Dior Opens Beauty Flagship in Toronto at Yorkdale

Christian Dior Parfums’ brick-and-mortar retail strategy is coming into focus, and it’s going global.

After a slew of other retail openings in key markets in the U.S. — most notably the megaflagship on 57th Street in New York — the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned brand is opening its Canadian flagship in Toronto at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. It is the brand’s sole stand-alone beauty boutique in the country.

The store will encompass a broad expression of the brand, opening front-and-center with the ultra-luxe fragrance range La Collection Privée. Additionally, makeup and skin care will get their due, as well as Mitzah scarves and beauty accessories such as trunks, cases and caps for fragrances.

“Canada is an interesting and very dynamic market,” said Charlotte Holman Ros, president of North America, Christian Dior Parfums. “The total luxury market in Canada is growing incredibly fast.”

Holman Ros noted that Dior is among the leading luxury brands in the country, “so as the market continues to grow, we want to make sure we are well positioned to capture our share of that growth to help introduce the brand to new clients,” she said.

That ladders up to the broader vision of Dior’s parent company. “In terms of luxury in general for LVMH, and specifically for Dior, Toronto is a key international city globally. It’s a sizable market. For us, planting our flagship footprint in Toronto in Yorkdale makes a lot of sense in the context not just about a strategy for Canada, but an overall global strategy.”

Fragrance is one of Dior’s biggest categories, but Holman Ros sees opportunities beyond it in Canada. “The most noticeable difference is the penetration of luxury skin care in the market,” she said of Canadian shoppers versus U.S. ones. “In Canada, it’s about 40 percent, so it’s much higher than the U.S. While the thrill of makeup and fragrances remains important, we have a much more established and deeply engaged luxury skin care client.”

There’s also an appetite for desirability in Canada and Holman Ros’ focus is on perpetuating that momentum into newer, younger consumer cohorts. “We’re very focused on glowing selectively, and establishing a highly curated and highly selective network of flagship boutiques is a key building block of the long-term strategy,” she said. “This is critical to enhancing our brand visibility, making a strong statement about our brand, offering the best expression of the world of Dior to our clients, which will help us both expand our clientele while deepening the engagement with existing client bases.”

Indeed, Yorkdale attracts north of 18 million shoppers annually, and Dior tested the waters with a holiday tree activation at the space in 2023. “We wrapped the whole mall with our out-of-home media placements and saw a very high level of engagement with the brand as well as an increase in overall sales,” Holman Ros said. “Beauty will be positioned alongside the new couture flagship, so this creates a one-of-its-kind brand destination under a unified Dior facade.”

The boutique is located in Yorkdale’s newly christened luxury wing, and “the adjacency to Dior couture is key in terms of allowing greater synergies across the brand experience. In terms of merchandising, we very much tailored it to that discerning and ultra-high-net-worth Yorkdale client.”

Inside, the layout is similar to existing boutiques, which “have really surpassed our expectations in terms of not just sales, but also the level of new client recruitment,” she said. Rounding out the assortment beyond fragrance is a skin care alcove highlighting the brand’s L’Or de Vie and Dior Prestige ranges, and the Dior Addict, Rouge Dior and Dior Forever ranges also get a large screen to showcase the latest campaigns.

“We’re trying to take what we’ve been able to bring in California, New York and Miami to the shopper. A key success factor is investing in the right talent,” Holman Ros said. “They understand how to sell the dream of haute perfumery, as well as curating experiences in luxury skin care, that we don’t offer anywhere else in our distribution network.”