Just a few thoughts to add to the discussion below:
In 2016, Corso Como opened a NYC store at the Seaport. The location was difficult, however, the area was in development and I guess the company was focusing on the future. The space included the store and the gallery wing, designed to host events and exhibitions. The assortment of the store itself read "designers". To me, it was the best-curated buy I have seen. Whoever bought it - had great taste and understanding of the urban client. The idea was simple and modern: to create an environment/place that caters to the test of the fashion community - a place to hang out and shop (this is the ongoing dream of every luxury CEO). It didn't work out. The store was closed after a few years. Remember SAKS+Barney's project? Similar. To make these types of initiatives successful you need serious planning, the right people, consistency, financing, and a few other things:))
However, the concept is growing in popularity and we do see a trend:
Marsèll, a Made in Italy, high-quality Italian footwear and accessory brand, has just opened its first flagship store in Milan, at Via della Spiga 42, in the city’s "Quadrilatero della Moda" fashion district. The store is the result of eight months of close collaboration between Marsell and the Berlin-based Lotto Studio. Together, they have designed a space where the whole of Marsèll’s offer and identity can express themselves at their best within an open, modern, comfortable, and somehow “solemn” space. The project’s brief had the aim of creating a unique space where the modular environments seen in the rigorous architecture of Marcel Breuer, a major exponent of the Bauhaus design movement, could blend with the meditative atmospheres of Carlo Scarpa, one of the most important 20th-century designers and architects.
This space hosts long terraces that delimit a central area, imagined as an exhibition space. It is accessed via a large staircase characterized by a walnut bookcase conceived as a permanent work of art, which extends to the full height of the space and forms a connecting element between the floors.
The idea - shopping, visiting the "art" and creating the community. This is the future of retail. The future can be bright for those who can do it right. #retail# #fashion #wwd #bof
Real Estate Associate at VanTrust Real Estate
1moThis is so exciting! Congrats COL team!