VANCOUVER -- Fancy a shower or a gourmet meal in a well-furnished, 1,000-square-foot apartment while shopping for designer clothing?

Holt Renfrew will take the Vancouver luxury retail experience up a notch next year when it introduces the “Apartment” shopping concept to its downtown store, offering select by-invitation-only customers the ultimate opportunity to shop in style.

The new feature — with its own rooftop terrace and party area — will be part of a 40,000-square-foot addition to the store, bringing the total floor area to about 190,000 square feet. Construction is set to begin this summer, with completion by the end of 2016.

Holt Renfrew will take up space now occupied by Sport Chek on Howe Street and company president Mark Derbyshire said the bigger store reflects the needs of its Vancouver customers.

“People of Vancouver have great style and great fashion sense and this (kind of luxury) isn’t new to them,” he said in an interview Thursday. “Our customers come in and say they were shopping in Selfridges or Harrods or Printemps or Lane Crawford and they want their hometown shop, us, to reflect that.”

Derbyshire said he and the Vancouver store manager will decide who to invite to their new “apartment” and its complimentary high-end services.

“You’ll be able to sit there with one friend or 10 friends and arrange to see all your clothes in your size on models,” he said. “You can even host a dinner party there.”

Derbyshire wouldn’t reveal the cost of the Vancouver store expansion, which is part of the upscale retail chain’s $300-million plan to boost its Canadian retail footprint by 40 per cent by the end of 2017.

The company opened a new Toronto menswear store last year and recently expanded its Yorkdale Shopping Centre store in Toronto, with similar upgrades to take place in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. It closed its Ottawa and Quebec City stores this year but will open a new store in Mississauga in 2016.

The bigger Vancouver store will feature several expanded departments — including a tripling of its footwear and leather goods departments and a 50-per-cent increase in its jewelry section. A bigger menswear department — to be branded Holt Renfrew Men — will have a separate entrance off Howe Street.

The revamped store will also feature an 80-seat Holts Café, a full-service licensed restaurant that will overlook Howe Street.

Holt Renfrew has operated in Vancouver since 1975 and expanded to its current 150,000-square-foot location in 2007.

Derbyshire said it’s not too early to spruce up a store that still looks new.

“The best hotels in the world never look like they need a renovation but they’re actually in perpetual renovation, and that’s what we believe,” he said.

Derbyshire said he’s acutely aware that upscale U.S. department store Nordstrom will open a block away from Holt Renfrew’s downtown Vancouver store in September and welcomes the competition.

“I knew when I took this job (five years ago) that we would have competition,” he said. “If we make ourselves the best specialty luxury retail shop in North America, we’ll be fine. The best will get stronger.”

Holt Renfrew is a private company that doesn’t release its financial details but Derbyshire said the retailer has experienced double-digit sales growth in recent years, with current annual sales at its stores averaging about $1,400 to $1,500 a square foot.

He said the store does well in Vancouver, despite the city’s reputation for dressing more casually than other parts of Canada.

“You’re more casual but you’re also more dressy when you want to be,” Derbyshire said. “There’s a really big range here and there’s also a bigger market for future trends than a lot of other markets.”

Vancouver retail consultant Michael Penalosa said Holt Renfrew’s decision to expand its Vancouver store makes “total sense.”

“A lot of luxury stores are still performing well in the city,” he said. “There’s a big Asian component that’s a strong customer segment in this market and by adding 40,000 square feet of space, Holt Renfrew will become a more competitive force in that luxury retail market.”

Penalosa, the managing principal of Thomas Consultants Inc., said the retail market has been polarized for many years now — with many mid-market retailers struggling to do well.

“The lower-end retailers do well and many luxury stores continue to do better, and that’s why Holt Renfrew sees this opportunity in Vancouver,” he said.

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

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