In recent years, the combination of uptown bankruptcies (Barneys) and downtown closures (Opening Ceremony) has challenged New York’s reputation as a shopping city. That was followed by the challenges brought to retailers by the pandemic, which precipitated the shuttering of a string of medium-size multibrand boutiques like Totokaelo, Jeffrey and Bird in quick succession.
There are signs this may finally be shifting, with some buzzy store openings that telegraph a message to fashion-hungry New Yorkers: We are so back.
All of this is a welcome — hopeful, even — rebound for a city that has long been known as America’s pre-eminent shopping destination. But, why, exactly, is a new generation of retailers diving head first into brick-and-mortar businesses when all the signs — mass retail closures, a wobbly luxury market — advise otherwise?
“The idea was that I wanted a local, neighborhood shop,” said Chris Green, formerly a merchandiser at Totokaelo who opened the men’s wear store Ven Space in Brooklyn. The store carries an assortment of elegant mainstays (Dries Van Noten, the Row, Lemaire) and items from lesser-known brands (Auralee, Still by Hand, Rier).
“Like, on Sunday they can stroll the farmers’ market, get their thing done, have their kids at the park and pick up a sweatshirt or an outerwear piece,” said Mr. Green, who lives only a few blocks away from the store, about the appeal of a store serving a pocket of brownstones. “With these smaller boutiques, I love that they’re individual-owned, and you get the point of view of the owner.”
Contrast that with the Florentine import LuisaViaRoma, founded as a hat shop nearly a century ago by the Panconesi family. With its 11,300-square-foot flagship store in NoLIta, which includes an appointment-only V.I.P. salon, New York is the store’s largest market, said Tommaso Andorlini, the company’s chief executive.
“The online platform allows consumers to purchase anything at any time, and this is the core of our business,” Mr. Andorlini wrote in an email. “Trying on fine garments is different than looking at it on a screen, and only in the physical environment can you mix brands to find real looks that match your personal style.”
The stores that have been added in recent months to the city’s brick-and-mortar landscape are varied. There’s the Danish men’s wear brand NN07, which recently opened its first U.S. location on Lafayette Street. Customers recently lined up for the new release of its popular Gael jacket, which was featured on the TV show “The Bear.” The Japanese company GU (pronounced “Jee-You”), a trendy offshoot from the owners of Uniqlo, which, despite operating nearly 500 stores in Asia, flung open the doors to its very first stateside flagship in late mid-September.
Arc’teryx, the Canadian technical outerwear brand, expanded its SoHo footprint to just over 14,000 square feet spread over three stories, which include a “service center” to repair damaged garments, a theater and a cafe. The New York designer Nili Lotan celebrated a new store dedicated to her recently launched men’s offerings, in TriBeCa, down the street from her women’s store. The French label Jacquemus, designed by Simon Porte Jacquemus, opened its first U.S. store this month.
“Online retail is all about convenience, whereas in-store shopping is about the experience,” said Justin Berkowitz, who is overseeing NN07’s expansion into the American market. “That social element is really important, especially when you think about consumer attitudes post-Covid. When you think about a city like New York, part of the reason you move here is to have that experience of urban life, which is really about experiencing other people.”
According to Delaney Schweitzer, the chief commercial officer of Arc’teryx, the label sees its new SoHo location as more of a community hub. “The in-store experience is about more than just product,” she wrote in an email, listing off events like film screenings, talks and even run clubs. This summer the company took over a climbing gym and hosted an event there for enthusiasts of the sport. “Our stores are also where our brand comes to life,” she said.
The physical retail scene has even wooed back some who seemed to have thrown in the towel for good. Steven Alan, a well-known New York shopkeeper, shuttered all his stores in 2019. Last month, he dipped back in, opening up a small boutique in Chelsea. Mr. Alan, whose parents were retailers before him, said he had been motivated to reopen by all the direct-to-consumer brands he had seen around town. “That’s really depressing,” said Mr. Alan. “I was like, No, that can’t be what retail is. Nobody wants that to be their neighborhood shopping experience.”
In fact, it can sometimes seem like selling clothes is the last reason any of these merchants decided to open up a shop. Words like “discovery,” “experience” and “community” came up time and again in conversation. Which isn’t to say people don’t want to sell things but stores here seem to approach service with a different purpose, reflecting the changing tastes of its residents.
Big brands have an easier time reaching a wide audience and use their flagships here as calling cards to the world, while smaller stores are using their spaces to appeal to discerning, urbane locals who are looking for something unique. From the resplendent department stores of the 19th century to legendary boutiques like Charivari or Liquid Sky, how New Yorkers shop has always said something about how they live.
Along with restaurants and art galleries, clothing stores can be places that entice some to a city like New York. Or, as Mr. Berkowitz put it: “When I moved here a little over 20 years ago, the parts of the city I knew best were where great retail was.”
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