Ogilvy, Holt Renfrew to merge into luxury megastore
Construction will begin in 2014, with a design celebrating "familiar elements of the distinctive and stylish Ogilvy building";
BY EVA FRIEDE, GAZETTE STYLE EDITORNOVEMBER 19, 2013
MONTREAL — The luxury merger of Ogilvy and Holt Renfrew in a massive expanded store is great news for Montreal, staff, retailers and analysts agree.
The official word that Montreal's two luxury department stores will merge in an expanded Ogilvy in 2017 came Tuesday, after more than two years of widespread speculation that just this was in the works after the owners of Holt Renfrew bought Ogilvy in fall of 2011.
Selfridges Group Ltd., owned by the Weston family of Toronto, also controls Loblaws and the Selfridges department store in the U.K., among other retailers.
And Ogilvy has won the top billing on the new 220,000-square-foot store, which will take the rather clunky name "Ogilvy, part of the Holt Renfrew & Co. collection." The store will be unique to Montreal and the largest in the Holt Renfrew chain, which has 10 stores plus a pop-up across Canada.
In French, the name will be Ogilvy, membre de la collection Holt Renfrew & Co.
"We see it as Ogilvy reimagined by Holt Renfrew,'' said Mark Derbyshire, president of Holt Renfrew, accompanied in Ogilvy's plush wood-panelled executive offices by the new senior vice-president of the store, Joanne Nemeroff, a Montrealer who formerly led La Senza. In good form, she wore Marie Saint Pierre, the Montreal designer carried by Ogilvy's but not Holt's.
It's taking the best of the storied brand of Ogilvy and the best of the heritage brand Holt Renfrew and creating something new, Derbyshire said.
But details of the $60-million expansion into a new building on the site of adjacent the Hotel de la Montagne were scant.
The hotel is being demolished and construction will begin in 2014. The new building will be five storeys and the two wings will connect seamlessly, Derbyshire said. Architects and plans are not finalized.
One big question is what retail tenants will remain.
Both stores have a mix of tenants, but Ogilvy's has about 80 per cent of its spaced leased to retailers like Louis Vuitton, Ports 1961, Collange, Michael Kors, Bleu Comme le Ciel and Design Louis George, the fifth floor furniture concession which has already announced it is moving by the end of the year. In Holt Renfrew, Chanel, Tiffany, Hermès and Agent Provocateur are among the tenant retailers.
Speaking simultaneously during much of the joint interview, Nemeroff and Derbyshire pointed out that the plans are a work in progress.
"The good thing is we have three years," Nemeroff said.
"We have to work through the process," Derbyshire added, asked if that percentage of leasing was going to be lowered. "Lease operation is a core part of our business.''
"At this point, it's business as usual," Nemeroff said.
Asked about their futures in Ogilvy's, retail tenants said they had no idea what was in store.
Marie-Hélène Chartray, owner of the Bleu Comme le Ciel jewelry concession, said the new store will be the best place to shop in Montreal. "I'm pretty proud about that. Let's hope I'm part of their plans."
Derbyshire said the retailer has spent two years talking to customers. The tenant mix will meet their needs, Nemeroff said.
According to Derbyshire, Ogilvy customers told them, "Re-energize my shop."
The Holt customer wants more depth, breadth and assortment of brands — new brands, the pair said.
As for overlap in such areas as shoes, Nemeroff said there was room for a much bigger shoe hall.
Asked if it will have its own zip code, as Saks famously did with its shoe floor in New York, they laughed.
Both executives acknowledged that many Montrealers shop outside this city, whether it be in Toronto, the rest of Canada, or abroad.
"I think if we can give them what's equivalent to what they can get anywhere else they would be happy to shop in Montreal," Nemeroff said.
Staffing in the future will increase, Derbyshire said.
Both Ogilvy and Holt Renfrew are heritage brands founded in Quebec: Ogilvy in 1866 in Montreal, Holt's in 1837 in Quebec City.
Ogilvy's, on Ste-Catherine St. W. at the corner of de la Montagne, is the larger property, with 120,000 square feet. Holt Renfrew, on Sherbrooke St. W, just up the street on de la Montagne, has 64,000 square feet.
Asked what they think people will actually call the store, the executives had no answers.
The banner is to bring together the two brands. It will be up to Steeve Lapierre, a longtime Ogilvy's VP of marketing and visual display, to make the concept work, from the bag to the signage, Nemeroff said.
"It's really important that the two names are in this," Nemeroff said.
As for the future of the Holt Renfrew building, that was not on Tuesday's agenda.
Currently, Holt tenants Dior and Hermès have storefronts on Sherbrooke St. W.
Asked if Holt's luxury tenants, which also includes Chanel, might like to have independent storefronts on Sherbrooke after the move, Derbyshire said: "We would hope that would continue to be great partners."
Nemeroff said she expected there will be a shift to that part of the city, where many new developments are underway.
"I think it will be a destination,'' Derbyshire said. "It will be the store that people remember."
Retail analyst Tony Flanz, president of Think Retail, said there is already a shift westward downtown, sparked by the Apple store and augmented by a strong core of "dynamic retailers'' like Lululemon, Urban Outfitters and Fossil.
It's great news for the city and very positive for both brands, said retail analyst Terry Henderson, president of the Quebec and Atlantic divisions of J.C. Williams Group.
"It is a piece of property in Montreal that has a mystique to it,'' he said, adding he sees the potential for the Ogilvy brand to expand beyond Quebec.
"Strategically, I think it's a good move," said Jeff Berkowitz, president of Aurora Realty Consultants Inc.
"They're going to create a really interesting experience for Montreal."
What Tuesday's announcement failed to answer were questions about plans for a neighbouring hotel and condo development on de la Montagne St. that had been the subject of previous media reports.
What was originally supposed to be a multi-level urban mall was scaled back by about 50,000 square feet, a source told The Gazette. The project's initial multi-level urban mall concept was dropped because it would have been difficult to find retailers willing to lease space on higher floors with less traffic, La Presse reported last month.
Made public by the city of Montreal in 2012 — at the height of the low-interest rate-fuelled real estate boom — the initial Maison Ogilvy plan called for a $150-million project, including an urban mall with underground parking, adjacent to a mixed-use project, combining 110 condos, a 120-room hotel and ground-floor retail space.
The development was initially the brainchild of Ogilvy-owner Selfridges, in partnership with the Quebec Federation of Labour's Fonds de solidarité and Montreal-based developer Devimco Inc. But with the Fonds selling its stake in late 2012, and Devimco changing its corporate structure into two entities — Devimco Immobilier and Carbonleo — the ownership of the project has now evolved.
Carbonleo, headed by president Jean-François Breton, is the owner of the parking lot sandwiched between the Hotel de la Montagne and Wanda's Strip Club. The lot is still going to be transformed into a mixed-use development, but details of the project will only be known in the spring, said Carbonleo spokesperson André Bouthillier.
Both stores will remain open during construction.
WITH FILES FROM ALLISON LAMPERT
efriede@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: evitastyle
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