ROYALMOUNT mall opens to the public on Thursday in Montreal

Royalmount Mall was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, after years of development in Montreal.

The first-ever luxury shopping mall will be open to the public on Thursday starting at 10 a.m. It’s located between Highway 15 and 40, close to the Decarie Expressway.

The first phase of the mall will feature 170 stores, including 60 restaurants and cafés.

“I’m hoping to have you know, tens or hundreds more individuals who are leveraging their bus pass, their metro pass, they’re bringing their family with a knapsack and a backpack,” said Andrew Lutfy, CEO of Carbonleo and lead ROYALMOUNT investor. “Come and enjoy Royalmount.”

The mall is located on Royalmount Avenue, which is where this new development got their name.

Addiotnally, a VIP Cineplex, Rec Room Arcade and aquarium will eventually be built within the mall.

“As we talk about inclusive luxury, this is a really special place. In the winter, that grassy area turns into a skating rink. All the restaurants that are along the perimeter on both levels all have master planned terraces incorporated. We’re making a big bet that people will want to come together and experience those moments. The brands are going to shine,” said Lutfy.

It’s the second largest mall in Canada.

The CEO noted that housing and office spaces will eventually be part of the project.

“We’re building an ecosystem where people can have real, tangible experiences,” he said.

The 7 billion dollar mall has unique qualities with endless skylines, narrow hallways, unisex bathrooms and a food hall named “FouFou” where customers can purchase alcohol along with their meals.

High-end stores such as Louis Vitton, Gucci and Versace will be featured in the mall alongside other common brands like Garage, Dynamite, etc.

ROYALMOUNT will also include watch and jewelry boutiques including Rolex, Tiffany and Co. and David Yurman.

However, Lutfy said people can enjoy the mall without spending any money, by visiting over 60 art installations throughout ROYALMOUNT or enjoying the 77,000 square foot urban park outside the mall.

“Maybe you don’t have money, maybe you got a metro pass, maybe you can afford a gelato, but to be able to be culturally relevant and experience the art, experience the public spaces, I think that’s pretty priceless,” said Lutfy. “The mayor of TMR, the councilors of TMR and the residents of TMR will appreciate first-hand, in a couple of days what we have built and come to appreciate that is a global, sustainable, best practice to live, work and play if you so choose because it’s not for everyone.”

However, there were mixed reactions from the public about the new mall’s inaugauration.

Montreal resident Michel explained that he believes ROYALMOUNT was built for the richer population.

“I think it’s for the rich people if you compare that to 1030,” he said. “I’m going to go just to visit there, but I don’t know if I want to buy that. For me, it’s best to go to downtown Montreal.”

Yanis is an artist who moved to the city 11 years ago but said he was excited for the grand-opening.

“I didn’t know that they spent like 10 years building it. So it’s really nice, really cool thing to see in Montreal,” explained Yanis. “I think it’s going to bring more people in this area because I think this area just has a lot of restaurants but there is not a lot of other stores. So, it could be like a nice thing to have all these different store where you have luxury like Louis Vuitton, there is Gucci, there is a lot of different things.”

The mall will be accessible by the metro, where a 200-metre pedestrian bridge was built connecting De la Savane station to Royalmount.

However, if shoppers want to drive to mall, parking will not be free.

“Unfortunately, there is no free parking, so there’s close to 4,000 parking stalls. If this was free parking, this would turn into the easiest park and ride. So we can’t afford that. So what we’ve done is, we said, listen, the first half hour of parking is free. Download the app. After you’ve downloaded the app, the next half hour is free. After that, it’s $2.50 every half an hour. So if you think about it, a typical stay of maybe two hours, maybe it’s $5. It’s cheaper than any municipal street parking,” explained Lutfy.

According to the lead investor, many brands may offer parking validation, which means you may essentially get free or discounted parking if you shop at their stores.