Italian luxury brand Moncler is expanding its presence in Canada with a store at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton. The store, currently under construction, will be the first standalone location in Alberta and will also be the largest to open in Canada to date.
Moncler will take nearly 4,000 square feet on the second level of West Edmonton Mall near several other luxury retailers. The Moncler store replaces spaces formerly occupied by Kate Spade and Lacoste, both of which were recently relocated at West Edmonton Mall.
The Moncler store will be located next to the mall’s Balenciaga store, which opened earlier this year. Other nearby luxury brands include Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Saint Laurent, all of which opened in the mall since 2019. Tiffany & Co. is considered to be the first luxury store to have opened in the mall in 2013, marking a decade since West Edmonton Mall’s luxury expansion began.
Moncler, founded in Milan in 1952, has become renowned for its high-quality down jackets and sportswear. The name “Moncler” is derived from the abbreviation of Monestier-de-Clermont, a picturesque Alpine town near Grenoble, France.
In 2003, the brand was acquired by Italian entrepreneur Remo Ruffini and since then, it has expanded its reach globally. Although founded in Italy, Moncler’s flagship store is on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. The company also owns Stone Island, an upscale menswear brand with a store in Toronto and wholesale distribution nationally.
The Edmonton market makes sense for Moncler, given its climate. Moncler’s outerwear is known to be very warm and given the relatively high disposable income in the Edmonton market, the store could do well. Moncler will be located a few doors down from two outerwear competitors, Canada Goose and Moose Knuckles, both of which have gained market share in the Edmonton market with standalone stores as well as wholesale distribution in multi-brand retailers.
Moncler’s West Edmonton Mall store will be the fourth standalone location for the brand in Canada. Moncler’s first Canadian store opened at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre in the summer of 2014, spanning about 2,525 square feet. A second store opened in Vancouver in late 2015, spanning about 3,500 square feet over two floors. In the fall of 2016 Moncler opened a standalone storefront in the Colonnade at 131 Bloor Street West in Toronto, with almost 3,100 square feet on one level. Moncler also operates a store at Vancouver International Airport, which opened in 2019 and is about 1,000 square feet.
Holt Renfrew also houses Moncler boutique spaces in all of its six large stores, and Harry Rosen carries the brand including boutique spaces such as in the Bloor Street flagship. The Saks Fifth Avenue store in downtown Toronto also currently houses a Moncler boutique space for women on its third floor, and various other upscale retailers in Canada carry the brand wholesale as well.
Moncler has not confirmed if it will be opening any more Canadian stores. It would be no surprise if the brand opened at Royalmount in Montreal and Oakridge Park in Vancouver within the next two years, given the expected luxury tenant lineups at both projects which are currently under construction. Both retail centres will feature significant clusterings of luxury brands with leasing ongoing.
