Manhattan Retail Market 1999: How did we do?

There used to be a mayor of New York City who would always ask, "How'm I doing?" How did New York retail do this year? Well, we can't complain.

At the beginning of last year, I wrote that 1999 would probably be better than ever. It was. This country's economic growth, which has continued for a longer period o time than it has in many, many years, allowed the metropolis to shake off past decades of a great city that had stultified and to come roaring back as "The Capital of the World."

Older neighborhoods began new lives; new neighborhoods were born; some experienced a change of face; some just kept getting bigger and glossier.

Fifth Avenue, the street whose name is synonymous with New York, has undergone just about all of the above during the last year.

A few years ago, upper Fifth Avenue was mourned as a has-been, a poor imitation of its former self.

In the past, the fashionable, elegant stores and shops faced each other up one side of the Avenue and down the other: Bergdorf Goodman, Bonwit Teller, Saks Fifth Avenue, DePinna, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Georg Jensen etc., etc.

Only a few of the former remain, the others having moved away or gone out of business. Today, there are still the fashionable, the elegant: Bergdorf's and Saks have been joined by Gianni Versace, Prada, Fendi, Armani A/X, Bulgari, Geoffrey Beene, Takashimaya, Faconnable, Asprey, St. John and Salvatore Ferragamo, but there is also another crowd: Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny), Disney (Mickey Mouse and Donald), The NBA and Coca-Cola, to name a few.

This, I think, has made this stretch of Fifth Avenue more fascinating, more serendipitous. It has also become the most popular and heavily trafficked tourist street in the world, from Rockefeller Center to the Plaza.

Rockefeller Center itself has undergone an exciting renewal: the largest Sephora in this country has opened there, alongside Banana Republic. The Sports Company is coming to the Center. J. Crew opened across from the skating rink. Brooks Brothers is on Fifth Avenue now. The Swedish Apparel chain Hennes & Mauritz is under construction. Salon de The, the elegant French bistro, is in the Olympic Tower. Club Monaco will soon replace Bijan. Louis Vuitton will occupy the existing Christian Dior store next door. Retail space is not that easy to come by.

SOS - South of Saks - keeps trying to reinvent itself. The preceding years have seen the arrival of HMV, Benetton, Today's Man, Osh Kosh and Ann Taylor. New tenants are Fossil - its very first store, - a two-level Office Depot and Equinox health club. There are still important retail locations, including a corner, which are available.

In the '30's, new building is going on multi-use complexes which will hopefully improve the no-man's land around Lord & Taylor. The Empire State Building is under re-hab. Wait and see the new roster of tenants.

Other tenants in the area, including Data Vision, CompUSA, Essential Computer and Computer Warehouse, has earned it the name "Silicone Alley."

From 34th Street to 23rd Street, the only bright light is Fox FX. The Toy Center is there and a heterogeneous mix of other retail. This area may find itself next year.

Another always-evolving district is the Flatiron. Shopping on Fifth Avenue was born there. Its renaissance began 15 years ago with the arrival of Paul Smith. This area will be quiet for a while and then surprise us with a surge of activity. At present, the action is increasing. Some of the merchants to be found in the Flatiron area are: Aveda, bebe, inc., Emporio Armani, Banana Republic, Joan & David, Anthropologie, Zara, Club Monaco, The Body Shop, Otto Tootsi Plohound, Restoration Hardware, Country Road, Warehouse Clothing, J. Crew, Ann Taylor, Eileen Fisher and Lenscrafters. Things are getting more and more lively.

East 57th Street, of course, connects Fifth and Madison avenues, and Park and Lexington, and so on. Because of this, there has always been a spill-over of excitement and glamour from the Avenues, causing 57th Street to be one of the more significant streets in the city. A little diamond in the rough.

Lately, the Street has become an entity unto itself, for the incredible LVMH Tower rises on the north side, between Fifth and Madison. It is headquarters for LVMH in the U.S. The Christian Dior store will move from Fifth to be in the same building. Next store neighbors are Chanel and Escada.

The Fuller Building, on the opposite side of Madison, at 595, is re-creating itself. The search is out for trophy tenants. One of its present tenants, Coach, has already turned itself from an overcrowded two-level niceness into a stunning, sleek triplex. Other retailers of interest on 57th Street are Buccellati, Tumbull & Asser, Oxford Clothiers, Brioni, and Holland & Holland. Burberry, long a 57th Street resident, is enjoying a period of rediscovery. The little diamond is getting a polish.

Madison Avenue, the Gold Coast, is another story. It just gets longer and more golden. It is the place to be. How many new stores and businesses have opened on Madison in the last year? It's difficult to keep count. A few are David Yurman, Longchamp, Ninerutti, Roberto Cavelli, Enrico Martinez, Loro Piana, DKNY, Celine, Toni&Guy, Caron, Tod's, Steuben, and the Vendome Group at the old Hotel Westbury, including: Cartier, Montblanc, Purdey, Sulka, Alfred Dunhill and Chloe.

The ideal location on Madison Avenue was, and still is, in the upper 50's through the 60's. But there's only just so much space and that's it. So retailers are moving farther up the Avenue, bringing the glow with them.

New arrivals to upper Madison Avenue are: in the Whitney Museum area, Christian Louboutin, Calypso, Michael Ashton, (who was already there, but moved to bigger quarters), Richard Mishaan and Red Rose Music. Farther up, at 75th and Madison, is Carolina Herrera. On the comer of 76th is Michael Kors. Vera Wang and Judith Leiber have been at the Carlyle for quite a while now. The Gold Coast grows longer.

New neighborhoods are being created -- for example, NoLita. SoHo has attracted the chic, the new, the fashionable, the exciting, at a price. What if one is all those things but doesn't want to, or can't, spend the money for space in SoHo? One goes practically next door, to NoLita, formerly a few blocks on the northern edge of Little Italy, where space isn't quite so pricey and there is promise of the area's becoming just as wonderful as its neighbor. It bridges the gap between Spring Street east of Lafayette and Spring Street west of Lafayette.

Two new arrivals in NoLita on Spring Street are fresh, inc., and Mark Schwartz. They will soon be joined by a third, Le Tanneur, and most assuredly, more after that, as the area opens up. One jewel box of a shop after another will appear, and a new neighborhood has come into being.

The above is just a part of the pageant. How did New York retail do this year? Very well indeed - can't complain.