The Shophound

BIGGER AND BETTER: The Century 21 Flagship Gets Brought Up To Speed

A couple of Septembers ago, Century 21 unveiled a new, Upper West Side branch store that allayed community fears that the retailer was going to drop a jumbled discount store on the neighborhood. The sleek, well ordered concept bore little resemblance to the popular but always crowded and often dingy downtown flagship, but today, the expanding chain unveiled an expanded flagship with new features and a dramatic redesign that brings the store to a full seven floors including an expanded children's department and even a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf tucked away on the third floor.

There are people who love off-price shopping and people who hate it. You can count The Shophound in the former category. Even in its previous, messier incarnation, we were always happy to look for the needle in the giant haystack that was Century 21, and, more often than not, we found it. The new, cleaned up version just gives everyone more room to shop, and makes the bargains much easier to find. Almost every department has been refreshed, expanded and relocated. One high profile addition is a spacious new MAC cosmetics counter in the store's impressive cosmetics department (pictured at left) —the only category in the store that does not offer discounted merchandise, and also one of the few stores south of Canal Street with a full cosmetics department.

There are still a few areas due for renovation, but the bulk of the expansion is finished. Some things never change, however. The store is still a major destination for tourists, and even with the extra floors, it's still pretty crowded. There will inevitably be someone in your way at any given moment. There are also still the same great off-price designer finds. We saw a sizable selection of Lanvin (at right) at the front of the women's designer area, and other racks full of Jil Sander, Martin Margiela (below), Giorgio Armani and tons of other European luxury designers. Century 21 may still not be for everyone. Finding those great buys still take time and energy that lots of people don't care to invest, but now there is a brighter, cleaner better lit and better ordered environment for everyone who loves going out of their way for a little bargain hunting.

Century 21 Flagship 22 Cortlandt Street between Broadway & Church Streets, Financial District
Previously:
Now Open: Century 21's Upper West Side Store Is A NEW Century 21

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: Unfortunate Location Edition

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

Century 21 Adds Signage Uptown & 40% More Square Footage Downtown

As off-price retailer Century 21 gets closer to opening its anticipated Upper West Side location, it has been quietly working to grow its Financial District flagship by about 40%. The New York City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises has approved the store's plans to add 76,200 square feet to its store at 22 Cortlandt Street by capturing the fourth, fifth and sixth floors in the building above which had been office space, but are currently empty. That would bring the store's footprint up to a whopping 196,500 square feet —sizable by anyone's standards. While the store is already pretty big, it has never been a paragon of efficient store design with merchandise crammed into every available corner. Though popular, Century 21 has traditionally offered customers a challenging, crowded shopping experience even at off-peak hours, so the additional space could change the character of the store dramatically.

As for the upcoming West Side store (above), the several months that Century 21 has been taking to gut-renovate the former Barnes & Noble's 61,000 square feet in the Lincoln Square area, suggesting that the company is paying a lot more attention to store design. Shiny new signs have recently appeared on the building, which may mean that the store's "Fall 2011" opening date is coming closer.

Century 21 Flagship Growing Up, Big Time (Crain's)

DRUGSTORE DRAMA: Duane Reade Kisses Up To Wall Street

What can we say about the much covered new Duane Reade flagship at 40 Wall Street (now called The Trump Building because, like a cocker spaniel, somebody has to mark anything he owns)? It made The Shophound go out of our way to check out a Duane Reade, for starters, and it made us think of nothing more than the fabled Wall Street McDonald's we used to hear about that reportedly had a piano player, crystal chandeliers, cloth napkins and table service. That was a while back when people used to fawn over "Wall Streeters" and their glamorous wealth and power. Now that we have seen where all that wealth and power has brought the rest of the nation, those who toil near the Stock Exchange are increasingly being seen as spoiled, overpaid, pinheaded prats. Either way, this is the Duane Reade for them.

Like any other part of Manhattan, the idea that Wall street needs another Duane Reade is sort of laughable. The neighborhood is littered with them already, but we suppose the opportunity to take over a dramatic, marble arched space in a prestigious building was more than the drug chain could pass up. We can't help thinking that Donald Trump would have preferred a flashier tenant like Apple for his building, which is on Wall Street's newly minted shopping strip, and a stone's throw from Tiffany, Hermès and luxury watch palaces Tourbillon and Kenjo. Unfortunately, many of those buzzy retailers remain unconvinced that the financial district has quite developed into the fully rounded shopping area the demand. Enter Duane Reade, whose revamped store concept only needed a few steroid shots to fill the space. To its credit, the store has tailored itself to the needs of the area, and the main section is essentially a mini food market. Normally, this wouldn't be such an unusual draw, but for area residents, supermarkets remain scarce. Other things not found at even your fancier new Duane Reades: a live band, a hair wash and blowout station, a faux-Jamba Juice counter, a sushi bar and a few extra upscale food items like Eli Zabar's breads and baked goods and Fat Witch Brownies. There is, as far as we could tell, no beer bar.

So, apparently, folks in the financial district need extra enticements to lure them into a humble drugstore. Now, if they need Band-Aids at 3 AM, they have a place to buy them that will make them feel suitably important —a relief to all, we are sure.

SCHADENFREUDE DU JOUR II: Bedbugs vs. Abercrombie Round 2 South Street Seaport Store Shut

We like to think of Abercrombie & Fitch as a gift that keeps on giving, but to a bedbug, apparently, they are just lunch.

After having closed its Hollister Epic Flagship on Wednesday for a persistent bedbug infestation, the chain had to turn around and shut the Abercrombie & Fitch location at the South Street Seaport on Friday for the same reason! Is there a connection? The stores are miles apart, so it would seem unlikely, but it certainly is kind of funny, especially since the company appears to be handling the situation by following the leading life rule of one Suzanne Sugarbaker: "The man should kill the bug!" The man, in this case, would be the Mayor Bloomberg.

According to The Wall Street Journal, A&F Chairman and CEO Michael S. Jeffries has actually contacted the Mayor for "leadership and guidance" on how best to address the problem of "the growing infestation of bedbugs in New York City." As any New Yorker can guess, the the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene responded by basically saying, "Not my problem, dude."

We know, HILARIOUS, right? As if the Mayor has time to offer suggestions to every building that has been hit by bedbugs. Truly, such an infestation is a miserable trial that The Shophound wouldn't wish on our worst enemy (okay, maybe our second-worst enemy), but there's something appropriately karmic about a company that gleefully flouts all kinds of workplace safety and fair hiring practices having to turn to the city to help them out of an embarrassing situation. Abercrombie says that the Hollister store should have been ready to be reopened by Saturday, which sounds like wishful thinking for a building that size, especially one filled with clothes and overstuffed furniture.

As always, we wish the folks at Abercrombie the best of luck with their problem, and thank them for the material.

Retailer Asks Mayor for Help in Bedbug Battle (Wall Street Journal)
Previously:
Schadednfreude Du Jour: Bedbug Infestation Closes Hollister

Closeout Alert: Lot Less Come To Fulton Street

You could be forgiven for thinking that The Shophound spends all of our time in designer boutiques and UNIQLO, but the truth is that we are happy to check out any store that looks even marginally intriguing. That is how we happened upon Lot Less, the big new closeout store on Fulton street that has taken the place of the old Strand Annex.
Typically, these sorts of stores are dingy and cluttered with dodgy looking off-brand goods from who knows where. We wouldn't say that we didn't see more than a couple of unfamiliar brands at Lot Less, but the store was clean, spacious and well organized on our visit with plenty of branded goods at gentle prices. We always enter such places with no expectations, and we were just as happy to find a Kitchen Aid bamboo mixing spoon for $3 as we would be to discover any bargain.
We also learned via a sizable display, that tireless, multitasking Movie Star/Graduate Student/Saturday Night Live Host/Soap Opera Star and Possible Performance Artist James Franco apparently has his own underwear line (above right). Talk about making everyone else feel lazy!
What's that? It's just an underwear line that coincidentally shares the same name as the young celebrity?
Nonsense! We like our version better.
Lot Less 150 William Street at Fulton Street, Financial District

Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping: Defensive Tourist Edition

In today's Thursday Styles, Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson takes a restrained look at Tiffany & Company, an American retailing icon, but instead of visiting the famous flagship at 57^th & Fifth, she has chosen to make her assessment of the newer satellite branch on wall street that opened two years ago. This week finds La Cintra in a more reflective mode, observing the irony surrounding a luxury mini-shopping district that has popped up at ground zero of the luxury bust. Instead of profligate Wall Streeters, Tiffany's downtown branch seems to be catering to the same tourists that throng the historic flagship store, who apparently don't care to be bothered while buying jewelry.

Three young Chinese tourists were excitedly viewing a gold necklace with a small diamond at the center, for $900.“Are you buying necklaces for your girlfriends?” I asked.
“He is,” said one with a backpack, pointing at his serious-looking friend.
“How did you know about Tiffany in China?” I asked the potential buyer. “Is it famous there?”
“I use the Internet,” he said, somewhat defensively.
“How did you know we are from China?” his friend asked.
The buyer became shy and hostile, and suddenly cupped his hands around the diamond he was viewing, so I couldn’t see it.

Clearly this tourist had no idea that the Nosy American Lady was going immortalize him in the pages of The New York Times. Overall, however, our shopper has practically given Tiffany a free pass compared to her usual treatment. She is admiring, but not effusive —almost polite, even. Perhaps the brand is just too monolithic to engage Cintra's attention too strongly one way or another.
Critical Shopper | Tiffany & Company If Bling Had a Hall of Fame By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Tiffany & Company 37 Wall Street between Nassau and William Streets, Financial District

Moving On:Strand Annex Set To CloseThis Summer

The Strand Book Annex on Fulton Street is set to close at some point this summer as a result of...you guessed it...a rent hike.
The offshoot of the historic Strand Bookstore at 12^th Street and Broadway has been open for 12 years, and the pain of the rent increase has been compounded by the incessant construction that has ripped up the store's block of Fulton Street and hampered foot traffic. Though it is one of the few independent booksellers to survive and even thrive through the onslaught of Barnes & Noble branches that clobbered many a local bookstore, the 15,000 square foot store is finally being done in by the real estate forces that are ruthlessly re-shaping the city's shopping and dining options. The dusty, décor-free stores have been favorites of New Yorkers despite their lack of amenities and unorthodox climate control policies (read: they don't have any). Somehow amongst their vast selection, at least one or two books will jump out at you with an irresistible price sticker on any given visit, and until the Annex location closes, its entire stock will be reduced 20% below its already discounted price (an especially welcome bit of news now that Amazon is collecting sales tax in New York). More surprises are promised for customers in the coming weeks/
No closing date has been given, but when the branch is finally shuttered, both the remaining stock and staff will be absorbed by the 12^th Street flagship.
The Strand isn't giving up, however, and hopes to find a new location for the annex.
Perhaps they will find one with air conditioning pre-installed.
Strand Book Annex 95 Fulton Street between William & Gold Streets, 3 blocks East of Broadway, Financial District
Closing notices and construction view after the jump...

Tiffany Unwraps Its Wall Street Jewel Box

Crowds descended upon 37 Wall Street today as Tiffany & Co. unveiled its latest branch store. You would have thought that they had forgotten that Manhattan has had a Tiffany for years - the original one. After a morning press preview, gawkers lined up for a champagne buffet and petit fours shaped like tiny blue gift boxes. It was far too crowded for serious customers - claustrophic at times. Outside, we saw none of the carts handing out free coffee, cookies and newspapers we had been hearing about, but the diamond bedecked models made their appearance as the general public waited for the store's noontime debut.
Inside, it's a departure from Tiffany's usual branch décor which generally adapts design elements from their iconic Fifth Avenue flagship. The Wall Street building's 1907 white marble interior has been lovingly restored, and the Canadian architectural firm Yabu Pushelberg has cleverly created a glittering steel and glass construction which divides the main floor into more intimate selling areas (click right photo for larger view) around a 75-foot light installation by designer Ingo Maurer. Decorative metal louvers on the  glass walls subtly reference the coffered ceiling at the flagship. A new staircase to the mezzanine leads to private rooms for important jewel shopping. It all makes for an stunningly lavish and alluring display, but unless you work in the neighborhood, why come all the way down to Wall Street just to shop at Tiffany's when the great big original is right at 57th and Fifth? At the very least, it may be worth it to venture south just to avoid the slack-jawed tourists who regularly throng the flagship's main floor, or you may simply prefer a smaller setting and edited selection. At any rate, both the retail and real estate worlds will be watching very closely to see if Tiffany as well as Hermès can make a luxury shopping enclave out of Wall Street.
Tiffany & Co.  37 Wall Street, Financial District

Mike Albo Goes Shopping: More Than We Needed to Know Edition

Photographs byCasey Kelbaugh for The New York Times
We have been a booster for Mike Albo, we really have, but in today's Thursday Styles our favorite of the current Critical Shopper crew seems off his game. Maybe its because we simply can't muster up much excitement for the new Wall Street branch of Thomas Pink. It's only the fourth one in Manhattan. It's not that there's anything wrong with Thomas Pink. It's perfectly fine, and they make lovely, colorful shirts, and are an excellent source for anyone looking for a well priced, high quality, classic shirt with a little flair. It always struck us, however, as a starter brand for people who weren't quite ready for the more expensive and exclusive Turnbull & Asser or Hilditch & Key, which are honest-to-goodness Jermyn Street bespoke shirtmakers, royal warrants and all. Pink was actually started in 1984, with a catchy name and a retro logo which suggested a heritage that wasn't actually there. Now a part of the well-oiled LVMH luxury machine, the brand has jumped from advertisements on the back pages of The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker to a fully fledged luxury chain with an ever growing series of stores which are remarkably consistent in their design and focused product offerings, kind of like McDonald's in the way that Big Macs are always the same no matter where you are. It has even spawned its own imitator in Charles Tyrwhitt.
Frankly, we're not completely sold on the Financial District luxury boom either, which so far consists of exactly three stores. It's not as if it will ever rival Madison Avenue or 57th Street. Opening an expensive shirt store on Wall Street hardly seems daring. Really, one wonders why this location is Pink's fourth store in the city instead of its first. What took them so long? That said, it will surely save some good customers a trip to midtown.
As for our Mike, well, we told you that the column was really about you, not the store, but your embarrassing personal information should at least be amusing.

...I suppose this isn’t a store for people like me with money issues who go to Barnes & Noble and buy self-help books like “Credit Hell: How to Dig Out of Debt.” These clothes are more suited for the hard-working finance types who have that Suze Orman glint in their eyes and who, when going to Barnes & Noble, select titles like The 48 Laws of Power and You, Inc.

Oh Mike, we don't want to know that about you! It's sort of depressing, and has cast a pall over the rest of your droll observations about shopping. It ruined our image of you jauntily shopping around town when not pursuing your other career as a glittery, dancing performance artist.
Keeping it real is overrated.
Critical Shopper: Colors to Match Every Shade of Credit Card by Mike Albo (NYTimes)
Thomas Pink 63 Wall Street, Financial District, also 520 Madison Avenue, 1155 Avenue of the Americas and The Shops at Columbus Circle.