Canadian luxury fashion retailer Holt Renfrew, will close down its ‘premium off-price’ hr2 store concept this year.
It has been reported that, though hr2 was profitable, the company wants to focus on its core luxury business throughout Canada.
We reported about the opening of the hr2 locations back in 2013, before it opened in Montreal. The second location at Vaughn Mills in Toronto opened that same year. The concept store was expected to expand nationally but only opened two stores.
Facing stiff competition from brands making their way North, such as Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, Holt Renfrew makes this closure announcement as the latter announce openings of lower-priced stores.
Saks OFF 5TH, the off-price selection from Saks, plans to operate about 25 Canadian stores by the end of 2018. Nordstrom’s off-price Nordstrom Rack will open its first Canadian stores early next year.
Holt Renfrew president Mario Grauso told WWD in an interview that there are no immediate plans to develop an alternative lower-price strategy, nor are there plans to open any new full-line Holt Renfrew stores in the foreseeable future.
