A growing legion of fashion’s buzziest brands and retailers are embracing uptown.
Until very, very recently, an afternoon spent shopping on the Upper East Side was one of upper-crust cosplay. And none such cosplay was complete without a visit paid to Madison Avenue and its blocks upon blocks of polished storefronts catering to New York City’s leisure class. Don your best cable-knits to enjoy the white-glove service at Ralph Lauren and Fivestory, before capping your day off with a crisp Bemelmans martini — your collection of shopping bags are stowed away with your driver, after all.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Never fear, Park Avenue WASPs: Your freshly-starched lifestyle isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s just expanding now to include a new generation of brands and retailers set to infuse a jolt of energy into a once-stuffy retail district.
“The energy on the Upper East Side feels really renewed,” says Los Angeles-based jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth, whose own Madison Avenue jewel box of a boutique opened late last year. “There’s been a lot of shifting, and the momentum is strong.”
Indeed, a growing crop of the U.S.’s buzziest design talent — like Tanya Taylor, Jonathan Cohen, Altuzarra, Gabriela Hearst and La Ligne — are gravitating toward the Upper East Side for new brick-and-mortar ventures, seeking out more seasoned luxury shoppers and post-pandemic real estate incentives.
In other words: Madison Avenue is getting a makeover.
Retail is in the Upper East Side’s blood.
Centuries before the Upper East Side became the haut monde shopping capital — and before European immigrants even colonized the island in the first place — the area’s East River waterfront was a popular fishing hub among the Munsee Lenape people. By 1837, as the first-of-its-kind New York and Harlem Railroad began its service between Lower Manhattan and Harlem, the rural area became a hotbed of commercial traffic. Come the early 1900s, the Upper East Side’s reputation as the premier residential destination was set, with luxury commercial developments to match.
Chris DeCrosta, founding principal of boutique commercial real estate advisory firm GoodSpace NYC, explains that, in matters of retail, the neighborhood — which extends from East 59th to 96th Streets, across Central Park to the East River — has always been rooted in affluence. Large department stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s may have been catering to uptown clientele since the early 20th century, but it’s Madison Avenue itself that’s considered the fashion stronghold. More than 150 luxury boutiques dot the mile-and-a-half sweep between East 57th and 86th Streets, and that figure is only getting larger.
Traditionally, says DeCrosta, Madison Avenue has seen the most action between East 57th and 72nd Streets, with the marquee blocks running from East 58th to 63rd Streets. The Row was perhaps an early harbinger of this area’s fashion retail renaissance, opening its first New York store on East 71st, right off of Madison, in 2016.
Of recent note in this span is the new (as of 2022) Hermès flagship, which sits in a historic Neo-Federal beauty on the northwest corner of East 63rd. Inside, shoppers can peruse all four floors and 20,250 square-feet, complete with a cocktail bar, VIP lounge and fifth-floor atelier for artisans-in-residence from different métiers. The top floor opens to a rooftop garden, accessible to all shoppers.
Hermès is, well, Hermès. But the landmark French house is far from the only brand staking out plum real estate in this stretch of late.
Photo: Courtesy of Irene Neuwirth
After the onslaught of the pandemic sent residents and retailers packing, landlords began cranking up the financial incentives. “Rents have been halved, and landlord incentives were as high as a year in free rent,” says DeCrosta. There’s also the topic of increased tenant improvements, or TI, which refers to the funds that a landlord provides to modify a rental space for the tenant’s needs.
Whatever landlords are offering, it seems to be working, slowly but surely. In November 2022, retail sales across New York City were up 0.2% from October 2021 and 16.1% from November 2020, according to data from the National Retail Federation. But the Upper East Side — and Madison Avenue, specifically — provides something even money can’t buy, and that’s its reputation.
Neuwirth’s new Madison Avenue shop, located due north of East 74th Street, sits on the same block as the iconic Breuer building that now temporarily houses the Frick Collection. Fewer than three blocks away are a triumvirate of Manhattan’s finest hotels: the Surrey, the Mark and the Carlyle. The storefront is further flanked by consulates, cash-only plastic surgeons and 7 East 75th Street, used for the exterior shots of the Sheffield’s stately townhome on “The Nanny.” Start walking west to Central Park, and you’ll run straight into the famous Alice in Wonderland sculpture. From any which way you look, Neuwirth’s neighbors are all dots on any reputable New York City guidebook.
“We’re a new ‘forever’ brand, and we wanted to be in a location that reflects that,” says Neuwirth. “There’s a real sense of permanence to the architecture of the area. We couldn’t resist the pull.”
Now, we’re not eulogizing SoHo just yet. Its particular brand of cobblestoned chaos remains home to all the usual must-visit storefronts, be they multi-brand concept shops, vintage retailers or high-end flagships. And despite its now-total gentrification, SoHo has been the epicenter of Manhattan’s youth culture for decades, since its Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat days.
“Luxury in SoHo is great because it’s been stripped of any intimidation,” says DeCrosta. “If you walk into Dior or Fendi or Louis Vuitton, you really see the ‘everyman’ shopping there. Madison Avenue offers a more elevated experience for an older customer, a more seasoned luxury shopper or the international tourist that stays uptown.”
Altuzarra ventured to the Upper East Side pre-pandemic, having opened its Madison Avenue boutique in 2019. Physical retail is a crucial area of focus for the company, says CEO Shira Sue Carmi, with the category growing exponentially over the past three years to more than 40% of total company revenue. It represents an opportunity for the brand to create long-lasting, meaningful relationships with customers.
“We’ve built an incredible customer base of women who follow and love the brand,” says Carmi. “Altuzarra, as opposed to many other luxury brands, is unique in that it focuses on luxury ready-to-wear and doesn’t rely on other categories such as handbags, footwear or accessories, which tend to be more aspirational. The true luxury ready-to-wear customer shops on Madison Avenue, not downtown.”
Photo: Courtesy of Altuzarra
Chic-essentials label La Ligne, too, has been on Madison Avenue since 2019. Though 996 Madison Avenue stands as La Ligne’s only New York City storefront, the brand operates three additional retail shops across the country, in Dallas, Palm Beach and Greenwich, Connecticut. But the Upper East Side is, and always will be, its first love, largely owing to its dedicated community of uptown shoppers.
“As a New York City-based brand, we always dreamt of opening our first physical space here,” says Meredith Melling, the brand’s co-founder and chief brand officer. “The Upper East Side made sense for our first location as we cultivated a strong and loyal client base through hosting various trunk shows and brand activations in the area, since launch.”
When it came time to plot her first brick-and-mortar boutique, womenswear designer Tanya Taylor — who’s built a loyal following for her range of brightly printed dresses — came to the Upper East Side with a similar motivation. In its research, Taylor says, the brand found that a significant number of downtown shoppers, especially in SoHo, are tourists, while the Upper East Side businesses are primarily frequented by locals. So Taylor landed on Madison Avenue, with a just-announced, two-floor space in the Parke-Bernet Galleries building, across from (where else?) The Carlyle and home to both the Gagosian Gallery and Michelin-starred fine-dining experience Kappo Masa.
“The Upper East Side has always been a prestigious, globally-recognized shopping destination, and we’ve always had it on our radar,” says Taylor. “In opening our store, we want to grow our community, our personal connections. For us, it made more sense to pick the Upper East Side, where we can continue to interact with customers beyond a single visit.”
As with any prime shopping district, Madison Avenue’s new generation of “It” retailers are all within a stone’s throw of each other. (Elsewhere in the same East 70s span, shoppers can meander into Gabriela Hearst and Jonathan Cohen, though the latter is just a pop-up — for now.) Which begs the question: Are we soon to run out of real estate?
DeCrosta speculates that once the blocks from East 58th to 63rd Streets are fully leased (and “it’s almost done,” he says), we’ll see brands slowly start to make their way further north.
Carmi, Altuzarra’s CEO, finds that Madison Avenue, especially north of East 72nd Street, feels more energetic than in years past. Landlords are finally making deals that make sense to smaller independent brands, she says, which is necessary to keep the avenue thriving. And those smaller brands are rising to the occasion, even if it means revamping the Madison Avenue you thought you knew.
“Traditional fine jewelry stores with men serving champagne in tuxedos always made me uncomfortable,” says Neuwirth. “I never wanted that experience for my clients. We’re young and fresh, and the jewelry is meant to be worn and lived in. It’s great to see so many new but familiar faces in the neighborhood. There’s so much creativity — it’s like a fancy block party.”
Source: Fashionista.com
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