MAC Cosmetics has just opened its 100th Canadian store in Montreal, with its 101st location set to open this month in Quebec City. The Canadian-founded brand continues to open stores as it sees success in the Canadian market, with plans for more store openings as opportunities present.
The new Montreal regional flagship ‘Pro store’ is located at 770 Sainte-Catherine West, alongside other popular retailers in the city’s busiest retail corridor. The 1550 square foot store occupies a corner retail space in an 11-story confederation heritage building, offering the brand’s full MAC Pro collection (which is popular with makeup professionals) as well as MAC collaborations and limited edition collections. The Montreal flagship features eight makeup stations and two private makeup areas with capabilities for lessons and demos.
MAC Cosmetics replaces footwear retailer Spring, which closed that Sainte-Catherine Street store in late February of this year. Montreal-based Think Retail represented MAC Cosmetics in the lease deal with building landlord Polaris Realty.
The new Montreal store is hosting an “Art of the Lip” event from June 2 to 4, featuring DJs (including Montreal’s DJ Jojo Flores), drag performances by Milk (of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame) and Miss Butterfly, illustrators, models, and a photo booth.
Later this month, MAC will open a 1,588 square foot location at Place Sainte-Foy near Quebec City. The store will house six makeup stations, including a private makeup room.
“MAC is currently expanding in key cities across Canada, the birthplace of the brand, and seeking out markets and locations where makeup and trend are in high demand. It is important to us that our customer is offered the best accessibility to our products so we are pleased to be opening in two of Quebec’s most outstanding shopping destinations, Sainte-Catherine Street in Montreal and Place Sainte-Foy in Quebec City.” says Taposhi Gandhi, Brand Manager for MAC Cosmetics in Canada.
MAC (Make-up Art Cosmetics) was founded in Toronto in 1984, and is now part of Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. It’s sold in 110 countries/territories worldwide, and is one of the world’s top three makeup brands with annual turnover of over US $1 billion and over 500 independent stores, all run by professional makeup artists.
Photos were provided by ZOÏ Agency.
Who wrote this article?
Retail Insider’s Editor-in-Chief, Craig Patterson, wrote this article. Until January of 2018, I didn’t byline my own articles but we’re all doing it now — Craig Patterson