Halston Heritage Closes on Madison Ave

It seems this was bound to happen for the house of Halston which moved into this space in 2013 which was a two-level space and potentially their flagship location in the United States, being located on Madison Avenue one would think this was the case. After visiting this location on a few occasions some things stayed the same. One; they still have a team of designers who are designing the collection and still have no premiere designer. Second it seemed that there always was a "sale" section within the store and third from what I could see there was little to no advertising for the brand.

Madison Avenue has always been a proving ground for fashion houses, and to their credit they did hold out for two years, but with a rent which clearly out paced store sales this was a disaster from the day the doors opened! Within the two years of being open there were no "fashion week" events to promote the line? The staff like most were "programmed" to claim strong sales but when fashion professionals needle them with questions they can't answer, sometimes you get the answers your looking for. The real question is, does the house hold on in other markets and who will take over the space? Located on the low 80's on Madison the location is out of the "sweet spot". For some reason after 79th Street it's hard to make a fashion house sucuessful.

Photo: R.Spiegel

Valentino Moves Off Madison Ave!

About two years ago a friend and I were walking down madison when she asked me "if you had to make a bet on what big name on Madison Avenue will close who would it be?" It didn't take me very long to find the answer "Valention" I replied, "the space is so massive I just know how they can hold on."

Well last week, as I was doing my jaunt down madison my jaw dropped and OMG, there it was with paper in the windows, the last emperor has fallen! I had a feeling it was only a matter of time with the economy being in the state its in that Valentino would shut down but to move the collection into a hotel? I do admit its a sad day; but Madison Avenue is a tough customer and only the strong survive and some shops that are on the Avenue don't deserve to be there. So will Valentino will return? Its anybody's guess but I wouldn't make a bet on it.

Madison Avenues sweet spot

Thrilled and surprised I was to see that the french macaroon company Laduree opened a shop on Madison Avenue, its just what we needed! Walking by on opening day last month in September there was a line out the door but it seems out of all the recent shops that have opened on the Avenue Laduree is the only one making any money?! Recently I walked by at 1PM, jammed packed! Walking home around 4PM jammed packed as well, it goes to show that if your have a quality product people will pay for it. In short Madison Avenue needs more shops like Laduree, cause who doesn't like a lil' snack when you stroll.

Window Shopping Judith Leiber

The Madison Avenue Retail Report Part Two

While the stock market has crossed 10K and retail seems to be moving forward slowly, the same cannot be said for the retail envionrment surrounding Madison Ave in New York City. In a earlier report we started to show the slow demise of this once great retail avenue, but six months later there is more carnage on the streets with even more stores closing up shop.

The latest victim on Madison Ave is YSL! One could not even believe that this long standing house would shut its doors but sadly it has. The 57Th Street store remains open which is the flagship. We see this as a current trend with other houses such as Blvgari who also closed on Madison but operates a midtown location. A few other shops who have closed are Herve Leger and Morgane Le Faye. Legre has relocated on Madison but as for Le Faye we see no re-opening as of yet.

The newest addition to Madison Avenue is Devi Kroell who took a two level spot in the mid 60's. The space is expansive and well constructed but from a design standpoint it seems Kroell has followed in the footsteps of Prada regarding her evening bags with large chunky stones. This by our standards is two seasons old and does not offer the consumer anything "special" in our opinion, as for her evening clutches we love them, very sleek and modern in design. As for how long this new comer stays on the avenue is any body's guess, but with the shopping bag index way down this could be like Lambertson Truex who opened and closed in the blink of an eye!

Michael Kors wasted no time in acquiring the Celine space on Madison and 60Th Street, we find it funny that he once designed for this house and probably designed some of its best collection the house ever saw. The closure and takeover was less then two weeks time! As for the Kors shop on Madison and 76Th Street its still open but time will tell if they shut that one down.

A few new stores which have yet to open are Creed, Girard-Perregaux and Brunello Cucinelli. As to when they will open we have no idea but rest assured it will be interesting to see how well they perform in the retail climate we are now facing.

As for who could be the next victim of closing their doors in the future we would toss a few bucks on the house of Valentino. Our bet on this one is due to the fact that we feel ever since Mr. Valentino left as head designer the house has never been the same. He is getting more press regarding his documentary movie then the clothes. The space on Madison Avenue is one of the larger shops compared to others and we feel the rent is sky high. With the vacation/resort season already here many of their customers has gone to warmer climates and will be left with Worth Avenue in Palm Beach to satisfy shopping desires. But as we noticed during summer the store was empty like all others due to the economy.

The Madison Avenue Retail Report

In better times of our economy retail spaces played musical chairs with luxury houses, trading up to bigger spaces or better locations allowing smaller companies to join what we refer to as the Worth Avenue of New York. As the recession has dragged on its quite evident that the game has grounded to a halt with spaces sitting vacant waiting for anybody to occupy them.

The most prominent space is the one where The Sharper Image once stood between 72nd & 73rd street. The space was vacated in August 2007 and is still waiting for a company to move in. A few block up on 76th Street a new player has moved in Nanette Lepore. The space is quite large and the design layout is quite tasteful for the Upper East Side crowd, but the question remains does the Nanette Lepore customer reside here? The coming months lay ahead and we will see if she can survive this most uncertain  marketplace.

Back to 72nd Street a major move which happened was the complete demolition of the Polo Ralph Lauren space. We do not know if the company owns the space or land  but it has been served with a complete stop work order. For as long as we have lived on the Upper East Side it's the first time any real estate space has been leveled to the ground, creating an eye sore for the community and could be a noise issue for the residents of 740 Park Avenue if and when construction resumes.

As we moved down the avenue to the upper to mid 60's Krizia let go of their space and moved to another location a few blocks away. As for rumors of a high end Italian fashion house moving out on 70th Street nothing yet has happened. They do have a space on 5th Avenue but no plans have been set.

The latest victim seems to be Lambertson Truex which moved into their space on Madison Ave only one year ago but due to a chapter 11 filing has been forced to shut it's doors.

If current trends continue we feel more stores will be moving out leaving Madison Avenue a retailers wasteland. At the moment some stores are holding sales to stay afloat such as Chanel which in previous years has never had a sale for it's goods.