JD Sports to replace former Club Monaco store on Robson Street

The former Club Monaco store at 1034 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver (Marcus & Millichap) and an example of a JD Sports storefront. (JD Sports Canada).

Another major international sports apparel and athleisure clothing retailer is establishing a significant presence on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver.

Daily Hive Urbanized can confirm that JD Sports will replace the longtime Club Monaco store at 1034 Robson Street. After being a staple on Robson Street for decades, Club Monaco suddenly closed the location in late January of this year.

The 1999-built, two-storey retail building — and now future home of JD Sports Robson — currently has over 8,600 sq ft of floor area.

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To accommodate JD Sports’ needs without taking away from the customer-facing, revenue-generating merchandise space, a minor building structure expansion will be constructed at the rear to provide the store with more backroom space — replacing nine surface vehicle parking stalls currently used as public pay parking. This will grow JD Sports’ store size to 9,800 sq ft.

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The former Club Monaco store at 1034 Robson Street will become a JD Sports store. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

1034 robson street vancouver club monaco jd sports

Public pay parking stalls at the rear of 1034 Robson Street will be replaced by a building expansion for JD Sports. (Google Maps)

The British retailer’s global headquarters is located in Manchester, and it recently opened its Canadian headquarters in Vancouver. JD Sports is known for offering a wide range of prominent clothing and sneaker brands, including Adidas, Nike, Puma, Jordan, The North Face, Timberland, Juicy Couture, Asics, and Converse.

It has over 3,400 stores worldwide across 38 countries, with plans to open up to 300 additional stores annually over five years starting in 2024.

JD Sports Canada did not respond to Daily Hive Urbanized’s requests for comment in time for publication.

JD Sports opened its first Canadian location at CF Fairview Mall in Toronto in November 2021, which was soon after followed by their second location at Guildford Town Centre in Surrey in early 2022. The retailer currently has one other location in Metro Vancouver at CF Richmond Centre.

JD Sports Canada

JD Sports Canada

Martin Moriarty with commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap was responsible for landing JD Sports on Robson Street. His firm also recently secured the leases for Adidas at the former Victoria’s Secret flagship store just down the street, and a significant portion of the former Brooks Brothers store at 1026 Alberni Street.

Last month, the nearby Victoria’s Secret flagship store at 750 Burrard Street suddenly closed after just over a decade of business. Adidas plans to open a new 35,000 sq ft flagship store, occupying the entirety of Victoria’s Secret former two-level space, including the underground level.

JD Sports and Adidas will add to the growing collection of sports apparel and athleisure brands found in the immediate area, including the recent openings of the two-storey Foot Locker store and Gap’s Athleta just across the street, and the Arc’teryx just around the corner which opened in 2017.

Later in 2024, following a 12-year-long hiatus, Esprit will re-establish a major presence in downtown Vancouver at 1088 Robson Street, replacing the former J.Crew store space.

Additionally, also later this year, the world-renowned Din Tai Fung restaurant chain will open its first Canadian location on the second level of 1132 Alberni Street.

Although Club Monaco no longer has a Robson Street presence, it still has a downtown Vancouver store at CF Pacific Centre.

Victoria’s Secret is currently in the process of re-establishing a downtown Vancouver store location at CF Pacific Centre as well, but it will be substantially smaller, replacing the mall’s former Hollister unit.

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Demolition progress as of February 1, 2024 of the interior space of the former Victoria’s Secret store at 750 Burrard Street, Vancouver, to make way for the new Adidas store. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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