Attention Shoppers — Page 3

A changing of the retail guard is evident at Leone, too. The rebranded L2 boutique on the lower floor is run by son Marcello (who does the menswear buying) and focuses on contemporary brands (and a younger clientele), with lines like Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B., Miss Sixty, J. Lindeberg and Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto.

“My son dares to take more risks,” says Leone. “He shops for edgier pieces. And Vancouver is ready for it. We have the advantage of having lived here, working the floor of this store, and intimately knowing our city. We don’t have buyers living in Toronto and New York. We don’t make our decisions via what the numbers show. What I know inside as a gut feeling is always more accurate than a spreadsheet.”

A subtle jab at Holt’s, perhaps, whose buying team is based in Toronto. Barbara Atkin, arguably the country’s leading tastemaker for luxury fashion, has been with the company for 20 years, 17 as fashion director; she’s seen five presidents come and go. A woman of sophistication, confidence and power (she was recently profiled in Vogue), she’s also warm and genuine. “It’s her serious approach to an absurdist world [fashion],” noted Olivia Stren in Toronto Life, “that makes her so endearing…she believes in her own hype.”

Atkin also believes that globalization has ripened the Vancouver market. “The further up the design pyramid you go,” she says, on the phone from her Toronto office, “it becomes one world, regardless of whether you’re in Vancouver or LA or Milan. We all aspire to the same designer labels we see in magazines or on TV. Our customers have elevated taste, and they travel more, so awareness is key. Today, clients are familiar with many designers and they shop the world. That’s your global customer: she lives in Vancouver but has a global mentality.”

Which means you retain her loyalty not by offering a wider selection than she can find in New York or Paris, but by heaping attention on her. Atkin points to Holt’s personal shopping program, founded in Toronto 15 years ago, as an important factor in the company’s success (2006 was its strongest year to date, with every location exceeding sales targets).

“I think the future of retailing is your relationship with a personal shopper,” she adds. “Much as we love that serendipitous experience of tripping on the next new thing ourselves, you need to build a relationship with a sales associate. As stores get larger, it’s hard to navigate through all that merchandise. I’m intimately involved in the buying for our store, but I’d never shop alone now. I need someone to help direct it for me, pull it together. It’s all about customizing something for yourself.”

Maria Leone agrees. “The same day Versace has a big show in Milan, you can go on the Internet and see it. So it’s not as if my customers wait for me to come back and tell them about the collections. It’s up to me to choose from the show what’s best for them. Sure, people are more savvy now, but they still want that personal touch. Nothing is going to beat dealing with someone you’ve been dealing with for 10 years. These are investment pieces, and you want a great fit and a personal touch.”

It’s conventional wisdom that new money gravitates to iconic brands—“Look at me, look what I can afford to buy”—and Vancouver is a new-money town. People surround themselves with purchases that make a statement. Of course, it only works if people recognize the brand. It’s like buying art: if you’re unsure of yourself you go for the well-known name rather than the more interesting or experimental piece.

“I think we’re going to learn a lot about our Vancouver shopper when we open the doors,” says Atkin. “How playful they are, how willing to experiment. Up until now I’d say that the Vancouver customer has been very label driven. They know their labels, they want their labels, and we’ve skewed our business that way.”

Yet the World Design Lab will be full of unheard-of designers, which means that the focus will be on style, not labels. “It’s great for the customer who’s found that the mega brands are not their piece of cake,” says Atkin. The Lab will carry 6267 out of Milan (“It’s based on simple silk scarf dresses that you layer with leggings. It’s just such a beautiful, easy way of dressing”), and Kale.lief + Hebber (“a small collection but very utilitarian, very functional, very Vancouver”). She mentions labels like Eskandar (“It’s from England, but very much a Vancouver label—easy, simple, laidback clothing made for layering) and Brunello Cucinelli (“It’s what I call stealth wealth—luxury under the radar. Beautiful, easy essentials with the best fabrication. Think cashmere and leather jackets; linen mixed with beautiful pima cottons”).

Few of these brands will be familiar to Vancouver shoppers, especially those who shop at Sears and the Bay. “This is a chance for us to see who’s going to walk in those doors and discover an incubator of newness,” says Atkin. “This is a time of experimentation.”

Also known as a $30-million roll of the dice. Wouldn’t it be safer to go with the high-end labels that will appeal to aspirational shoppers and broaden Holt’s market? The old Vancouver location had the highest per-square-foot sales of any Holt’s store in the country. If it ain’t broke, as the saying goes, don’t fix it. Why not stick with the tried and true?

“Because we can’t stand still,” says Atkin. “You can’t get complacent. You have to keep moving with your customer, pushing forward—that’s part of our mandate. And we believe Vancouver is ready.”

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