Luxury New York City-based fashion brand Thom Browne will open its second standalone Canadian storefront this spring in downtown Vancouver. Thom Browne will replace a Versace store that opened at 745 Thurlow Street in December of 2015.
The new Thom Browne store will span about 1,875 square feet on one level in a retail space featuring an angled facade at the base of a newly-built office tower. A Brunello Cucinelli store is located next to the future Thom Browne and retailers directly across the street include Moncler, Saint Laurent, Prada, Off-White, Rolex, and Burberry.
The Vancouver Thom Browne store will feature the brand’s collections of fashions for men and women including ready-to-wear, bags, accessories, footwear, eyewear, and fragrances. The design is expected to be similar to the Thom Browne store which opened in November at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre — that store spans about 1,430 square feet and was the first standalone Thom Browne store to open in Canada. The Yorkdale Thom Browne store showcases marble inside and out with high ceilings and a mid-century office theme to its design.
**Article updated June 30, 2021 with the following construction signage photos at 745 Thurlow Street from Retail Profile: Alberni Street ‘Luxury Zone’ in Downtown Vancouver (Summer 2021):
David Wedemire and Stan Vyriotes DWSV Remax Ultimate Realty Inc. negotiated the Vancouver Thom Browne lease deal on behalf of the retailer, as well as the Toronto deal. QuadReal owns 745 Thurlow Street.
The downtown Vancouver Thom Browne store will be the fifth standalone location for the brand in North America. Besides the new Yorkdale location, three other Thom Browne stores exist in the United States: one in New York City at 100 Hudson Street, one at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa CA, and one at the Miami Design District in Miami.
Globally, Thom Brown operates 40 retail spaces including a mix of standalone stores and concessions in department stores. The majority of Thom Browne’s locations are in Asia.
In Vancouver, Thom Browne is also available at retailers including Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen (menswear), Roden Gray on Water Street, and The Room at Hudson’s Bay carries the women’s line in Vancouver (and Toronto) as well.
American fashion designer Thom Browne founded his brand in 2001 with made-to-measure menswear. His background prior to founding the clothing line included a position as a salesperson at Giorgio Armani in New York City before designing for Club Monaco. He was said to be instrumental in starting the trend of slim-fitting menswear with collections inspired by mid 20th century American style that included details such as grosgrain trim and short trousers shown with exposed ankles. His first line of ready-to-wear menswear launched in 2004 and he won several awards early on before launching womenswear for Brooks Brothers’ Black Fleece label in 2007. The first women’s Thom Browne collection debuted in 2011.
Interior image of new Thom Browne Flagship at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Photos: Thom Browne 
Interior image of new Thom Browne Flagship at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Photos: Thom Browne
Vancouver to Lose Versace after 34 Year Run
The Versace store at 745 Thurlow Street, which opened in December 2015, will shutter this month after about five years in operation. Prior to opening the Thurlow Street store, Versace had a presence in Vancouver since 1987 via a licensed boutique at multi-brand retailer Leone at 757 W. Hastings Street which we announced last year would be closing. Versace also partnered to open a Versace Home location on Cordova Street in Vancouver in 2014 and that store has also since closed.
Interesting that Versace is closing. Is the brand struggling? Based on its location in Vancouver if it can’t succeed in the luxury zone then it probably can’t succeed anywhere. I personally have never been a fan of their loud, tacky designs. However I assumed others liked the brand since its so well known and Versace operates dozens of store fronts globally. As far as Versace Home, a designer furniture showroom, Major Interiors, on West Pender Street sells Versace home goods. This same store also sells Fendi Casa and Bentley Home, among other brands. I consider Thom Browne an upgrade, however still it’s still sad to see Versace close in the process.
Versace was recently ranked one of the “hottest” brands in the world. I was surprised by the news as well. Some fashion brands are finding street-facing retail challenging in Vancouver though others are thriving. It would be interesting if Holt Renfrew opened a Versace concession, some brands do VERY well inside of Holts which has the best brand cluster in the region.
If stores like Holt Renfrew, Harry Rosen and Saks Fifth Avenue want to survive, they need to put companies like Thom Browne on notice that if you open stores within distance of an existing store of theirs, they will remove the brand from their stores. In the 90’s Polo Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger and DKNY opened stores in malls over the U.S. and caused sales of their brands to drop in departments such as Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Dillard, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. Fast forward a couple of years… all of these stores closed and when the department stores took them back, they were given smaller and lesser desirable locations because the department stores had brought in new brands or expanded in-house labels.
Fact check: not available in CNTRBND in Vancouver…
I just updated the article, thanks Jerome! I thought I spotted the brand there when I was in town last year, but I may be mistaken — I toured a lot of stores in 2019/20 back before Covid changed the world.
Roden Gray has the best selection in Vancouver in my opinion, yet missed the mention in this article
I just added it in — that’s the retailer I should have mentioned instead of CNTRBND.