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Royal Treatment

By Susan Thorne

Montréal’s Les Cours Mont-Royal avoids typical chain stores found in shopping malls. Fashion retailer Harry Rosen opened its largest Québec location at the center.

A fashion-forward makeover has turned a struggling downtown Montréal mall into an exciting shopping destination.

The 100-store Les Cours Mont-Royal opened in 1988 in a converted hotel site, but suffered high vacancies during Montréal’s prolonged recession in the first half of this decade. It was under receivership when Soltron Realty, a Montréal-based management company, acquired the property in 1997 and embarked on a turnaround strategy.

“We knew we had to create something totally different,” explained Gerry Anisman, Soltron’s director of leasing.

“Montréal already had a strong shopping core close by in the form of Eaton’s Centre, Ste. Catherine Street, the Place de la Cathedrale and other competitors, which are all within a kilometer.” The strategy was to create a niche by specializing in contemporary fashion, avoiding the retail banners found in shopping malls — “a Gap-free zone,” as Anisman puts it. “There are only so many Jacob, Dalmy, Fairweather or Aldo stores — all the malls are loaded with these names,” Anisman said, identifying some of the leading Canadian multi-unit apparel retailers. “My dream was to have no chains.” He also wanted to focus exclusively on fashion “without dollar stores, ice cream, jewelers or candy. Just clothing and shoes — period.”

The resurrected center has stuck largely to that policy, while creating a distinctive identity. This is the place to find clothing with trendy labels such as Kookai, Marc Jacobs, Helmut Lang or Dolce & Gabbana. Store banners include other internationally recognized high-fashion names such as DKNY (one of only two locations in Canada) and Emporio Armani. Club Monaco occupies a large two-story space, and prominent Canadian upscale menswear retailer Harry Rosen opened its largest Québec location, a three-story, 22,000-square-foot store, last August here. But in contrast to these big names, a major proportion of the smaller tenants are independent Québec-based fashion designers and local labels that are geared to “les jeunes branches’’ — the hip youth market — “and the ones who want to look 30 when they’re 93,” Anisman quipped. These stores add a funky, even quirky accent to the merchandise mix, and carry some exclusive lines unavailable in the rest of Canada. Nevik features women’s Chinese silk garments patterned with oriental characters. Fashion retailer Face London has imported English labels such as Red or Dead; Avantscene carries Italian furniture. The Industria boutique offers the Betsey Johnson, Diesel and Replay fashion lines. Boutique Space FB showcases Québec designer Francois Beauregard’s fashions together with exclusive labels like England’s YMC.

Attracting these tenants to Les Cours required persuasion, particularly in the early days of Soltron’s ownership when vacancies were still high. “It took a lot of walking, a lot of door-knocking,” Anisman said. But occupancy aside, he said he also wanted to provide opportunity for new, independent retailers and help them to develop. “We want to give the independents a break, to help them start up. And we haven’t lost a single one,” he said.

The mall, which is currently 95% occupied, also has a lower-level food court and nonfashion tenants such as a liquor store and a 12,000-square-foot spa. The center is closed on Sundays, on the theory that since competitors can’t carry the same merchandise, customers will not go elsewhere.

In addition to its trendy tenants, Les Cours is also set apart by distinctive interior design and layout. Housed in the former Sheraton Mount Royal hotel building, constructed in 1922, the center faces inward, with its concourse and central court areas in the middle of a city block. With little natural light, the effect could have been gloomy, but the four-level arcade is airy and bright, with open sight lines between different floors. One dramatic feature is the chandelier from the grand ballroom of the Sheraton Mount Royal, which hangs over an attractive mezzanine seating area with space for fashion shows and other gatherings.

Harry Rosen, executive chairman of Harry Rosen Inc., Toronto, said he feels that the city’s role as a sophisticated fashion leader has endured. “Traditionally, Montréal has always had a predisposition to higher-quality merchandise,” he said. “Because of the French, the Continental influence, it has always been a bit more advanced fashion-wise [than the rest of Canada].” The Cours’ location just off Rue Ste. Catherine, central Montréal’s leading shopping street, gives it a strong presence, Rosen said. “Most people say the intersection of Peel and Ste. Catherine is the place to be. Well, we’re 100 yards north of it.” The surrounding area includes many office buildings as well as the McGill University campus, he pointed out, and patronage by tourists is also an important market component. U.S. visitors in particular are fascinated with Montréal, he said, “and we’ve benefited from that in the short time we’ve been open.”

Rents in Montréal have climbed to as high as C$100 to C$120 per square foot in the last five years.

Unlike the downtown cores of many North American cities, including Toronto, Montréal is alive until late in the evenings, he pointed out. “There’s a flow of traffic from local restaurants and bars, from Ste. Catherine Street — there’s a buzz.”

Gaston Lafleur, president of the Retail Council of Québec, said Les Cours Mont-Royal is in the right place at the right time. “Five years ago, we were slowly getting out of the recession, and there was a 10% to 15% vacancy rate on Ste. Catherine Street, the main commercial artery in Montréal. It was desolate.” But in the last five years there has been tremendous growth and revival, and Lafleur pointed out that vacancies are virtually nonexistent on Ste. Catherine, while rents have climbed to as high as C$100 to C$120 per square foot.

Retail in the downtown has also been on the upswing, with the addition of a new Simon’s department store, IMAX theater and multiplex cinemas on Ste. Catherine, plus plans for an entertainment complex at the Montréal Forum site and expansion of Place Montréal Trust.

Montréal’s economy has been bouncing back with job creation and diversification into new sectors such as technology. Les Cours Mont-Royal is in a good position to take advantage of the resurgence, Lafleur said. “I think the timing is good, and the center’s upscale range of consumer products and fashions goes well with the merchandise mix on Ste. Catherine,” he said. “It is a positive addition to the downtown.”