Ask any well-heeled New Yorker where they shop and the answer will most likely be Fifth Avenue or SoHo. Rarely, if ever, will the response be the Financial District. But perhaps that will change with the ambitious opening of a new outpost of French department-store chain Printemps at One Wall Street. With theatrical spaces by award-winning architect Laura Gonzalez, Printemps New York, opening March 21, is piquing interest for many reasons, not least because it has been four years in the making, and many in the city are rooting for a post-pandemic retail success story.
The uptown area has long been the traditional home to luxury stores, so this 5,000 sq meters Printemps project is a brave bet. “Matthew Shay, president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation, believes that generally, grouping similar stores together generates footfall, but adds: “There’s something to be said for being the only game in a particular part of town. If you have the right mix of offerings — specific brands, cafés, restaurants — and there aren’t so many alternatives, that is the combination that tends to work.”
Printemps lands in the US as its native department stores battle falling sales, closures and consolidation. Neiman Marcus, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, never recovered from the pandemic and was acquired by rival Saks’ parent company HBC for $2.65bn including debt in December. Saks itself has been struggling to keep up with timely payments to vendors while another US legacy department store, Nordstrom, was finally taken private by members of its founding family and Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool last September. The transaction valued the chain at approximately $6.25bn, a steep discount on the $8.4bn offered (and rejected by the board as too low) in 2017.
“They are definitely launching at a challenging time,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of Global Data, of Printemps’ new opening. “Consumers are becoming a little more reluctant, the luxury market is a lot softer than it has been and the environment is very competitive. That said, there is a case to have something else that’s a bit different. There is an opportunity for them to carve out a niche, but it won’t necessarily be easy.”
Under chief executive Jean-Marc Bellaiche, who was appointed at the end of 2020, Printemps has embarked on a “transformation” that has included a rebranding and new visual identity, a management reshuffle and a focus on international expansion, inaugurated with the opening of a 40,000 sq metre outpost in Doha in 2022. The group aims to open five to 10 stores outside France by 2030. Recovery from the pandemic, however, has been slow. According to the group, revenues in the fiscal year ended March 2023 were still down 2 per cent over 2019. In an interview in December 2023, Bellaiche said that revenues for the year were positive but “below our plans” due to inflation and geopolitical tensions.
He adds that the retailer was “the first to bet on [Paris’s] Right Bank — before there was even a Grand Palais — which was an up-and-coming neighbourhood at that time. We see this same potential in the Financial District now.” He is counting on a diverse consumer mix that includes residents of proliferating properties in the area (566 condominiums will sit above this retail offering) as well as tourists, school-run parents popping in for a pain au chocolat, or the back-to-the-office bankers on their lunch break. The area isn’t completely devoid of traditional luxury, with Hermès and Tiffany boutiques and the Perelman Performing Arts Center and Cipriani Downtown all just blocks from the new flagship.
Bellaiche insists the new Printemps space is “not a department store . . . We won’t have the typical shop-in-shop model” — whereby individual luxury brands run their own spaces with their own staff — “but instead a highly curated, special approach. We don’t need to bring what the city already has to offer.”
And what of the fact that the big US department stores are consolidating and struggling to pay their vendors? “We play a long game,” he says of the company strategy. “The next two years might be good or bad, but we are here to stay.”
Taking inspiration from the Boulevard Haussmann flagship in Paris, while being sensitive to the protected art deco building, Gonzalez has conceived the two-floor space in her signature vibrant French style, but with nods to New York City and its local makers too. Visitors are in for “a mix of heritage and modernity”, Gonzalez says of the Parisian apartment vibe, with “a different atmosphere” for each of the 10 rooms. The dramatic Red Room features a crimson ombré and gold mosaic by Hildreth Meière from 1931 and is now a stunning “shoe forest” with a canopy displaying custom creations by Manolo Blahnik, Gianvito Rossi, Aquazzura and Paris Texas, among others.
Dior, Bottega Veneta and Valentino will sit alongside pieces made exclusively for the New York location by brands including Nike, Saison 1865 and Repetto. “Twenty-five per cent of our offerings will be available in the US for the first time,” says Bellaiche. At launch there will also be an haute couture exhibit by Jean Paul Gaultier, while programming, tastings and in-store designer events are planned for the future. Korean artist Taehyoung Jeon (aka Maria) has reinterpreted Printemps’ art nouveau flower motif.
A glass entrance on Broadway opens into the colourful Playroom, where streetwear (a Jacquemus takeover will feature at launch) and an immersive sneaker area set the joyful stage. A second-floor Salon with intricate wood flooring and floral-patterned carpets highlights ready-to-wear and accessories, while La Garçonnière (the menswear section) is a study in pale pink moire wallpaper. A “Beauty Corridor” features Gonzalez’s familiar bold prints and palette, and segues into the Salle de Bain spa area. The pièce de résistance is the sumptuous Boudoir, with its double-height ceilings, rich hardwood floors, gold metallic finishes and cracked lacquer screens by Parisian atelier Maury.
The vintage furniture that’s found throughout — much of which has been sourced from Les Puces and Marché Paul Bert Serpette, as well as from upstate New York — is all moveable and everything is for sale.
Chef Gregory Gourdet brings his Haitian-American heritage and classical training under French-American chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten to four eateries, including Maison Passerelle, a fine-dining concept featuring modern twists on traditional dishes, served in a convivial setting with hand-painted frescoes inspired by the islands of Gourdet’s youth. The champagne bar, casual all-day Café Jalu, Salon Vert raw bar and dazzling Red Room Bar with custom stained glass by Studio Pierre Marie also invite visitors to linger in the store.
“They are trying to make this an experience and that’s what people want increasingly,” says Saunders. “Especially in the location that they are going into, that’s important.”
Jaded New Yorkers, take note: there may be hope for the multi-brand store after all.
Additional reporting by Annachiara Biondi
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