NOW OPEN: Ted Baker's "Grand House" Hits Fifth Avenue

British label Ted Baker has been increasing its U.S. presence over the past couple of years, and yesterday it hit a milestone by opening a Ffith Avenue flagship that is its biggest store in the States so far. The northeast corner building at 48th Street and Fifth, right next to the historic Charles Scribner's Sons building that now contains a Sephora, has been transformed into Baker's "Grand House", a 1930's townhouse concept that like all of the company's boutiques, is unique to its own location. It has all the charm as well as the drawbacks of a townhouse style-store, and, through the weekend, visitors will be treated to tea and treats, as any proper guests should be.

Despite the label being known best as a men's brand, this store has been set up to push the Ted Baker women's collections to the throngs of people who make their ways up and down Fifth Avenue. Thus, the extensive men's collections have been relegated downstairs to a floor designed to evoke the kitchen one would typically find in a townhouse basement. There are pots and pans hidden amongst the displays as well as butler's bells and silver serveware. The two levels upstairs are devoted to women's collections with eclectic fixtures meant to evoke the 1930s or eras before. On the boudoir-styled top floor, a dressing area is created with a glamorous construction of velvet draperies in the front of the store rather than building it into the back as one might expect. The three levels are connected with a dramatic metal staircase with steps textured in an ersatz art deco pattern. Of course, this being a townhouse space, the entire store is long and narrow, which can create a cramped feeling, particularly when Fifth Avenue crowds descend. It certainly doesn't help that in their eagerness to greet new customers, the store's staff is practically blocking the entrance, but hopefully, these traffic pattern issues will be attended to once the store has been open for a little while.

There are, for The Shophound, always a couple of elephants in the room whenever we walk into a Ted Baker shop, and, for better or worse, they seem all the more pronounced here. For an upscale brand that enthusiastically promotes its Englishness, we didn't see a single piece of merchandise that was actually made in the U.K. As Ralph Lauren well knows, that's not terribly surprising, these days. The other issue is more delicate, however, but no less obvious. It is that there is another well-known designer whose style is almost always evoked by Ted Baker's particular take on quirky British tradition. Would there even be a Ted Baker brand if the more exclusive Paul Smith hadn't paved the road before it? The bright, unexpected colors, pattern mixing and irreverent attitude all consistently echo the more established designer. Can we call it "Hilfigeritis"? Like its American counterpart, whose comparisons to Ralph Lauren have dogged him since he started his business, The Ted Baker brand is priced just below Paul Smith's top label, and perfectly positioned to serve customers who might not be ready to shell out for the more expensive designer. Also like Hilfiger, any comparisons haven't really held the Ted Baker brand back very much, so expect so see even more of the label as this new flagship raises its profile, and if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then get shopping.

Ted Baker 595 Fifth Avenue at 48th Street, Midtown