Curious onlookers and shoppers with cash to spare turned out in droves as luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue officially opened its first Canadian location in downtown Toronto.

The store hosted an elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday morning, complete with wait staff serving hors d’oeuvres and drinks in champagne flutes, and an ensemble of classical musicians.

The new store is located within the Hudson’s Bay Company’s flagship Queen St. store, which Hudson’s Bay governor and executive chairman Richard Baker called “one of the greatest buildings in all of North America.”

Many visitors to the store, which spread out over several floors, said they were “just looking.” Others tried on shoes and had their makeup done.

Curious would-be shoppers pulled out their phones to snap pictures of the store’s fancy layout and some of the prices: $400 for a pair of jeans, $285 for a long-sleeved T-shirt, $627 for a scarf, and $695 Manolo Blahnik heels, just to name a few.

Designers from Balenciaga to Stella McCartney had their wares exhibited in individual sections of the store, which was full of sales associates ready to describe the latest fashions in detail.

The chain has 38 stores in the U.S. as well as five international locations. It is owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company and carries “top-tier brands” of clothing, handbags, perfume and jewelry.

Toronto resident Winnie Lau came to see how the Canadian branch compared to the Saks store in New York, where she said she bought a dress on a previous shopping trip.

“It’s a big difference, there is more variety here than the Saks in New York,” Lau told the Star. She said she liked the store because it is “more cosmopolitan” than other places.

CEO Jerry Storch said the new location is “absolutely brilliant.”

“I thought it was impossible… The registers work, the credit cards work,” Storch said with a laugh.

Saks Fifth Avenue president Marc Metrick described the opening, which he said was 100,000 hours of work over three years in the making, as “epic.”

“We are so proud today,” Metrick said. “. . . We will not disappoint you.”

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Thursday’s opening ceremony will be followed by the opening of a second Canadian location at Sherway Gardens on Feb. 25.

Both locations will feature a “first-of-its-kind Saks Food Hall by Pusateri’s” and private wings known as The Fifth Avenue Club. The openings also coincide with the Canadian launching of the chain’s shopping service, Saks at Your Service.

With files from Jillian Kestler-D'Amours