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Holt Renfrew (includes hr2)

pw20 said:
Super interesting to see how Holt's will do at Square One. They will be the outlier there - Nordstrom and Saks will be at Sherway, which has always been perceived as more upscale. Even its secondary anchors: Sporting Life and Harry Rosen are bigger and more upscale than Square One. Feels like a miss to me.
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Here are some new renderings and some info on Square One's Holt's. It's going to be a beautiful looking store, and bigger than originally anticipated: http://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2016/2/holts-square-one
 
Consilium said:
That may be a sign that the chain might be going out of business, as well as their performance.
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Quite the opposite. The hr2 locations were profitable. Holt Renfrew is in the midst of improving its main stores and closing its smaller stores. It's a calculated move to focus on quality.
 
Consilium said:
That may be a sign that the chain might be going out of business, as well as their performance.
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Almost certainly not.

HR has very high per sq ft numbers.

They're bottom line is quite healthy (at least according to my sources)
 
Can't help but feel the Square One location isn't performing well. Looks as though they are scrapping the second floor restaurant for the foreseeable future. I see some tourist traffic from time to time but the place is a ghost town.
 
CapCurk said:
Can't help but feel the Square One location isn't performing well. Looks as though they are scrapping the second floor restaurant for the foreseeable future. I see some tourist traffic from time to time but the place is a ghost town.
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My impression is that the luxury market in the GTA is now past saturation.

Holt's appears to be under-performing, I believe this to the case w/Saks's as well; and Nordstrom has been disappointed in some measure as well according to reports on this forum.

Just to many stores chasing a finite supply of dollars.

I suspect the luxury market here is far deeper than some once thought; but far shallower than to be able to sustain the current build-out of all the competitors in this space.
 
CapCurk said:
Can't help but feel the Square One location isn't performing well. Looks as though they are scrapping the second floor restaurant for the foreseeable future. I see some tourist traffic from time to time but the place is a ghost town.
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Also heard Simons is under-performing as well. Both Holts and Simons at Square One suffer from a total lack of service IMO! Its not uncommon to walk through either of these stores and be totally disregarded by the staff who seem more preoccupied with pursuing small talk with each other than trying to help customers. Harry Rosen, on the other hand, does extremely well there and this is in no small part to the high premium put on service. In the luxury market, there's no margin for error and if clients feel they are not being courted for their dollars, they'll simply go elsewhere. New management in both stores is desperately needed!! The manager of Nordstrom Eaton Centre wax axed recently due to poor sales; I suspect the same will happen at Holt's. At this point, the company has no choice but to try and make it work, as they're presumably locked into a long-term lease that the mall will be loathe to let them out of. Any word on how Saks at Sherway or downtown is doing?
 
mustangjay said:
Also heard Simons is under-performing as well. Both Holts and Simons at Square One suffer from a total lack of service IMO! Its not uncommon to walk through either of these stores and be totally disregarded by the staff who seem more preoccupied with pursuing small talk with each other than trying to help customers. Harry Rosen, on the other hand, does extremely well there and this is in no small part to the high premium put on service. In the luxury market, there's no margin for error and if clients feel they are not being courted for their dollars, they'll simply go elsewhere. New management in both stores is desperately needed!! The manager of Nordstrom Eaton Centre wax axed recently due to poor sales; I suspect the same will happen at Holt's. At this point, the company has no choice but to try and make it work, as they're presumably locked into a long-term lease that the mall will be loathe to let them out of. Any word on how Saks at Sherway or downtown is doing?
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I hope Holts works out at the SQ1 location, but cutting your full time staff hours to 30 a week has got to have an impact on service. My experience with Simons has been pretty good, but the place always has traffic. The Saks downtown location from what I've read is doing very well, Sherway is a bit slower than expected. Will be a big battle when Nordstrum opens.
 
mustangjay said:
Also heard Simons is under-performing as well. Both Holts and Simons at Square One suffer from a total lack of service IMO! Its not uncommon to walk through either of these stores and be totally disregarded by the staff who seem more preoccupied with pursuing small talk with each other than trying to help customers. Harry Rosen, on the other hand, does extremely well there and this is in no small part to the high premium put on service. In the luxury market, there's no margin for error and if clients feel they are not being courted for their dollars, they'll simply go elsewhere. New management in both stores is desperately needed!! The manager of Nordstrom Eaton Centre wax axed recently due to poor sales; I suspect the same will happen at Holt's. At this point, the company has no choice but to try and make it work, as they're presumably locked into a long-term lease that the mall will be loathe to let them out of. Any word on how Saks at Sherway or downtown is doing?
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That's been my experience as well at the Square One Holt's. It was around Christmas time I was looking for a new winter coat. i walked around the mens section in Holt's for a good 10 minutes and not a single employee acknowledged me, the store wasn't even that busy. I don't know why i waste my time going to Holt's, i have had that happen to me before. I walked into Harry Rosen and within 10 seconds i was asked if i needed help? I got a nice coat with excellent customer service, and i was out of the store in less than 15 minutes.

Simons wasn't my cup of tea. The high-end section is small, they had a lot of expensive clothing geared towards rich 20 year olds.
 
gabe said:
Simons wasn't my cup of tea. The high-end section is small, they had a lot of expensive clothing geared towards rich 20 year olds.
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Dead on. I always find it odd when Simons is talked about in the same breath as Nordstrom/Holt Renfrew/Saks. While Simons has a relatively small selection of designer goods (which I agree geared towards younger consumers), for the most part the store consists of Simons' private label goods which are more comparable to H&M than Holts.
 
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