Lower Manhattan ascends to the peak of shopping

Canali, Hermes, Hickey Freeman, BMW, Tiffany, Brioni. A slew of recent and planned store openings by purveyors of the world’s finest goods has transformed Wall Street into the new Madison Avenue. The embarrassment of retail riches proves that gone are the days when Lower Manhattan emptied out after 6 o’clock, although these new stores have tailored their offerings to clientele who work as hard as they play.

Take Hermes, the great french luxury-house nee saddle-maker, which has had a presence in New York since 1924 but only just opened its second freestanding store. The new location opposite the Stock Exchange announced the brand’s renowned mix of elegant classical style and quiet, modern quirkiness: On opening day, one shop window featured a custom Harley-Davidson trimmed in signature Hermes leather. The interior may have shocked loyalists more. While the cool mosaic stone floor takes cues from the company’s 24 Faubourg Saint-Honore, Paris, shop, silk scarves and women’s handbags, traditionally given prominence, were pushed aside for a front-and-center wall of neckties. Other new features friendly to the predominantly male banker clientele include Hermes’ first full room devote to made-to-measure suits, which can cost upwards of $40,000, as well as its first complete men’s bag collection.

Another one of the brightest stars in this shopping constellation is Thomas Pink. Inside the former Brown Brothers Harriman & Company building, which was built to house the country’s oldest and largest private partnership bank in 1929, this new store also sports a bespoke edge. The Personally Pink made-to-order shirt service had only been offered in the London, Paris and Madison Avenue shops previously; here, customers ascend a spiral marble staircase to a mezzanine and gaze at the building’s 30-foot-high rotunda while being prepped for a perfect fit. Despite the old-world air, the store also includes Pink’s first-ever interactive kiosk. “In America, guys shop for themselves,” says spokesman Michael Bragg—it’s just that the Wall Street guys can be in a rush.

-LB