French luxury superbrand Louis Vuitton has expanded its presence in the Montreal market with the unveiling of a men’s ready-to-wear concession on the fourth floor of Holt Renfrew Ogilvy. It’s the second men’s concession for Louis Vuitton in Canada, and a women’s space could follow in Montreal according to staff.
The Montreal men’s concession opened on Friday of last week in a central open space on the 40,000 square foot Holt Renfrew Ogilvy men’s floor. Included is a range of clothing as well as footwear, bags and accessories. Some of the pieces are colourful with some hard-to-find pieces on offer.
A women’s ready-to-wear trunk show will be coming to Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal in August, according to staff at Louis Vuitton, and a women’s concession in the store could follow. Louis Vuitton has had a presence for bags and accessories at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy since its opening in 2019, as well as at the former Ogilvy department store since 1989.
The men’s floor at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy was unveiled in the spring of 2019, featuring a roster of leading luxury brands in concession spaces. Other big names include Gucci, Saint Laurent, Prada, Dior, Brunello Cucinelli and others.
The Montreal men’s Louis Vuitton concession follows the opening of a Vancouver men’s concession which debuted on the concourse level of Holt Renfrew’s men’s floor in late 2017. A women’s ready-to-wear concession subsequently opened at Holts in Vancouver during the pandemic.
Louis Vuitton menswear is also available at standalone Louis Vuitton flagship stores in Toronto (Bloor Street West and Yorkdale), as well as in Vancouver at the standalone flagship in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver — the Vancouver location is seeing a renovation and expansion that should be open soon. Louis Vuitton also has standalone stores carrying bags, footwear and accessories in Edmonton and Calgary. The brand is said to be eyeing expanding the Edmonton market with ready-to-wear which would involve growing the existing 4,600 square foot store.
The Montreal market will be getting considerably more Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear next year when the brand opens a standalone flagship location at Royalmount. The 9,150 square foot store, expected to open in August of next year, will become one of the largest in the country for Louis Vuitton and will have a full range of men’s and women’s clothing as well as bags, footwear, accessories and other categories.
The brand also operates bag/accessory concessions at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver, Toronto (50 Bloor St. W. and Yorkdale) and at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in Montreal. Vuitton exited Holts in Edmonton and Calgary several years ago to open standalone stores in those cities.
Louis Vuitton could expand even further in Canada with the possible opening of at store at Oakridge Park in Vancouver, which is the new name for the redeveloped Oakridge Centre which is expected to be completed in either late 2024 or early 2025. Sources said that LVMH has not yet fully committed to the centre but given that Chanel is said to be a confirmed future tenant, other luxury brands are expected to follow.
Canada’s first Louis Vuitton store opened in 1983 in Toronto at 110 Bloor Street West, with a second location, being a concession, opening at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver in 1987. Louis Vuitton opened its first standalone Vancouver store in 1996 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and that location was expanded to about 10,000 square feet in 2010.
In Toronto, Louis Vuitton has had several progressively larger storefronts on Bloor Street — in 2012 the brand vacated its 6,000 square foot space at 111 Bloor Street West for an 18,000 square foot ‘Maison’ space across the street at 150 Bloor. At Yorkdale, as well, Louis Vuitton unveiled a standalone 7,200 square foot comprehensive store in the mall in the fall of 2020, while keeping its 4,000 square foot bag/accessory concession at Holt Renfrew — combined sales between the two locations in the mall are said to be in the $100 million range.
Louis Vuitton recently operated a 1,200 square foot concession at Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto, which opened in early 2016 and shut at the end of 2021. The brand also had a store in the resort town of Banff, Alberta, from 1996 until its closure in the spring of 2011.
Louis Vuitton is a division of LVMH and has stores and concessions globally. The brand was founded in 1854 by the man of the same name, and has expanded beyond luggage and bags to become a lifestyle brand. Sales are in the billions of dollars annually globally.
Louis Vuitton certainly seems bullish on Montreal. With an addition concession to expand its offering at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy as well as opening a large stand-alone namesake at Royalmount, LVMH seems to agree with Carbonleo and L Catterton that the conventional wisdom about the luxury market in Montreal is no longer true, and the city warrants the investments usually made in Toronto and Vancouver. If this turns out to be true, perhaps Holt Renfrew needn’t worry about its concessionaires opening their own stores, because the demand is there and growing. That’s the optimistic view. If Bloor-Yorkville can coexist with Yorkdale in Toronto, then The Golden Square Mile and Royalmount can do the same in Montreal?