If you want the best shopping experience in New York City, visit these concept stores, experiential retail, and flagship retail stores.
New York City is back!
You’ll find inspiration in retail brands focusing on digital and personal experiences. Stores that became logistical facilities. And a focus on social and the local community.
Fifth Avenue is filled up with familiar remodeled and new flagship stores. The Soho and Meat Packing Districts retained their dominance as the chic and cool locations for young adults. And the Shops in Hudson Yards evolved into a distinct tint of luxury boutiques.
Let’s get started.
NEW Flagship & Concept Stores in NYC 2023
As retailers and brands returned to New York City, many stores opened, reopened, and remodeled. In 2023, the trend for concept stores is the digital transformation of brick-and-mortar stores.
New stores in NYC include:
Bally (58 Gansevoort St. Meatpacking District). A new concept store for the Switzerland-based retailer. The flagship showcases men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, and leather goods to serve as a multifunctional space dedicated to commerce and entertainment.
Century 21 NY (C22 Cortlandt St. Lower Manhattan): The off-price department store reopened its New York City flagship, adding more lighting and bigger fitting rooms focusing on designer fashions, accessories, fragrances, and footwear.
Courrèges’ (104 Grand St, Soho). A futuristic store with an all-white design and mirrors that Vogue Magazine declared the “coolest store in Soho.”
Crate and Barrell (Flatiron Flagship) 881 Broadway. The Flatiron location is the retailer’s first immersive store and employs designers who will travel to local shoppers’ homes. The store also features a botanical shop and gift registry. The virtual store has over 450 products to experience.
Fashionphile Showroom (601 W 26th St, Chelsea). An insider looks at the luxury reseller with a 60,000-square-foot authentication center and showroom. Consumers can buy direct products such as the world’s most extensive collection of Hermès Birkin bags.
Mango (711 Fifth Avenue). Mango’s flagship store promotes sustainability with energy-efficient lighting and temperature control. There is a designated donation spot. Mango created a collection of NFT artworks for Spanish artists Miró, Tàpies, and Barceló.
Mulberry (620 Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center). The British designer brand promotes sustainability with the Mulberry Exchange marketplace. You’ll find vintage bags. And you can personalize your scarves and blankets with an on-site monogramming machine.
Penn Station (34th St & 7th Ave): New York landlord Vornado bets $1 billion that more commuters will return. Penn 1 & Moynihan Train Hall provides world-class passenger amenities and a range of shopping and dining options around Penn Station.
Petco (44 Union Square): Petco’s new 25,000 square-foot flagship combines the best of Petco’s physical and digital offerings, including a stylish grooming salon, full-service veterinary hospital, JustFoodForDogs kitchen, curated merchandise assortment, and more for a complete pet care experience.
Salvatore Ferragamo (63 Greene Street, SoHo). The Italian brand Ferragamo opened a tech-savvy store in Soho to engage a younger audience. You’ll find a hologram sneakers station to personalize and create designs on the spot. Most impressive, you are invited into a multisensory booth for an immersive experience to design your NFT token.
SKIMS: Store-Within-a-Store in Sakes Five Avenue (611 5th Ave). Launched as a Direct-to-Consumer underwear and shapewear brand by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede, Skims built a consumer audience online and with upscale retail partnerships.
TAG Heuer (645 5th Ave): The flagship store for luxury Swiss watches benefited from the Formula 1 $10,000-plus Monaco Chronograph and actor Ryan Gosling wearing one of its pink-faced watches to promote the “Barbie” film.
Tiffany’s (610 5th Ave). LVMH Unveils Tiffany’s Renovated Fifth Avenue Flagship, which is the luxury giant’s most expensive single-brand store ever built.
Timberland (550 Broadway, SoHo): The store features The Shed, a customization space where customers who sign up for Timberland’s newly launched membership program can have their shoes or clothing personalized.
Wilson Sporting Goods (10 Columbus Circle). Wilson embedded the “try before you buy” attitude in the store so that you could rent products for a minimal fee. The brand smartly includes product testing concepts with a golf simulator and customized gloves.
Wagman (Astor Place, 499 Lafayette St). The two-floor supermarket is all about service. The store is peppered with counters, from pizza to a Japanese-style fish market with fish flown daily.
Retail Shopping Trends in New York City
New York City has a wide variety of the best places to shop. Most importantly, NYC is an incubator for retail trends such as Store-Within-A-Store and Showrooming.
Here are retail trends and terms to know:
Concept Store Meaning
A concept Store is where retailers test new ideas in design, products, and services. For example, retail trends include on-site cafes, customized services, and curve pickup.
In 2023, watch for in-store technologies powered by computer vision AI. For example, digital and physical worlds merge in Nike’s Immersive Media Experience.
Flagship Store Meaning
Flagship stores are the most important stores in a retail chain. The flagship stores are in a prime location, more prominent, and more often promoted.
The difference between Concept Stores and Flagship Stores
Concept stores are only sometimes flagship stores. For example, retailers test innovative ideas in temporary pop-up stores. But flagship stores are often concept stores because the retailers can launch and test new ideas to a broader audience.
Concept Store versus Pilot Store
Retailers often use the terms “concept store” and “pilot store” for the same meaning. While merchandising experts use “concept store” to indicate specialized products, it relates to “something new” in retail-tech circles.
In this blog post, the meaning of “concept store” and “pilot store” are similar enough. In other words, a concept store introduces an innovative concept, product, or service.
Store-Within-A-Store (SWAS) Model
The store-within-a-store business model is an agreement between retailers and brands. The retailer rents space on the sales floor to the brand. The brand may run the shop as an independent store or carry the costs of training and employing the in-store staff.
For example, FO Schwartz in the Rockefeller Center store has distinct zones for Build-a-Bear, Barbie Dolls, and Beanie Babies brands.
The store-within-a-store retail model recently gained traction, especially among Big Box and Department Stores. Famous examples are the Apple Store in Target and the Sephora in JC Penny.
Diversity & Sustainability & Demographics Trends in Retail
Retailers are not immune to macroeconomic, political, and global trends.
You will see the impact in stores. For example, fashion retailers build product exchanges and offer large-size clothes.
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Meaning
DTCs online brands are opening physical stores. Evidence shows that physical stores are critical in the customer’s journey.
People visit brick-and-mortar stores to touch and feel products, the convenience of “now,” and participate in the social experience.
Pop-Up Store Meaning
Pop-up stores are short-term leases for retailers. You often see pop-ups in the aisles of shopping centers and during the holiday season.
Showrooming Definition for Retail Stores
Showroom stores are where you can “touch and feel” and engage with products, but the fulfillment and delivery come from centralized warehouses. The store does not have an inventory of goods for you to take home immediately.
Experiential Retail Definition
Experiential retail refers to a customer experience beyond traditional shopping, such as restaurants, customized in-store services, and Augmented Reality Beauty Studios.
This is important,
“You cannot get closer to your customers than in the physical store.”
Concept Stores Examples in New York City
Here are examples of innovative concept stores:
Nike’s House of Innovation on 5th Avenue (The BEST Concept Store in New York City)
When Nike’s Flagship opened at 650 Fifth Avenue in 2020, the retailer revolutionized the model of Direct to Consumer.
“Nike Live is the result of a singular vision: to design the most locally-relevant experience out there leveraging digital with personal service.”
Cathy Sparks, VP/GM of Global Nike Direct Stores & Service
The strength of Nike’s store comes from a mix of exceptional experiences for customers with a push to download and connect with the Nike app.
Digital transformation is everywhere with displays that will entice you to:
- Download the Nike App: AR-Based digital experience that will follow you home
- Get Expert Help: How to find and customize the perfect product for you
- Deliver with Courier Service: anywhere in the city
- Buy It. Try it: No questions asked returns guarantee
- Ask for iterations: when perfect is not good enough.
And the innovation goes deeper by using a concept called co-creation. For example, customers can scan their feet and upload the design to their application.
Nike considers the NYC store as the “Face of Living Retail.”
“It becomes a sticky ecosystem because, say that you’ve downloaded the Nike app on your phone, and you have the Nike running app or the fitness app that they have or even just their shopping app — you’ll get targeted emails, and they start to know what you do athletically. Or they might know your style,” Telsey’s Feldman said. “They’ll start to send you direct emails when there’s either a new product that might be of interest to you, or they’ll give you the first crack sometimes at a new product that just came out.”
How Nike is using DTC and data to expand its empire, RetailDive
Nike’s House of Innovation is a magnificent example of a physical store for the Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) brand, the physical-digital transformation, and most importantly, how brands conduct market research.
Nike NYC makes real our vision of living retail — a dynamic and active shopping experience in an environment that’s as responsive as digital.
Nordstrom’s on 57th Street (BEST Department Store & Destination Branding & Flagship Store in NYC)
320,000 sq and seven floors of awesome, including two floors for beauty and 100 services, the flagship store is on 57th Street & Broadway.
Three store concepts stand out:
1) Elevating In-Store Customer Service
To customers, stores are a beacon of convenience. The first floor has a colossal Customer Service Bar. Customers can pick up and return and order and pay quickly and easily.
The emphasis on customer service in such a prominent location helps solve the erosion in profit margins and fraud rampant in online shopping.
Moreover, customers who return merchandise to a physical store tend to shop for impulse buys.
2) The in-store customer experience is no longer a cliché
Experimental Retail tends to be associated with coffee and food. In Nordstrom’s flagship, the customer experience is built-in.
For example, you will find a high-end restaurant and bar on the fifth floor. The food is good. The service is excellent. Here’s the interesting bit: a lady sat next to me in the bar and told me that she comes to the store every day after work “to check out what’s new and eat in the restaurant.”
My favorite venue was the Shoe Bar in the basement. Martini and shoes, WOW!
3) Beyond Destination: A Department Store with Store-in-Store Models
Department stores were the darlings of traditional retail because they were Destination Stores. In shopping malls, department stores serve as anchor stores. While discount stores and warehouses rise, the department store model declines.
Nordstrom repositioned the flagship store into the stores-in-store model to solve the department store challenge. For example, Burberry and Nike have unique enclaves. Eileen Fisher has a pop-up store. And there’s a broadcasting studio sponsored by Canada Goose.
Each store zone curates the goods and environment that adheres to its specialty audience in the store-in-store model.
As a flagship store targeting young and affluent urban shoppers, the big themes of sustainability and diversity were evident. After the tenth employee with pink, blue, or green hair, I stopped counting.
The Nordstrom flagship store is a triumph of a serious re-thinking about what retail and physical stores are about and, in particular, the value of a department store.
Showfields (Example of Futuristic & Experiential Retail)
Before the pandemic of 2020, Soho became the center of gravity for chic retailers such as Allbirds, The RealReal, and Fablethics, but the headlines belonged to Showfields.
Showfields promotes itself as a gallery for Direct-To-Consumer online retailers. It provides short-term leases for brands that want a physical presence.
In other words, Showfields is a “department store for pop-ups.”
Rebecca Minkoff in SoHo (BEST Example of a Retail Showroom for a Direct-to-Consumer Brand)
By 2018, Rebecca Minkoff cracked the code for Unified Commerce.
The sauce to the brand’s staggering success is a mix of high-tech stores, discounted warehouses, and a savvy online site and sales strategy.
The tiny flagship store packs high tech. The technology connects Smart Walls, RFID Tags, and Digital Fitting Rooms.
The brand was one of the first retailers to ask for the customer’s phone number, an entry point to the Rebecca Minkoff loyalty program. It also allows the salesperson to follow up after the visit.
As a flagship store, the Soho store is a marketing showroom.
The Rebecca Minkoff store hosts events, student programs, and press tours. Nearby, the retailer has a warehouse that sells discounted designer clothes and bags.
The Rebecca Minkoff high-tech store is an excellent example of selling fun and fashion while serving as the showroom for a vibrant online brand.
Some stores in New York City are must-see:
Macy’s in Herald Square: The Most Famous Store in New York
With 2.5 million square feet and ten floors, Macy’s is the biggest department store in the United States. A New York City icon for 0ver 150 years.
Saks Fifth Avenue: The Iconic Flagship Store
Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store is about luxury and exclusivity. The iconic store was built in 1924 and served as an anchor for other flagship stores on Fifth Avenue.
Apple Store: The Iconic Store on Fifth Avenue
A must-see flagship store where the iconic glass cube with the large, suspended Apple logo dominates the entrance to the store.
Retail Stores Tour & Shopping in New York City 2023
The retail stores are listed by their NYC districts. Click here for the Ronny Max Store Tour.
Fifth Avenue Flagship Stores (Includes Upper Midtown)
Midtown Manhattan covers the areas surrounding Times Square, Penn Station, and their offshoot streets. If you have a couple of hours to stroll around, this is a worthwhile tour to see the tourist soul of New York City.
Adidas (565 5th Ave): The flagship store of Adidas includes a track for runners, customized shirts, and bleachers in front of gigantic digital screens.
American Girl (75 Rockefeller Plaza): Interactive and innovative stores for girls. In the Girl & Doll salon, dolls et hairstyling, ear piercing, and manicures.
Apple Store (767 5th Ave): Apple flagship store in NYC. The iconic glass cube with the large suspended Apple logo dominates the entrance to the store.
CAMP (10 Columbus Circle Mall, Upper Midtown): The newest flagship for CAMP, the experiential retailer for kids, has two floors and interactive activities such as the Splatter Room and Slime Lab.
Dyson (640 5th Ave): The new appliance flagship is a museum and a demo store. Vacuum cleaners can be cool!
FAO Schwarz (30 Rockefeller Plaza): After closing its famous “Lost in New York” toy store, the iconic retailer has a new home with toy soldiers, race cars, and magicians.
IKEA Planning Center (999 3rd Ave): A long staircase will take into various kitchens, bedrooms, and living rooms. Designed for urban life, you can purchase in the store, but the furniture will be delivered directly to your home.
Lego Store (636 5th Avenue): The two levels of the Lego flagship store include a yellow cab, the Empire State Building, and Times Square made of Lego bricks.
Lululemon (597 5th Ave): This sportswear flagship offers experience over purchasing products, with a meditation studio and Zen Pods.
Nike (650 5th Ave.): Nike’s House of Innovation includes customized shoes, expert advice, tailoring, courier delivery, and more. NYC Concept Store for 2019.
Nordstrom Flagship (57th St & Broadway): 320,000 sq and seven floors of awesome, including two floors for beauty and 100 services such as facials. It is worth a visit to see the waves’ glass facade and – my personal fantasy – a cocktail bar in the shoe department!
Nordstrom Men’s Store (235 W 57th Street ): Nordstrom opened its first and new store in NYC as men-only. Check out the AR projected on the store’s mannequins.
Puma Flagship (609 5th Ave): The athletics brand’s first physical store in North America is massive and close to Nike and Addidas at Midtown. You can check out the F1 racing simulator and test boots in a soccer simulator.
Bjoern Gulden, Puma CEO
Sakes Fifth Avenue (611 5th Ave). The flagship store is all about luxury. The iconic store was built in 1924 and served as an anchor for other flagship stores on Fifth Avenue.
Starbucks/Amazon Go (111 E 59th St.) The first store of two high-tech giants is all about convenience. Amazon now sells its contactless payment platform to partners. You use the Starbucks app to order ahead, the Amazon Go app to shop, and “Just Walk Out.”
Vacheron Constantin (28 E. 57th St). A luxury boutique for expensive watches. Get expert service with an in-house watch designer. The retailer offers a Virtual Reality tour of the flagship store.
The Shops at Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan
CAMP (10 Columbus Circle Mall, Upper Midtown): The newest flagship for CAMP, the experiential retailer for kids, has two floors and interactive activities such as the Splatter Room and Slime Lab.
Wilson Sporting Goods (10 Columbus Circle). Wilson embedded the “try before you buy” attitude in the store so that you could rent products for a minimal fee. The brand smartly includes product testing concepts with a golf simulator and customized gloves.
Retail Concept Stores in Midtown
Midtown East is best known for the Grand Central Terminal and United Nations Building. Here are the must-visit retail locations:
Amazon Books (7 W 34th St.): A bookstore to sell devices such as Alexa Echo and Kindles. Pricing is done through the web, with special discounts to Prime Members.
Amazon Go (Brookfield Place): The touchless convenience store has arrived in NYC. You need to be a Prime Member to enter because this is where the customer opts-in is to be scanned and analyzed. Check out the first Amazon Go.
BirchBox at Walgreens & Duane Read: Birchbox disrupted retail with its subscription business. In partnership with Walgreens, customers can design their own beauty box in-store. One of the 11 stores is at 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.
Dover Street Market (160 Lexington Ave): Designer clothes mixed with seasonal flavors and a gourmet cafe.
Macy’s (151 W 34th St.): The store-within-store concept revitalizes the traditional department store.
Petco Pet Kitchen (Union Square): Experimental Retail is not just for humans 🙂 Taking a cue from the many retail stores that now have an in-store cafe, Petco added a live pet food kitchen.
Sephora (112 West 34th St): The focus is beauty services, with 15-minute touch-ups, 45-minute makeovers, or 90-minute consultations.
The Shops at Hudson Yards (Luxury Retail)
Shops at Hudson Yards (West Side Yard 12th Ave): The $25 Billion development, with more than 100 retail stores and a “floor of discovery,” is considered the most expensive shopping center and real-estate development in the United States.
Family Fun Stores in Times Square & Flatiron District
Cover Girl (Times Square 719 7th Ave): Beauty brands are trailblazers in Augmented Reality. The CoverGirl store is a fantastic example of the power of being in a physical store where a professional stylist will help you customize your perfect makeup. Did we mention the (AI) Olivia?
Disney Store (Times Square 1540 Broadway): Disney has a long history of using physical locations to build its brand and cross-selling movies, toys, and theme parks. Got kids? Go to Disney and take a frozen picture.
Harry Potter (935 Broadway, Flatiron) Fancy a Butterbeer? Want to fly over Hogwarts Castle? Go to the Harry Potter flagship store for family fun.
Hershey’s Chocolate World (Times Square): Personalization & tons of chocolate fun for kids and (young at heart) adults
Levi’s (Times Square): The iconic brand with a new-age Tailor Shop where you can customize jeans with big buttons, colorful patches, and stitch embroidery. (“I live in Levi’s Jeans” – Ronny Max)
High Line Walk to Chelsea Market
If you are in New York for a conference at Javitz Center, take a stroll through High Line to the bohemian Chelsea Market and vibrant Meatpacking district.
Bed & Beyond (620 Sixth Ave): The remodeled flagship store includes the first-of-its-kind SodaStream bar, a café, and a store-in-store section for Casper mattresses.
Fashionphile Showroom (601 W 26th St, Chelsea). An insider looks at the luxury reseller with a 60,000-square-foot authentication center and showroom. Consumers can buy direct products such as the world’s most extensive collection of Hermès Birkin bags.
Google store (76 Ninth Ave.): Following Amazon and Apple, Google opened its first-ever physical retail store. The store features Pixel phones, Nest products, and Fitbit wearables. The emphasis on sustainability is built-in.
Neighborhood Goods, Chelsea Market (75 9th Ave): A curated line-up of over 40 brands, a restaurant, and a convenience store, make up this new concept in department stores. The community-oriented store hosts events, themed activities, and seminars.
Design & Futuristic Stores in Meatpacking District
RH, formerly Restoration Hardware (9 9th Ave): A stunning new store for upscale furniture and home. Check the rooftop restaurant, wine terrace, and design services.
Samsung 837 (837 Washington): Smartphone, tablets, and Augmented Reality. A good place to chill out, eat a bite, and play with Augmented Reality.
Cool Boutiques & Vintage Stores in Soho
The best shopping streets in New York City are in Soho. This tiny hub of streets is full of boutiques and small shops catering to affluent Millennials and self-aspiring students. Always interesting!
Allbirds (68 Prince Street): For lovers of high-end footwear, this is a place to learn more about how to design shoes, including the open-source Sugar Zaffer flip-flops.
Allure Store (191 Lafayette St. Soho). The first physical store by Allure Magazine offers a curated selection of cosmetics and beauty products. Focusing on experiential retail, the store has Smart Mirrors with augmented reality and QR Codes.
Amazon 4Star (72 Spring St): This store displays only products that received votes of 4 plus. This is the power of recommendations in action.
Converse (560 Broadway): This store is simply beautiful. Add a customization lab, and you have a store for the hardcore fans of Converse. Design Rules!
Everlane (28 Prince St.): A brick-and-mortar store with an integrated I.D. system. The wallet-free shopping experience is a “friction-free” online idea.
Kith (337 Lafayette St) The casual footwear store is more than just a cool store in Soho. It’s a lifestyle community for young adults.
Lip Lab (174 Prince St, Soho). Lipstick brand Bite Beauty lets you make your shade of lipstick. You can choose and mix colors, apply a matte or glossy finish, and add a smell.
Moose Knuckles (57 Green Street): The cool Canadian company opened its first flagship in New York City. “This city embodies what Moose Knuckles is about,” says Moose Knuckles CEO Ayal Twik. “It’s raw, real, and one of a kind.”
RealReal (80 Wooster St.): The online vintage brand in a boutique-like location with pull-out racks. The magic comes from the “personalization of scheduled appointments”.
Rebecca Minkoff (96 Greene St): A retailer that cracked the code for Unified Commerce. Featured Concept Store for 2018.
Shopify (131 Greet Street, Soho): The online shopping platform giant opened its first flagship store to support the small business community in NYC. The two floors location offers workshops, one-on-one support, and a podcast studio to its online entrepreneurs.
Showfields (11 Bond St. Soho): Advertised as “the most interesting store in the world,” the store aims to combine retail, art, and community. Four floors of experience
Strand Books (828 Broadway, East Village): The iconic independent bookstore has three levels of back-to-back books. If you’re looking for a footprint into New York City’s history and a brick-and-mortar store with personality, visit the Strand.
Vintage Twin (543 Broadway): A pop-up vintage shop. This chic company is unique because 10% of its proceeds go to charity.
Unique Retail in Oculus Mall (Westfield World Trade Center)
The Oculus Mall (World Trade Center) is simply beautiful. Also, if you’re an international visitor, the 9/11 memorial is an eye to what drives America.
Here are stores that are worth a visit:
Apple: A retailer that introduced smartphones and elegant designs is focused on social communities. There are two stores in Oculus. Always worth a visit.
Burberry: If you loved Sting’s Englishmen in New York, you’d love this British Brand. Burberry was pivotal in experimenting with shopper personalization.
Casper: famed online brand for… selling mattresses. Casper’s way of selling a bland product that people rarely buy is a case study in retail innovation. Concept: Showroom for the brand.
As shopping centers turn into Destination Centers, we will see more experimental retail in malls.
Retail Stores of the Future are in New York City
Traditional retailers view the brick-and-mortar store as a tactical sales floor. It means the focus was inventory, real estate, and controlling payroll costs. But the digital transformation of physical stores demands a mind shift.
So far, the interactions between corporate and local stores and consumers have been one-way. But today, consumers have options, and they demand more. And a retailer cannot get closer to its customers than in a brick-and-mortar store.
The retail stores of the future are already in New York City.