Q+A with Dominick Ponti, Lord & Taylor

What excites you most about your job as senior vp, design, construction and facilities for Lord & Taylor?
New brands and opportunities to create exciting experiences for our customers. I am surrounded by great people and the constantly changing retail landscape permits for great give-and-take so that we create unique solutions.

In 10 words or less, what is the Lord & Taylor shopping experience?
Comfort; elegance; setting and achieving expectations; first and last impressions.

Why was the time right to redesign the New York flagship?
We have a new direction, new ownership, a new vision and key executives. It was the perfect time for the brand and a lifetime opportunity for me.

What was one of the biggest challenges in the redesign?
The biggest challenge was how to create a modern retail environment but keep the sense of the history of Lord & Taylor once the customer walks in through the Fifth Avenue doors. Our team worked very hard to preserve the existing vaulted ceilings, column capitals and friezes while working to install an upgraded lighting and sound system into the structure.

What are some of the changes that shoppers will find in the new flagship?
A store with comfort, flow and ease of shopping. The space has a sense of the past but presents merchandise in a new way. We have worked to keep the feel of Lord & Taylor but have introduced new shops and new spaces to show off the architecture of the building and create open and engaging spaces for the customer.

If not store design, what else would you be doing?
My love for residential construction gave me a taste for designing and building my own homes during college, and it is one of my earliest and fondest loves. Building homes is to see people’s dreams come true.

What’s your biggest self-indulgence?
My espresso machines! Espresso is much like wine in that it has many different variations.

Name one of your favorite activities outside the office.
Soccer is my passion. Art and natural beauty are a close second.

If you could trade places with anyone, who would it be? Why?
I wouldn’t want to trade places with him, but I’d like to meet Steve Jobs. Just when the public and Wall Street thought he was done, he reinvented himself and his company again.

It’s the holiday season. What’s your favorite New York tradition?
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the Lord & Taylor Christmas windows.

What do you hope to find under the tree this year?
A new Apple product.

What’s your favorite Christmas treat?
An Italian cake called Panettone. It is my roots.