Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, formerly and still
colloquially
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
Ogilvy (french: La Maison Ogilvy), is a Canadian
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
located on
Saint Catherine Street West in the
downtown core
The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...
of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada. It has been owned by the Selfridges Group, which itself is owned by British-Canadian businessman
Galen Weston
Willard Gordon Galen Weston (October 29, 1940April 12, 2021) was a British-Canadian billionaire businessman and Chairman Emeritus of George Weston Limited, a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Weston and his family, with an esti ...
, since 2011. Through this ownership, it is affiliated with the Canadian department store
Holt Renfrew
Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited (doing business as Holt Renfrew and known colloquially as Holt's) is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. It has been owned by the Weston family since 1986, and was previo ...
and the European department stores
Arnotts Arnotts can refer to;
* Arnott's Biscuits, an Australian biscuit and salted snack food company
* Arnotts (Ireland), a department store in Dublin, Ireland
* Arnotts (Scotland)
Arnotts was a department store in Glasgow, Scotland. It became part o ...
,
Brown Thomas
Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five Irish department stores, located in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dundrum Town Centre. Part of the Selfridges Group, Brown Thomas is an upmarket chain, akin to Britain's Selfridges stores ...
,
de Bijenkorf
De Bijenkorf (; literally, "the beehive") is a chain of high-end department stores in the Netherlands, with its flagship store on Dam Square in Amsterdam. The chain is owned by Selfridges Group, which also owns Britain's Selfridges and Ireland's B ...
, and
Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...
. The store is the only one of four major west-end retailers in Montreal that still operates with its original name, and is nicknamed the "grande dame of Saint Catherine Street".
Ogilvy originated as a
dry goods
Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...
store, and was founded in 1866 by James Angus Ogilvy. The store moved into its present-day location on the corner of
Saint Catherine Street West and
Rue de la Montagne
Rue de la Montagne, also known as Mountain Street, is a north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It starts at Wellington Street in the south and continues to above Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north, where it stops in ...
in 1912, and was considered a full-line department store by 1920. It now houses several departments of
store-within-a-store
A store-within-a-store, also referred to as shop-in-shop, is an agreement in which a retailer rents a part of the retail space to be used by a different company to run another, independent shop.
Origins
In the early days of cellular telephone gr ...
designs for
luxury goods
In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...
brands including
Burberry
Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...
,
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...
,
Prada
Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding t ...
,
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...
, and
Dior
Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds ...
. The store was rebranded to Holt Renfrew Ogilvy in 2019, and completed a significant renovation and expansion in 2020 through a collaboration between Jeffrey Hutchinson & Associates, Martin Brûlé Studio, Laplace, Gensler & Lemay; it provides for the consolidation of the existing Holt Renfrew on
Sherbrooke Street West
Sherbrooke Street (officially in french: rue Sherbrooke) is a major east–west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of ...
into the larger, Ogilvy building.
Operations during 19th century
Founding
![Display](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Display._Ogilvy%27s_Store_Window_BAnQ_P48S1P06788.jpg)
In 1866, James Angus Ogilvy, a recent immigrant from
Kirriemuir
Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, opened a wholesale and retail dry goods store at 91 and 93
Mountain Street
Rue de la Montagne, also known as Mountain Street, is a north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It starts at Wellington Street in the south and continues to above Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north, where it stops in a ...
in Montreal.
Ogilvy is said to have started with a single counter and one employee.
[ He remained at the same location for the next ten years until moving his "fancy and staple dry goods" business to 199 St. Antoine Street on the northeast corner of Mountain and Antoine. In 1884, Ogilvy relocated again, this time to the northwest corner of Mountain and St. Antoine. In 1889, James A. Ogilvy & Sons expanded its store to include house furnishings, household linens, and fine dry goods, in addition to serving as "agents for the celebrated Rob Roy Linen Fire Hose."]
Move to Saint Catherine Street
In September 1896, James Ogilvy unveiled a new, larger, three storey granite premises, at the corner of St. Catherine Street West and Mountain Street. Designed by David Ogilvy, the proprietor's architect son, the store was described as "having every device known at the present time for the convenience of the public, the comfort of employees, and the economy of time." Amenities included a ladies' sitting room, detailed in cherrywood, and furnished with writing tables and chairs. In spite of the larger, more prestigious quarters, Ogilvy declared that his business would remain largely unchanged:
We came up to St. Catherine Street and mean business — a Dry Goods Business — only Dry Goods. A number of people have asked us if we are going into department store work. This we have positively refused to do. Our business is dry goods.[
]
In fact, one of the company's mail order catalogues boasted that Ogilvy's was the "largest exclusive dry goods store in Canada", featuring "the world's best merchandise at the lowest possible price".
Operations during 20th century
Move to new building
For the next sixteen years, the store remained at the northeast corner of St. Catherine Street West and Mountain Street. But with business expanding, Ogilvy bought land directly across the street and commenced construction of a new establishment in 1908. The four-storey, Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
structure, again designed by David Ogilvy, and costing well over a million dollars, was formally unveiled in March 1912. Press reports noted the spaciousness of the new store and how "the accommodations are such that 1,000 people can be standing at the counters at one time and still have the aisle space for a couple thousand more people." Advertisements promoted the new establishment as "The Daylight Store" - an apparent reference to the abundance of natural light allowed by its many windows.
The company's founder, however, did not live to see the opening of the new store. James A. Ogilvy died the year before. Press reports referred to his "straightforward" character and "generous but never ostentatious" nature and how he was a major contributor to his church, as well as local charitable and community organizations.
1920–1949
By 1920, Ogilvy's array of merchandise and services had expanded and its policy of remaining strictly a dry goods business had changed. Jas. A. Ogilvy Limited now promoted itself as a department store that included amenities such as a "Hair Dressing Parlor" and a "Lunch Room." During this period, the store's ownership also changed hands and Jas. A. Ogilvy & Sons became an asset of the Home Bank of Canada
The Home Bank of Canada was a Canadian bank that was incorporated July 10, 1903 in Toronto. It succeeded the earlier Toronto Savings Bank, which had been founded in 1854 by Bishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel and the local chapter of t ...
. In 1927, following the bank's failure, investment dealer Arthur J. Nesbitt, of Nesbitt, Thomson and Company
Nesbitt, Thomson and Company was a Canadian stock brokerage firm that was founded in 1912 by Arthur J. Nesbitt and Peter A. T. Thomson. The firm was headquartered on St. James Street in Montreal, Quebec.Nesbitt, A. R. Deane. ''Dry Goods & Pic ...
, bought the firm's entire common stock at $5 a share, for a total of $38,500, on the urging of his 19-year-old son. J. Aird Nesbitt hoped to quickly resell the business for a profit.[ Instead, he "fell in love with the place” and proceeded to manage Ogilvy's for the next 54 years.]
As head of Ogilvy's, James Aird Nesbitt became a leading figure in Montreal retailing. Described as "an innovator and pioneer marketeer" who spent his career "ignoring the mass-merchandising techniques of the big department stores."[ Nesbitt characterized himself as "more showman than storekeeper."] Soon after taking charge of Ogilvy's, he added a fifth floor to the building and opened Tudor Hall, a 300-seat oak-panelled music hall that featured an elaborate pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
. The venue hosted public concerts and shows, from Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character w ...
to performing baby elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
s, early radio shows, including the first Montreal Symphony Orchestra
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orche ...
across-the-country broadcast, and Canada's first experimental television transmission, aired in 1931. Other attractions included the world's fastest aircraft, a Vickers-Armstrongs
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...
Supermarine
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of Jet engine, jet-powered figh ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
, which in 1932 Nesbitt had dismantled and reassembled for in-store display.
Nesbitt also placed renewed emphasis on elegant interior design and chandeliers became a common store fixture. During the 1960s, he purchased the century-old, 100-light crystal Bohemian chandelier from Her Majesty's Theatre, Montreal
Her Majesty's Theatre (also known as His Majesty's Theatre) was a theatre located on Guy Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For nearly 65 years it was one of the most important venues for orchestral concerts, recitals, plays, operas, and ballets i ...
, following its demolition, and put it on display on Ogilvy's ground floor, where it still hangs today. Nesbitt also established a policy whereby Ogilvy's would carry items that its clientele would enjoy, rather than merchandise only designed to make the most money:
We feel that the more fun we get out of merchandising ourselves, the more our customers will enjoy it, and the more successful we will be. Therefore, it is our policy to both choose in Canada and to import from around the world as many delectable and exciting things as we can afford, sometimes not worrying too much whether the things will be a big commercial success as long as they are a pleasure to have in the store.
Nesbitt paid tribute to the store's Scottish heritage, and his own, with the introduction of tartan
Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...
shopping bags and store packaging. He also initiated the tradition of a Scottish bagpiper who paraded through the store, playing for the entertainment of patrons and staff. Beginning in 1945, the bagpiper closed the store at the end of the day — at first on Saturdays only but later on a daily basis. For the past several decades, though, the bagpiper has played at noon hour, winding his way through all the floors of the store.
Nesbitt was also responsible for the annual tradition of the store's Christmas window
A Christmas window is a special window display prepared for the Christmas shopping season at department stores and other retailers. Some retailers around the world have become noted for their Christmas window displays, with some becoming touris ...
display. In 1947, he commissioned German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
toymaker Steiff to create two animated holiday scenes, known as "The Mill in the Forest" and "The Enchanted Village," made up of dozens of handcrafted mechanical toy animals, with more than a hundred moveable parts. In 2008, the displays, in a state of disrepair, were completely refurbished.
1950–1999
With the 1960s, the store was one of the first to use such contemporary expressions as "go-go" and "mod" in its promotional displays. It was also one of the first "to make use of the Chelsea look", associated with the miniskirt
A miniskirt (sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, separated as mini skirt, or sometimes shortened to simply mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a ...
as it offered up the fashion of British designer Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...
. Ogilvy expanded into suburban Montreal with the opening of branch stores at Fairview Pointe Claire in 1965 and Anjou in 1968. By the 1970s, though, the store was no longer considered "the fashion leader", and was better known for its conservative clientele. Its profitability had also been on the decline. In 1976, it reported earnings of $81,000 on sales of more than $16 million.
In 1981, after more than half a century as Ogilvy head, J. Aird Nesbitt retired. Edward Walls, a former general merchandise manager with the T. Eaton Company
The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...
, became the new chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
. Among other changes, Walls expressed his desire to reduce the number of store departments from 66, which ranged from antiques to television sets.[ Four years later, after entertaining various offers, and asking for reassurances that "every reasonable effort" would be made to retain its retail tradition, the Nesbitt family sold Jas. A. Ogilvy Limited to Equidev, a Montreal development group led by real estate entrepreneur Daniel Fournier.] The new owners undertook major structural and cosmetic renovations, which resulted in much of the store being gutted. A new retail format called the "store within a store" was introduced. Ogilvy was remodelled and transformed from a department store into a series of upscale shops and boutiques operated by independent retailers and brands, but under a common store policy. In November 1986, the first of the renovations, consisting of a completely redesigned second floor, were unveiled. It took two more years for the rest of the 150,000 square feet of retail space to be fully remodelled. The completed renovations saw 85 percent of the store's space leased to some 50 retailers. In 1994, Standard Life Assurance Company bought Ogilvy.
Operations during 21st century
In 2000, the retailer again changed hands, this time acquired by Pyxis Real Estate Equities Inc. In 2004, the store underwent another remodelling at a cost of $12 million.[
In 2010, it was bought by a Quebec-based consortium] but within a year was sold again, this time to the Selfridges Group Limited, chaired by W. Galen Weston, a subsidiary of Wittington Investments Limited. Wittington's other holdings include upscale retailers Selfridges
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...
in the United Kingdom, Brown Thomas
Brown Thomas & Company Limited is a chain of five Irish department stores, located in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dundrum Town Centre. Part of the Selfridges Group, Brown Thomas is an upmarket chain, akin to Britain's Selfridges stores ...
in Dublin, Ireland, de Bijenkorf
De Bijenkorf (; literally, "the beehive") is a chain of high-end department stores in the Netherlands, with its flagship store on Dam Square in Amsterdam. The chain is owned by Selfridges Group, which also owns Britain's Selfridges and Ireland's B ...
of the Netherlands, and Holt Renfrew
Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited (doing business as Holt Renfrew and known colloquially as Holt's) is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. It has been owned by the Weston family since 1986, and was previo ...
in Canada.
The intention to convert the Ogilvy building into a rebranded "Holt Renfrew Ogilvy" store and close the existing Holt Renfrew store on Sherbrooke Street West
Sherbrooke Street (officially in french: rue Sherbrooke) is a major east–west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of ...
was first discussed in 2013. The renovation, which took place from 2017 to 2020, included a expansion and brought the total space to .
See also
* List of Canadian department stores
References
External links
*
* {{URL, https://web.archive.org/web/20190407110302/https://ogilvycanada.com/en/, Ogilvy website archive (April 7, 2019)
Department stores of Canada
Landmarks in Montreal
Companies based in Montreal
Retail companies established in 1866
Commercial buildings completed in 1908
Romanesque Revival architecture in Canada
Department store buildings in Canada
Downtown Montreal
1908 establishments in Quebec