The quiet closure of a boutique inside the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver marks the end of more than two decades of standalone retailing in Canada for American luxury fashion brand St. John Knits.
The store, located within the landmark downtown Vancouver hotel, closed at the beginning of June and has since been replaced by a temporary pop-up art gallery. The closure also ends St. John’s standalone presence in Canada, following the January 2024 closure of the brand’s Toronto boutique at 130 Bloor Street West.
While the departure of a luxury retailer is noteworthy in itself, St. John’s Canadian story is also one of retail history. The brand played an early role in the development of Vancouver’s luxury retail district long before the city’s now-famous collection of global luxury flagships arrived.
A Pioneer of Vancouver Luxury Retail
St. John’s relationship with Vancouver dates back even further than its Fairmont Hotel Vancouver boutique. The brand was sold in the city through Plaza Escada at Sinclair Centre, one of Vancouver’s earliest luxury fashion destinations which opened in 1990 and closed in 2011.
In 2003, St. John opened its own standalone boutique at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, occupying a prominent corner location at Burrard and West Georgia streets. At the time, Vancouver’s luxury retail landscape looked very different.
The city’s modern luxury district was still emerging. Chanel helped establish the area as a luxury destination when it opened at 755 Burrard Street in 1991, and only a handful of luxury brands operated nearby. The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s retail podium had yet to become the powerhouse collection of global luxury tenants that it is today.
Louis Vuitton occupied a much smaller space in the building, while Dior and Gucci had not yet arrived.
St. John therefore became one of the pioneering luxury brands that helped establish the district’s credentials and attract affluent shoppers to the area.
The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s Transformation
Over the next two decades, downtown Vancouver evolved into one of North America’s premier luxury shopping destinations.
The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver itself underwent a dramatic transformation. Gucci opened its first boutique in the hotel in 2006 and later expanded into a roughly 6,500-square-foot flagship. Dior entered the property in 2015 with a nearly 10,000-square-foot flagship, while Louis Vuitton also expanded into a store of approximately 10,000 square feet. The podium today also includes an Omega boutique.
In many ways, St. John helped build the luxury environment that ultimately evolved around it.
That evolution was perhaps most visible in 2014, when St. John relocated from its original corner location within the hotel to a roughly 3,000-square-foot space that had previously housed Griffins restaurant. The move made way for Dior’s flagship store and illustrated how dramatically Vancouver’s luxury market had matured.
The irony is that St. John helped establish a district that eventually became dominated by some of the world’s largest luxury houses operating increasingly large flagship stores, resulting in its relocation to a more obscure space within the hotel podium.
Toronto Expansion Was Short-Lived
St. John expanded its Canadian presence in late 2019 with the opening of a 2,100-square-foot boutique at 130 Bloor Street West in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood.
At the time, the opening was viewed as a vote of confidence in Canada’s luxury market and Toronto’s increasingly important position among global luxury shopping destinations.
The Toronto store ultimately had a relatively brief run, closing in January 2024 after operating for just over four years.
Its closure left Vancouver as St. John’s sole Canadian location for the final two-and-a-half years of the brand’s presence in the country.
Parent Company Undergoing Strategic Transformation
St. John today is owned by Lanvin Group, which is controlled by Fosun International.
The luxury group has been undergoing a strategic transformation amid a broader slowdown in the global luxury sector. In fiscal 2025, Lanvin Group reported an 18 per cent decline in revenue and said it had been rationalizing its store portfolio and focusing on operational efficiency and profitability.
Interestingly, St. John has been among the stronger-performing brands within the portfolio, with revenue declining only modestly compared with some of the group’s other fashion houses.
That suggests the closure of the Vancouver boutique may be less about the performance of the St. John brand itself and more reflective of changing distribution strategies and the economics of operating standalone luxury stores in relatively small markets.
Vancouver’s Luxury Landscape Continues to Evolve
St. John’s departure also comes during another period of change in Vancouver’s luxury retail landscape.
Italian luxury house Salvatore Ferragamo recently closed its longtime boutique at 918 Robson Street and relocated to a new store at Oakridge Park. Ferragamo had occupied the Robson Street address since 1982 and was the longest continuously operating luxury retailer in the same Vancouver location.
Unlike Ferragamo, however, St. John has not relocated within Vancouver. Its closure marks the end of approximately 23 years of standalone retailing in Canada and concludes a chapter for one of the brands that helped shape downtown Vancouver’s rise as an internationally recognized luxury shopping destination.
Hopefully this space is backfilled with a permanent luxury tenant soon. You would think being in a luxury 5 star hotel next to Dior, LV, Omega and Gucci would draw interest. Maybe a jeweler as watches, fashion, bags are already covered via the four aforementioned tenants? It’s a smaller space suited for a jeweler anyways. Or maybe another sister brand of Omega considering parent company Swatch owns several other watch labels?