronto. Saks’ Canadian locations will carry a wide range of luxury brands and sources already confirm that the Toronto CF Eaton Centre Queen Street flagship will feature brands Lanvin and Givenchy for women, as well as DSquared2 and Isaia for men. A number of vendors, including some of the world’s top brands, have asked us to delay revealing that they’ll be carried at Saks for now, and we’ll respect that request. Saks’ Canadian stores will also provide personal shopping and its Fifth Avenue Club, which it describes as an “intimate shopping service that will provide a personal shopper who will travel to your home or office with merchandise specifically selected for you, including, but not limited to beauty, styling and tailoring”. Saks confirms that it could open as many as two Vancouver-area stores, and sources speculate that both could locate in suburban shopping centres.

Toronto-based landlord Cadillac Fairview has rebranded, including a new logo and modified naming of its 20 mall properties. Individual mall website URLs have also been changed as part of the rebranding. 

The name of each Cadillac Fairview shopping centre will now be preceded by ‘CF‘. For example, Toronto Eaton Centre will now be called ‘CF Toronto Eaton Centre‘ and Vancouver’s Pacific Centre is now ‘CF Pacific Centre‘. Signage on Pacific Centre now reflects the rebranding as per the image above and with Toronto’s Sherway Gardens, below. 

The new corporate logo includes the tagline ‘Where it all comes together‘. Although mall names have changed, office towers will remain unchanged and be named after anchor tenants or location. 

“Cadillac Fairview’s new visual identity highlights for shoppers that our properties provide a consistently welcoming and engaging retail destination,” said Jason Anderson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Cadillac Fairview.  “Putting a new logo on the door is the easy part. The real work is designing and implementing changes to the way consumers experience our shopping centres. We know technology and unique and engaging experiences will play a big role in changing the way people think of the shopping mall.”

Cadillac Fairview mall websites also have updated URLs to reflect the rebranding. Toronto Eaton Centre’s website was www.torontoeatoncentre.com and this has been modified to https://www.cfshops.com/toronto-eaton-centre.html. Cadillac Fairview’s other mall properties also feature new URLs, beginning with www.cfshops.com/. 

Cadillac Fairview is in the process of spending $4 billion on revitalizations and developments. The company is one of North America’s largest owners, operators and developers of commercial real estate, with a portfolio valued at more than $28 billion and over 36 million square feet of leasable space at 66 North American properties. Cadillac Fairview is wholly-owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which invests to secure the retirement income of 311,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario.

Triple Five Group, owners of West Edmonton Mall, have secured two game-changing luxury retailers for its New Jersey mega-mall, American Dream. Saks Fifth Avenue will open a 131,906 squre foot location in the centre, and French luxury brand Hermès will open an 8,000 square foot two-level store in the mall. Both are scheduled to open in 2017. 

Besides Saks Fifth Avenue, American Dream will house Hudson’s Bay Company anchor retailers Lord & Taylor (119,605 square feet) and Saks OFF 5TH (30,000 square feet). The New Jersey mall will be the world’s first to house all three HBC nameplates. 

Securing Hermès is possibly the most remarkable score for the mall so far, as it signals the likelihood that American Dream will obtain similar retailers for its luxury wing. Hermes chooses only the ‘best’ locations and now that it’s chosen American Dream, brands such as Chanel, Gucci and Prada are more likely to follow. American Dream’s Hermes will also be one of its largest U.S. locations. Hermes was reportedly attracted to the mall because its luxury wing will be a “streetscape under glass” with the opportunity to create dramatic flagship retail spaces. 

Saks Fifth Avenue will open up to eight Canadian locations over the next several years, including two confirmed Toronto locations which will open in February of 2016. Unlike its U.S. locations, Canada’s Saks stores will feature upscale in-store ‘food halls’. Sources are now saying that Saks may introduce food halls into some of its U.S. locations, with one source saying that Saks’ replacement Bal Harbour Shops location near Miami may feature a shop-in-store grocery component. This is speculation until confirmed. 

American Dream, located near the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will span approximately 4.8 million square feet and cost about U.S. $3.5 billion. It will feature in excess of 300 stores and also house an indoor NHL-sized ice rink, an amusement park, water park, concert hall, indoor ski slope, miniature golf, and a Ferris wheel, among other attractions. 

London-based multi-brand retailer Jermyn Street 1664 opened its first North American location late August in Calgary, and it plans to open several Canadian locations over the next several years. The unique retail concept will address the designer ‘middle market’ according to its head of marketing, Jamila Saidi. 

The retailer “aims to capture the essence of the internationally renowned street, known for its high quality British artistry and craftsmanship”, carrying a variety of sophisticated ‘accessible luxury’ brands which address the ‘mid-market’, according to Ms. Saidi. Jermyn Street 1664 carries shirts, suits, footwear and accessories for men and women, from brands such as Hawes & Curtis, Grosvenor London, and Barker. Customer service will exceptional, according to Ms. Saidi, fostering customer loyalty and repeat business. 

Jermyn Street 1664’s first Canadian location, measuring about 1,650 square feet, opened at the end of August on the third level of downtown Calgary’s The CORE shopping centre. Ms. Saidi revealed that the retailer will look to eventually open locations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal, as well as possibly in other Canadian cities. Locations where professionals ‘dress up’ are key, and the retailer will evaluate the Canadian market as it expands.

Ms. Saidi explained how the store concept will reflect London’s iconic Jermyn Street, featuring eye-catching displays and carrying a variety of brands, including some heritage brands with royal warrants. She explained royal warrants specifically and how in order for a brand to obtain one, it must have been a supplier to a member of the British Royal Family (The Queen, Prince Phillip or Prince Charles) for at least five years.