Toronto’s Bloor Street luxury run is seeing an unprecedented number of luxury brands opening flagship stores. Last week, Kering-owned Saint Laurent opened a 10,400 square foot location at 110 Bloor Street West, featuring a brutalist facade and updated design concept.
The new store features the full range of Saint Laurent’s ready-to-wear for women and men as well as bags, footwear, accessories, jewellery and other categories. The store’s striking concrete brutalist facade is meant to be “raw and refined” according to Saint Laurent, featuring a corduroy imprint that was inspired by architecture from the 1970s. The overall design concept is new and was conceptualized by Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello, who joined the brand in 2016.
The store’s interior is stunning — Saint Laurent provided photos for this article showcasing snippets of the space and materials used, though unfortunately the brand did not authorize or provide photos of the store showing product inside or its overall flow which consists of several rooms showcasing product, as well as art work.
Marble is used throughout the store — giallo siena and cipolino marbles were used for niches, while brown spider marble was used for benches. Black cosmic and golden spider marble was used on tables in the store. Other signature features in the new Bloor Street Saint Laurent include smoked glass counters, marble and glass display tables, black mirror finishes, floating shelves and concrete columns, and wool felt curtains and rugs that are meant to add a soft touch to the space.
Unique furniture pieces in the store include two tall sculptures by Canadian artist David Armstrong Six and a Rie & Yiouri Augousti chair, in addition to a Carlo Scarpa sofa, a pair of Carl Gustaf Hiort Af Ornas armchairs, and Osvaldo Borsani sidetables that are all located in the VIP room in the store.
The Bloor Street Saint Laurent flagship takes security seriously — customers have to be buzzed in by a security guard, which is something being seen more with luxury stores globally.
Arlin Markowitz of CBRE’s Urban Retail Team negotiated the lease deal on behalf of Saint Laurent and ProWinko. ProWinko Canada owns the retail podium of 110 Bloor Street West. Markowitz and the CBRE Urban Retail Team co-listed the space, as well as other retail spaces at 110 Bloor, with Philip Traikos and Carmen Siegel of Cushman & Wakefield. Concreteworks manufactured the concrete facade and interior (and will give a similar treatment to a new Saint Laurent opening at Royalmount in Montreal in August).
The flagship opening of Saint Laurent shows confidence in the Bloor Street luxury run which was once known as the Mink Mile. An unprecedented number of luxury brands have opened large storefronts along the street over the past couple of years, and even more will come.
Arlin Markowitz of CBRE said, “The opening of one of the largest Saint Laurant boutiques in North America in Toronto is an incredible vote of confidence in our market from Kering and the team at Saint Laurant. Bloor Street is trending like no time before in recent memory, and I am fortunate to have been a part of the transformation. The size of the store speaks volumes to the confidence in our country’s best luxury retail node.“
The 110 Bloor Street West retail podium has undergone an overhaul — Saint Laurent occupies space formerly tenanted by J.Crew and Brooks Brothers. In a few weeks, Montreal-based restaurant chain Mandy’s Gourmet Salads will open behind Saint Laurent facing Cumberland Street, next to a popular Starbucks that has operated there for years. On the Bloor Street side of the building, luxury brand Alexander Wang opened its first Canadian store in December. Coming up next are locations for French women’s brand Anne Fontaine and bakery concept Paris Baguette, both of which are under construction. Winners continues to occupy the second and third floor spaces of 110 Bloor, with home furnishings retail concept HomeSense occupying space directly above the new Saint Laurent flagship. In the basement, ice bath/sauna concept Othership recently opened, as did fitness concept Jaybird.
Saint Laurent also operates a ‘world of’ concession at Holt Renfrew about 800 feet east of the new flagship — the main floor concession with its own street front door at 50 Bloor Street West opened in the spring of 2018, featuring ready-to-wear for women and men as well as bags, footwear, jewellery and accessories. The 3,000 square foot concession will remain open despite the Saint Laurent flagship being so close, according to staff in both stores when asked over the weekend.
In Toronto, Saint Laurent also operates a storefront at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 3,000 square foot store opened in November of 2016. Sources told Retail Insider that Saint Laurent will be relocating its store at Yorkdale to a massive new 11,000 square foot space in the mall’s new luxury wing next year which will also house Loewe, Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana and other brands.
Saint Laurent has confirmed that it will be opening a 6,000 square foot storefront at Royalmount in Montreal in August of this year. The large store is currently under construction along with others in the centre’s new luxury wing.
Saint Laurent’s first standalone Canadian store under corporate ownership opened in Vancouver at 746 Thurlow Street in the summer of 2016. The 4,800 square foot two-level store was the largest in Canada until last week. During the pandemic in late 2020, Saint Laurent opened a 2,900 square foot storefront at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton.
Saint Laurent operates an outlet store at Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills that opened in the winter of 2018. The brand also operates concessions within the Holt Renfrew Ogilvy store in downtown Montreal for women and men.
In Vancouver, Saint Laurent operated concessions at Nordstrom including shops for handbags and women’s ready-to-wear until last year when the Seattle-based retailer exited Canada. And in early 2022, Saint Laurent shut a bag/accessory concession on the main floor of Saks Fifth Avenue in downtown Toronto following an overnight robbery. That followed the closure of a ready-to-wear space for the brand on the third floor.
Anthony Vaccarello is the designer for Saint Laurent, having replaced Hedi Slimani in 2016. Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent founded the brand in 1961 and in the 1980s and 90s, Yves Saint Laurent was considered to be the pinnacle of fashion globally. The company had stores around the world including a substantial number of units in the United States. Department stores were an important part of the ‘Saint Laurent Rive Gauche’ expansion strategy. Department stores such as Marshall Field’s, Dayton’s, Wanamaker, Rich’s, L.S. Ayeres, Kaufman’s, Halle’s, Nan Duskin, I.Magnin, and others featured Rive Gauche shop-in-stores.
In Canada, Yves Saint Laurent boutiques once operated in Toronto at Hazelton Lanes (now Yorkville Village) as well as at 1330 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal. Department stores such as Simpson’s (now the Hudson’s Bay Company) and Morgan’s also carried the brand in decades past.
Bruteiful store!