Lower rents, social media propel openings of new NYC stores

Creative brands are seizing opportunities in repriced storefront spaces.

Despite worries of retail doom and gloom, stabilizing rents along the city’s “high street” markets are putting store leases — now with brand-friendly pricing — back in play. According to Cushman & Wakefield, rents dropped in seven of 11 market strips at the end of 2019’s third quarter, paving the way for leasing velocity to rise 12.3 percent.

Nascent labels are eager to take advantage of the retail reset to test their online concepts in real life via pop-ups and longer deals. The opening of Nordstrom at 225 W. 57th St. last week is poised to invigorate Billionaires’ Row the way Neiman Marcus at Hudson Yards did to the West Side. And shops with “experiential” elements that accommodate social media-savvy consumer behavior have....    ...more

RSK: I guess you can make things work at $359 to $400 per square foot if you have the right density and products but beyond me.