The Shophound

Return Engagements: eBay To Return To Midtown —This Time For The Public

Earlier this year, eBay opened a pop-up store next door to Bergdorf's on West 57^th Street that was accessible only to a select invited few and then vanished amidst curiosity from the public passing by.
It turns out that it was just a tryout of sorts for another run starting on this November 20^th through the 29th. This time, the store is expected to be fully open to the public after the obligatory gala party on the evening of the 19^th. In fact, the first 100 shoppers to enter the store on Black Friday (November 27^th) will receive special "daily deal" items. The selection of merchandise on hand will reportedly include assortments from Norma Kamali’s exclusive eBay collection, L.A.M.B, Michael Kors, Dooney & Burke, Anthropologie and various cosmetics and fragrances brands. The entirety of eBay's offerings will be made available through internet kiosks and handheld tablets, while the company will match up to $200,000 spent in the store in support of various charities including Global Giving, Grammy in the Schools, Oxfam America, Right to Play, Save the Children, Share Our Strength, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Starlight, Toys for Tots, U.S. Fund for UNICEF and YouthAIDS EBay.
Fashion Scoops: eBay's Holiday Spot (WWD)
Previously:
Pop-Up Mysteries: What Is eBay Doing On West 57^th Street? part I and part II

New Additions: Zilli's Luxe Lands In Midtown

If The Shophound wasn't on our way to Los Angeles, we would scrambling over to East 57^th Street to check out Zilli's first U.S. boutique in the Four Seasons Hotel. The opulent French brand sells in only two other U.S. stores, Battaglia Shop in Beverly Hills, and Da Vinci in Scottsdale, Arizona, so it hasn't been seen in New York for quite a few years.WWD 's report suggests a glitzy store which is no surprise since dress shirts start at about $600, and leather jackets, the label's signature item, average around $11,000. Don't leave your wallet at home! We look forward to visiting next week when we get back because we need some socks and we can never think of anything to do with that extra gazillion bucks we always have lying around.
French Men's Wear Brand Zilli Opens N.Y. Flagship (WWD)
Zilli (Official Site)
Previously:
Recession? What Recession? Zilli's French Luxury To Hit Midtown ...Whether You're Ready Or Not

Flagship Alert: It's Tommy Time On Fifth Avenue

Being preoccupied with every little Fashion Week detail almost made us forget that Fifth Avenue just got a major addition: Tommy Hilfiger's 22,000 square foot brand palace on Fifth Avenue between 53^rd and 54^th Streets.
The store has been a long time coming because Hilfiger obviously had to fully gut what had been a Fortunoff store. The good news is that he has erased the garish '70's era metal and glass façade and replaced it with something more in keeping with what was left of the McKim, Mead & White building. Inside he has installed a traditionally appointed interior, with a strangely incongruous modern spiral staircase connecting the levels.
Of course, he has filled it with five floors of Tommy Hilfiger.
We'll admit that The Shophound has never been much of a Tommy fan. It's not that anything he makes is so awful, it's just that it's all so very familiar. This is nothing that others haven't been saying for decades, and, for the most part, it hasn't held Hilfiger back. Lack of fashion cred aside, Tommy is big business, and though he's had his ups and downs, he seems to be on an upswing these days, so the public has spoken. In response, he has given them a big fancy Fifth Avenue store that tourists can appreciate because it sells stuff they can easily afford. Tommy is using the high profile store to launch more expensive labels like a more deluxe women's collection, but even that pretty much tops out at bridge-level prices. Mixing in vintage items with his regular stock is another idea he has hardly originated (he also does it in his Bleecker Street store) but it does spice up the visuals on women's floors, although we're pretty sure that the Tommy Hilfiger store is not the best place to shop for vintage clothing.
On the men's floors, Hilfiger is also undertaking an upgrade, offering a special collection of suits retailing around the $1,000 mark, but again, we don't think the folks at Paul Stuart are looking over their shoulders. It seems more like a ploy to add prestige to the store than a serious repositioning of the brand. The basement has been devoted to Hilfiger Denim, and is a smaller scale recreation of the SoHo store devoted to that label complete with neon chandelier.
Overall, it's a massive Tommy statement, and, given the resurgence of tourists on Fifth Avenue, it couldn't be better timed. There are no big surprises inside, but neither are there any ill-conceived overreaches. Given the persistent struggles of more exclusive luxury retailers, Tommy's new store has made a timely appearance.
Tommy Hilfiger 681 Fifth Avenue between 53^rd and 54^th Streets, Midtown

Fashion's NIght Out: Forget The Sales, It's Drinks For Everybody!

Click images for a larger view in a new window.

Fashion's Night Out is over and we are pooped. POOPED!
If the goal of the event was to get people into stores, then in Manhattan, at least, it succeeded wildly. Every shopping area we hit was busy, and some were downright teeming with people.
We started the evening after three runway shows and three presentations, so really, we would just as soon have stayed home, but that would have been shirking our duty, and if the designers are putting in extra effort, so should we.
We began at Saks, whose main floor was packed with surprisingly dressed-up customers. The entire store felt like it was a busy Saturday in high season, with particularly concentrated crowds on the sumptuously renovated, designer laden third floor. We made our way to 7 to meet our friend DJ Aaron Elvis who was spinning for Marc by Marc Jacobs with a martini and margarita bar in tow, and the drinking was in full swing.  As we were next off to SoHo, our friends from Marc urged us stop by their Mercer Street shop where we found the designer himself in his signature kilt with more cocktails and snacks. Between Marc, Vera Wang, Costume National and Marni, that particular block was a raging party scene.
Onward to Greene Street, where we had Champagne with our friends from PHI and met Creative Director Andreas Melbostad along with star of the runways Suvi Koponen, who is lovely and tall, especially in her PHI boots. We would have happily to spend the rest of the evening there, but there was more to see. SoHo in general was buzzing, and some stores like Intermix were forced to impose velvet ropes on the sidewalk like nightclubs (which kind of defeats the purpose of the event, does it not?)
A Bathing Ape had a line wrapped around the corner of Spring Street, but that happens there every other day. The new Original Penguin store celebrated its grand opening with live models in the window, and Opening Ceremony was a madhouse. Throngs waited on the sidewalk to get in, but even if you weren't ready to face that, there were vendors on the street like Band of Outsiders' Tie Truck, selling specially priced neckwear just for the evening. Perhaps no store was better suited to the evening that Jil Sander across the street, whose first level is basically empty display space, making an easy transition to stylish downtown bar. After a quick tour through Anna Sui's elaborate Target Pop-Up on Crosby Street where models played various "Gossip Girl" characters and we were on to the final phase of our evening.
The last leg of our tour took us up to the West Village, where we meant to stop in at John Bartlett, but as his tiny store was quite full, and our feet were starting to give out, we headed up Bleecker Street where Ralph Lauren's string of shops had people flocking and Marc by Marc Jacobs was offering customers their photographs taken with models.
Finally, Raindrops began to fall as the Meatpacking District loomed. Adam by Adam Lippes had a lounge-y vibe and giant searchlights rotating at the front door. Theory's huge flagship was packing them in and taking orders for young designer accessory lines, and Jeffrey had a crush at the door that was surely brought on by rumors of Hugh Jackman. Did we stick around? No. Could we have gotten if we had? Probably not, but our feet were thanking us for turning homeward as we passed the door lines at Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen at 10 PM.
Did the event translate into sales? We don't exactly know yet, but what we do know is that retailers and designers have learned that they now need to do more than just hang up the clothes and open their doors to get customers back shopping again, and open bars don't hurt.

Mike Albo Goes Shopping: An Educated Consumer Edition

The Critical Shopper column moves ahead in today's Thursday Styles even as The New York Times' Public Editor hangs on the The JC Penney debacle (Last week featured readers' criticisms of his criticism of the original criticism. Even we are weary of it.) This week Mike Albo is faced with Syms, the veteran off priced retailer best remembered by many for their hokey homemade TV advertisements featuring Sy Syms and his daughter Marcy, who remains the company's CEO.
Mike is in a particularly misanthropic mood this week, lamenting the probability that he will never be able to afford a particular brown, Helmut Lang Suit he has been fixated on for several years. Unfortunately, Syms is not the place to solve that problem. What Mike discovers is that while Syms is full of discounts, most of its bargains are far from anything he would be interested in. Most of Syms' menswear, he discovers, is fairly innocuous, middle-of-the-road business fare, something that is strangely alien to our shopper.

I grabbed a $199 sport coat in a blue check by Hart Schaffner Marx, but it was so boxy I looked like David Byrne in the Talking Heads.

Of course, The Shophound remembers shopping at Syms years and years ago, when a bit of free time and a finely honed instinct could unearth all sorts of gems, but since then, as the number of off price retailers has expanded exponentially, the real finds have become fewer and further between –shuttled to designers' own outlets and spread over an ever increasing network of store branches.
When it becomes clear that Syms had nothing to offer Mike's urbane, downtown sensibilities, he shifts his focus from the store to its customers, singling out poor, henpecked Cyril, whose shrill wife apparently shrieked for him from all corners of the store.

She was here to find clothes for her husband. I knew this, as did the entire second floor, because her voice blasted through the rows of clothes like a tropical storm. Behind her was Cyril, a stout, round man, pulling up his pants. A grimace was permanently etched into his face.

Not every shopping trip can be a dream come true.
Critical Shopper | Syms: Cubicle-Ready, With an Eye on the Budget by Mike Albo (NYTimes)
Syms 400 Park Avenue at 54th Street, Midtown, and other locations

Sweets Reports: Magnolia Curbs Expansion While Little Pie Company Heads Downtown

Cupcake wars are a-brewing in midtown
Magnolia Bakery is getting its fourth and reportedly final Manhattan location ready to open sometime next month in the dining concourse at Grand Central Terminal. The company's president, Bobbie Lloyd tells the Village Voice that baking on-site makes more expansion challenging, though that hasn't stopped rapidly growing upstart Crumbs, which will have a new Grand Central location opening around the same time.
Meanwhile, The much loved Little Pie Company whose prime Grand Central spot is being taken by the upcoming Magnolia, will be leaving midtown and all that commuter traffic behind as it prepares to open a new location in Tribeca near Greenwich and Chambers Streets according to Eater. Presumably, this will be more like the charming pie café that was forced out of the Meatpacking District a couple of years ago, where you will be able to sit down and discreetly tuck into a warm mini-sour cream apple walnut pie.
We really need to go on a diet.
The Plywood Report: Little Pie Co., Kolache, and More (Eater)
Magnolia Regrets Its Trash, Says Its Grand Central Location Will Be Its Last in New York (Fork In The Road/Village Voice)
Magnolia Bakery (Official Site)
Little Pie Company (Official Site)
Previously:
Cupcake Alert: Eating Trumps Seeing At Grand Central Terminal

Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping: Stranger In A Strange Land Edition

We are trying to imagine Cintra Wilson's visit to J.C. Penney. We are picturing a svelte black clad figure, perhaps in some sort of wasp-waisted suit, swanning through the aisles at Manhattan Mall like a curious alien marooned in Middle America.
We don't really know what La Cintra wore on her visit to the new Manhattan flagship-ette that she chronicled as Critical Shopper for tomorrow's Thursday Styles. We are not especially surprised, however, that she was not impressed with the vast chain's signature strategy of offering designer labels at mass market prices,

Behold: Nicole by Nicole Miller; Allen B. by Allen Schwartz (who the heck is Allen Schwartz?); Joe by Joseph Abboud in the men’s section, with sweater-vests for Dad; and — drumroll please — Liz & Co., an offshoot of Liz Claiborne, key provider of looks that say “I have been in a senior management position at this D.M.V. for 34 years.”

Predictably, the abundance of polyester does little to further endear the store to her, although she does acknowledge its generous sizing strategy in a backhandedly complimentary sort of way,

AND herein lies the genius of J.C. Penney: It has made a point of providing clothing for people of all sizes (a strategy, company officials have said, to snatch business from nearby Macy’s). To this end, it has the most obese mannequins I have ever seen. They probably need special insulin-based epoxy injections just to make their limbs stay on. It’s like a headless wax museum devoted entirely to the cast of “Roseanne.”

We think it's safe to say she won't be tempted to go back anytime soon.
Critical Shopper | J.C. Penney: Playing to the Middle By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
J.C. Penney 901 Sixth Avenue at 32nd Street, Midtown

Could Someone Please Explain? What Is eBay Doing On West 57th? Part II

So last week they were putting to gather an elaborate Pop-Up store for eBay on West 57^th Street, and it appears to be all finished....so now what?
Apparently, it is here for five days, but which five days? As of yesterday afternoon it was decidedly closed.
So when does it open?
Is it over?
Did we miss it?
What are they selling, and exactly what is the point of this thing anyway?

Recession? What Recession? Zilli's French Luxury To Hit Midtown ...Whether You're Ready Or Not

Have you been wondering where you can buy a crocodile bomber jacket now that you are tired of the ostrich one you bought last year? Perhaps one that can be matched with shoes and a belt?
That sort of slick extravagance has been missing from Manhattan's shopping scene since opulent men's boutiques like Bijan and Napoleon have left us, but not for much longer. French luxury label Zilli is preparing its first American boutique, joining the equally sumptuous but somewhat more restrained Brioni in the Four Seasons Hotel on East 57^th Street, making a sort of nexus for sybaritic menswear in midtown.
Zilli's design tenets could be described as "Why use leather when perfectly good snakeskin will do?" or perhaps, "There's no jacket that can't be improved by lining it with mink." The brand's style is classic, but lavish —not garish and ostentatious, but more stealthily indulgent with a touch of glitz, and typically staggeringly expensive. It's aimed at the sort of vastly wealthy customer who remains recession proof, possibly slightly lacking in refinement, but hardly a full-on vulgarian —The kind of guy who will disrupt a classically elegant suit with pavé diamond and sapphire cufflinks.
Apparently, there are some of these left.
Think "shipping magnate with a deep tan" holding a man's clutch bag and riding in an armored limo.
We can't wait either.
Zilli (Official Site)

Pop-Up Mysteries: What Is eBay Doing On West 57th Street?

Midtown shoppers may be bewildered to see big signs for eBay installed at 3 West 57^th Street, the space next to Bergdorf's that most recently housed Fortunoff, and a host of temporary and pop-up stores before that.
Isn't eBay the antithesis of a brick and mortar store? Doesn't this fly in the face of eBay's claim that it is not actually a retailer itself?
WWD tells us that eBay is running a five-day "holiday preview" pop-up store so people can "see what just a fraction of its inventory would look like in a store".
Apparently, eBay will be cherry picking the best of what its vendors are offering on its site to fill the 5,000 square foot store and is promising 'wow' items from many of the luxury brands whose own boutiques are only a stone's throw away like Vuitton, Gucci and even Apple. How this will play out, we don't exactly know. Will they be auctioning items in the store, or will we have to bid using our own computers or iPhones or Blackberrys? Of course, eBay itself does not own merchandise or inventory, so we'll be interested to see how they collect the items on display.
And which holiday exactly are they previewing? Labor Day? Halloween? We haven't even been able to ascertain exact dates for the event. As of yesterday afternoon, the store was in set-up mode, so we're keeping our eye on this one.
EBay, Daffy's to Open Pop-Ups (WWD)