Sneak Peek: New Holt Renfrew Vancouver Revamp Revealed

In the ever-competitive world of luxury shopping in downtown Vancouver, Holt Renfrew undergoes a grand renovation.

Holts revealed its plans for a revamp, with construction already underway for 40,000 square feet of retail space, a cafe restaurant, leather artisan, beauty lab, and sneaker cleaner—because today’s customer pairs Nikes with Tom Ford suits.Coming this summer, there will be a completely redesigned Holt Renfrew Man with more than 15 additional menswear brands, including Rick Owens, Loewe, Amiri, Off White, Dries Van Noten, Officine Generale and Berluti. This is to be the atrium in the Holt Renfrew Men section opening this summer.Later this year and into 2017 Holts is also getting a master tailor, shoeshine and sneaker cleaning services, as well as a special “leather artisan” to assist customers with bespoke embossing and repairs. A rendering of the new Holt Cafe, coming to Vancouver this summer.Holt Renfrew staffers were also eager to reveal that a restaurant, Holts Cafe, will finally be coming to the Vancouver store, and will be open as early as this summer. Here you can see a rendering of the sophisticated space designed by the international design firm (founded by two Ontario natives) Yabu Pushelberg. Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu are known for their high-end work in this category, having designed Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, Hong Kong’s Louis Vuitton and a slew of prestigious hotels like the W Hotel in NYC’s Times Square and the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. (They were also two of our first marquee judges for our Designers of the Year awards back in 2008.)The 80-seat restaurant will be fine dining and open for lunch, dinner, and post-shop cocktails and will feature a giant bar and private dining room. Holts people say the overall look of the new cafe will be “quintessentially West Coast,” so we’re eager to see the design when it’s revealed this summer.The high-end retailer is also buffing up its beauty game, introducing a new Beauty Lab, Nail Bar and Style_Studio for that ultra-VIP experience. The existing beauty area, now on the second floor, will actually be moving to the bottom floor, currently the men’s section.When it comes to personal shopping, Holts is expanding the experience to 7,000 square feet over two levels, that will house five private suites and The Apartment.The store will stay open as it rolls out these new spaces in stages over the next year, and in the end Holt Renfrew Vancouver will occupy around 190,000 square feet of Vancouver’s downtown. (They’ll be gaining those square feet from the old Sport Chek, relocating to the old Chapters on Robson. Circle of Life.) Here’s a shot of the proposed leather shop where you can find the new leather artisan.