Canadian fast-fashion chain opens third U.S. store

Ardene has come a long way since it opened its first 500-square-foot store, in 1982, at the Carrefour Laval mall, near Montréal. The company started out as a jewelry and accessories chain and added clothing and footwear in 2004. Today Ardene occupies about 2 million square feet of retail space in malls, shopping centers and street-front locations, with flagship stores that can be as large as 20,000 square feet.

Beyond merely surviving the changes that have shaken other apparel retailers, Ardene has kept expanding. “There are so many stories of banners closing, but Ardene has a nice story to tell, in that they have been able to innovate and remain alive,” said Marie-Claude Breault, a Montréal-based associate at Colliers International. 

These days, Breault observes, the retailer is focused on serving Millennial and Gen-Z shoppers: young women and girls who have grown up with the Internet and who have an eye for the latest fashions. This past summer Ardene announced an exclusive agreement with Kardashian family members Kendall and Kylie Jenner to offer the Kendall + Kylie clothing and accessories brand in stores and online.

Ardene has continued to evolve and to innovate. In 2016 the company introduced the A.C.W. contemporary wear, Est. Eight Two Denim and Rose + Vine lingerie brands. On its website, the company describes its mission as the creation of a one-stop shopping destination inspired by social media and pop culture.

The stores are designed to appeal to young shoppers through such features as video screens and smartphone charging stations. “They have done a lot of R&D with the layout of their new stores to make them more engaging for their customers,” said Hilary Kellar-Parsons, a Toronto-based senior associate at Avison Young. The merchandise range is wide enough, however, to appeal to 30-something women, she says. “It is not exclusively for the younger demographic." Another success factor is a price point affordable enough to appeal to a wide demographic, Kellar-Parsons says. Tops, sweaters and jackets typically cost between $18 and $45. 

The company entered the U.S. in 2015 with a store at Crossgates Mall, in Albany, N.Y., followed by a store at Boston’s South Shore Plaza. Ardene's Cherry Hill Mall store measures 11,000 square feet and is located across from the food court, in the center's JCPenney wing. “Ardene is a much welcomed addition to our diversified tenant mix and certainly fits the evolution of consumers’ lifestyles,” said Joseph F. Coradino, PREIT's chairman and CEO. “We’re excited to bring a hot brand to this market and [to] enable our consumers to experience one of its first stores in the country. We’ve already received a great response since we announced this new tenant.” Ardene will join several other international retailers at Cherry Hill, including Intimissimi and Zara, which opened this year. Other brands are Apple, Hugo Boss, The North Face and Nordstrom.

Ardene has not disclosed any particular number of stores it is aiming to open in the U.S. “It really depends,” Kellar-Parsons said. "There have been amazing success stories of retailers opening in the U.S., and there have been other situations where it hasn’t worked and hasn’t resonated. I’m optimistic that they will do well, but time will tell.”