Harry Rosen The Leading Luxury Legacy
Legendary men’s clothing company Harry Rosen announces a $50 million expansion investment.
The Harry Rosen story is one of the truly great Canadian success stories. Seventy years ago, Rosen borrowed $500 and opened a 500-square-foot men’s clothing store in Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighbourhood. Today, Harry Rosen is Canada’s leading luxury men’s clothier, with 15 stores across Canada as well as five outlet stores. This year, the company announced that over the next five years it will invest in itself and update its retail fleet, including the relocation of its Toronto flagship store to a new 38,000-square-foot retail destination in the heart of the Yorkville district.
It’s pretty amazing to think about what you can do with $500.
The new three-storey flagship store will be located on Yorkville’s tony Cumberland Street overlooking the Village of Yorkville Park and will feature a vast park-facing patio, a luxurious client lounge, espresso bar and valet parking on weekends. The new flagship location is slated to open by spring 2026 and be located less than 200 metres from the current iconic Bloor Street store. It will feature updated design and customer-centric experiences that reflect the vision of the Harry Rosen brand while remaining true to its 70-year legacy.
“Since my father opened the Bloor Street doors in 1970, and our current flagship in 1987, Harry Rosen has developed such a deep connection to the Yorkville neighbourhood,” says Larry Rosen, chairman and CEO of Harry Rosen Inc. and Harry’s eldest son. “We are very excited to continue pushing our legacy forward by positioning our most important, innovative and immersive flagship at the centre of the Canadian luxury and fashion space.”
Harry Rosen did not invent attentive customer service, but he most certainly perfected it. As millions of men have discovered in the last 70 years, when you walk into a Harry Rosen store, you’re not having to look around for somebody to help you. And if you have no fashion sense whatsoever and are only there to answer the directive “Honey, you need some new clothes,” the Rosen staff have always been the helpful guide in answering the often-confusing question of “Does this combination work?” It was always Harry’s vision to help men discover their personal style through personalized service, a mandate which his son, grandsons and their team intend to push forward.
Harry Rosen Inc. had announced that it will also invest $50 million over the next five years to update and transform its Canada-wide retail fleet to meet the expectations of today’s luxury customer and deliver new experiences with every visit. A renovation of the 13,000-square-foot store in Edmonton is planned along with the opening of a 16,000-square-foot location in Vancouver’s Oakridge Park development. The company’s grand plan is that five years from now, all Harry Rosen stores will be fully refreshed, with each store offering an engaging and immersive environment. The brand has developed a strategic partnership with dkstudio architects inc., a renowned Canadian-based design firm that has been engaged to help reimagine the Harry Rosen store design and experience.
“Retail is theatre, and the store is our stage,” says Ian Rosen, the brand’s president, COO and a member of the third generation at the helm of the family-run business. “Our new store concepts are a direct response to what we have heard from our clients and from studying the world’s leading customer experiences. Both are central to how we plan to deliver excellence moving forward.”
Both Harry Rosen stores and its robust digital offerings through www.harryrosen.com offer extensive collections from the world’s finest labels and must-have designers, like Brunello Cucinelli, ZEGNA, TOM FORD, Giorgio Armani, Moncler and its very own label, HAROLD.
It’s a far cry from February 4, 1954, when Harry, after dropping out of high school, used that borrowed $500 to open his first clothing store with his brother, Lou. Rosen first was exposed to men’s fashion when he found a job at a men’s haberdashery shop, where he learned about the composition of clothing and, more importantly, about men’s shopping habits.
Throughout his career, Rosen was often recognized as “the retailer’s retailer.” He was a master of his craft and, in 1987, was named Retail Marketer of the Year by the Retail Council of Canada. In 2001, he was awarded the Retail Council of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also the recipient of an Honourary Doctorate in Commerce from Toronto’s Metropolitan (then Ryerson) University in 2003 and 2004, and was named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour. In 2005, he was a proud recipient of the Pitti Immagine Uomo Award from the Italian fashion community.
Rosen’s philanthropic work along with that of his wife of 60 years, Evelyn, is legendary. He was active in the Canadian Paraplegic Association, Corporate Fund for Breast Cancer and the Cancer Care Fund, and sat on the Boards of Governors at Western University, Ryerson University and George Brown College, as well as Mount Sinai Hospital. He also served a three-year term as campaign chair for the Canadian Cancer Society of Metropolitan Toronto. In April 2010, he was honoured at a fundraising event for the University Health Network called “Hats Off to Harry.”
Harry and Evelyn Rosen had four children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. This expansion of Harry Rosen Inc. continues his legacy and is yet another investment made in his city and his country. The Rosen story is not just a successful business story, it is a successful family story — just as Harry Rosen would have wanted it.
