Canada Goose to launch first UK store on London’s Regent Street

The high-end winter clothing retailer and brand, which trades in around 50 countries worldwide through hundreds of concessions and an ecommerce platform, will move into 244 Regent Street – the unit formerly occupied by Armani Exchange.

Sources close to the situation told Retail Week that the deal for Canada Goose to acquire the lease on the Crown Estate-owned unit was “a done deal”.

It is understood that Canada Goose plans to open its doors in the autumn, in time to capitalise on the busy Christmas trading period.

The shop will be Canada Goose’s third standalone store anywhere in the world, having opened its doors in Toronto and New York to much fanfare late last year.

Retail Week understands the business is pursuing a strategy to open a number of other flagships in key cities across the globe over the next few years as part of its rapid growth plans.

Canada Goose’s revenues have rocketed by more than 450% in the past five years alone.

Experience-focused

London’s shoppers can expect an experience-focused shopping trip when the store opens later this year.

When it revealed plans to open its first two stores in Canada and the US a year ago, Canada Goose said the shops would “deliver unparalleled service, putting experience at the forefront of every interaction”.

It invested in training to ensure its shop-floor staff became “not only product experts, but true brand ambassadors”.

Variety

Canada Goose also boasted that the stores would stock “a full assortment of every seasonal collection with the largest variety of colours and sizes anywhere in the world”.

Retail property consultancy Harper Dennis Hobbs, which advised Canada Goose on its search for a UK store, declined to comment.

Details of the premium parka-maker’s plans to launch a bricks-and-mortar presence in London emerged just a day after it floated on the New York Stock Exchange.

After setting its IPO at $12.78 (£10.35) per share, the price surged 26% to $16.08 (£13) on the first day of trading.

The successful stock market debut valued the company at $1.7bn (£1.37bn).

The business was founded in Toronto by Sam Tick 60 years ago, under the name Metro Sportswear, which initially specialised in woollen vests, raincoats and snowmobile suits.

In the 1970s, Tick’s son-in-law David Reiss – no relation to his namesake who founded British fashion retailer Reiss – joined the company and established the label Snow Goose, which later became Canada Goose, branching out into Arctic and mountain expedition coats.

The label made its on-screen film debut in 2004 when its jackets appeared in two Hollywood blockbusters, The Day After Tomorrow and National Treasure.

Private-equity group Bain Capital bought Canada Goose in 2013 and last year it opened its first two flagship stores, at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, in October, and Wooster Street in New York City, in November.