In a strange sort of coincidence, today's Critical Shopper, Alexandra Jacobs, has made her way to Trinity Place, the new, budding department store in the Financial District that, let's hope, wasn't flooded out of business on Monday night. Presumably, it's still there, although probably not too accessible at the moment.
Initially, Jacobs questions the strength of the area's longtime retailers, like Brooks Brothers which she seems to think has drifted from it's classic, preppy look (it hasn't). Clearly the recent arrival of stores like Tiffany, Canali and Hermès as well as an abundance of luxury watch stores means the neighborhood is still well equipped for free spending customers. She forgets to mention the towering shopping draw of the neighborhood, off-pricer Century 21, which is currently in the midst of an extensive and much needed expansion and renovation. Perhaps it is this store's runoff that will provide, the currently for women only, Trinity Place's customer base, because with its young, quirky aesthetic, it appears to be slightly out of place.
...I could easily imagine the costume director of Ms. (Lena) Dunham’s hit HBO show having a field day here with such flighty perplexities as a polka-dot jumpsuit (very Jemima Kirke), a pointed-collar blouse with shoulder cutouts or a studded velvet bustier marked, with peculiar precision, at $84.76.
Well, we can't go a day in this city without referring to Lena Dunham as the emblem for every woman born during the late 1980s. The real question is whether or not the Financial District is ready for a moderately priced store pitched to young, trendy twenty-somethings as opposed to its native office workers. The answer will either make Trinity Place a groundbreaking retail trailblazer or an ill advised boondoggle.
Critical Shopper: Trinity Place is a Long Hop Down in the Financial District By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
Trinity Place
61 Broadway below Rector St., Financial District
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