Kering-owned Paris-based luxury brand Saint Laurent has shut its main floor boutique concession at Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto. The closure follows a robbery last month that saw bags and accessories stolen from the boutique according to Toronto police.
The Saint Laurent bag and accessory boutique opened in February of 2016 when Saks Fifth Avenue opened its first Canadian store within the Hudson’s Bay building at CF Toronto Eaton Centre. Saint Laurent subsequently converted the space to a concession model where the brand leased, merchandised and staffed the boutique.
A robbery at about 1:45am on January 10 was said to be the last straw for Saint Laurent which already was planning an exit from the Saks store. Last month Toronto police released security camera images of suspects who stole about $150,000 worth of merchandise. Images show the robbers breaking in through the Lena restaurant on the main floor of Saks before hitting the Saint Laurent boutique. Bags priced at thousands of dollars each appear to have been dumped into a black garbage bin that the robbers appear to have had with them.
The Saint Laurent boutique closure follows the exit of Louis Vuitton and Dior shops from the same Saks store at the end of December, which means three of the four concessions on the main floor of Saks have closed in less than two months.
Prada is the remaining bag/accessory concession on the main floor of Saks. A space for luxury brand Celine shuttered several months prior on the main floor, and that space was quickly replaced with a shop-in-store carrying bags by luxury brand Balenciaga. The closure of Celine at Saks happened days before Celine opened a standalone flagship at Yorkdale, its first in Canada.
Saks operates boutique spaces in the store for other luxury bag brands including Valentino, Chloé, Bottega Veneta and Givenchy. Several other big-name bag brands are carried on the street level of the Saks store which also houses a jewellery area with shop-in-stores and a well-stocked beauty hall which is also said to be a major target for theft.
Saint Laurent continues to have a presence in Toronto with a 3,000 square foot ‘world of’ boutique concession operating on the main floor of Holt Renfrew at 50 Bloor Street West, as well as a standalone boutique at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Saint Laurent also operates full-priced standalone boutiques at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton and on Thurlow Street in Vancouver as well as an outlet store at the Toronto Premium Outlets. The brand also operates bag and fashion concessions at Nordstrom in Vancouver and at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal.
An employee at Saks said that they were unclear as to what the retailer will do with the three vacant main floor concession spaces, and we’ll follow up when we learn more.
I wonder if Saint Laurent’s departure is suggestive of broader issues with Canadian Saks stores in general, or simply poor results at this single Eaton Centre concession?
There’s definitely a pattern and a narrative here as I continue to report on this.