The Paris department store Printemps is opening in Manhattan at One Wall Street. Opening date is not until early 2024, says Women’s Wear Daily. Like so many businesses that have their eyes set on New York, the goal is to create brand awareness for other outlets across the world. In this case, Printemps wants affluent shoppers to visit their Paris locale and its ecommerce site. The One Wall Street location will be grand, more than 54,000 square feet; One Wall Street is a recently renovated Art Deco space, so the store will most certainly have some character, in addition to lots and lots of lovely space for all things French.
This reminds me of a news story I heard over the weekend; Madison Avenue is seeing a resurgence of store openings. That’s right, after New York was declared all but “ dead” during the pandemic, with the prognosis of never recovering from the absolute shutdown it endured, retailers are once again seeing the value of having a New York flagship. They want brand recognition, just like Printemps, but they also want the cash that comes along with being in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the world where people have money to spend. The Madison Avenue Business Improvement District, which covers the area from East 57th to East 86th Streets (and some side streets), says stores are banking on the return of the commuter, as offices lure back full-time employees to the city. Altuzarra, Zadig & Voltaire and Asprey are about to open. The Madison Avenue BID says that 24 hotel, stores, restaurants, galleries and clubs in the pipeline and that six new stores opened over the summer.
Perhaps the most exciting news? Caviar Kaspia will open at The Mark Hotel; that’s a new location for the French restaurant that’s been in business for 95 years.
Not sure how I came across the Facebook group International Content Liquidations, Inc., but it's posted that it is handling the liquidation of The Hudson Hotel, starting this Saturday; $5 gets you in the door where, apparently, absolutely everything is for sale, including “Furnishings and Artwork by Manufactures and Artists, Baccara, Emeco, Italardesia, Jurgen Bey, Phillipe Starck, Ian Schrager, Ingo Maurer & More,” (sic) according to the post.
If you recall, this was the Ian Schrager hotel that opened in collaboration with Philippe Starck in the late 90s. It had tiny rooms but very hip public spaces and even found its way on to "Sex in the City," a true validation if chic of there ever was one. It closed in November 2020 because of—you guessed it—the pandemic, and apparently is not going to make a comeback, especially if it’s going to be empty of all its stuff, including “lots of commercial kitchen equipment,” according to the Facebook ad for the liquidation sale.
The demise of the Hudson Hotel is an aberration for New York, which just saw a spate of new hotels open up, including the Aman at the Crown Building on 57th Street (not too far from where the Hudson Hotel is located, and The Ritz-Carlton NoMad. New York’s a tough town to do business in but there’s always plenty of room for new luxury, thankfully.
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