Монреальдегі Holt Renfrew–Ogilvy универмагы

Department store in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
the co branded Holt Renfrew–Ogilvy location in Montreal

Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, formerly and still colloquially Ogilvy , is a Canadian department store located on Saint Catherine Street West in the downtown core of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has been owned by the Selfridges Group, which itself is owned by British Canadian businessman Galen Weston, since 2011. Through this ownership, it is affiliated with the Canadian department store Holt Renfrew and the European department stores Arnotts, Brown Thomas, de Bijenkorf, and Selfridges. 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 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 in 1912, and was considered a full line department store by 1920. It now houses several departments of store within a store designs for luxury goods brands including Burberry, Hermes, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Dior. 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 into the larger, Ogilvy building.

In 1866, James Angus Ogilvy, a recent immigrant from Kirriemuir, Scotland, opened a wholesale and retail dry goods store at 91 and 93 Mountain Street in Montreal. Ogilvy is said to have started with a single counter and one employee. 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."

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 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." 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.

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. In 1927, following the bank's failure, investment dealer Arthur J. Nesbitt, of Nesbitt, Thomson and Company, 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. As head of Ogilvy's, James Aird Nesbitt became a leading figure in Montreal retailing. Described as "an innovator and pioneer marketeer" 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 venue hosted public concerts and shows, from Punch and Judy to performing baby elephants, early radio shows, including the first Montreal Symphony Orchestra across the country broadcast, and Canada's first experimental television transmission, aired in 1931. 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, 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 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 display. In 1947, he commissioned German 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.

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 as it offered up the fashion of British designer Mary Quant. 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, became the new chief executive officer. Among other changes, Walls expressed his desire to reduce the number of store departments from 66, which ranged from antiques to television sets. 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.

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. 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 in the United Kingdom, Brown Thomas in Dublin, Ireland, de Bijenkorf of the Netherlands, and Holt Renfrew 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 was first discussed in 2013. The renovation, which took place from 2017 to 2020, included a expansion and brought the total space to .