Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli has opened a beautiful store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The brand will expand further in Canada next year as well with a location at Oakridge Park in Vancouver.
The Yorkdale Brunello Cucinelli spans about 4,200 square feet on one level, in a new luxury wing at Yorkdale that is being developed by landlord Oxford Properties. The store features a sophisticated and understated aesthetic that Brunello Cucinelli is known for.
The retail space is broken into three rooms, one in front of the other, with a back wall housing a coffee bar where Champagne is also served to visitors. An expansive range of Brunello Cucinelli clothing as well as bags, accessories, footwear and some home items are also carried in the store. Brunello Cucinelli is known for its high-quality cashmere garments, some with eye-popping prices.
The store’s overall design was inspired by large Italian cities, according to the brand. The entrance of the store features an oval mahogany table from the early 1900s. Other furniture pieces include Remmi armchairs (designed in 1969), known for their clear lines. They sit alongside Saporiti Italia sofas that were designed in the 1980s.
Perimeter walls of the store are covered with a modular system designed for the display of clothing, accessories and other items, allowing for product updates as seasons change. Clever storage spaces were also created to house product efficiently.
David Wedemire and Stan Vyriotes of DWSV Realty Inc. negotiated the Yorkdale lease deal on behalf of Brunello Cucinelli. Oxford Properties is the landlord for Yorkdale.
The team at DWSV Realty also negotiated a lease deal for a new Brunello Cucinelli store that will open at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre in the fall of 2025. That location was announced publicly in February of 2024, joining the brand’s downtown retail spaces.
Brunello Cucinelli’s Canadian store expansion has been ongoing for nearly a decade. The brand’s first Canadian store opened at 745 Thurlow Street in Vancouver in the fall of 2015, spanning about 2,700 square feet. A flagship location opened in early 2019 at 102 Yorkville Avenue, spanning more than 8,000 square feet over three floors. The brand also operates an outlet store at the Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills.
At Yorkdale, Brunello Cucinelli opened a ‘world of’ concession at Holt Renfrew about three years ago. The concession remained open for a couple of years before it moved into a temporary space across from its new permanent storefront in early 2024. Chanel is currently expanding its concession presence at Holt Renfrew, which included annexing the former Brunello concession space as well as the entire Holts women’s contemporary department upstairs.
In Canada, Brunello Cucinelli also operates concession spaces at Holt Renfrew stores. The Vancouver concession on the third floor of Holts is said to do particularly well, with a combined offering of women’s and men’s fashions. Harry Rosen also houses a selection of Brunello Cucinelli fashions, as do a handful of high-end independent retailers such as Via Cavour in Toronto.
The new Yorkdale luxury wing is well under development. The approximately 60,000 square foot space was created by relocating retailers along the central hall of the mall, creating a new luxury offering that will include more big names. A Rimowa store will open soon beside Brunello Cucinelli, and Versace and Jimmy Choo will open across the hall. A Loewe store opened across the hall from Brunello Cucinelli in April of 2024. Another Italian luxury cashmere brand, Loro Piana, opens soon in Yorkdale’s luxury wing as well. More will soon be announced (DWSV Realty represented Versace and Jimmy Choo in Yorkdale lease deals).
These new retailers join the biggest clustering of luxury brands in Canada, which have opened at Yorkdale over the past decade. It’s one of two luxury nodes in Toronto, with Bloor-Yorkville also attracting shoppers to its numerous luxury stores. Vancouver will also have two luxury nodes next year, with Oakridge Park competing with the downtown core for luxury shopping dollars. Luxury retail dynamics in Montreal also recently changed with the opening of Royalmount earlier this month, featuring a range of luxury brands, many of which open early next year.
