Holt Renfrew is not only "the" specialty store in Canada, but also an international boutique that symbolizes the ultimate luxury experience. Therefore, RYA's planning and design required great restraint with the necessity to represent Holt Renfrew's brand as the essence of visual and aesthetic excellence. This brand identity reflects a highly focused, international, contemporary, confident, and affluent premier boutique, which is directed at the urban lifestyle consumer. The architectural environment creates a dramatic and immediate emotional connection to this discerning lifestyle.

RYA provided planning, interior design, merchandise presentation, and project management services for the renovation of the Holt Renfrew flagship store on Bloor Street in Toronto. Additional sales space was gained from an adjacent mezzanine, visually connected to the rest of the store by an escalator well that marries all four levels of the store in a light-filled atrium. The new sales areas that flank the atrium are linked to the rest of the store by a similar contemporary architectural language that creates visual harmony, elegance, and simplicity. The first floor, home to a tightly controlled branded array of the world's finest luxury cosmetics and fashion accessory names, secures Holt Renfrew's position as the premier specialty-retailer in Canada.