CHAIN GANG: Ralph Lauren's Rugby Stores
Are Open On Bleecker Street
Are Open On Bleecker Street
September 9, 2011
Ralph Lauren has completed his Bleecker Street reshuffling that leaves his West Village stores devoted to specialized diffusion brands rather than his main collection. Last Saturday, he opened his second and third Rugby stores in New York City in the spaces that once housed children's and RRL shops. This being Bleecker Street, the shops are... compact, to say the least, with one for men and one for women. Rugby is Lauren's more "collegiate" line meaning it offers familiar Lauren looks in a trimmer, "younger" silhouette with an emphasis on those preppy classics that built his brand. It is also unique in that, for now at least, the label is only available in freestanding Rugby branded stores and online. These shops differ from the other, larger yet still cluttery Ruby store on University Place by being merchandised in a slightly more grown-up way for Bleecker Streets more grown-up customers with a focus on more tailored looks like the Italian-made suits we found in the men's store.
So Bleecker Street is settled for now, but it's hard not to think of it as a game of musical stores for Lauren and his neighbor Marc Jacobs who have ten stores in the area between them and at any moment could chose to shift their stores around and start the whole shuffling process all over again.
Rubgy by Ralph Lauren 380 & 390 Bleecker Street, West Village
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