First Christmas season for Montreal’s newly opened Royalmount shopping mall

The holiday shopping season is in full swing, yet the newly opened Royalmount shopping mall in Montreal remains surprisingly quiet.

With luxury boutiques such as Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, are Montrealers turning toward higher-end experiences, or is there still a demand for more accessible shopping options?

 According to CEO and owner Andrew Lufty, just three months after opening and with nearly 90% of leases already signed, he is pleased that Montrealers will now be able to find their favourite brands locally, without the need to travel to Toronto, Miami, or New York.

“Today what really matters is brands, there’s globalization of brands, and more certainly and there’s no question. I mean, we are in a more affluent trade area. So consequently, there’s an opportunity for the more affluent and specialized brands and you think of let’s say the luxury brands or aspirational luxury brands. There is no such representation in Montreal, and it’s not because Montreal doesn’t have a market to support it,” said Lufty.

“It adds something extra to the city. I love this atmosphere, which is different from the others. Especially since there are luxury brands here that we can buy instead of going elsewhere. It’s great. I love it,” said one shopper at Royalmount.

“I like the fact that there’s a Sephora and Aritzia for us and everything because I’m not going to go into Louis Vuitton but I like the fact that they have all those options and it’s fun to look,” said another shopper at Royalmount.

“We’re not in the central business district. We’re not flanked by universities. So, we are truly destination. So the traffic that comes in here often has a much higher propensity to convert and ultimately that’s what matters is conversions and sales,” said Lufty.

Lufty is proud of the strong sense of connection at Royalmount, as well as its shopping, retail, and brand options.

 Royalmount combines indoor and outdoor spaces, with the newly opened outdoor skating rink.

The Town of Mount Royal mall can be reached by the metro’s orange line, and there’s now four hours of free indoor parking as they try to attract more people to Royalmount.

“Having an indoor parking and free for four hours is pretty cool and we walk straight in so sometimes that’s a plus because most malls you have to park outside and it’s raining and it’s cold and it’s windy and so on but the inside is very nice,” said a couple shopping at Royalmount.

“I don’t think we can ask for much more and listen, you know every year it’s just going to get better and better and better, so we are in fact really happy,” said Lufty.