Holt’s Renfrew‘s footwear salon in Montreal has seen an overhaul, including a substantial expansion and the addition of new brands. The footwear salon will only be open for a couple of years, however, as a newly built, combined Ogilvy/Holt’s down the street will coincide with Holt Renfrew’s Montreal flagship closure.
According to Holt Renfrew, the expanded footwear salon now measures about 4,300 square feet of selling area, excluding backroom storage space. This is almost triple the size of its previous Montreal space. The expanded salon includes new footwear brands such as Aquazara, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Chloé, Gianvito Rossi, and Kenzo. Holt’s already carried luxury brands such as Christian Louboutin, Dior, Gucci, Prada, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent Paris, Lanvin, Ferragamo, Tod’s, Manolo Blahnik, and others.
The expanded Montreal space is smaller than Holt’s Yorkdale footwear salon, in Toronto, for example, which spans an impressive 10,000 square feet and includes shops-in-stores for brands Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Gucci, and Salvatore Ferragamo. Holt Renfrew also has plans to grow several other footwear salons, according to sources in the company, including expanded departments in its flagship Bloor Street, Calgary and Vancouver locations. All three stores will see renovations and expansions between now and 2018 as Holt Renfrew continues its $300 million initiative to expand store space by approximately 40%.
Below is a video, and more photos.
Montreal will likely see a considerably larger Holt’s shoe offering when the combined Ogilvy/Holt Renfrew opens in late 2017. The 220,000 square foot store, substantially larger than Holt’s current 83,000 square foot Sherbrooke Street location, will include a substantial women’s footwear presence. There’s no official word yet on what will happen to Holt’s existing Montreal flagship which is owned by the company, though some speculate that it could be redeveloped into luxury condominiums and upscale retail.
Never been to this location yet, but the concept and visual layout looks budgeted and cheap. Those class wall units are horrid. Does not have a wow factor for a luxury upscale department store! I hope these are not photos of the new expansion, or did I read the article wrong?