1. An image retrieval apparatus comprising: a designation unit configured to designate a query area of an image based on a user's designation operation; a determination unit configured to determine whether the query area designated by the designation unit and an area where a local feature amount is difficult to be extracted overlap each other; and a retrieval unit configured to retrieve, when the determination unit determines that the query area designated by the designation unit and the area where the local feature amount is difficult to be extracted do not overlap each other, image feature data with which a local feature amount and the image are associated and which is stored in a storage device based on a local feature amount extracted from the query area.