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Holt Renfrew

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Holt Renfrew is a high-end Canadian department store often compared to the United States retailer Neiman Marcus. It was founded in 1837 as a hat shop in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, by Irishman William Samuel Henderson.

Contents

Origins

With a small assortment of caps and hats, William Samuel Henderson of Londonderry, Ireland, arrived in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada in 1834. He joined Ashton and Company, a retailing firm, in 1835, and in 1837, bought controlling interest. He renamed the company after himself, and opened a store on rue Buade.

In 1849, William started selling furs, and three years later, sold the shop to his brother John. In 1860, G. R. Renfrew, who had been an employee, bought a partnership, and the firm became Henderson, Renfrew & Co.

The company built a reputation for furs that was solidified in 1886, when the firm had the honour of being appointed "Furrier-in-Ordinary to her Majesty" by Queen Victoria. The company eventually received five generations of royal warrants from Queen Victoria.

In 1867, John Holt bought out Henderson's remaining interest, although the company didn't officially change names until 1908. In 1889, a second Holt Renfrew store opened in Toronto, to be followed by other store openings.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the company started adding international designers such as Christian Dior.

Modern History

The firm was purchased by New York financiers CIT in 1965 and resold to Carter Hawley Hale, who then owned Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. When Galen Weston bought the store in 1986. he and wife Hilary immediately brought in interior designer expert Naomi Leff to recreate the store layout, seeking the elegant intimacy of small boutiques. Bold changes in the merchandise mix were also made.

Through George Weston Ltd, Whittington Investments, and other holding companies, the Weston family owns or controls over 200 companies, including a number of retailers, such as upscale department stores Brown Thomas in Dublin and Selfridges at various locations in the UK. Also Canada's largest supermarket chain, Loblaw's. Daughter Alannah Weston replaced the much-respected Susanne Tide-Frater as head designer for Selfridges.

In September, 2004 Caryn Lerner took the reins as firm president, succeeding Andrew Jennings, who left in February to head up Saks Fifth Avenue. Lerner, 47, has held senior management positions at QVC, Jones New York, Barneys New York and Bloomingdale's. She had most recently headed Escada (USA) Inc., an upscale apparel, accessory and fragrance brand.

Today

The chain has locations in Ste-Foy, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto (on Bloor Street, and in Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Sherway Gardens), Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. There are also "Last Call" end-of-the-line stores at the Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, and on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg.

The Bloor, Montreal, and Edmonton locations include holt's café, an informal diner-like restaurant concept, that features famous tartine made from the world-renowned Poilane bread that is flown in directly from Paris, France.

Holt Renfrew was named "Store of the Year" by the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers at its 33rd annual Retail Design Awards (RDA).

The Holt Renfrew branded American Express credit card was designed by Roberto Cavalli.

Locations

See also

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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