The Lord & Taylor store will reopen in New York. True, so far only in the pop-up format and only during the holidays.
For many New Yorkers, the closure of Lord & Taylor's Fifth Avenue flagship store in late 2018 was an unfortunate event. After all, this is the oldest department store in the city, which has worked for more than 100 years and was a kind of attraction. But, although in 2016 the Lord & Taylor chain owned 50 outlets and looked quite successful, in 2018 it was announced the closure of 10 of them, including the legendary flagship, the premises of which were taken over by WeWork, a company specializing in providing offices for rent ( according to some reports, this purchase was unsuccessful).
But recently it became known about the intention of Lord & Taylor to return to New York. This was announced by the new owners of the network - clothing rental company Le Tote. True, there is no talk of any department store yet. A 225 sqm temporary store will open in the Soho area, a significant reduction from the 65,000 sqm that once housed the famous department store. But the very fact of the return cannot but attract attention.
Le Tote completed the acquisition of Lord & Taylor from Hudson's Bay for $100 million in cash in early 2019. Hudson's Bay said the brand was sold to increase its balance sheet, focus on developing the Saks Fifth Avenue chain and expanding its store network in Canada.
According to the new owners, they want to rejuvenate the Lord & Taylor brand, make the chain more attractive to the new generation, ridding its stores of the image of the place "where my mother shops." And opening a temporary store is one of the first steps in this direction. It will be possible to purchase clothes, accessories, jewelry and gift sets for the holidays. There will also be a small section dedicated to the rental of clothes from Le Tote.
