Madison Avenue is a strong and dedicated local market with an array of international brands. As a luxury consultant, I have noticed drastic changes in New Yorkers’ shopping habits—and there are reverse trends on the horizon.
For this edition of Whitewaller, I am pleased to guide you through the uptown neighborhood, with recommendations on where to stay, where to shop, and where to sip a cocktail or two.
It’s also important to acknowledge Madison Avenue’s slow transformation. About every six months we see its changes move directions in waves—stores close, and many of them reopen elsewhere, seemingly in a miniature district of their own. We are seeing stores side-by-side, creating their own destination: Shoe stores like Louboutin, Aquazzura, and Gianvito Rossi are close to each other; beauty boutiques like Kilian, Diptyque, Nars, and Annick Goutal have stuck together; and the fur neighborhood offers items from Yves Salomon, J. Mendel, and Dennis Basso—all nearby. Brands in the same category are gravitating toward one another, offering a facilitated shopping decision to the buyer.
Within the past few years, my husband and I have been dedicated to helping luxury brands generate more traffic by creating unique experiences—inviting guests to discover a curation of products, explore the heritage of the brand, and build a relationship with the owners and designers. That’s what customers are vying for today. The creative element that we insert into events allows guests to stray away from the commercial feel and create memories worth cherishing and coming back again for—and Madison Avenue has become a treasure trove for this.
Madison Avenue, a destination and an experience, will continue to be a constant moving platform for retailers, and now they’re creating brand awareness by the location of their store. For New Yorkers, it’s still all “location, location, location”—and we aren’t shying away.
For more, check out Whitewaller New York‘s spring 2017 edition.
