LIMITED ENGAGEMENT: The Touring Company Gets Cancelled

Last July, The Shophound alerted you to the coming arrival of The Touring Company, a new store set for Broadway in SoHo between Howard and Grand Streets. It was planned as an Abercrombie & Fitch killer featuring independent designers and rock and roll inspired vintage clothing from a former music industry executive. The thinking was: If you can stage international music tours, a single retail store that never moves couldn't be too much of a challenge, right?

Sadly, The Touring Company never quite found its footing, and has closed after less than half a year. Actually, The Shophound visited the storelast Fall shortly after it opened, and we held off posting about it because it didn't seem quite finished, and we wanted to give it a chance to settle in. The dark, two-level space used the kind of black trunks usually filled with lighting or other tech as it's main source of decor, and while this was a clever idea, in practice, it looked a little cheap and makeshift. Downstairs, the men's department was filled with what is often charitably called "vintage" but is more accurately described as old resale goods, not unlike what one might find at Beacon's Closet, but at loftier SoHo prices. When we returned for a second look last month, the place was already dismantled and closed up.

So... opening a sizable store on one of New York City's (and the world's) busiest and most competetive shopping strips wasn't so easy after all, was it?

Previously:
Abercrombie Antagonist: The Touring Company To Bring Roadie Chic To Lower SoHo (7/8/2010)