Printemps, a French department store that just opened its first American front post base in Lower Manhattan, aims to run a few stores it has recently visited in the area.
One Wall Street store, about a five-minute walk from the New York Stock Exchange, is located in parts of Manhattan, which has recently had a poor track record in luxury retail emporiums. That may be why we emphasize that marketing campaigns are “not department stores.”
The Sachs Fifth Avenue store in Brookfield Place Mall was open for about two years before it closed in 2019. 10 Corsocomo’s South Street Seaport, Milanese Concept Store, loved its selection of clothing, art, furniture and books.
The Arrivals of Printemps comes when department stores, once rock bedrock of American shopping experiences, were closed with quick clips across the country.
In February 2024, Macy’s announced that it would close around 150 locations in three years (while opening 15 locations in Bloomingdale, which Macy’s also owns). In December, Neiman Marcus, one of the most illustrious names in retail, was acquired by the company that owns Sachs Fifth Avenue. It was soon announced that certain saxophone and Neiman Marcus locations were closed.
Printemps – French Words of Spring – hopes to defy these trends by offering New Yorkers and tourists Murano lighting fixtures, mosaic walls, spa treatment pods, bars and restaurants, marble and snuggle floors, and displays of archival haute couture and champagne.
View the corridor maze – Filled with French goods such as Jacques Emmas handbags, Avene Thermal Water Spray, Colegege Mini Dress, Carrel Mary Janes, Vintage Eves St. Laurent Suits, and Enbrilis Moisturizer.
“The French tastes good, they know what’s beautiful. They have a level of refinement,” Jean-Marc Bellaiche, global CEO of Printemps, said at the opening party of the store on Thursday night.
About a quarter of the brands it carries are not sold elsewhere in the US, he added. However, the restaurant’s hospitality clearly has an American flavour. “Americans are better when it comes to saying ‘welcome’,” Bereice said. “They’re warm. The French are a little lonely.”
The store’s offering is why he thinks he will be successful. Bereice didn’t consider opening it in another part of New York, he said.
Along with actress Parker Posey, actress Katie Holmes was one of the most famous guests at the party. Holmes, 46, said he thought Printemps had an appeal to make it a shopping destination. “There’s the quality of this museum,” she said. “It feels like something to do. It’s more interesting than anything.”
Coco Bodel, 35, a Manhattan filmmaker who worked in a department store as a teenager, described Printemps as more attractive than her peers. “There’s no bright neon light that puts you in the mindset of you being there to shop and receive a sales pitch,” she called the space “warm.”
Bodel added that a location like a nearby office tower known as the WSA Building has brought new buzz to the financial district. “There are so many brands and young people out there,” she said of the building. “It’s relevant and exciting.”
Some have characterized Princemp as filling the gaps that have existed in New York’s retail landscape since New York’s closure in 2020. Kelly Bensimon, 56, was a former model and star of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
Founded in Paris in 1865, Printemps has 19 locations in France, with outlets in Givalny and includes a Tudor-style corner store in the seaside town of Deauville. The flagship store, located on the Boulevard Hausmann in Paris, is a network of three buildings, containing approximately 3,000 brands of products. There is also a place in Doha, Qatar.
The company was launched around the same time as other well-known French stores, such as Le Bon Marché (1852) and La Samaritaine (1870).
“It’s French and has an exotic appeal,” said Hunter Abrams, a 33-year-old Manhattan photographer. “There’s nothing in between what’s wearable and maybe a fashionable one pushes the boundaries a little bit.”
But mx. Abrams wondered how recent economic events could affect the store’s outlook. “We are in a very unstable financial situation and feel like we’re on the edge of a cliff,” MX said. Abrams said. “So who knows. I want it to work.”
