NEW CHAPTERS: Atrium To Transform As Nick Wooster Takes A Stake (The Shophound)

JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING:

Everybody loves a makeover.
Look for a whole new Atrium at Broadway and Bleecker Street soon. Veteran retail executive and and style-blogger favorite Nick Wooster has puchased a partnership in the mini-chain and will become the creative director for its NoHo and Brooklyn locations. To underscore the change in direction, the stores will be renamed Atrium Wooster. The third location in Miami beach will not be renamed and, presumably, will not be affected by the changes. Atrium owner Sam Ben-Avraham admitted to WWD that the 20-year-old store had peaked somewhat around 2005-7 with the explosion of the premium denim market, but has slowed down sice then. Earlier this year, Atrium dropped women's merchandise, becoming a men's only store, making it a good fit for Wooster, whose background is primarily in designer menswear. “I’ve always thought of myself as a retailer. Anybody can pick fantastic product, but you have to be able to make money too,” he tells WWD, “I’m very interested in traditional men’s wear and nontraditional men’s wear, and the store will reflect that.” Most recently the senior vice president of brand, trend and design for J.C. Penney during the brief tenure of Ron Johnson as its President, Wooster has also been Men's Fashion Director at Nieman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman as well as an adviser for Gilt Groupe. In addition to that, he has been behind a variety of menswear collaborations including swimwear with Orlebar Brown, cashmere knitwear with Drumohr, accessories with Want les Essentials de la Vie, Hamilton Shirts and luxury shoe store Leffot, but it is his ever growing popularity as an internet style icon beloved by bloggers that is likely to have brought him to Ben-Avraham's attention. He ranks among the most photographed figures during Fashion Week, and is also active on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. He even made his runway modeling debut for designer Mark McNairy earlier this week (pictured above). Wooster is expected to increase the internet presence of the new Atrium whose homepage is currently under construction. While his full impact on the store won't be felt until next Fall, expect to hear more and more buzz about the once fading store now set for a promising transformation.