Holt Renfrew hosts lots of events at its stores to showcase merchandise and for branding purposes. But the high-end retail chain outdid itself with a recent indoor-outdoor party at its flagship Bloor Street West location to mark the unveiling of its 2005 holiday windows. The company closed a section of busy Bloor Street to install an artificial ice rink and to stage a figure skating performance by Jamie Sal? and David Pelletier, Canadian gold medalists in pairs skating at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Following the skaters' routine, Canadian jazz singer Matt Dusk—whose vocal style is often compared to Frank Sinatra's—mounted an outdoor stage and performed for the crowd. Cheryl Hickey, host of Global Television Network's Entertainment Tonight Canada, and Roz Weston, a reporter with the program, added glam to the evening by acting as M.C.s. Krista Slack and Associates filmed highlights of the event and televised them on a 16-foot screen suspended from a crane outside the building.
Holt Renfrew has promoted its holiday windows in the past, but never on such a large scale. Company president Caryn Lerner said she hopes to make the unveiling "a modern tradition in Toronto." Mary Pompili, the company's vice president of marketing, worked with Holt Renfrew's in-house event marketing group to plan and organize the proceedings.
After the official unveiling Lerner invited the crowd into the store to sip gingerbread-flavoured lattes and hot cocoa from Starbucks—and to shop. Holt Renfrew donated 2 per cent of the evening's sales to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Photos: Biserka
Following the skaters' routine, Canadian jazz singer Matt Dusk—whose vocal style is often compared to Frank Sinatra's—mounted an outdoor stage and performed for the crowd. Cheryl Hickey, host of Global Television Network's Entertainment Tonight Canada, and Roz Weston, a reporter with the program, added glam to the evening by acting as M.C.s. Krista Slack and Associates filmed highlights of the event and televised them on a 16-foot screen suspended from a crane outside the building.
Holt Renfrew has promoted its holiday windows in the past, but never on such a large scale. Company president Caryn Lerner said she hopes to make the unveiling "a modern tradition in Toronto." Mary Pompili, the company's vice president of marketing, worked with Holt Renfrew's in-house event marketing group to plan and organize the proceedings.
After the official unveiling Lerner invited the crowd into the store to sip gingerbread-flavoured lattes and hot cocoa from Starbucks—and to shop. Holt Renfrew donated 2 per cent of the evening's sales to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Photos: Biserka