Leftover Metrocard Change Infuriates Some
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
2nd Avenue Subway Cooling System Will "Blight" UES
Yesterday, there was an interesting NY Times article about new trends in retail store design. Namely, how some stores are eschewing big windows for more secretive look - and how Ruehl, an off-shoot of Abercrombie & Fitch for the post-college consumer, looks like a city townhouse. While there is Ruehl on Bleecker Street that sells accessories, most of the stores are in the suburbs. From the article:
Intrigued by a store they cannot see into, consumers walk in to solve the mystery and stay to shop, executives said.Oh, that is so cute. Wait till they move to NYC and realize what a cool apartment vibe will cost them. But the article was interesting about the dynamic of mall shopping, which we thought was very different from shopping in the city where people sometimes need to go into stores to discover the wonderful things inside. But then again, some parts of the city are basically like malls without the skylit roofs, so what do we know?That, at least, is what Alessandra Conti, 16, and her classmate Michelle Palotta, 17, did when they saw Ruehl for the first time at a mall in Paramus, N.J.
“We said, ‘Oh, what is this?’ ” said Ms. Conti. “And so we had to go in.”
“It has this cool apartment vibe,” said Ms. Palotta. “Instead of being in Bergen County in the middle of New Jersey, we are on a street in New York, and that is where we want to be anyway — living in New York City.”
And when the NY Times' Alex Kuczynski visited the Ruehl location at the Garden State Plaza in NJ, she thought it was too dark, too loud, and poorly named (reminded her of Mercedes Ruehl).
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
This is another NYTimes manufactured trend. Yawn. Remember sign-less stores from 5 years ago?
Having worked on a retail shop, I can tell you that an unwelcoming/uncertain entrance will not afford you customers in a city where everyone walks. Unless you're selling jewels or limited edition sneakers that is.
Yeah, the article is worth reading because while the stores are interesting in that they are hidden, many shoppers can be turned off or confused. But I like the idea that the townhouse aesthetic is being marketed - maybe next we'll see dingy, tenement flat stores.
Won't people mistake the store for a townhouse out of the corner of their eye and simply keep walking on? When you go down a block with many townhouses (e.g., many blocks in downtown Manhattan) your first thought tends not to be to look closer to see if it's really a store or not.
Their Hollister stores are poorly named too - Hollister, CA is known more for its world-class rock climbing at Pinnacles than its beaches.
Sadly, Mark & PJ are retards.
As the article explains and the photograph depicts, the stores are IN MALLS not "on a block with many townhouses". There are no townhouses IN MALLS. The fatass Jersey teens aren't "in a city where everyone walks". These lumps of lard get to the mall in their fat, gay, monster SUVs. They are so tired by having to ride an escalator, they don't have the energy to walk by (unless there are doughnuts next door).
um excuse me. maybe ur a "lump of lard". Im the one quotes in this article for michele. I believe that rhuel was cleaverly and artistically designed.
And I am Alessandra Conti from the article. And we are not "Lumps of lard" as michele pointed out. we are intelligent girls who really do want to thrive and live in the city. It is not our fault that you are bitter about being overweight. and michele happens to be a track star and I am an actress. So not only do we have the energy to walk, we can run & act too:)