On Bali, Varied and Vibrant Retail Ceramics for Collecting
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 | S1 GLOBAL SHOPPING At a moment of worldwide retail uncertainty, designers and brands are reinventing the ways they connect with consumers It’s not just shopping, it’s an experience “Ever since Ralph Lauren opened his Jumping in first store, or shop in shop, he never re- Prabal Gurung, a ally thought of retail as just his opportu- Nepalese-American nity to sell clothes,” said David Lauren, fashion designer, far the designer’s middle child and the com- left, debuted his pany’s executive vice president of global first stand-alone advertising, marketing and communi- store this year in cations. “What he did on Madison Ave- Manhattan as he nue was create a home. You would move prepared for his through it, sit down and enjoy a coffee or label’s 10th anni- a glass of Champagne.” versary. It has hand During its 50 years, the brand has embroidered T- earned a reputation as an early adopter shirts, above left, when it comes to technology: embrac- and jewelry made ing everything from online customiza- by women in Nepal, tion to virtual reality and artificial intel- bottom left. ligence. That is why it is rather quaint to learn that one of its most successful re- tail initiatives is Ralph Lauren coffee. This fall, the brand reintroduced its coffee pop-ups around New York City and it counts the stand-alone Ralph’s Coffee in Hong Kong’s Harbour City and Ralph’s Coffee & Bar in London as bona fide hits. “It’s another way to experience the brand,” Mr. Lauren said. Joel Isaacs, whose New York-based Isaacs and Company is a go-to real es- tate firm for luxury retail clients includ- ing Prada, Marc Jacobs and Jil Sander, said that all of the retailers he was talk- ing to now were considering ways to in- corporate events and some sort of food and beverage component. Mr. Isaacs recently worked with the Texas-based fashion boutique Forty Five Ten as it looked for its first New PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL DORSA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES York space. The shop had one caveat: “We did the deal with them at Hudson his label’s 10th anniversary next year, enheit. Additional Cold Rooms are set to podcasts, master classes, dinner parties Yards, and they specifically chose the The ‘hangout’ is now as Mr. Gurung has decided that this is the open in Vancouver and Montreal, where and performances is available on the fifth floor of the project because on the year to debut his first stand-alone store. customers could presumably just head Matches site. fifth floor you’ll have four restaurants important as what is He said his just-opened boutique on outside to check on the efficiency of One of the pioneers of the “retail resi- and they wanted to be in proximity to Bleecker Street in Manhattan’s West their purchase. dence” is Ralph Lauren, whose first flag- food.” hanging on the racks Village is “not the typical retail space Other activations are a bit more ship opened in the 1980s on the corner of Menu or no menu, retailers want you where you just sell clothes.” Rather, the grand. This September, Matchesfashion 72nd Street and Madison Avenue, in a to pull up a chair — or enjoy a perform- BY ARIEL FOXMAN store is focused primarily on telling .com, an English on- and offline fashion former French Renaissance revival ance — and ideally stick around and ac- (and experiencing) stories — of the de- multi-brand store, introduced its retail mansion. Rather than gutting the space, tually buy something. Even if that In 2018, as many as 12,000 stores are ex- signer’s American dream come true, or residence: 5 Carlos Place. The five- Mr. Lauren embraced, renovated and means the chairs themselves. pected to close in the United States, ac- the story behind the craftsmanship of story by-appointment “home” in Lon- decorated it — turning it into a destina- Mr. Gurung said he wanted to be able cording to Cushman & Wakefield, a com- handmade merchandise. Mr. Gurung in- don’s Mayfair allows not only for private tion whose value transcended the to highlight the furniture in his store. mercial real estate firm. Nine thousand tends to host a rotation of live events. on-demand shopping and weekly prod- clothes inside. The store is still referred “We are teaming up with an interior de- storefronts shut down last year. “We are opening our doors to the next uct curation, but also for entire floors of to by the company and fashion experts signer,” he said. “If someone wants to Yet despite this very real reckoning, generation to come in and experience entertainment. A schedule of panels, as “the Mansion.” buy that, they can.” countless retailers are not only surviv- that luxury doesn’t have to be cold and ing, but also thriving. distant,” he said. The secret to their adaptive success? At the same time, Mr. Gurung has Almost anything, it seems, that keeps been chosen to be the creative director shoppers on their toes is viable. That in- of “Love, Bleecker,” a joint project from cludes exclusive merchandise (will this Skylight, a fashion event venue develop- location carry that handbag?), pop-up ment firm, and Brookfield Properties to shops (will this store be here next reimagine beloved but bruised Bleecker week?) and experiences (can I eat or Street, a totem of the past decade’s retail drink or post as well as shop?). boom and bust. Innovations that offer intrigue, if not “My dream for Bleecker Street is that necessarily inspiration, seem to be win- every store should have a back story ning. that can excite,” Mr. Gurung said. Under Samantha David, chief operating offi- his recommendation, the “Love, cer of WS Development, one of the larg- Bleecker” collective showcases small- est retail development firms in the coun- batch retail shops such as the floral ate- try, has spent the last two years direct- lier Fleurotica and Bonberi, a vegan and ing the Lazarus-esque revitalization of wellness bodega. Palm Beach’s Royal Poinciana Plaza. While eyes are always on the bottom The area was once a destination as pres- line, brands like those from the designer tigious as Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue, Tory Burch are extending the definition but it had lost much of its retail glory by of their stores beyond merely pushing the 1990s. new arrivals. Ms. Burch, who has over The project — which reopened in 2016 100 namesake stores from Azerbaijan to — is now one of four properties in WS Qatar, said that she wanted her Development’s Up Markets division customers to go into one of her stores that focuses on premier retail opportu- “and feel like they are going into a home. nities. It features 50 boutiques, includ- Where they could hang out, have a ing new Hermès and Saint Laurent out- drink, have their husband sit on a couch posts. and it would be kid-friendly.” Despite her company’s sizable Palm And this season is now inviting those Beach investment, she says she is aware lounging in her Meatpacking District of the crucial retail challenge ahead of outpost to get hands-on with her other her: getting people offline and into her passion, the Tory Burch Foundation, Plaza’s boutiques. which has given more than $40 million “Gone are the days of shopping by ne- to causes supporting women en- cessity, as much of that can be satisfied trepreneurs since 2009, including an ed- online,” said Ms. David, the daughter of ucation fellowship program partnership the fashion designer Lisa Perry and the with Goldman Sachs. “Now that we former hedge-fund manager Richard have had real impact and scale, I am ex- Perry, who also has a majority stake in cited to bring it into the store,” she said. Barneys. “Today, shopping has to be a Efforts like Ms. Burch’s reflect the part of how I want to spend my day, changing nature — and increasing so- spend my time, in all aspects.” phistication — of shoppers. To get consumers spending their days “Gone are the days when stores told at Royal Poinciana Plaza, Up Markets is the customers what they were going to pairing carefully curated retail with a ro- buy,” said Robert Burke, chairman and bust schedule of on-site lifestyle pro- chief executive of Robert Burke Associ- gramming like the “Backgammon and ates, a fashion consulting firm with cli- Bubbles” series (rosé bubbly for adults, ents like Chloé and Vera Wang. “The a bubbles bar for the children) and the customer is now highly educated about “Wee Royals” arts and culture activities the brands. The customer drives the ex- for children. perience and that experience is not en- Indeed, it would appear that the tirely transactional.” Taking a break “hangout” is now as important as what That sort of hands-on trial activation Ralph’s Coffee & is hanging on the racks. can be as literal as Canada Goose’s Cold Bar at the Ralph Prabal Gurung, a Nepalese-American Room at the brand’s new flagship at the Lauren store on fashion designer, a favorite of celebrities Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, where Regent Street in like Priyanka Chopra and Kerry Wash- customers can try on coats at tempera- London. ington, would agree. As he prepares for tures as low as minus 13 degrees Fahr- TOM JAMIESON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES . S2 | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION GLOBAL SHOPPING A keen eye for vintage Brussels bounty BRUSSELS unmarked shop hidden down a cobble- stone alley about 1,000 feet away.