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THIS WEEK ONLINE:

Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, UGG, Timo Weiland, Diesel, TOD's, Furla, Ben Minkoff, & more

Here is your weekly sampling of some of the brands you can expect to find on the bigger online Flash Sale Sites this week. You should click over to the sites themselves for a full schedule of events, and be sure to check for the correct start time for each sale. Shop well!

GILT GROUPE
Versace, VIX Swimwear, Honeydew Intimates, Shoshanna, RACHEL Rachel Roy, Garrett Leight, English Laundry, Dolce & Gabbana, Vince Camuto, Ben Minkoff, GBX, Mr. Turk, Jean Shop, Ron Tomson —join HERE
RUE LA LA
Michael Kors, TOD's, Seychelles, CORUM Watches, Ponte Vecchio Jewelry, Feizy Rigs, Alex and Ani, Penhaligon's, Furla, LillamP, ThomasDean, Lagos, Lafayette 148, Sue Wong, ZERO Halliburton, Mountain Hardwear, Me Too, Oris Watches —join HERE
HAUTE LOOK
UGG Australia, Siwy Denim, American Apparel, Diesel, EVER, Civilianaire, TUMI, Kenneth Cole, Vince Camuto, Tart, Corso Como/Ciao Bella, Versace Jeans, Lloyd Germany, Penguin/Random House —join HERE
MY HABIT
Fendi, Timo Weiland, Yigal Azrouël, Burberry, MICHAEL Michael Kors, ASH, Saint Laurent, Cullen, Ted Baker, Oroboros, AVI-8 Watches, Brioni, Frame Denim, Halston Heritage, Alicia Adams Alpaca, Schutz, Scott Barber, Stone Rose, Miu Miu, Ruthie Davis, Grayers, John Varvatos —join HERE

MORE MUSICAL STOREFRONTS:

Fendi Is Moving Its SoHo Store Down The Block

104Greene
Fendi
has quietly closed its SoHo store on the corner of Prince and Greene Streets, but it is not abandoning the neighborhood. According to the covered up windows, next month, a new store will open only halfway down the block at 104 Greene Street (pictured above), formerly an H.Stern jewelry store.
There was an H.Stern in SoHo?
FendiWindowSoHoYes, there was, but one could be forgiven for not noticing. Wedged between the Melissa shoe store and Design Within Reach, it is one of the few retail spaces in the neighborhood that has brick walls where windows should be. Inside is a long and narrow selling space, which could be made into a compelling store, but overall, it is a dismayingly inconspicuous space for a prized, LVMH controlled luxury brand —particularly compared to the infinitely more visible previous corner location at 122 Greene.
Maybe Fendi has yet to prove through sales numbers that it deserves a larger presence in the neighborhood. Vast corporate management can be tough on its brands at times. The previous store while exceedingly well-positioned, was particularly petite, serving as a focused showcase for handbags and accessories only. It was far from an extensive representation of Fendi's offerings, and the upcoming location may offer more space with its stretched out configuration, but the store's innocuous frontage makes us wonder if it may just be something of a placeholder until Fendi finds a more visible SoHo location that is more befitting of a celebrated brand and puts it on a more level footing with other boutiques of its ilk including Chanel, Dior, Burberry, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and the like. In the meantime, we can check back in February to see how Fendi contends with its unusual new home.


SAMPLE CIRCUIT:

Rag & Bone Arrives + A Surprise Jean Paul Gaultier Finale

Rag-BoneSale
As if by request, shortly after we mentioned that the RAG & BONE sample sale had been MIA so far this season, it was announced to be beginning today at its usual Chelsea Market location. In fact this is around the same time it happened last year —even a bit earlier than last year. The Shophound stopped by yesterday afternoon for the preview day (which experienced R&B sale shoppers know is only loosely restricted) and found everything pretty much as expected, which is generally what is to be loved or not about the brand in general (pictured above). The long denim table was exactly where it always is. Mostly everything we saw fell into the black, brown, olive green or gray color category. There are plenty of great vintage or military inspired shirts (pictured below), knits and coats, with a particular abundance of men's pea-coats and a bit more of the kind of sports performance inspired separates in keeping with current trends. As of yesterday afternoon, the sale was still in the late stages of set-up mode, so there may have been more merchandise to bring out. Without going into granular detail, prices seemed to be around 60% to 75% off retail depending on the item's original retail price, so Rag & Bone on sale costs perhaps just slightly more than J.Crew at full price. Fans of the brand should make haste to get themselves down to Chelsea. The first day is generally a madhouse.
While KIKI de MONTPARNASSE will continue its warehouse sale through the weekend, the only other sale of note we discovered this week is  what is being billed as a JEAN PAUL GAULTIER Farewell To Ready-To-Wear sale which is beginning tomorrow at Century 21's Upper West Side location in Lincoln Square through Sunday the 17th. This is a new venue for Century 21's recent foray into sample sales, and it promises vintage and collectors' pieces from the celebrated French designer who recently ended his prêt-à-porter line in favor of concentrating on his Haute Couture and fragrance businesses. We are not quite sure what to expect from this sale, but it sounds like an intriguing option especially with few other sale events  happening.

Be sure to check our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for details, locations and any late breaking sales.
Next week, SEIZE sur VINGT's popular sportswear and haberdashery sale begins with an online preview starting on Tuesday.
Rag-BoneSaleShirts


ROVING BOUTIQUE:

Paul Smith Is Leaving Flatiron For Bleecker Street. . . For Now

PaulSmithMoving
The Flatiron District will be dealt a blow next week when the Paul Smith boutique at 108 Fifth Avenue (pictured above) permanently closes its doors and moves to a temporary space on Bleecker Street in the West Village. While the designer has a flagship store in SoHo, a Williamsburg location and a new outpost at Brookfield Place in the Financial District, the Fifth Avenue store was Smith's first in New York opening in 1987. It was one of the first designer stores in the neighborhood and, along with Emporio Armani on the other side of 16th Street (now a closed Joe Fresh), established Fifth Avenue between 23rd and 14th Streets as a bona fide shopping destination that seemed to be geared more toward downtown dwelling New Yorkers than tourists or bridge-and-tunnel shoppers. Even though the neighborhood eventually became more of a destination for chain stores that made it something of a mall without the mall (Gap, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, H&M, Victoria's Secret etc.), The Paul Smith boutique maintained its place as the high-end lynchpin for the neighborhood for nearly 30 years, even expanding downstairs.
Smith won't miss a beat, however. As clearly stipulated in the window (pictured below) the Bleecker Street store will open on Monday It is a more compact 1,000 square feet to Fifth Avenue's 1,800, but it is technically a temporary location to serve until a more suitable permanent spot is found. Where it will ultimately land remains to be seen, but the hands-on designer has been known to be extremely picky about where he places his boutiques, so wherever it is, expect it to be perfectly chosen all in good time.

Paul Smith Relocates to Temporary Site in Manhattan (WWD)
PaulSmithMovingSign


EXPANSION TIME:

Wempe Is Going XXL On Fifth Avenue

WEMPEXXL
Even though retail has been tough for the past unseasonably warm season, one category seems to weather consumer glitches a bit better than most. The highest end jewelry and watches will always hold appeal in New York if not for the locals then for the endless stream of tourists that pass through the city at any given moment. We have already seen Bergdorf Goodman unveil a bigger, better precious jewelry salon, and just a few blocks down Fifth Avenue, a similar expansion is under way at Wempe, the city's most prestigious watch store.
You may be thinking that Tourneau is the leader in that category (and it's really a matter of opinion), but while the big T has more locations, more brands and generally more flash, Wempe is the one with the more concentrated  focus on the most luxurious and exclusive watchmakers without all of those designer and mid-range, mass brands. While they have never tried to be all things to all people like their great competitor, they are about to get quite a bit bigger. It all came about last year when it came time to renegotiate its 15-year lease on the Fifth Avenue side of the Peninsula Hotel at 55th Street. Rather than getting the old rent-hike heave-ho that so many of its longtime neighbors —even major designers— have recently been faced with, Wempe was offered the opportunity to take over the Lindt Chocolate and Swarovski stores next door. Well, those guys got the heave-ho, obviously, but we're pretty sure they will be fine. Wempe will now be extending its red carpet to around 5,550 square ft. to transform itself into the newly dubbed Wempe XXL. Rather than broadening its assortments to fill all that new space, the store is expected to maintain its current lineup of watchmakers, but offer a greater depth of merchandise. That will mean more option for customers in search of the perfect Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and , of course, Rolex and the like. Look for the store to reveal its renovation sometime this summer, just in time to take advantage of summer tourist season, or, as we like to call them at the high end, non-local clients.


TRAVELING TECH:

SonyStyle To Say So Long To Midtown

SonyWonderAs soon as Sony sold its Midtown tower a couple of years ago, it seemed inevitable that a new owner would probably be waiting for the media and electronics giant to relinquish its hold on the building's valuable Madison Avenue retail space, and that is what is about to happen. The SonyStyle store is now set to vacate its current home for retail space in its parent company's new home at 11 Madison Avenue right by Madison Square Park. While some still know 550 Madison Avenue by its original name, the AT&T Building, the structure shook the skyline with the striking, outsized postmodern pediment at its top and became the Sony Tower in the Early 90s. SonyStyle has been a showcase for the brand's various products ever since, and while there was once a chain of such stores throughout the U.S., the company's retail devotion was reduced earlier last year to the one store in New York and another in Los Angeles as the consumer electronics market has rapidly evolved over the past two decades. How the store's downtown replacement will look remains to be seen, but it will be hard to match the soaring ceilings inside the store and in the dramatic passageway that cut through the building between 55th and 56th Streets. Once an open-air space that was majestic but cold, Sony took the step of reconfiguring the public space and enclosing it making it more useful for both retailers and passersby. Look for the retail complex, divided by the building's lobby and entryway, to be marketed as two separate store spaces, but not after some extensive renovation. Presumably, the free-to-the-public Sony Wonder Technology Lab (pictured) described as "state-of-the-art technology and entertainment museum" will also be vacating, but it is not known if it will be replicated in the new store. For its part, Sony is relocating its store to a neighborhood on the other side of Madison Square Park from the trendy NoMad area to a neighborhood better known for luxury home furnishing showrooms and Shake Shack, which makes us think that the replacement store will be more of an open showroom for Sony products than a store looking to capture midtown tourist business.

Sony to shutter longtime Madison Avenue store as it moves south (Crain's)


THIS WEEK ONLINE:

Pierre Hardy, Max Mara, Tom Ford, Trina Turk/Mr. Turk, Timo Weiland, Christian Siriano, Vivienne Westwood & More

Here is your weekly sampling of some of the brands you can expect to find on the bigger online Flash Sale Sites this week. You should click over to the sites themselves for a full schedule of events, and be sure to check for the correct start time for each sale. Shop well!

GILT GROUPE
Pierre Hardy, Canali, Berge Belts, Bulova, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Max Mara, Antik Batik, Eileen Fisher, Natori, Belle/Sigerson Morrison, Simon Miller, GANT, Vintage Shoe Co., Corneliani, Hanro —join HERE
RUE LA LA
T Tahari, David Yurman Eyewear, Gevril Watches, Cuisinart, Elaine Turner, Original Penguin, Chantelle, Baume & Mercier, Sparkling Sage, Portmerion/Spode, True Religion, Max Mara, Joan Vass, Peacock Alley, Gurhan, Bertha Watches, Pink Tartan, Oribe —join HERE
HAUTE LOOK
Ellen Tracy, Pink Martini, Tommy Bahama, PRPS, Vince Camuto, Zachary Prell, Tibi, LORAC, NYDJ, Point Zero Outerwear, Stephen Oliver, Goodyear, Mario Badescu, Halston Heritage, Trina Turk/Mr. Turk, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Boston Traders, Aquatalia, C&C California, Lois Hill Jewelry, Booty Parlor —join HERE
MY HABIT
Prada, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood Shoes, Loeffler Randall, French Connection, Lola & Sophie, Foley & Corinna, Christian Siriano, Timo Weiland, Robert Graham, Nat Nast, Bey-Berk  —join HERE

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

The Barneys Chelsea Store Comes Into Focus Including A February Opening

BarneysChelseaConstruction12-10-15
A fawning PR piece by David Kamp in next month's Vanity Fair has appeared online and revealed several details about the Barneys New York store returning to part of its previous home in Chelsea. Most importantly, the store is set to open sometime in February with an inaugural event recreating the "Decorated Denim" auction, one of the first major celebrity driven AIDS benefits staged in 1986 to celebrate the opening of the new Women's store around the corner on 17th Street. It featured Levi's Denim Jackets decorated by artists and designers like Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Paloma Picasso and Jean-Paul Gaultier modeled by Nell Campbell, Peter Allen, Andie MacDowell, Susan Sarandon, Iman and an up-and-coming singer named Madonna. The new version has been upgraded to motorcycle jackets decorated by artists such as Ugo Rondinone, Kim Gordon, Anicka Yi, Lisa Yuskavage, and Glenn Ligon with proceeds benefiting the non-profit art space White Columns as well as The Center, the West Village's LGBT Community Center on West 13th Street. 
Possibly, the event will have celebrities descending the new spiral staircase that is being constructed to connect all five shopping levels of the re-imagined store much as they did the original one that still exists in the Rubin Museum of Art inside the former Barneys women's store. An abstract rendering by architect Steven Harris (pictured below) shows a finished version of the main floor shown in the recent photo above. Apparently, the store will have a new design scheme different from the stark marble, steel and glass that current management installed on the main floor of the Madison Avenue flagship. Beyond the rendering, fewer details are available regarding the store's look, but the article does reveal its merchandising scheme which includes Personal Shopping suites on the fourth floor, a men's department and a "younger" edition of the Fred's restaurant on three, Women's apparel on two, Accessories for both men and women on the main floor and, as on Madison Avenue, cosmetics as the staircase's final destination on the lower level including an outpost of the Blind Barber joining its locations in the East Village and Williamsburg. Chelsea nostalgists will not find too much to directly recall the previous Barneys store on the site which comprises only what was once the traditional half of the original men's store. Certainly, that store's exhaustive men's suit department which once covered multiple floors will not be found re-created there, and it's unclear whether or not there will be a tailored clothing offering in the store at all. It is likely to be skewed toward more advanced "downtown" fashion, and the opening will launch with exclusive collections by Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, Vêtements and Adidas Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto created just for the store. Even the familiar canvas awnings will be replaced with what is described as a sculptural stainless steel canopy on the building's redesigned façade. Windows will not be devoted to Simon Doonan's fanciful displays. He has long since been relegated to an "Ambassador" role. Instead, they will feature portraits photographed on New York City streets by Bruce Weber. Regardless of how one feels how the store has been updated as “a modern Barneys for a modern downtown New York,” in the words of CEO Mark Lee, the anticipation for the new store has been extreme, Now, it will only be a few more weeks until we can see it for ourselves.

Behind Barneys’ Cutting-Edge Return to Its Old Neighborhood By David Kamp (Vanity Fair)
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COURSE CORRECTION BLOODBATH:

Macy's Is Closing 40 Stores & Planning Off-Price Outlets Inside Existing Stores

MacysHSIs it really such a big deal to close 40 stores if you have 773 of them?
Maybe not. After all, it's less than 10% of the Macy's store count, but it just goes to show that the kind of course correction that might be seen as relatively innocuous for another company becomes an event of a completely different scale when you are the 800 (or possibly 773) pound gorilla of the department store industry.
In fact, 40 stores is substantially bigger than most of the regional chains that have been absorbed over the years by what is now known as Macy's Inc. The mega-chain didn't get that big organically. It is the result of individual acquisitions like the Bamburger's chain once well expanded through the Mid-Atlantic region, but more importantly mergers with larger consolidated retailers that operated many individual nameplates. The current chain includes the remnants of former retail giants Allied Stores, Federated Department Stores and May Company which have ultimately put Macy's in every major market in America.
One could argue that despite pruning its fleet less dramatically over the years, those mergers and acquisitions have still left Macy's over-stored. In many cases acquired stores in the same mall as an existing location have been converted to separate Home or Menswear units and in at least one case, Tyson's Corner Virginia, there are two full Macy's stores literally across the street from each other in competing malls. Both of those stores are remaining open, a testament to the strength of that particular market where elsewhere it would be clearly redundant.
Three to four sales jobs will be cut from each of Macy's existing stores —which doesn't do much to respond to the recurring complaint that it is hard to find a salesperson in Macy's. That will still be a whopping loss of about 3,000 jobs. In addition only about 30% of retiring or voluntarily departing senior executives will be replaced, and about 600 back office jobs will be eliminated with 450 of those workers being laid off permanently rather than reassigned within the company. The total job loss is expected to be about 3,500 positions.
All of this is a response to a 4.7% decide in sales over the past few months which was higher than predicted. It is almost certain that the extremely unseasonably warm weather in most of the United States over the Fall season has contributed to the drop.
“In light of our disappointing 2015 sales and earnings performance, we are making adjustments to become more efficient and productive in our operations," says Macy's Chairman and CEO Terry J. Lundgren in a press release issued yesterday outlining the chain's strategy, "Moreover, we believe we can operate more effectively with an organization that is flatter and more agile so we can pursue growth and regain market share in our core Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s omnichannel businesses faster and with more intensity."
It's not all grim news, however. Three new Macy's stores and Two Bloomingdale's branches are set to open by Fall 2018, but more interestingly, the Macy's Backstage format, a budding off-price chain meant to compete with Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off-5th and the like, is set to grow with 50 new units, most of which will be opening within existing Macy's stores rather than as freestanding entities.
We remind ourselves that 50 stores is only a fraction of the 733 stores that will remain after the store culling, but it means that an off-price or clearance department will become a permanent fixture in some of the chain's full-line stores. What will this be like, and how will it affect the chain's full-price selling and its typically heavy promotional activity? Also unknown is how the chain's key vendors will feel about having to compete with discounted merchandise in the same store that normally would have been diverted to other channels after seasonal clearance sales. That will be very interesting to see unfold as, traditionally, most other chains have chosen to at least keep their outlet stores in separate buildings, though they have been losing in on their full-line mothership locations in recent years. We are reminded that Filene's Basement began literally in the basement of the flagship Filene's department store in Downtown Boston. Though it was eventually spun off into a separate company, it ultimately lasted longer than its namesake progenitor. Do we dare draw comparisons?

Macy’s, Inc. Outlines Cost Efficiency Initiatives and Lists Store Locations to Be Closed (Press Release)


THE SHOPHOUND ON THE ROAD:

Cult Men's Store Sid Mashburn Is In Expansion Mode.
Will It Get To NYC?

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Followers of menswear magazines and blogs will be familiar with the name Sid Mashburn.
The Atlanta haberdashery founded in 2007 has found a comfortable spot at in recent years the top of numerous surveys of men's retailers around the U.S. and was ultimately named the best Men's Clothing Store in America by GQ this past September —just in time for the beginning of an aggressive expansion of the store that has added two new locations in as many months with more promised in the years to come. In the past, hopeful customers outside of Atlanta and Houston have had to settle for shopping through the store's website, but as of last October, eager fans have only to go to Washington DC (pictured above) to get the complete Sid Mashburn in-store experience. The Shophound got a chance to visit the new store in Georgetown over the Holidays, and we were not disappointed.
The basic concept of the store is deceptively simple: High quality, exclusive merchandise presented in a welcoming environment matched with top level service. It has been tried before and will be again, but the key is in the execution, and the X-factor that has captured the attention of menswear's leading editors, bloggers and general fanatics is Mashburn's uniquely sophisticated taste. Having honed his skills years at Ralph Lauren, J.Crew and other classics-devoted fashion companies, Mashburn finally poured his knowledge into his own store centered around traditional tailored clothing featuring soft shouldered suits made in Italy with full-canvas construction in silhouettes and materials updated just enough to look fresh without being contrived or exaggerated. Add dress shirts, furnishings and sportswear conceived in a similar fashion, an extensive and enticing array of English made shoes and garnish with a selection of gift items like vinyl records and the equipment to play them on, curated books and all manner of desk and travel accessories. Now you have the store in a nutshell. Like the best boutiques, it has a clear point of view, but to fully understand why Sid Mashburn is so particularly well-suited to its newest home in Washington DC, you should know that it is only a few blocks away from the site of another beloved, local men's retailer from the past, Britches of Georgetowne. Founded in 1967 with a similarly classic focus, it was among the first retailers to carry Ralph Lauren's new Polo label which was started in the same year (fittingly, it is now Lauren whose name graces the very same Wisconsin Avenue storefront). It remained a city favorite in DC and Atlanta, where it expanded, through the late 1980s when it was sold and lost its well-defined merchandising character, ultimately fizzling under its new management. While Mashburn's store is not a replica of Britches, it shares the same point of view which mostly ignores trends and fleeting fashion notions in favor of the kind of wardrobe building that appeals to men who are looking to invest in classic style —and in the general scheme of things, the investments aren't necessarily as steep as one might expect. Washburn's other great talent is the ability to deliver high quality at, well, we wouldn't say low prices, but fairly reasonable ones when compared to other designers and retailers of the same ilk and quality level, with many suits and sport coats falling into the $1,000 to $1,500 range, and most dress shirts priced under $150, an excellent value for the price. Yes, there are also more expensive options for customers less concerned with sticker shock, but unlike at some other celebrated men's stores, you don't have to be the chairman of the board to shop there.
And let's not forget that the new store comes with its women's counterpart, Ann Mashburn, complete with its own entrance on the other side of the block. Yes, Ann is Sid's wife whom he met while working at J.Crew, and her side of the store, started in 2011, features her own exclusive private label designs presented with the same warm level of service. While she has not yet garnered the same cultish level of devotion as her husband, she offers an elegant counterpart to the adjacent men's space reflecting a similarly timeless point of view.
About those plans for more stores we mentioned before, The Mashburns plan to open a few stores every year for a total of 10 by 2018. Where those stores will be remains under wraps, but in a September interview with GQ, Mashburn suggests that any city that can support a professional sports is fair game (except, Green Bay for some reason). Plans for a New York store were, in fact, already in the works until the proposed landlord allegedly "Stiff-armed"  Mashburn causing him to walk away from the deal. That missed opportunity hurt to hear about, but at least it means that New York is on his radar. If he can find a space let by someone more upstanding, New Yorkers might still get their own Sid and Ann Mashburn stores to shop in person sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed.

Sid Mashburn 3206 N Street NW connected to...
Ann Mashburn 3251 Prospect Street NW, both in Georgetown, Washington DC
Meet The Man Behind The Best Men's Clothing Store In America (GQ)

Have a look inside the new Sid and Ann Mashburn stores after the jump

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Cult Men's Store Sid Mashburn Is In Expansion Mode.
Will It Get To NYC?
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