Aritzia Grand Opening - Mayfair Mall

By Carla Wilson- The Victoria Times Colonist
July 24, 2009

Shoppers seeking chic women's fashions are pouring into Victoria's new Aritzia store in the Mayfair Shopping Centre.

Energy radiated through the spacious store, with close to 4,000 square feet, yesterday as customers moved quickly to check out styles from the successful Vancouver-based company.

This is the first Aritzia store on Vancouver Island, making it one of 35 stores in Canada and the U.S. under that name, plus another five under the company's TNA brand. It opened at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

Laurie Rowlett, of Central Saanich, mother of two girls, 15 and 19, has shopped at Aritzia in Vancouver.

Her daughters "really like the quality," she said yesterday after buying a $50 sweatshirt for one of the girls.

Aritzia was founded in 1984 by Brian Hill, who received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2008. It was created as a branch of Hill's of Kerrisdale, a Vancouver department store owned by the Hill family.

Celebrities like Artizia clothes. Actor Kristen Stewart, who stars in the Twilight vampire movies, shopped there while filming in Vancouver, the company's website says.

Jillian Harris, of the Bachelorette television show, is another fan of Aritzia.

Victoria's store is a comfortable place to shop, with plenty of dressing room space, a huge floor-to-ceiling mirror and deep seats around a burl coffee table for those waiting by the changing area. It has a staff of 20.

The company opened a Victoria boutique because, "Our Vancouver stores have seen many return customers coming in from the Island for the sole purpose of shopping at Aritzia," Zora Huculak, Aritzia's communications manager, said in an e-mail.

Typical Aritzia customers are "youthful and stylish, ranging in age from 15 to 35 years old," she said. It is an official licensee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralymic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler.

Huculak expects the Mayfair store to be as successful as others. "From a sales standpoint, our stores perform above industry average."