The Shophound

Confirmed Openings: West Side Apple Ripens On November 14

As if to quell rampant speculation, Apple has announced via massive email that its upcoming Upper West Side Store on Broadway at 67^th Street will open at 10 AM on Saturday, November 14^th, not, as some had speculated, the following Friday evening. We're happy because this means it will be open sooner! So far, no word on any special opening day events, but we'll keep an eye out.
Apple Store Upper West Side 1981 Broadway at 67^th Street
Previously:
Apple West Side Store Update: Does Soon = November 20th?

Apple West Side Store Update: Does Soon = November 20th?

Apple has been especially cagey regarding the details of its upcoming store on the Upper West Side. Despite its long rumored status, the company didn't officially acknowledge its existence until a few months before its opening after extensive re-construction was well under way, and still resists pinning down an opening date beyond  "soon".
IfoAppleStore, which exhaustively chronicles the company's retail expansions, has deduced that the date will be Friday, November 20^th at 6 PM, one week before Black Friday. A 6 PM opening is expected to be in order, allowing for plenty of line-up time for eager customers. So far, we have heard no word on the opening day giveaways and specials that usually accompany a new store's premiere, but past events in Manhattan would suggest that at least a few lucky customers may score an iPod or possibly something better.
The store's glass façade and striking arched roof are currently obscured by a red velvet curtain graphic, and the sidewalk, freshly repaved, surprisingly remains closed and patrolled by security (which seems like overkill and of questionable legality if construction is basically finished.)
Apple is busy opening a large Paris store this weekend, so the November 20^th date would make sense to get the store up and running before the Holiday crowds descend.
Of course, we wouldn't mind if they opened a bit earlier.
NYC Store Ready—And Amazing Architecture (IfoAppleStore)

Collaboration Anticipation: H&M Offers Jimmy Choo Preview Shopping for A Select Few

H&M's biggest designer collaboration of the year with Jimmy Choo is set to be released in less than two weeks, and the Swedish chain is giving a select few the opportunity to get their hand on the goods in advance without dealing with those pesky lines. The general public will be faced with some long overdue crowd control measures including time specific bracelets for the first 160 people in line to shop the shoe and accessory assortments and restrictions on buying more than one of the same item, but a lucky few will be allowed to shop in advance and sit back and chortle as they watch the hoi polloi fight over the last suede dress.
We noticed the pictured sign (click to enlarge) on H&M's SoHo doors this week. It gives instructions on how to register and win a preview shopping opportunity for the Jimmy Choo line. You may risk random text messages from H&M for the rest of your life, but what is that when compared to the opportunity to get your $299 thigh high leather stiletto boots before everyone else?
Winners will be announced on November 11th, so happy texting until then.

More Online Shopping: Daily Candy Joins The Online Sample Sale Fray

We suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened. In fact, we're surprised it took so long. DailyCandy, the nearly 10 year old fashion and shopping newsletter and site is launching a private sample sale e-commerce site called Swirl, Sample Sales by DailyCandy much in the same vein as Gilt Groupe and Rue La La., offering limited time sales of merchandise at up to 80% off. The site will be available to DailyCandy subscribers only in Beta form beginning on the week of November 16^th before its official début in January 2010.
To quote its press release, the new site "will translate its quirky aesthetic and curated editorial approach to a superior e-commerce sample sale experience, one that is currently lacking in the marketplace. Since most sample sale sites replicate the same random experience a traditional outlet store or offline sample sale offers, DailyCandy’s trusted editorial eye will lend much-needed credibility to the category." And furthermore, "Swirl won't include everything — it won't necessarily include the most expensive or most popular, but it will feature the best and brightest from every price point and corner of the Earth."
So let's clarify. Swirl will be offering a random experience, that won't include the most popular things.
Contradictory press releases aside, Swirl's hook is that DailyCandy's editors will be curating the sample sales. The real strength here, however, is that rather than building a customer list, the site starts out with a vast reservoir of subscribers already waiting to be pitched to every day. With parent company Comcast's resources behind it, we expect Swirl to become a major player in the fast growing category almost instantly.
Swirl-Sample Sales by DailyCandy Launches (Shophound Inbox)
DailyCandy to Launch E-Commerce (WWD)

Upcoming Imports:Fast Shirts From Italy Coming To Madison Avenue

Get used to pronouncing Camicissima.
This Italian chain is taking over The Body Shop's former corner at 509 Madison at 53^rd in midtown for its North American début. The no-nonsense store sells only shirts and ties at affordable prices. Calling itself the Zara of the men’s shirt business, the shop is aiming to bring fast fashion to New York businessmen selling four cotton shirts for $99.90, and three silk ties for $39.90. It almost sounds too good to be true, but we will only have to wait a few weeks to see just what kind of quality we get for those rock bottom prices. The store is set to open on November 27^th, the day after Thanksgiving. At the very least, it should be a godsend to young, entry-level executives who need to build up a wardrobe for work.

Included in WWD's story on Madison Avenue's newest entry to is a hint that retail rents are easing up considerably. Liberio Romano, managing director of Camicissima’s U.S. operations tells the paper, “We thought it would be two years before we came to the U.S., but the rents are down and we saw the opportunity to come into an expensive market.” The chain's goal is to become bigger in the U.S. than they are at home in Italy, and at those prices, it's looking entirely possible to achieve.
Italian Shirtmaker to Open First U.S. Store (WWD)
Camicissima (Official Site)

Corrections: Superdry Not Going To Tower —Taking Canal Jeans Spot Instead

Now that we are back in New York, we can see for ourselves that the British Abercrombie clone sportswear label Superdry is not in fact taking the former Tower Records space. We assumed as much since it was reported that they were coming to Broadway at West 4^th Street. In fact, they are taking a spot a block north of that where Washington Place hits Broadway —a space that housed Canal Jeans Co. after it left SoHo a few years back. Thanks to a commenter who gave us a heads-up. Interestingly, the folks at Superdry also left a comment, but rather than clarifying the upcoming store's address, it instead promoted their Twitter and Flicker pages.
Nice to see that they're using the Google.
They just don't seem to be paying much attention to what it says.
Meanwhile, The Tower Records corner remains sadly, conspicuously available.
Previously:
NoHo News: Superdry To Finally Take Tower Records Space?

Fifth Avenue Switches:Little abercrombie Gets Switched To A Hollister

Here's another excuse to run this very popular photo again.
Expect to see these guys hanging out on Fifth Avenue sometime next year. Instead of turning the former Hickey Freeman shop at 668 Fifth between 52^nd and 53^rd Streets into an abercrombie kids store, another Hollister for the uptown tourists will be opened in its place. Considering the strong response to the SoHo "Epic" flagship, this isn't too much of a surprise. We will be curious to see how the steel and glass building will be transformed into the kind of dark stage set they so love at Hollister. Will they recreate another California pier in the two-level 15,500 square foot space, or will it become a more humble surf shack like most of the other Hollister mall stores? We'll find out soon enough, but the folks on Fifth should brace themselves for a steady chorus of "Hey, What'sup?" and clouds of stinky perfume pumped onto the sidewalk.
Hollister To Open On Fifth Avenue (WWD)
Previously:
Hey, What'sup? It's Hollister, Dude!

NoHo News: Superdry To Finally TakeTower Records Space?

Last week, RACKED told us that British sportswear label Superdry was heading to NoHo at West 4th and Broadway, so we went all the way to Hollywood to see what this brand is all about.
Aren't we dedicated?
It turns out that the only Superdry store in America is at the Hollywood & Highland shopping complex right next to Graumann's Chinese Theater. Yes, that's basically in L.A.'s version of Times Square, but since everyone should go there at least once (if only to see how tiny Olivia de Havilland's feet were) we stopped in to check out the store, which is in a temporary spot until a better location in the mall opens up.
What we found was a sort of Abercrombie-ish sort of line with a touch of Japanese by way of Great Britain. Frankly everything we saw would have been greatly improved by removing the huge labels and logos, but perhaps this brand is simply not that adventurous
In other words, nothing terribly groundbreaking, but plenty that should sell easily to the tourists and NYU kids in the neighborhood. The staff was charming and pleasant, so points to them for that, but if you are coming all the way from England, we would like you to bring something more than plaid shirts, cargo shorts and rugby tops. We got plenty of that already. On the other hand, it will be nice to see that Tower Records space filled, since that whole Steve & Barry's thing obviously didn't work out.
Superdry 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood
Storecasting: Superdry Brings a British Take on Japanese Style to NYC (RACKED)

Location Speculation: Is This Isabel Marant's New Maison In New York?

Last Friday, Style.com broke the news that Isabel Marant, the Parisian designer with the sleeper cult-following, was opening a boutique in SoHo in just a few months. The location was described as near the corner of Broome and Greene Streets. Could this empty parcel at that very corner be the spot? The former Waterworks showroom is the only unoccupied shop on the corner, and it looks like something's going on behind that craft paper over the windows. It puts Marant just a block away from fellow French lady Catherine Malandrino's shop on Broome, which otherwise feels somewhat less exploited by fashion retailers compared to the rest of SoHo.
Marant is famously internet-phobic, having asked all her retail accounts to pull her goods from online selling, and her website consists only of a small video of her Fall '09 runway show, so there's little info coming from that front. Feel free to correct us if we're wrong —as if you need to be encouraged.

Mystery Solved: Track & Field Explained On Madison

Last week we noticed that a new athletic store called Track & Field was opening on upper Madison Avenue in the same block as Missoni. Naturally we thought that this was an unusually posh location for what looked like a runner's shop, especially one we had never heard of and couldn't find any information about. They usually migrate further east to more prosaic climates on Lexington or Third.
A helpful Shophound reader has come to the rescue!
Track & Field is, according to our tipster, "a very cool Brazilian fitness store".
Sorry, that's all we got, but if you can read Portuguese, you can find out more at their website HERE, and feel free to pass on the translated information.
We're kind of intrigued, because if anyone can make running gear sexy and appealing, it's the Brazilians, right? After all, look what they did for bathing suits.
Track & Field (Official Site)
Previously:
East Side Bounces Back:Madison Avenue Gets Ready For Newcomers