FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
This now iconic store on lower Fifth Ave in NYC was the global launch of Club Monaco’s new store design.
The design of the store took over a year of planning and coordination and eight months to build. We started by gutting the entire 18,000 square foot space down to the studs, reconfiguring the floorplan, and moving the staircase. In the process, we found hidden staircases (which oddly went to nowhere), and original mouldings which were restored and recreated.
The overall inspiration for the store was the grand department stores of Europe and the building itself, which, as we pealed back the decades of plaster and stone, began to tell us its story.
Inside the store, we decided to change up the retail mix by adding a bookshop (the iconic Strand), a florist, a coffee shop for the neighbourhood, a large shoe area, and a dedicated men’s floor to help tell the entire story of what the men’s division, led by Aarron Levine, had evolved into.
The details of the stores are too many to mention- a custom wallpaper of falling gold leaves from Fromental was designed for the women’s shoe area, large delicate steel tables were sourced in Australia, vintage cases were found and refinished in East London, the men’s fireplace was found in Les Puces in Paris, the (very heavy) bronze chandelier in the women’s fitting room area was made in Los Angeles by Jean De Merry.
We also took the overall experience into account - we designed the boxes for the florist to allow people to take away small bouquets for dinner parties, soundtracks were made for each floor as well as different scents piped into each area making it unique.
The store changed the retail game on lower Fifth Ave and helped set the tone and the stage for the global retail expansion which took place in the proceeding years across Europe and Asia.
