There is a mythic new man in fashion retail, much talked about but seldom encountered. He thinks nothing of dropping $875 on Balmain quilted high-top leather sneakers. He enjoys an old-fashioned shave and haircut at a barber shop, and if he can buy a cup of free-trade coffee and an Italian suit in one place, all the better.
This free-spending fashion-forward apparition is regarded as a savior by the struggling brick-and-mortar retail industry, with its department store and mall closings, sluggish sales and the existential threat of online shopping. And one retailer in particular, Saks Fifth Avenue, is making an appeal to him.
Next week, Saks will open its first free-standing store specially for men, in Brookfield Place, the retail, office and dining complex in Lower Manhattan. (Other Saks men’s stores were afterthoughts, created when the company needed to free up space in its stores for more women’s product.) Brookfield’s proximity to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and its stunning Santiago Calatrava-designed main hall, known as the Oculus, and high-income financial workers and Condé Nast employees headquartered nearby, has made the area a hot spot for retailers and shoppers.
The 16,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Store will include leather and shoe repair services, made-to-measure suits and a tech bar selling the latest gadgets.
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In the spring, an in-house Sharps barbershop and Fika coffee shop will be added. And a monthly rotating pop-up shop will feature, in the opening weeks, 200 styles of sneakers, 40 of which are Saks exclusives.
The brands on offer — including Fendi, Lanvin and Dries Van Noten — are pointedly more high-fashion and Euro-leaning than the men’s department at Saks’ flagship in Midtown Manhattan. The shoe section is just inside the entrance.
“Footwear is a gateway drug,” said Marc Metrick, the president of Saks.
Saks is luring the stylish new man with a palette of whites, taupes and silvers and chevron-patterned porcelain flooring. Gone is the brown-wood, Morton’s steakhouse look of the uptown men’s department. The vibe is not unlike the Saks women’s store at the opposite end of the complex.
“Men are having a fashion moment. Probably for the first time ever,” Mr. Metrick said. “Right now, they don’t have a base.”
Despite the headwinds facing the industry lately, he is confident department stores are not dying out, only being improved and modernized, and the time is right for one built for men especially in an area where high-earning males are abundant.
“You know what’s right across the street?” Mr. Metrick said. “Goldman Sachs.”
Date: February 19, 2017