West Edmonton Mall Continues to Expand Luxury Retail with Addition of Moncler; Tiffany Marks 10 Years

Italian luxury brand Moncler has opened its newest store in Canada at West Edmonton Mall, adding yet another luxury brand to the busy shopping centre. More luxury brands are said to be in talks with mall landlord Triple Five, given that sales in the centre’s luxury stores are surpassing expectations. 

The new Moncler store spans about 3,945 square feet and is the largest in Canada in terms of size to date. The store features several rooms housing Moncler’s range of outerwear, ready-to-wear for men and women, as well as footwear, accessories and other categories. The outerwear especially, identifiable by Moncler’s round branded logo, should sell well in the cold Edmonton climate as winter approaches. 

The space itself is beautiful, featuring ample use of wood and marble. Detailed millwork on the walls is a trademark of Moncler stores, and it contrasts with more modern metal fixtures. Black-and-white checkered floors are found throughout the store. Amachris Corporation built the space. 

Moncler replaced retail spaces for Kate Spade and Lacoste, both of which relocated within West Edmonton Mall to new locations. The Moncler store is located next to luxury brand Balenciaga, which opened its 3,900 square foot store in March of this year. Balenciaga was the latest luxury brand to open in the mall which is the largest in Canada in terms of square footage, attracting nearly 30 million visitors annually. 

The mono-brand luxury store expansion at West Edmonton Mall began relatively recently. Jeweller Tiffany & Co. was a trailblazer when it opened in the mall in October of 2013. Various upscale retailers opened nearby, although it wasn’t until the summer of 2019 when luxury brand Louis Vuitton opened a store in the mall, kicking off a luxury expansion that would see Saint Laurent open in December of 2020 and Gucci open in April of 2021. 

Kering-owned luxury brand Balenciaga followed when in March of 2023 it opened a store at West Edmonton Mall, continuing the trend of opening luxury stores at the shopping centre. 

Sources told Retail Insider that sales have been strong at the luxury retailers in West Edmonton Mall. Saint Laurent had recently wanted to expand its already sizeable 2,880 square foot store last summer, but has since decided against it, at least for now. Louis Vuitton staff also said that the brand wanted to expand its 4,595 square foot store in the mall to include more product categories, given its success. The 5,000 square foot Gucci store in the mall is said to be the second top-seller in Canada for the brand’s handbags. 

West Edmonton Mall is expected to continue to add luxury brands to its second level where a clustering of stores has been created. Sources told Retail Insider that a flashy Italian luxury brand would be opening next to Saint Laurent, while talks were underway with a very well known luxury jewellery brand to open across the way. It will be interesting to watch the progression of luxury stores on the mall’s second level and what might be moved where if demand continues in the Edmonton market for more luxury brands. 

West Edmonton Mall has become one of a handful of luxury retail nodes in Canada. With stores including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Tiffany & Co. and now Moncler, the mall joins the likes of Yorkdale in Toronto, Bloor-Yorkville in Toronto, and the Alberni-Luxury Zone in downtown Vancouver as  luxury retail destinations. That puts Edmonton in a unique position given its population and demographics. It should be noted that two more luxury nodes are confirmed for Canada — Royalmount in Montreal in August of 2024, and the Oakridge Park, replacing Oakridge Centre on Vancouver’s West Side, in 2025. 

West Edmonton Mall has all but secured the luxury retail business for the Edmonton market. Holt Renfrew shut its downtown Edmonton store in January of 2020, essentially putting a nail in the coffin for luxury retail in the core besides a handful of options such as menswear retailer Henry Singer. The loss of Holt Renfrew was a significant blow to the downtown core in terms of attracting the city’s wealthy seeking brands, and West Edmonton Mall appears to have more than picked up the slack. West Edmonton Mall has retail locations for most of the top-selling brands that were carried at Holts, and the mall has also added some brands such as Saint Laurent and Balenciaga that Holts didn’t even carry. 

Holt Renfrew may have underestimated the Edmonton market in terms of its spending power — construction on a Holts store actually began in the mall nearly a decade ago, but a deal was never reached and the space ended up being built-out for a ‘Rec Room’ amusement centre. Now it’s unlikely Holt Renfrew would ever return to the Edmonton market with a large store, given that luxury brands are seeing success with their own standalone locations.

Luxury brands can also be found at La Maison Simons at West Edmonton Mall, which probably carries more high-end labels than any other location in the Simons chain. The men’s selection in the ‘Edito’ department in particular is impressive, with an assortment of brands with prices into the thousands. The women’s Edito department also carries an impressive range of pricy fashions, again solidifying West Edmonton Mall as the luxury shopping destination for the city. 

Additional photos of the Moncler boutique at West Edmonton Mall: