J.Crew Puts the Focus on Men at NoHo Store Opening in Manhattan
J.Crew opened a store at 19 Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood on Thursday primarily focused on the brand’s men’s collection but with some space for select women’s items.
The 3,800-square-foot store replaces a unit on the corner of Bowery and Bleecker Streets that closed earlier this year.
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“We’ve emphasized the best of J.Crew men’s. That means specialty sportswear pieces, limited edition items and curated vintage J.Crew pieces, highlighting the quality and timelessness of our products, as well as our best expression of suits, shoes, and cashmere,” said Brendon Babenzien, J.Crew’s creative director for men’s.
“Upstairs will be primarily focused on casual sportswear and collaborations along with sneakers and specialty Bond only products,” Babenzien added. “The downstairs is heavily focused on suiting and cashmere along with shoes. Of course, with menswear, rules are meant to be broken so it’s flexible and what we define as casual or formal is open to interpretation. On both floors, we’ve created seating areas for people to relax and chat or explore the books and magazines we’ve curated.”
The store has a modern white oak interior with a wood-clad ceiling, functional elements like open fitting rooms and a modular wall system with aesthetic touches such as British racing green tiles and specialized lighting. The basement retained its original columns that pay homage to the building’s history and the architecture of the area. Overall, the store design maintains a balance between what the company describes as a modern coastal vibe upstairs, and a clubby atmosphere downstairs, reflecting both contemporary trends and classic J.Crew aesthetics.
J.Crew officials said the store will serve as a destination for limited collaboration product drops and currently has a Bunger Surf Shop collaboration. The store also features the brand’s largest men’s footwear selection, apothecary items, and a “full” range of suit fits.
In a sense, the Bond Street men’s-focused store plays counterpoint to the J.Crew store located at 75 Spring Street, which opened in May and displays mostly women’s merchandise. The Spring Street store “contains the largest assortment of women’s apparel and accessories that are usually only available online,” the company indicated at the time of the opening. In the city, J.Crew also operates four men’s stores at 484 Broadway, 1040 Madison Avenue and at 10 Columbus Circle.
Over the last several years J.Crew, amid difficult sales trends, cut its store count almost in half, from more than 200 to about 112. But in a December 2023 interview with WWD, J.Crew Group chief executive officer Libby Wadle underscored the importance of brick-and-mortar stores, saying, “The best representation of the brand needs to be in the stores. It’s how we are merchandising the stores today. It’s how we are thinking about investment in our stores. We have a smaller footprint, but these stores are in our best markets. We will invest in them to make sure they feel really fresh.”
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