Market Watch

When it comes to taking the pulse of the retail market, there’s no better place than New York. As the industry heads into fall and the all-important holiday season, there’s a lot of momentum in the city, much of it on Fifth and Madison avenues, where retail flagships and stores are opening or scheduled to debut in the coming months.

On Madison Avenue, watchmaker Tourneau found this summer to be the perfect time to introduce its new concept store, at 510 Madison Avenue (above). The dramatic 3135-square-foot space houses 8000 watch models, including New York’s first freestanding Rolex boutique. Also on the avenue, Tory Birch is putting the final touches on its new store expected this fall.

Over on Fifth Avenue, Lacoste also opened a new flagship concept this summer, at the corner of 49th Street, with a design that adds an additional 1000 square feet to the flagship. “We wanted to elevate the brand and create a true flagship,” Steve Birkhold, ceo of Devanlay US Inc., the licensee for Lacoste, told Women’s Wear Daily. The brand will open the doors to another flagship (its third for the city) on Broadway this fall.

Uniqlo is another retailer planning multiple New York openings by the end of the year, including a massive flagship at 53rd and Fifth and another on 34th Street.

New stores are also in the works for Zara (in the former NBA Store at 666 Fifth Avenue), Godiva, Stuart Weitzman and Joe Fresh (with two locations, at 43rd and at 16th Street). “The lower end of Fifth Avenue is becoming a destination,” says Les Hiscoe, vp, retail group, Shawmut Design and Construction (New York).
What’s the draw? “Rents are down so people are trying to scoop up some spaces,” says Hiscoe.

But retailers better hurry. Rents on Fifth Avenue have risen 10 percent over last year, according to a study on global retail rents by CB Richard Ellis (Los Angeles). Prices average $1900 per square foot for space on Fifth between 49th and 59th streets. How’s that for a slice of the New York pie?

For more on the New York picture, join VMSD in December at this year’s Retail Design Collective, when VMSD editor Anne DiNardo and a panel of retailers and designers discuss what it takes to make it on Fifth Avenue. For more information, visit www.retaildesigncollective.com.