The New Printemps Store In New York Is Fun

I was prepared not to like the new Printemps store in New York before I saw it. After all, how did these French retailers think they could just drop into New York, in the financial district no less, and turn sophisticated and jaded New Yorkers’ heads?

The U.S. is a tempting market, it’s the largest consumer market in the world but it’s also the graveyard of European brands and retailers who’ve come here to make their business grow.

But after seeing the effort, attention, thought and creativity put into every inch of the store, it’s hard not to like it. If you’re a tourist in New York or you just like to shop, you’d miss out by not heading down to One Wall Street where the store recently opened.

I’ve toured a lot of stores and I thought I’d be in the 54 thousand square foot shop for 15 minutes but I was there for over an hour. There’s a lot to see. There are many discreet areas and each one has been thoughtfully decorated. There’s a ton of vintage product that’s unique and interesting (and expensive) but fun to see. And like their Paris store but on a smaller scale, the food offerings will keep you inside.

It’s fun and interesting and that’s what shopping should be. It’s worth seeing even if you weren’t planning to be in FiDi. But if you’re a tourist, there’s now lots of things that will bring you nearby and sparing another hour to see the Printemps store is a good use of your time.

Arianne Lapidus of Printemps said that since Barney’s closed there’s a gap in the market that Printemps is attemping to fill. While the new store will not remind you of Barney’s, that’s probably a good thing. I saw the financials of many of the small brands that were sold in Barney’s and they were almost all unprofitable; what was a win for Barney’s wasn’t necessarily a good financial outcome for its vendors.

And time has passed, we don’t need to recreate Barney’s, we need to see what comes next and Printemps is trying to be that new thing.

But Will It Work?

For now, the crowds are literally lining up at the door.

But about eventual success, there’s no way to know right now. Here’s what I wonder about:

– Will the people who live, work and visit FiDi keep coming in or will it be one and done?

– Will Printemps keep the products as fresh and interesting as they were at the store opening? Lapidus of Printemps made the point that Printemps owns all the inventory, there are no leased departments. What she was getting at is that they didn’t let anything but good merchandising drive their product decisions and that’s what retail should be.

– Will they keep the layout? There’s a champagne bar, a cocktail bar, a raw bar and a cafe. There’s also a corridor on the upper level (pictured above) that you have to walk through to get from one end of the store to the other. Lapidus of Printemps says that half the bramds sold in the beauty area are not otherwise available in the U.S.

Over time, the economics of retail can be demanding and pressure-filled. When vendors come along who will give you discounts and deals if you feature them prominently, it’s tempting to boost the bottom line whether those are the right merchandising decisions or not. Whether Printemps succumbs to that, there’s no way to know.

It’s a critical issue. Printemps is planning continued designer collaborations, events, integrated food and beverage and beauty services. If consumers think that a fun afternoon is spent wandering and eating at the Printemps store, then it’s going to be a huge success.

But if the cost and effort of having interesting and unique vintage becomes uneconomic, if the tourists or residents who spend aren’t coming back, if the food is lackluster, if having sales begins to drive what’s on offer, if making deals with big brands becomes important to the business, then the store can go on for a while but in the long run it won’t make it.

Lapidus says “we’re all looking for a little beauty and wonder” and this new store is where “New York and Paris meet.” If Printemps can keep that approach and make it work, then perhaps a great French retailer can really make it in New York and the U.S.