Holt Renfrew (includes hr2)

[Skeezix]

Interesting article from Les Affaires. The first hr2 outlet will be at DIX30 in Brossard, opening in March 2013, in place of the long-promised second Ogilvy location. The second and third hr2 locations to follow quickly in Ontario, with a strong national presence by the end of 2015.

Holt Renfrew remains mum on its plans for its two stores in downtown Montreal (Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy), refusing to rule out the possibility of Holt Renfrew moving into the Ogilvy space.

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Holt Renfrew lance un nouveau concept moins cher
Marie-Eve Fournier . les affaires.com . 29-10-2012 (modifié le 29-10-2012 à 16:30)

Surprise ! Ce n’est n’est pas un magasin Ogilvy, mais plutôt un petit Holt Renfrew qui ouvrira ses portes au Quartier DIX30 de Brossard. Le concept, baptisé hr2, offrira des vêtements de designers « à des prix très concurrentiels » dans un environnement à la hauteur de la réputation de Holt Renfrew dit le directeur général du détaillant au Québec, Jocelyn Dumas.

L’an dernier, Jean-François Breton, coprésident de Devimco, propriétaire du DIX30, avait dit à LesAffaires que la famille Weston – propriétaire de Holt Renfrew et d’Ogilvy – était en train de «développer un plus petit concept pour les grandes banlieues du Canada ». L’un des noms envisagés était Ogilvy by Holt Renfrew.

En entrevue, Jocelyn Dumas, n’était pas en mesure d’expliquer pourquoi l’idée d’ouvrir un Ogilvy a été écartée. « Notre nouveau concept cadre vraiment bien avec la démographie du DIX30 », a-t-il indiqué.

Quant à la rumeur voulant que le magasin Holt Renfrew de la rue Sherbrooke Ouest, à Montréal, ferme ses portes pour rouvrir dans le magasin Ogilvy, il n’a pas été possible d’en apprendre davantage. « Nous ne sommes pas prêts à faire d’annonce. Mais nous pourrons donner des détails prochainement », a promis le dirigeant en poste depuis sept mois, après avoir travaillé chez Liz Claiborne.

Un vide à combler

Le commerce accueillera ses premiers clients en mars prochain. Une deuxième ouverture suivra rapidement en Ontario. Holt Renfrew prévoit ensuite ouvrir un deuxième hr2 en Ontario. « Les Canadiens peuvent s’attendre à une forte présence nationale de nos magasins hr2 à travers le pays d’ici la fin de 2015 », a affirmé Heather Arts, vice-présidente de hr2, dans un communiqué. Les magasins auront une superficie de 25 000 à 35 000 pieds carrés.

« La sélection de produits et l’expérience de magasinage de hr2 se distingueront de ce qu’on retrouve actuellement sur le marché. Les clients pourront y trouver des gammes de produits uniques, choisies spécifiquement pour hr2 et qui ne sont pas offertes ailleurs au Canada. Holt Renfrew et hr2 auront des équipes d’approvisionnement distinctes », précise le détaillant. Autrement dit, il n’y aura pas de recoupement de produits entre les deux magasins.

Selon Holt Renfrew, hr2 viendra combler un vide dans le marché puisqu’aucun autre concept du genre existe actuellement.

Holt ouvrira donc ses nouveaux magasins avant l’arrivée d’un compétiteur de renom : Nordstrom, qui planifie exploiter jusqu’à 9 magasins au Canada. Les premiers ouvriront en 2014.

Selon le Globe & Mail, Holt Renfrew réaliserait des ventes annuelles d’avoisinant les 800 M$.

 

[Skeezix]

Apparently March 14th is the last day for the Holt Renfrew Last Call at Vaughan Mills. After that, presumably, they'll be reconfiguring the space for hr2.

 

[Skeezix]

hr2 opens at Vaughan Mills on April 27. The location in Brossard opened a couple of days ago.

 

[marsh]

Would be interesting to hear how different hr2 is from Last Call. One thing I don't understand is why Holts doesn't offer online shopping - all the major US retailers do and ship to Canada and these are the ones they are supposedly in competition with.

 

[pw20]

Would be interesting to hear how different hr2 is from Last Call. One thing I don't understand is why Holts doesn't offer online shopping - all the major US retailers do and ship to Canada and these are the ones they are supposedly in competition with.

I work in ecommerce... its incredibly difficult to do ecommerce in Canada. Logistics is a nightmare. All the major US retailers ship to Canada, and charge a premium for doing so. A lot of them use the same back-end third party logistics company: http://www.fiftyone.com/

American companies have built ecomm platforms which serve a much larger population base so they can take advantage of economies of scale.

In my opinion - ecommerce will be the death of a lot of Canadian retailers unless they can find a niche.

If you're interested look at some of press when Zappos left Canada.

The only successful Canadian ecommerce players are ones that have been able to move beyond Canada - Frank and Oak, Indochino etc...

its a really really interesting space, but incredibly difficult to execute properly in Canada.

 

[Skeezix]

Would be interesting to hear how different hr2 is from Last Call.

I'm not in the know, so I am probably not the best to answer this. I understand, however, that while Last Call was strictly a place to sell Holt Renfrew's excess merchandise, hr2 will sell its own lines as well as excess merchandise. I also read somewhere (Retail Insider?) that hr2 will be modelled to some extent after BT2, Brown Thomas' off-price chain in Ireland (owned by the same company).

 

[Skeezix]

My post above wasn't quite right. I just happened to see a few minutes ago this article in the Gazette about Dix30 in south shore Montreal, with this snippet about hr2:

One of the biggest attractions is HR2, Holt Renfrew’s new, affordable fashion franchise, its first in Canada. The stunning, 26,000-square-foot airy store was designed by New York firm Janson Goldstein. It features on-trend garments and accessories skewed to a slightly younger, more budget-conscious audience than Holts: Blush peep-toe wedges by Christian Louboutin cost $199 instead of $695 (discounts are indicated on the price tags).

For the most part, labels are similar to Holts, but “none of the inventory overlaps (with Holts),” assures Heather Arts, vice-president at HR2. Items on display at HR2 do not include last year’s sale items from Holts, either; rather, each seasonal piece is acquired from a unique set of arrangements with the distributor.

“We’ll always have constant flow. It’s not a one-shot deal,” she said.

Sections include denim (Hudson, AG), outerwear (Pink Tartan), a designated Giorgio Armani Collezioni area, day dresses (Alice and Olivia, DVF), lingerie (Chantelle, Donna Karan), purses, jewelry (Anzie), an amazing assortment of shoes, and men’s (Boss, John Varvatos).

HR2 expects to open about 10 locations in the coming years, and this is the first store in Canada.

 

[pw20]

My post above wasn't quite right. I just happened to see a few minutes ago this article in the Gazette about Dix30 in south shore Montreal, with this snippet about hr2:

BT2 isn't off price. Retail Insider quoted that without actually looking. BT2 is basically a separate store for more contemporary labels. Think Barney's Co-Op or the Holt Renfrew contemporary floors not Nordstrom Rack.

 

[marsh]

So what's going to happen with Holt's excess inventory? Doesn't sound like its going to HR2 and Last Call is gone?

 

[Skeezix]

Holt Renfrew announces flagship at Square One

Holt Renfrew Announces Flagship Store at Square One Shopping Centre - New Store for Mississauga Marks Next Step in Dynamic Growth Plan

TORONTO, April 19, 2013 /CNW/ - Holt Renfrew is pleased to announce a new flagship store planned for spring 2016 at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga. The store, planned at approximately 120,000 square feet, is part of the company's dynamic growth plan which will result in a 40% expansion of the total square footage of Holt Renfrew's network.

"We are pleased to announce a new Holt Renfrew at Square One. West Toronto and Mississauga are growing, vibrant areas and this is a strong move forward in our plan for an exciting fleet of luxury stores across Canada," said Holt Renfrew President Mark Derbyshire. "We look forward to leading a new era of extraordinary shopping experiences in Canada."

In addition to the new Square One site, a number of stores throughout the network will be renovated and expanded, with some completely rebuilt. The first newly renovated store will be celebrated later this year with the completion of Holt Renfrew Yorkdale in north Toronto, currently undergoing an expansion, doubling in size to over 120,000 square feet. The store remains open through the rebuild, and upon completion will offer innovative luxury services and an enriched array of new designer offerings.

About Holt Renfrew

Celebrating a 175-year heritage, Holt Renfrew is recognized worldwide for an inspired shopping experience. Once a purveyor of fashion to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Holt Renfrew began in 1837 as a modest hat shop in Quebec City. Over the years the brand developed and expanded across Canada. In the 1930's Holt Renfrew began exclusive accounts with some of the best designers in Europe and in 1947 hosted Monsieur Christian Dior when he launched his "New Look". After many years of foreign ownership Holt Renfrew was bought in 1986 by W. Galen and the Hon. Hilary M. Weston. Under their ownership Holt Renfrew has become Canada's destination for luxury retail. Holt Renfrew has 2,300 employees with nine stores across the country in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto. Visit us at holtrenfrew.com.

Holt Renfrew is part of Selfridges Group Limited. With extensive know-how and experience in operating luxury fashion retail stores, the Selfridges Group owns and operates leading heritage banners in key markets around the world, including Brown Thomas in Ireland; de Bijenkorf in The Netherlands; Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy in Canada and Selfridges in the United Kingdom. Selfridges Group Limited is a family owned business, W. Galen Weston is Chairman.

SOURCE: Holt Renfrew

For further information:
Moira Wright
Divisional Vice President, Public Relations
Moira.Wright@holtrenfrew.com
416-960-2918

 

[canmark]

I work in ecommerce... its incredibly difficult to do ecommerce in Canada. Logistics is a nightmare. All the major US retailers ship to Canada, and charge a premium for doing so. A lot of them use the same back-end third party logistics company: http://www.fiftyone.com/

American companies have built ecomm platforms which serve a much larger population base so they can take advantage of economies of scale.

In my opinion - ecommerce will be the death of a lot of Canadian retailers unless they can find a niche.

If you're interested look at some of press when Zappos left Canada.

The only successful Canadian ecommerce players are ones that have been able to move beyond Canada - Frank and Oak, Indochino etc...

its a really really interesting space, but incredibly difficult to execute properly in Canada.

Ssense, out of Montreal, sells a similar kind of high-end fashion that Holts does, and Harry Rosen has limited online offerings, as well. There are also many other smaller fashion retailers in Toronto that offer some level of online sales (Sydney's, Jonathan and Olivia, Haven, Uncle Otis). You can order from European and American retailers in Canada (but get hit with duties), might not Holts sell to (and expand their branding) to people in other countries with online sales?

 

[Skeezix]

HBC recently announced that Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor would be reinventing and expanding their online retail. On one hand, it shows that a major retail player in Canada is investing in online sales. However, HBC has a larger bricks and mortar network that Holt's does in Canada, and there are economies of scale to be had for Hudson's Bay in having a sister chain in the U.S. sharing much of the same infrastructure.

 

[Skeezix]

Does this new Holt Renfrew at Square One mean the end of Holt's expansion plans at Sherway?

 

[prosperegal]

Does this new Holt Renfrew at Square One mean the end of Holt's expansion plans at Sherway?

Or does it mean that Sherway's Holts will become HR2?

 

[Skeezix]

Or does it mean that Sherway's Holts will become HR2?

Oh, I hadn't thought of that!