Those familiar with French label Zadig & Voltaire will be excited to know that it has just announces major international expansion plans. It currently has locations in Manhattan and will soon be opening in Chicago and Aspen, CO.
Expansion plans also include Brazil, Australia and South Africa.
We’ll let you know locations when they’re announced! Stay tuned.
Lord & Taylor just announced that it will re-enter the Florida market with an 80,000 square foot store in Boca Raton at Mizner Park. The store will open September 2013 and will anchor the upscale outdoor shopping center that includes such luxury retailers as Jaeger-Le Coultre and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Lord & Talor has been in expansion mode lately, owned by Canadian-based Hudson’s Bay Company. Company president Bonnie Brooks states “Everyone at Lord & Taylor is thrilled to be re-entering the Florida market with a full-line store”.
Lord & Taylor once had several Florida locations, all of which closed in 2006 during rougher retail times for the company. Fortunes have since turned for the better at Lord & Taylor, led partly due to the obliteration of various American department stores by Macy’s Inc.. Once Macy’s shuttered the Marshall Field’s chain, for example, sales at Lord & Taylor stores in Chicagoland soared.
Lord & Taylor Flagship in Manhattan
Watch for Lord & Taylor to break into the world of high-fashion, including such designers as Balmain and Erdem. Changes are already underway at the Manhattan flagship store, including the addition of Herve Leger women’s clothing, among other designers.
Manolo Blahnik Boutiques will open at Harrod’s and Liberty in London, Fall 2012. These concessions will be operated by Kurt Geiger, Europe’s largest luxury shoe retailer.
The Harrod’s location will be about 300 square feet, according to sources.
European distribution of Manolo Blahnik shoes has been limited, and is far less than that of American Blahnik availability. That might change if these boutiques are an indicator of things to come.
A retail insider in Paris, France tells us that she expects Manolo Blahnik to open a shop in Paris’ Printemps department store via its Kurt Geiger concession. Manolo Blahnik is already carried at Printemps in Paris and Deauville via their Maria Louisa designer boutique concession.
We’re dedicating this post to a fabulous fashion fan we met in Edmonton, Canada, now living in swinging London!
Clayton at the new Prada Boutique @ Nordstrom, Downtown Seattle (photo courtesy of Nordstrom)
Nordstrom has opened a new accessories boutique at its Downtown Seattle flagship store.
Over the past few years, Nordstrom has taken to opening ‘hard-shops’ in its more productive locations. These hard-shops are designer-dedicated, specifically-built spaces to display various designer wares.
As of late, Nordstrom has been competing with retailers Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s at the top-end of the hard-shop game, recently opening boutiques for Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Marni, Yves Saint Laurent, and others. Some boutiques carry only accessories, while others include ready-to-wear.
Nordstrom’s Seattle Flagship
While Nordstrom typically caters to a less-wealthy customer than, say, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom has been attracting more wealthy shoppers as well as ‘aspirational’ shoppers looking to purchase designer pieces. Nordstrom has met this demand with expanded accessory offerings, some of which are contained in newly-added hard-shops.
Hudson's Bay Company store, 674 Granville Street, Vancouver BC
Yesterday evening, Hudson’s Bay Company President & CEO Bonnie Brooks announced that the 620,000 square foot Vancouver BC Bay store would be getting a multi-million dollar resoration/renovation. At over $24 million, It will be the most money spent at once on a Hudson’s Bay Company store.
Retail insiders tell us that the store’s 33,000 sub-basement will become a TopShop/TopMan store. The basement will become a food floor not unlike that in Harrod’s of London. The store’s ground floor will receive a complete renovation, possibly with the inclusion of Bloomingdale’s (this is still being negotiated at press time). The entire sixth floor will become a men’s floor, complete with open windows and the restoration of a skylight in an area to house designer men’s clothing (Called ‘The West End Shop’).
The exterior of the store will be restored, including an exterior cleaning, glass and copper awnings, and black wrought iron awning entrances.
We will post photos when they arrive, and currently have this photo of the new TopShop/TopMan entrance at the 674 Granville Street entrance, below:
Rendering of the new TopShop/TopMan entrance at 674 Granville Street in Vancouver BC
Rendering of the new TopShop/TopMan entrance at 674 Granville Street in Vancouver BC
Today it was announced that TopShop/TopMan would be opening a 33,000 square foot location in the sub-basement of The Hudson’s Bay Company in Downtown Vancouver, BC. This will be the largest TopShop/TopMan store outside of England, surpassing the size of locations in Manhattan and Chicago.
A 19,000 square foot TopShop/TopMan will also open on the 2nd and 3rd floors of The Hudson’s Bay Company at Yonge and Queen Streets in Downtown Toronto. A 14,250 square foot location opened inside of The Hudson’s Bay Company at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in suburban Toronto last Fall, 2011.
A massive restoration of the approximately 637,000 square foot Vancouver Hudson’s Bay Company store has commenced and should be complete by the end of October, 2012. Details to follow.
Yesterday Canada’s national newspaper ‘The Globe & Mail’ reported that Bloomingdale’s is negotiating to open three locations within the following Hudson’s Bay Company department stores: Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, Downtown Calgary, and Downtown Vancouver, BC.
Few further details have been provided regarding potential size of each Bloomingdale’s location. It was however reported that these could open as early as Fall 2012. This would require some very quick construction work.
Retail analysts and commercial real estate brokers have expressed that launching Bloomingdale’s shops-in-store may be The Hudson’s Bay Company’s way of preemptively occupying a similar retail niche to Nordstrom, which is currently attempting to negotiate three current Sears-held leases in Canada (Downtown Vancouver, Calgary Chinook Centre and Ottawa Rideau Centre).
343,599 square foot Toronto Bloor Street Hudson’s Bay Company Store
449,000 square foot Downtown Calgary Hudson’s Bay Company Store
This, and the possible entry of Nordstrom, are two of the most exciting upscale American retailers to potentially enter the Canadian market.
We will keep you updated with further Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom news at it arrives.
Lord & Taylor has just opened a new, 80,000 square foot department store at The Mall at Ridge Hill in Yonkers, New York. It looks great. The glass facade is interesting, and we’ve got some photos of the interior…
The store’s white, bright interior will be replicated in other renovated Lord & Taylor stores, not to mention Hudson’s Bay Company stores in Canada. The Hudson’s Bay Company owns Lord & Taylor, now all under the direction of retail visionary Bonnie Brooks.
Watch for similar store interiors at renovated Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay Company (aka The Bay) stores in the next several years. Also watch for these retailers to start sharing brands. For example, Z-Spoke by Zac Posen – a Lord & Taylor favorite, is starting to be carried at Canada’s Bay stores. And a version of Canada’s luxury department ‘The Room’ at The Bay will eventually be rolled out at selected American Lord & Taylor stores. Watch for hot women’s designers like Balmain and Erdem to be carried in fabulously luxurious retail environments.
Lord & TaylorLord & Taylor
Speaking of The Room, we’ll next be reporting on the recently announced ‘The Room’ at The Bay in Montreal, Quebec Canada. This should open Fall of 2013, and will be approximately 20,000 square feet of absolutely fabulous.
We found it interesting that two of Tiffany & Co.’s top 6 selling North American locations in 2011 are in Canada (Burrard Street in Vancouver, BC and Bloor Street West in Toronto, Ontario).
The three top four American locations are: 1) Manhattan (by a longshot) 2) South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa California 3) San Francisco, Post Street 4) Chicago, Michigan Avenue
Upon further reflection, we recognize that these stores, including Vancouver’s “small” 4,700 square foot Burrard Street Tiffany store, outsold larger locations in Beverly Hills, CA, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Bal Harbour Florida, Las Vegas, and many other high-performing retail locations.
For years, Nordstrom’s highest grossing store was in Costa Mesa, California, at South Coast Plaza (235,000 square feet). Revenues for this location in 2009 were in excess of $180 million. Nordstrom management confirms that its top-selling location in 2010 and 2011 was its Chicago’s Michigan Avenue store (272,000 square feet) and so far in 2012 its flagship store in Seattle is tops (383,000 square feet of retail).
Sales at the South Coast Plaza location have gone down since a 138,000 square foot Nordstrom location opened at the nearby Fashion Island Shopping Center in Newport Beach, spring 2010.
Fendi @ Nordstrom, Chicago Michigan Avenue
Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Nordstrom includes the company’s only in-store Louis Vuitton boutique, and a recently added Fendi accessories boutique. Seattle and Chicago will continue to compete for top spot in 2012, and we’ll let you know the final tally once this year’s sales figures are in.
