You know where you are with a beauty hall. It’s a large room – a hall, you might say – and it sells beauty products. Same goes for the men’s department, or the lingerie section. But department stores also have secret spaces, with names that give no clue to their purposes. They all sound the same, and they’re all a bit different, so we found out the lowdown, and now, we’re sharing it with you.
Holt Renfrew’s The Apartment has a living room space, kitchen and wraparound patio. - Contributed photo
Holt Renfrew
The Apartment
This is Vancouver’s newest personal shopping suite, and its swankiest. At 1,200 sq ft it’s bigger than most downtown apartments and has its own kitchen, washroom, living and dining areas and a private wraparound patio. Reserved for top clients and visiting celebs, it will also be used for private events and trunk shows. The store also has seven smaller personal shopping suites, and another two in the men’s section. These are open to all customers, free, by appointment.
H Project
A collection focused on storied products, mostly with a sustainable, eco-friendly or charitable bent (the ‘H’ stands for Humanity, Health and Habitat). For 2017, Holts is honing in on Canadian talent, and products include the Binu Binu x Smythe five-piece soap set created by design duo Smythe, soap brand binu binu, and Haida artist Bernard Kerrigan.
The Room at Hudson's Bay welcomed designer Min Liu to celebrate her collaboration with M.A.C Cosmetics in April 2017. - Contributed photo
Hudson’s Bay
The Room
This concept was created for the Bay’s Toronto store in 1937, initially to showcase European designers. These days, it’s all about emerging and influential designers including Canadian brand Erdem, Thom Brown, The Row and Proenza Schouler.
The Platinum Suite
Located inside The Room, this is a private shopping area with dressing rooms, makeup stations and a living-room atmosphere. It’s also an entertainment space for The Bay, which has hosted designer dinners and showcases there previously. There’s also personal shopping in the main store and in Topshop and Topman.
Nordstrom
The Rack
This is Nordstrom’s off-price – read: discount – retailer. It sells off-season designer wear and accessories from brands such as Oscar de La Renta, Max Mara, Alexander McQueen and Mulberry at up to 70 per cent discount. There are bricks-and-mortar stores over the border (the nearest is two-and-a-half hours away in Northgate Mall, Seattle). Here, it’s online only at nordstromrack.com, with shipping starting at $10.95. Real-life stores will be arriving in Calgary, Edmonton, Mississauga and Toronto next year, though there’s no news yet on a Vancouver opening.
Space
A collection curated by Olivia Kim, formerly of hip multi-brand store Opening Ceremony, this is meant to have the feel of a high-end boutique. It focuses mainly on emerging designers and less mainstream, more avant-garde ones. Current labels include Vetements, Acne and Maison Michel.
Pop-In
Kim also creates regular pop-ups that typically last six weeks or so. Collections have been themed around everything from technology to camping and usually include fashion, beauty and lifestyle items. Our standouts were the Goop collection, and the recent KFashion one.
JWN Room
The private shopping suite in the women’s-wear department, there are eight full-time personal stylists offering their expertise, free of charge.
